-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disturbing the Peace Date: November 1, 2008 Places: Igen's Weyrling Training Field and Skyspace; Southern Boll Skyspace Game: PernMUSH Copyright Info: The World of Pern is copyright(c) to Anne McCaffrey l967. The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is a registered copyright. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kassi's Note: It's gotten fun to torment the NPCs living near the Star Stones with all the joyous whoops from happy Weyrlings. ;) K'avu and Luscinth are ready for their *between* lesson, and it goes swimmingly--but that's not literal either, to Lysseth's grumpy, Boll- loving dismay. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Log: It would take someone familiar with dragons to see that Kassi and Lysseth are gossipping, since the former stands silently with her lifemate's chin cupped in her hand and her eyes slightly glazed. Whatever's being said is entirely silent. Until: "That would just be silly," the rider protests aloud, "how would he get the tartar sauce out of his boots even if'n he survived?" Lysseth snorts softly and raises her head, the gesture appearing to remind Kassi, oh, right, class. She fiddles with the chin strap of her riding helmet and waits. Luscinth leads the way! She was up and ready right away, having been napping for a good long while, and she needed a good stretch outside from the barracks. K'avu was slipping onto his jacket, carrying the (much better made) straps to get his lifemate into. "Feelin' alright, Lus?" he calls up when she stares in the direction of the older green pair. Kav follows her gaze, arching his brows up. Weird. "Uh," he calls over, and then takes one step back. "We ain't buggin', are we? Though we had a lesson ta do, but..." What was that about surviving and boots? He was looking nervous. Kassima raises an eyebrow at K'avu and salutes--pointedly. "You do. Get those straps on; can't go *between* without 'em. We think you're ready." She gestures to Lysseth and herself, indicating them both. "D'you and Luscinth?" Awkwardness averted, K'avu salutes just seconds after she does before a grin splits his face. "Yes, Weyrlingmaster." He's learned well over the months, at least. He turns to focus on Luscinth now, who was still watching the pair. "Down ya go, Lus," he calls over to get her attention. She turns with a rumble, getting the straps over her head and neck. Kav gets them on and tugs at a few spots. At the greenrider's question, he turns wide eyes to her and looks up to Luscinth. "Do we? Shards yah we do! We always been ready, Weyrlingmaster." "Shards, I hope you're nay being literal. Always? A'fore you knew how t'visualize?" Kassima hooks her fingers through one of Lysseth's D-rings. The two green pairs are alone in the field, so evidently this is another solo lesson. "I get your meaning. Don't take this too lightly, but 'tis a natural talent of Luscinth's, and so long as you follow directions--mount up once your straps are on and take the place t'Lysseth's right," Kassi instructs. "We'll go up on m'signal, fair high. You should never be too near the ground going *between*. You shouldn't be near aught coming back out of it, for obvious reasons. You'll concentrate on an image of Igen's Star Stones and give it t'Luscinth, and she'll pass it t'Lysseth, who'll tell you whether 'twill serve. We'll jump on another signal if'n it does. You've got all that?" K'avu blushes darkly even as he turns an arm around to rub at the back of his neck. "N-no, M-Weyrlingmaster. Not literal." That just threw him off a bit! "But definitely ready now, an' all that." He glances up to Luscinth who was looking quite confident in herself and her abilities, sitting there on her haunches now that her straps were in place. "Yes, Weyrlingmaster!" he calls back, bobbing his head as he gets his instructions. "From me, ta Lus, ta Lysseth. Get it all right, then go." He was already clambering up his lifemate, after urging her down again and grabbing ahold of her straps. Once settled, he begins buckling down. K'avu mounts Luscinth. You place one hand on Lysseth's neck and she warbles down at you fondly. You grin and scratch her eyeridges once before climbing up onto her lower neckridges, using the riding straps and Lysseth's thoughtfully offered foreleg. Kassima shakes her head as she scrambles up the straps. "I know, K'avu, 'twas teasing a bit. I forgot t'wear the ribbons or the fang earrings this time," as if that logic makes total sense... or any sense at all, on planet Pern. She's quick to get herself settled and buckled and strapped, oh my, and when all's in place for herself as well as him she raises her hand, then lowers it again quickly. That's the signal and Lysseth takes off less than a breath afterwards. <*> Lysseth springs from the ground, the air from her wings churning up dust as she takes to the skies. You wing cautiously up into the Bowl. You leap into the sky. <*> Luscinth leaps into the sky. Lysseth> Luscinth senses that Lysseth's touch on your thoughts has the glowing clarity of crystals lit from within. The facets have their edges, but all of those are blunted now and she is calm and matter-of-fact. << When you have your image of the *Star Stones*, share it with me. It's important it be exactly right. >> <*> Luscinth was quick to find her place beside Lysseth and with a warble at the signal she takes off after her, stretching her wings out as wide as they could go. With all the exercises, she could at least fly for much longer than before, and she keeps in the sky easily even with the weight of her lifemate. She rumbles vocally towards Lysseth, turning her head enough to look back at K'avu as he seems to concentrate, then bob his head towards his lifemate, who turns back to look at the older green. Dragon> Lysseth senses that Luscinth springs into the mind almost immediately with a confident cooling touch. <<Mine's envisioned, and I have it in mind right now.>> Lysseth> Luscinth senses that Lysseth takes that as invitation to study the image she holds. Rock, sky, the ancient formations.... << This will serve, >> she agrees. << Be ready to jump when Kassima makes the sign. >> <*> Lysseth curves her long neck to return the younger green's regard, and Kassi, too, turns somewhat to glance that way. Once again what passes between them is silent. This time, it doesn't involve tartar sauce--well, one *hopes* it doesn't involve tartar sauce, and it's a reasonable assumption since rider and dragon both look forward again. The former repeats that earlier signal, and both blink out of sight. <*> Lysseth disappears into Between. Between You gasp as the icy black nothingness of Between surrounds you! You hear nothing, see nothing, and feel nothing. The trip takes five heartbeats... Black... Blacker... Blackest! You suddenly emerge... <*> Lysseth emerges from Between with a blast of cold air! <*> Luscinth emerges from Between with a blast of cold air! <*> Luscinth appears with a loud warble and a few flaps of her wings as she tries to stabalize herself, tipping one way or another in excitement. K'avu, on the other hand, had decided he wasn't quite ready and was looking a bit pale. "F-faranth! Calm yerself, Lus!" The green only complies after a moment, back in position with Lysseth and calming down, even if she was still rumbling merrily. With a few deep breaths, the teen looks around himself before looking back towards the Weyrlingmaster and offers a shaky grin. No harm here! Really! He grips the straps tightly. While he wasn't used to :between: at all, at least he didn't wet his pants like the first time! <*> Lysseth's trumpet chases Luscinth's warble, and a brownrider on one of these high ledges who's heard quite enough noise since the Weyrlings started *between* training yells at them, "For Faranth's sake--!" His brown rumbles to them, anyway. He sounds decidedly amused. Kassi grins a brilliant grin back at K'avu and waves her whole arm in clear delight. Yay, no pants-wetting! Lysseth> Luscinth senses that Lysseth's pride sparks and dazzles as vividly as it did for the first young dragons to go *between* and every beginning jump after. A first pass through the cold survived is victory, for her as well as Luscinth, for dragonkind! << You've done it, you know the way of it now. We'll make two more jumps today. To *Boll*-- >> They've practiced this visual in class. It's one of Lysseth's favorites, after all. Waves wash over a long, pale shore quickly lost in color-flecked green, the L-shaped Hold grows out of its mountain. Lyss provides the visual even though it's familiar; there's no taking chances this soon. << We're not staying, though. After we arrive we'll come straight back, with the same coordinates we just used. Do you have the image? Repeat it back to me. >> <*> Luscinth only warbles further, even to the brownrider's annoyance. K'avu can't even help himself by grinning smugly back down to the older rider. His enthusiasm has been heard plenty of times, it was also time his lifemate shared a bit. She at least keeps in formation, though, and snaps her head to attention when the older green starts talking. Eyes whirling quickly, she peers at her, then turns back towards the teen on her neck, and then back to the pair. Seems they were discussing it, and K'avu was looking serious all of a sudden, getting the visual himself to be familiar with. A crease on his forehead later, and he finally nods his head. Dragon> Lysseth senses that Luscinth turns her brilliant mind on, sparkling in happiness at their first jump between and the pride heard in the older green's voice. <<Boll!>> She suddenly sounds excited, but her shining voice cuts off immediately as she focuses on the image itself. After a long pause, she finally sends it back, image for image, no difference whatsoever. <<I think we are ready,>> she adds at the end. Lysseth> Luscinth senses that Lysseth can only be approving of excitement about Boll. Amused, as well, but without any mockery in it. << I think so, too. Wait for Kassima's signal and we will go. >> Kassima waves cheerily to the brownrider and confers with Lysseth at the same time, multitasker that she is. What she's told satisfies her. Now the brown pair sees them; and now, after her signal, they don't. <*> Lysseth disappears into Between. Between You gasp as the icy black nothingness of Between surrounds you! You hear nothing, see nothing, and feel nothing. The trip takes five heartbeats... Black... Blacker... Blackest! You suddenly emerge... <*> Lysseth emerges from Between with a blast of cold air! <*> Luscinth emerges from Between with a blast of cold air! <*> Luscinth couldn't help herself. She just had to warble that time as well, but this was followed by a full welcoming trumpet as she looks around her different surroundings. It was new and exciting! Her eyes were everywhere, barely focused on keeping her place in formation. When she drops some, she gets a stern glare from her lifemate who was looking pale but not as bad as the first time. "Pay attention, ya silly gal! We ain't done yet, or cleared ta go!" He gives her a playful swat against her neck, before he leans back in his straps and finally takes several deep breaths. Dragonriding was getting easier to do, the more he did it. <*> Lysseth bugles as loudly to Boll's watchdragon, but that green doesn't mind the greetings. Lyss starts one wide circle over the Hold proper rather than just hovering. It may have been her own idea. Come to her favorite place for only a *second*? Wouldn't that be some kind of heresy? "Nay time t'stay today," Kassima yells back to K'avu and Luscinth. "But you can at least get a look! We'll show you all the Lava Lounge after graduation. Nay point when you can't get drunk and dance on bars." <*> Seated atop Luscinth, "Ya hear that, Lus?" K'avu points out to his green as he listens to Kassima, bobbing his head towards her. He also took the opportunity to be glancing around, though, no longer quite that scared of heights after so much training with his lifemate. "Lookin' forward to that, Weyrlingmaster!" he shouts back, all big grins at the mention of drinking it up. "Boll's gonna be our favorite place after that!" He chuckles and pats the green's neck, who tried not to look too disappointed as she looks towards the ground and the distant foreign scenery. "There'll be more jumps." Kassima--or Lysseth--has picked up on Luscinth's disappointment enough to call that reassurance. "*Many* of 'em and all over." Hold and fountain, jungle, beach. Spilling, frothing ocean waves. All slide away below on the course of the circuit, far different from stark, sere Igen. "And believe me," Kassi shouts over as they reach their starting point, "so am I! Now! Back to the Weyr--visualize!" Her green heaves a distinct sigh before vanishing on cue. <*> Lysseth disappears into Between. Between You gasp as the icy black nothingness of Between surrounds you! You hear nothing, see nothing, and feel nothing. The trip takes five heartbeats... Black... Blacker... Blackest! You suddenly emerge... <*> Lysseth emerges from Between with a blast of cold air! <*> Luscinth emerges from Between with a blast of cold air! <*> Lysseth sticks to a pleased rumble for the sake of Brownrider Fussypants, and leads them back to the field. You furl your wings slightly to glide lower into the Bowl. You carefully wing lower into the Bowl. You glide over to land in the training field. <*> Luscinth backwings to land neatly. You slide off of Lysseth's neck to land beside her easily. She rumbles, cocking her head down at you, and you rub her eyeridges gratefully. K'avu slides down Luscinth's side to the ground. Just for the brownrider from before, Luscinth makes sure to be extra-loud in her return, excited as she was to have done a full trip from somewhere foreign to back home. She keeps to Lysseth though, more focused back in the dry air than in that mysterious Boll. At least her curiosity was sated somewhat by looking at it from above. She lands gracefully onto the ground, shifting on her feet happily before crouching to allow K'avu down. "'Course ya did great, Lus! We can go all over Pern, now!" he beams up to her, the green preening just a bit. Kassima's feet hit the ground and immediately bounce once. She doesn't hide her happiness with their performance at all. "Wonderful. You did so well! I've naught t'complain about in either of you. Aside from straying from formation for a moment, a'course." So she did notice. "That'll come better with practice. 'Twill practice jumps every day from here on out, but," she adds, holding up a hand, "don't think of going all over Pern without me or A'deth or Sh'sen there t'supervise. I want you t'live t'see the bar, so don't get cocky." Both rider and dragon seem to radiate with the praise from their Weyrlingmaster. K'avu chuckles and rubs at his hair, bobbing his head a few times. "Lus jus' got a lil' bit excited, Weyrlingmaster. Won' happen 'gain." Luscinth isn't bothered at all by that little mishap, stretching her wings out a bit and humming in pleasure. She :between:ed. She did good. That's what she cares about. The teen's grin falters, but he laughs and nods after a bit of hesitation. "Right. Won't be goin' an' gettin' myself lost or... or anything." His laugh turns nervous at the thought. "We'll be good, Weyrlingmaster." "It happens, first time. Don't make a habit of it and 'twill nay call it a problem." Kassima splits her grin between the young green and her lifemate. "You did well," she repeats to K'avu. Reassuring this time. "I believe you'll be fine. Y'know how we do these things: practice, practice, practice, practice, you won't have a *chance* t'get sloppy. Starting tomorrow." She claps her hands once. "D'you have any questions for me? Class is dismissed otherwise and I'm thinking a celebratory soak's in order. Or a big slab of pie from the kitchens, or something." K'avu grows serious when he hears practice, and he straightens out to nod towards the older greenrider. "Yes, Weyrlingmaster. Won' dissapoint ya on that." The smirk is quick to return. Luscinth doesn't help at all, continuing to look as confident and even more now that she actually :between:ed successfully. Kav quickly shakes his head, grinning broadly at the mention of pie. "I could go for some sweets. Don' got any questions for ya at all, Weyrlingmaster." It was so much easier to say ma'am, but he was talking slow enough not to slip that up again. Kassima just says, "See that you don't," and there's an inflection to it: she doesn't hope they'll succeed. She expects them to. Nothing else will do. "Fair enough. Tomorrow, then, both of you. If'n there's any strawberry pie, save some for me? K'avu just gives her that cheeky arrogant grin. Just no way that /he/ won't. He probably got some of that confidence from Luscinth, too, since she ruffled her wings at the two of them. "Absolutely, tomorrow! Ya hear, Lus, no runnin' late ta count yer things." The green snorts in response. "Will do, Weyrlingmaster!" He makes sure to snap his trademark salute and then starts heading across the bowl, lifemate still following in hopes of getting her dip as well.