Location: Reithnir's Pool
Teacher(s): L'roy and Brown Xavieth
Assistant(s): All Rider Characters are welcome to join in
Class: 2nd Hatching Candidates

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With the heat of summer beating down upon the weyr, L'roy had decided today to take a bit of pity upon his charges. Instead of the introductory lecture he'd intended to give them on dragons and dragonic colours, since there were a lot of new faces now, with so many having impressed at Iaimeath's last clutch, the old brown rider had summoned them down to the lake. Very few of these new kids would have had much of a chance to get up close with a dragon beyond that first trip between with their search rider, not to mention some of the northern kids didn't seem to be adjusting to well to the reversal of the seasons. He'd put it about the weyr that any and all riders were welcome to join in today's lesson and bring their dragons down to the pool for some help with a wash, and a chance to just hang out and cool down.

With what seemed to be most of his candidates gathered, L'roy brought his hand to his lips and whistled shrilly to grab their attentions and bring them over to him. Once there were all gathered around him, he gave them a wide smile and said "Alright kids. Given how hot it is today, I figured we could all do with something that's a bit more fun, and whole lot less hot, than sitting in a room listening to me talk. So, today, you're going to help me bath Xavieth, and help any riders who arrive with their dragons, and you have free reign to splash about in the lake as much as you'd like" The old brown lifted his head to watch the candidates, water dripping drown from where it had been partially submerged in the shallows in which he lay.

Creilta stood at the back of the group, watching the goings on with interested eyes. There was a big brown in the water and she was actually looking forward to a chance to wash him. The other candidates were probably just as curious as she was but for different reasons. The beasthealer wanted to see, or rather feel, how the dragon was put together. If she was given a chance to study them she may be able to bring her desire to learn dragon healing up to the Master and get a chance at duties with the weyr's dragon healer. Dragon healing was an amazing thought at that as just a short while ago she hadn't even known there were dragons to actually heal. Wasn't it the day dream of most beasters that they could have been back in the days of dragons and help heal or work with the saviors of pern? Well if not then they were darn well stupid humans in her opinion.

Seeing the head come up from the water and spalsh a bit she smiled and moved closer ready now to do something. The brown was a lovely beastie and she wished she knew how to approach him, so being logical she thought she might have to ask the rider. "Scuze me sir, but how may I approach him? I mean, without being rude or ...kicked or anything." she said calmly. It was probably a bit wrong to think of him like most beasts but it was better safe than sorry in her opinion. It would not do to get up and do it wrong and then lose an arm to very sharp dragon teeth. Also it would be best to know where was safe to touch as she didn't want to hurt him. "And ....well how are we supposed to wash the big fella?" she asked with a grin of adoration at the dragon. She also hoped the water was very cool as she was beginning to sweat in this heat. Creilta would have to take off her boots and over shirt in order to get in and go swimming as it were. Good thing she had a plain shirt under her flowing top. Untying the back she slipped it over her head and threw it over to the grass and worked on her boots as she waited on her answer. Looking around at the other candidates she spotted the boy from the candidates barracks and smiled and then noticed a guy who looked oddly like the master and did a double take.

"Master I do believe that you have a younger version of yourself in the class." she smiled getting the feeling that they were related.

When Yajini had heard of the old man's plans for the day, the young harper couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. Sun, sand, and bathing beauties? Of course Yajini was going to be there! After checking his attire of the day, Jini decided it was a good idea to change out of his better clothing. Sure they weren't his Gather best, but the shirt was one of his newer and better ones and he didn't want to ruin it with soap.

A quick change later and Yajini was on his way to mingle. After a nod or two at familiar faces, the Master's youngest stuck to the outside of the crowd. He chose this position for several reasons. The first one being it gave him a good vantage point to view all the lovelies in their bathing finest. His biggest reason was to.... Oh shards someone had already spotted him! Hiding his embarrassment for being fingered already, Jini pulled on a charming smile that matched the brown rider's.

"So you figured it out, Creilta. I have to say I'm impressed. Most take a day or so to put the two of us together," He drawled as he moved up to be closer to his father. Offering the taller man a nod in greeting, Jin stopped just shy of the front of the gathering. If L'roy wanted to acknowledge his youngest any farther that was up to him. Turns of wanting to distance himself from his father and the slue of half-siblings the man had given him showed in the proud way Yajini held his ground. Yes he was related to the Candidate Master but Yajini wanted to prove his own worth.

Corbin was luckier than some of the northern candidates that had come here. Being from Ista he was use to the hotter weather that they had at Alaula, but it was still a shardingly hot summer day today. So when he heard that L'roy had decided to give the lesson on bathing dragons he couldn't help but smirk with joy. Swimming would feel wonderful on a hot day like this. He met up at the lake where Creilta and Yajini were already there with L'roy of course and his brown.

Corbin gave a nod to Yajini and a smile to Creil as he walked up. He opted to stand next to Creilta since she was his closest friend so far. As L'roy spoke he listened politely, though his eyes kept roaming to the brown dragon lounging in the water. Xavieth was a very handsome brown and Corbin couldn't wait to start washing the dragon. The question was, how? Luckily Creil was already on top of things there and began asking L'roy the pertinent questions. He turned to say something to her, but she was stripping off her outer shirt. Seeing that made him turn back and forget what he was going to say to her.

"Wait, what?" He asked as she pointed out the younger version of the Candidate master. He knew it wasn't him, nor could it be her, so that left Yajini. Now that he looked at the young boy standing next to the older man he could sort of see the resemblance between them. However, Corbin had never been good at noticing similarities in parents and their children. "Huh, yeah, good eye Creil. I wouldn't have noticed it." He admitted with a smile.

Corbin decided he should probably also strip some clothing, so he took off his shirt and his boots and then rolled his pant legs up. Looking down at himself he realized his chest and stomach was very white compared to his arms. Hopefully today he would get something of a tan to even up his skin tone. Xavieth lifted his head from the water and Corbin couldn't help but stare in awe at the magnificent beast.

(sort of fail, sorry)

L'roy chuckled as Creilta asked how to go about approaching Xavieth. "Nothing special. It's considered polite to introduce yourself, just like with any human. You have to watch out with some of the bones and the bloods, they may have a go at you if you annoy them, but for the most part no dragon will ever deliberately threaten a human, never mind attempt to harm them. You don't have to worry about hurting him, dragon hide is a lot tougher than you might think, and he'll let you know if you do anything wrong."

The old man grinned when the woman then preceded to point him out as Yajini's sire, completely unaware of the eerie similarity it bore to the grin on his son's face. He chuckled as she called his son a miniature version of himself "Not to much like me I hope. I was a right terror when I was a weyrling and I'm hoping he won't cause Tzi'yon as much trouble as Xavieth and I did N'ket." He looked over the young man fondly "He's got much of his mother in him" A fact for which L'roy was glad, Justini was a good woman, and he was certain their son was going to impress well.

He smiled when Yajini pushed his way to the front of the crowd "It's the hair I think" he joked, running a hand through the bright silver stands which had been brown in his youth, mostly as a way of keeping himself fro reaching out and ruffling his son's hair as he had in the lad's youth, thinking that the young man likely would not appreciate it, especially in front of his peers. The boy had his mother's blond locks, though the short cut put L'roy in mind of the way he'd worn his own hair at that age.

"I am rightly proud of him though. Yajini is very much his own man. I wish all my younglings were as willing to forge their own path" Yajini was the first of his children to really make an effort to make something of himself, aiming to to craft for the sake of the craft, rather than simply something to do while waiting to impress, apart from the three whom would never have that chance of impression and whose loss to him he still felt keenly after all these turns. He was proud of all his children, but Yajini had earned himself a special kind of pride. So many of his children forgot that he had been a guardsman before he was a rider, had worked hard had his chosen life, pushed himself to his limits to gain his rank. So few were willing to truly push themselves.

Pulling himself back to the task at hand, L'roy smiled at the uncertain new candidates "Don't worry. Those who've been here for a while have done this before, watch what I do, and if you don't get part of it, ask them or myself for help." As several of the male candidates stripped off their shirts, L'roy did the same, revealing a body which was starting to show it's age, but still hale and healthy, with the same stocky muscled build he'd possessed since he'd first left gangly adolescence, with a fair few more scars lining his body than he'd had back in those days. He'd known better than to wear shoes, so he simply grabbed one of the brushes from the bucket he'd placed nearby, and waded out into the water to show the candidates what to do.

He tried to hide it, really he did, but the longer his father commented on how much alike the two were and how proud he was of his son, Yajini couldn't hide the flush. For a minute or two he brushed it off as the heat of the sun on his cheeks. That moment was lost however when Jin's gaze swept up to his father's. The pride he saw dancing there was enough to undo him and the normally boisterous teen found himself wishing he could hide away. Taking a few steps back towards his former post, Jini wondered how long eyes would remain on him.

Normally he didn't mind the attention, in fact in some ways he craved it. But to have all eyes on him because of who his kin was made the Harper uncomfortable. Thankfully his father seemed to remember there was more going on around them and had changed the topic back to the lesson at hand. While Yajini had been raised around the weyr, the actual times he had been so close to a dragon was fairly small. In fact the majority of them were centered around the very brown his gaze traveled on now.

In the quiet of his mind Yajini wondered just what color his bonded might be. Would he be like his father and luck out with a brown? Or would he favor his older siblings and find his bond in a bronze? Deep in his heart Yajini wished for a way to stand out from his siblings. This drive wasn't something new of course, but for once in his fifteen turns the youth realized he might have more in common with L'roy's older children than just a sire.

Okay so introduce herself to the big guy, sure that wouldn't feel odd...oh no not one bit. Grinning like a fool Creilta turned to the brown dragon and bowed like a boy and grinned up at him. "Hello Sir Brown I am Creilta and I would love the honour of helping bathe you." she smiled like a fool from ear to ear, her eyes sparkling as she turned back to the candidate master and raised an eyebrow. "Like this sir?" the tall girl was fairly bouncing now that things were underway, and it helped that L'roy had so much pride in his son. It showed that he was a caring man and that alone earned him respect in her book. It helped that Jini was blushing as it made her want to laugh she covered her mouth and looked away to give the guy a second to comport himself. Stepping closer to Corbin she nudged him forward to say hi to the brown. Cor was so quiet and shy sometimes that she just had to nudge him and see what he would do.

"You must be proud of him to look like that sir. I hope my father feels that way about me as well. Though I think I gave him a bit more trouble than your Yajini gives you being as he was a harper for so long. I was always under my father's foot at he beastcraft hall." she smiled softly at the thought of her own father. She really missed home and wished she could go see her father this second and let him know she was fine and that he need not worry about her. It was such an honour to be among the legendary dragon riders and possibly join their ranks but at the same time she really missed home and knew her family was worried about her and would be till she returned someday to protect them. Which made her wonder how they were supposed to do that when there were so few dragons and so much of Pern to cover.

"Sir...I know this is off topic...but how are we going to fight thread with so few dragons...I mean...we'll never have enough to cover the whole world. What...what will we do?" she spit out without thinking about it.