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Over the Borderline


Date:  October 29, 2008
Places:  Igen's Weyrling Training Field and 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.

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Kassi's Note:  This is a backtimed scene and takes place when Luscinth
was of age to first be flying with K'avu.  It was fun!  First mounted 
flight is--Weyrlings are usually thrilled and I really enjoy that. :)  
Poor K'avu gets bad news about his straps, but has better things to 
think about by the end of the lesson.

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The Log:

Kassima stands with her back propped against her lifemate's green side.
She's tended to do that when a class isn't officially in progress since she
came back from the South; whether it's because she needs the support or to
humor her protective lifemate isn't quite clear. "Nay, just K'avu and
Luscinth today," she tells Lysseth. "Probably as well. Somebody living in a
high weyr complained t'me about the whooping and yelling Weyrlings do,
first time, so I asked him if'n he didn't yell even a little the first time
*he* did something exciting, and he turned the color of... well, anyway he
shut up about it. Fast."

"Would ya hurry it up, Lus?" K'avu, of course, is yelling in the direction
of his lifemate, still in the barracks, who was too engrossed in something
to have followed him towards the bowl. He's waving his arms about, but
looks excited nonetheless, as he peeks over his shoulder towards the
weyrlingmaster pair. "Jus' /leave/ it! Come on! We get ta fly today!"
Nearly bouncing on the balls of his heels, he waits impatiently as the
green finally emerges and they both hurry on over to stand before Kassima
and Lysseth, the teen with a big toothy grin on his face. "We're here!
Right..." He salutes, messy as always.

Kassima just eyes K'avu for a minute. The enthusiasm's infectuous, however,
and she's grinning--quickly suppressed!--despite herself as she returns a
sharp, crisp salute for the inevitable mess. "I wonder," she drawls.
"Whether, instead of flight, we should have a two-hour drill in proper
saluting...?" A long and drawn out pause ensues. "I don't think I could do
that t'Luscinth. But you will work on it, I trust." She casts an appraising
look over his young green. "You've got your straps ready for inspection,
aye? And they're so well-made they'd make F'lar himself weep with joy t'see
'em?"

Luscinth plops herself down before the pair, preening just a bit before
glancing down towards her lifemate, who was looking pale. "Salutin'?!"
K'avu's grin was definitely wiped away, too, but he quickly shakes his
head. "N-no ma'am! Er, Weyrlingmaster." There's just a tinge of pink from
embarrassment, though he looks up to his green as she stares down at him,
amused. "Yah, Lus really wants ta get me up there. We're ready an' all
that, ma--Weyrlingmaster." Around the green's neck are her freshly oiled
straps. Freshly oiled so that they might look better than they really are,
but Kav gives him a good yank with a proud grin on his face once again.
"It'll not only make 'im want ta cry, but ta bargain 'em off my Luscinth,
'm sure!" Well, they'll hold him up, at least...

"Work on the nay ma'aming, too. You're better about it than some of your
clutchmates." Kassima's having a harder time not grinning now. Lysseth
keeps her eyes steadily on her lifemate as Kassi leaves her side,
approaching Luscinth's to test the straps with tugs, touches, pulls, and a
disconcerting line between her brows after a minute. She steps back to once
again look over the younger female--and her accessory. "These," she finally
says, tilting a glance at K'avu, "are borderline. I can see the work you've
put into 'em, but by now they should pass for a full rider's except in
size. They *will* carry you... ach, shells, they'll do, *but*. I want you
t'start a new set tomorrow, aye? And keep at 'em until they're perfect."

K'avu knew some kind of compliment when he heard it. At least kept
remembering the Weyrlingmaster title instead of forgetting it completely.
He puffs up a bit, standing straighter, and gives a few bobs of his head.
"Will do, Weyrlingmaster." See! Perfect. He watches intently as Luscinth
keeps steady during the inspection, grinning all the while. "They're...
what?" There goes that grin all over again. Kav gapes a bit, looks to his
straps, and then to Kassima. Pout. "Shells an' shards an' Faranth's arse!
Er, sorry, ma'am... I ain't a gi--er, gotten used ta all the sewin' an'
work. I'll get ta 'nother set," he grumbles out at the end, crossing his
arms. But after the moment of sulking, he nods fiercely to her. "It'll hold
me up, 'm certain of it."

Another one of those *looks*, this time for the Return of the M-Word. "I'm
still terrible at sewing," Kassima says. "For whatever that's worth.
Straps, though, you have t'be a master at straps--one of m'best friends
flew in what we thought was the final Fall, aye? Thread ate through his
straps, and his leg, here--" The greenrider gestures at the place where a
man's leg would sit. "He got down to the ground without splattering
everywhere like a pancake, but imagine if'n the other bits weren't as
strong as they should be? I'm thinking of men like him when I'm so picky.
You *have* improved. You'll manage." And her nod, saying that, is as sharp
as his. "*Now*. Flight: 'tis just us, so it won't be much of a formation.
Mount up and position yourselves t'Lysseth's left as if'n *'twere* a
formation. Make sure of your airspace, and when I signal it... we'll hope
you don't splatter." A quick wink; she's not too worried, and she crosses
the field back to her lifemate to climb aboard.

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.

<*> K'avu listens to Kassima's words with at least a serious expression on
his face. He nods his head, once and stiffly and sighs. "I understand,
ma--" woops, that's right. He pauses, bites his tongue this time, and nods
again. "Weyrlingmaster. It ain't likely that Lus will let me fall but it
ain't something I'd like ta think 'bout." He pales at the thought, even.
Flying itself the first time was bad enough. Of course, his head snaps back
up and he beams. "Got it!" Turning to his lifemate, who was lounging
happily, he grabs his borderline straps and swings himself up into place,
making sure to strap in as good as possible, rechecking them with a few
tugs. Finally Luscinth gets up, stretching out each limb before she strides
over to a perfect position to the green's left, waiting with wings
half-spread.

<*> K'avu mounts Luscinth.

"Excellent placement," Kassima calls over--she criticized his straps, but
she'll praise what they do right. She waits for a small fair of
fire-lizards to finish crossing the Bowl overhead, and once they're gone
lifts and drops her hand in the signal to launch.

<*> 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.

<*> Luscinth rises up from the training field.

<*> Luscinth seems to glow just the slighest with some pride at what she
did right, but her wings were now a-quivering at the thought of taking to
the skies again. "Ya did good," K'avu tells his own lifemate with a pat,
though his amber eyes were stuck on Kassima for the signal. As soon as it's
given, he barely has the chance to prepare before Luscinth is springing
after the bigger green, flapping just a little bit more with the extra
weight, but not appearing to be hindered too much by her lanky rider.

<*> Lysseth beats her wings strongly to climb into cooler, wind-laced air.
At the point where the Bowl's rim scrapes the sky, she levels out to begin
the one circle they're going to fly today. None-too-quickly. She's capable
of faster flight--so is Luscinth, very likely, but Lyss keeps them to a
pace suited to taking it all in. Beneath them the people going about their
business on Weyr grounds have receded to moving specks, and they can see
the Lake as a mirror throwing bright, celestial blue back to the heavens
that gave it. "Welcome to flight!" Kassima yells, pitching her voice over
the singing wind.

<*> Luscinth tries to match every wing beat with Lysseth, though it was a
bit more of a struggle. Catching the winds she follows up and up! She
wasn't quite looking at the ground, having been up before but alone.
Instead, she was enjoying the feeling of being up with her lifemate. K'avu,
on the other hand, was being /loud/ in his excitement. He pumps his arms in
the sky for just a moment, letting out some very loud "Woooos!" Before he
leans forward to grab onto straps. He beams back towards Kassima, puffing
up just the slightest, only to get a glance at the ground at last. That
certainly clears most of the smug look on his face.

Kassima's ringing laughter carries at least as well as her shout did, and
so does her own, "Wooo!" Faranth--no wonder the people on the heights
complain! Not all of them mind, however. Two greens sunning together on a
wide ledge lift their head to warble to their passing sisters. A man
similarly sunning, wearing swim trunks, the first queen knows why he'd pick
a ledge for such a thing, waves lazily to them, and the watchdragon offers
a trumpet. Lysseth dips one wing a little, angling just-so-slightly
sideways. They're far enough from the edge of the bowl that her stomach
comes nowhere near scraping the stone, but she follows the curve of it
precisely. And there! They're over the feeding pens now. The herdbeasts
start running as the two shadows fall over them; the cloud of dust they
raise, easily visible from this height.

Lysseth> Luscinth senses that Lysseth suggests with a clear thread of
amusement, << Remind your rider what he said about your not letting him
fall, perhaps. >>

<*> Luscinth was at least making this an easy flight for her lifemate. He
did at least forget about the height issue for a moment to crow out a few
times. She trumpets back towards the greens, lifts her head up just a bit
more, and flicks the tip of her tail back at them as they dip to one side a
bit. K'avu swallows a lump in his throat, bobbing his head at the unspoken
reassurance, and letting his grip loosen just the slightest. "Yer doin'
great, Lus!" He finally calls loudly to his lifemate, whose eyes were
turned down on the beasts. "Ya can't eat /now/, either! Focus!"

Oh, it's hard to stay serious about these things when you can just picture
a Weyrling dropping out of formation to help herself to lunch with her
hapless rider still strapped to her neck. Kassima's shoulders hunch a
little; it's a good thing the distance and her flight jacket should hide
it. Maybe a good thing, for K'avu's sake, that the Training Field is once
again ahead of them. Lysseth furls her wings in a bit to drop altitude.
Once she's near enough to the ground, she backwings to lose her speed, and
lead them to a neat landing back where they began.

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.

Luscinth slows just slightly behind Lysseth, a barely there gap increasing
as her whirling eyes were stuck on the scattering beasts. But it didn't
take /that/ much effort to snap her attention forward again. With a beat of
her wing, she covers that slight distance again and goes gliding down
gracefully and gently towards the field with her lifemate relaxing more and
more as they lower to the ground. She lands with a gentle thump, wings
dropping but not folding back up for the moment. Rumbling warmly, she turns
her neck around to watch as K'avu unbuckles the straps. "No, no, that was
/great/, Lus! I ain't scared! No way!" Making sure to put a brave face on,
he slips down to the ground and stands up straight.

K'avu slides down Luscinth's side to the ground.

"You did well." That's the first thing Kassima says when they've both hit
the ground. "You both did very well! There'll be plenty of practice from
tomorrow on, and plenty of time t'get used to it. That first... 'tis
immense, isn't it?" Lysseth folds her wings in neatly against her sides,
rumbling to the newly-flown pair. "Tomorrow, we'll repeat this. For now you
should check her joints, wings, make sure all's well, and soak in the hot
springs when you're done. But d'you have aught you want t'be asking?"

Praise from Kassima is certainly making the color return to K'avu's face,
as well as making the lanky boy stand taller. He keeps a hand on Luscinth's
side as he beams proudly to the older greenrider. "Thanks, Weyrlingmaster!"
Not even a stutter, too! "It ain't something ta get used ta after that one
time," he admits with a bit of added color to his face. Luscinth follows
Lysseth's example after her, folding her wings. "Right. An'... have nothin'
fer me ta ask ya. Not anythin' that comes ta mind." He was already urging
Luscinth's wings back open to check her out, sidling up to her side and
running his hand over her.

Kassima beams right back at the young man and young green alike. "She
didn't let you fall," she reminds. There's maybe just a little tease in
that. "And the straps did hold you up. All right, class dismissed, you can
go when you're ready. Don't forget: new straps. These will do for the
lessons 'til they're finished."

"An' she probably won't ever," K'avu says with a chuckle as he slaps a hand
against Luscinth's shoulder. Not too hard because of the worked out
muscles. "Thank ya, Weyrlingmaster," he calls out to her just as he ducks
under the green's wind after they were dismissed. There he makes a face at
the mention of his straps having to be redone. "Right. I'll get ta that
right away!" Sure... well, there'll be a new set, eventually.

"Nay if'n she can help it," Kassima agrees. "You're welcome--and I trust
you will. 'Twill check on your progress three days from now, shall I?" And
on that ominous parting note she strides for the Barracks to meet up with
some other poor soul, while Lysseth's rumble has a suspicious resemblance
to laughter.