[MONSTERS] Precocious

[Arcane]

The Monsters weyrlings aren't ready to fly for another month- but some of them certainly seem eager to try. After one of the weyrlings was caught trying to catch enough air to glide by jumping off the perfect height set of crates in the common room, you've all been assigned to extra endurance runs to help keep your dragons tired out until they're old enough to fly safely.

[Dragon]

Lumuth certainly didn't need any extra exercise to sleep. In fact, napping was one of her favorite pastimes. Still, there was no getting out of the extra endurance runs that had been assigned, even though she wasn't the one who'd been trying to glide early.

Actually, Renkestuous fully expected to be late being allowed to ride his green. She was the smallest in the clutch, a delicate little thing, still markedly under four feet at the shoulder, and Renkestuous was not a small man. Wiry, yes, but tall enough so that he still overtowered the shoulder height of most of the clutch. Not that he would by the time they were full-grown, of course, but he felt a little like a sore thumb with how he could still peer over the shoulders of most of the dragonets.

If I curl up in the middle of my run, will they allow me to nap instead? Lumuth asked wistfully. The point is to tire us out, after all.

I don't think that will work, dearheart, Renkestuous sighed, running along with her. If they were to be tired out, then by the first egg, they'd be tired out. It was unfortunate, but there didn't seem to be any way out of it.

[FirebrandPhlox]

"Velfryth, you need to run! The Weyrlingmaster commanded it!" Phelps yelled loudly as he gestured angrily at his dragon.

Velfryth snorted from her shaded perch. I don't need to do anything. I'm able to control myself, unlike my immature siblings. Extra laps? Honestly. Running is beneath one such as I, who is destined for the skies.

Phelps sputtered in frustration, his face a deep red. "Your insistence on being ready to fly is why we have to run the laps! If you would've just listened to me and stayed off those crates, we wouldn't be having to put in these extra drills at all!"

The pair glared at each other, neither willing to move an inch.

[Dragon]

Lumuth was less than pleased with Velfryth at the moment. The green had a certain yearning for the sky - it was clearly where she belonged - but she was also willing to bide her time until she was told she was ready to glide. (She had been jumping about and fluttering her wings, but surely that passed as exercising them.)

Dear sister, she sighed, I'm sure your grace will lend itself well to the skies, but we do have to wait for our wings to be able to hold us up. She fluttered her own with a gusty sigh. All right, maybe she was more eager to fly than she pretended.

Gently, Lumuth nudged her long, thin blue sister with her adorably rounded nose. We could run together, since we must run? She gave another agrieved sigh.

[FirebrandPhlox]

"Hey, keep your claws off her!" Phleps howled, shooing Lumuth away from his precious dragon. "I don't need your help to handle my dragon!" His face was fully flushed and brow furrowed deep as a canyon.

Phelps was no stranger to work, having spent so much time on the seas laboring on ships of varying repute, but Velfryth was a whole different kind of labor. No amount of lectures could have actually prepared him for how exhausting the work of having a dragon actually was, both physically and mentally. At least when he was a sailor, the shipmates he was frustrated with couldn't hear his thoughts and constantly project their own into his head. Especially a dragon so full of herself.

You act as if you aren't a miserable wretch to share thoughts with either, Velfryth snorted. Always complaining and judging others. I at least am perfection.

A perfect pain in my ass, Phelps retorted.

Velfryth shot him a look, then turned her attention to Lumuth. Do not push me, sister, she said coldly. Running is beneath me, but if you are so content to fill your lowly station, you can do so without me.

[Dragon]

Lumuth scrunched up her nose in annoyance, lip curling just slightly but not enough to show teeth. You're not that much bigger than me.

"Yes, she is, Lumuth, you're tiny," Renkestuos broke in, exasperated. Lumuth had just been trying to be nice, and there was no reason for Phelps and Velfryth to be snobby about this, especially since it was Velfryth's fault, but Lumuth was only about two-thirds of the blue's size. She hadn't previously been as violent as some of her clutchmates, but he was sure she had it in her. Somewhere. Probably very deep down.

Giving an annoyed huff, Lumuth deliberately turned her back on her sister, nosing at Renkestuous instead. Do I really have to run? I have been good, have I not been?

Very good, dearheart, but all of you have to run. Even miss thinks-she's-a-queen over there. He smiled and Lumuth, giving her a fond scratch behind the headknobs. "We might as well get this over with," he told her aloud, although it was more for the snobs who thought running beneath them. "We wouldn't want to anger the weyrling master."

[Arcane]

Stygiath hadn't been the dragon to try to jump off the crates. She didn't see the point, when there was much better trouble to get in to. Exploring forbidden caverns was a much more fun way of breaking the rules, in her not-so-humble opinion. Sometimes, there were even small furry squeaking things inside. And she would never do something as cliche as get caught.

But then- not all her siblings could be as sensible and fabulous as Stygiath.

And some of them were far too obsessed with flying.

Which sounded like fun and all (there were exciting things like birds and bugs and storms in the sky, after all), but there was also plenty of other great stuff on the ground.

That said- Stygiath liked running. And Francesca needed the practice, if she was going to have a hope of keeping up with Stygiath, when her legs got even longer and more fantastic.

This course is boring, Stygiath noted. Just because she wanted to run didn't mean she wanted to run here, Let's run down to the lake instead.

She didn't see why it mattered where they ran, so long as they ran. And while she didn't especially want any of his siblings' coming along- maybe they'd whine less about their legs being sore tonight after some good splashing and filling their bellies with tasty fish. She was such a generous green.

She took off in that direction, not paying a moment's mind to her rider calling out for her to come back. Francesca would follow eventually, once she realized Stygiath was right (as she always was).

[emil]

//short and sweet ~ still recovering IRL. //

L'ysc of Blue Saturnath

For what it was worth, L'ysc hadn't done it. For once. In fact -- she wondered, increasingly, if her big-boy Blue would ever bother to open his little wings. On lazy nights, he intently watched Primrose as she spun and played at various heights -- but never quite imitated, save for a little tremble here and there. Was it longing, or trepidation? Saturnath was such a bulky beast; unlike his siblings, he quite preferred to stay touched down firmly, with all four feet to firmament. He instead spent his days charging about like a wild boar. In four short months, his dark body rapidly massed to a blocky shape reminiscent of a draughty herdbeast calf. His future was formidable, written deep in those marbled lines. The strange nubs upon his brow, formerly passed off as twisted headknobs, exposed their truth as the Blue doubled in size. A rapidly-growing rack of horn graced his kingly countenance, and none could truly say when or if the process would complete.

It wasn't some impossible task. She'd experienced worse punishments. Sure, it was seriously annoying . L'ysc chafed under the vast majority of orders. But she was getting quite used to chasing her rambunctious and even violent Blue all around the Weyr. Even if she often resented him for the repercussions. The physical endurance of the pair was certainly at its peak, and only growing as they trained. Like kittens, they sharpened their most deadly skills through play. In fact... .

"Hey Saturnath, shall we race them?!!?!" She yelled, grinning mischievously. The Blue roared in agreement, wishing to make a show of his own power. He was not always so agreeable, but -- the day was dark enough, in this rainy season, that he did not find himself squinting with rage at that blazing, bright-faced Rukbat. The pair were so alike in that regard, even if they often battled each other to the point that it worried the headmasters. The match was proper-made, bound by their equally-rough natures. Time would surely temper the blade.

L'ysc loved any chance to prove her athletic prowess. As Saturnath picked up a trot, she fairly darted from the place -- and hopefully passing as many of her classmates as possible. She set a punishing pace, heart racing with strange gladness as deep-Blue paws beat a rapid, heavy drum in pursuit. Saturnath was all joyful momentum as he flowed into a wild canter, tossing his head and bucking like a proud runner turned out to pasture after a hard day of pulling. He tore at the ground beneath, kicking up rocks without care. Unified happiness flowed between them. She felt the soft, sweet flow of water that hid beneath the surface of Saturnath's burning, pulsatile nature. For her benefit alone was this spring sequestered, drawn up from the seat of their special place in response to the breathless supplication of beating hearts. The sweet breath of Semacan winter, scent of petrichor and rain-blossoms and life, spurred the young buck and his charge onward, ever onward -- to glory!

[Dragon]

Honestly, it was chaos - which was just how Ren liked it. Velfryth was being stubborn, Stygiath was aimed at the lake, Saturnath was tearing everything up. Lumuth's whining was hardly a bother among all that.

Idly, Renkestuous wondered how he might make the situation more chaotic. There had to be a way, and one that didn't involve Lumuth starting a fight and getting herself hurt. It had been far too long since someone had laid out a dare for him; Ren did enjoy getting into mischief, and dares meant that he didn't have to come up with all the ideas.

Lumuth gave a gusty sigh and stretched slowly, looking around. She didn't honestly care what Renkestuous got up to most of the time, so long as it wasn't overly dangerous, but she would certainly prefer it if he didn't make things worse for her. If you do something that means I have to run more, I will bite you.

Renkestuous smiled warmly at his lovely green, the wheels turning in his head. There had to be something he could do - but with no time to prepare anything, and minimal time to think, he wasn't going to be able to get himself into too much trouble. Lumuth grudgingly started off on her run, and he moved with her, swooping down to grab a palm-sized rock and throw it straight up, as hard as he could.

[nineofswords]

H'tep of Croppa Zyadreth

CW: Threats of maiming

Why I should have to wai Zyadreth snarled. For once - blessedly - she wasn't trying to pick fights or order her siblings around, though, too intent on running as fast as she possibly could. Neither she nor H'tep knew who the guilty party was who had gotten them assigned this drudgery, which was good for the integrity of said weyrling's hide. Zyadreth found that channeling her anger into the effort it took to run felt like a better use of her precious time than digging her heels in over the assignment like some of her other siblings. Besides, she was trying to see if she could run fast enough to actually get some lift and come up off the ground. H'tep had given her the idea - "Like the sail of a ship," he'd pointed out, and she'd found it an enticing loophole - but so far she wasn't having any luck with it. My muscles are surely honed enough to bare my own weight. My power is undeniable, unquestionable. Fairness is no one's birthright, and it does my lower siblings a disservice to try and force the world to bend that way when it is not in its nature.

H'tep was running laps well behind her, knowing he had no hope whatsoever of keeping up with her at the breakneck speed she was going. He grinned. You're beautifully poetic when you're angry, he told her. She didn't seem to find his comment nearly as amusing as she did, not even bothering to give him a snort or a glare. She was already far too angry to register any further annoyance his petty commentary might cause.

She blasted around the course, not caring when some of her siblings were wandering elsewhere. She didn't much care for the lake idea, but she might deign to splash there later after she had proved her superiority over gravity, the ground, and the Weyrlingmasters in general. But as she neared the still stationary Velfryth, a fresh anger welled up in her, white-hot and indignant. Move, she ordered the blue, and it was clear by the weight of her tone that had she been gold, it would've been an order backed up by compulsion. As it was, the large dragon had no ability to force a command, but she had no qualms making her smaller sister a promise as she barrelled past: If you are still here when I return, I will part your tail from the rest of you. We will see how highly you think of yourself then.