Testing New Boundaries

[Tealah]

The roar of waves and the crying of sea birds obscured the sounds of passage of the lone figure walking the beach. The smell of salt and seaweed was thick in the air; sand squeaked beneath bare feet. The bright sun gleamed on the figure's copper braid, and on the gold hide of the young firelizard on her shoulder.

Arysa stopped to breath in the scent of that sea air, reveling in the sun. With gold Maya on her shoulder, she felt a lot more confident with walking alone outside the Weyr. Being the older sister of a master harper certainly had it's perks - only days after her green Breni had hatched, a trader had shown up at the Weyr with the gift of another egg from her youngest brother. It had hatched not long after and she'd been able to Impress to the bright gold. Which was wonderful, since the cheerful Breni had been an utter failure as far as training her to see for Arysa went. She was simply too flirtatious and easily distracted to stay for long on Arysa's shoulder, as Maya was doing now.

Now, although Arysa still carried her walking stick just in case, she didn't need to sweep it in front of her to warn of obstacles or treacherous footing, and she didn't need to walk with that halting, cautious step that annoyed her so much. She still stumbled occasionally, but mostly she managed just fine with Maya to warn her and guide her. It was certainly a nice change. And to be able to enjoy such fine weather on the beach without someone clutching her arm like she was going to break to pieces if she stepped wrong!

On her shoulder, Maya gave a happy trill to see that Hers was enjoying herself so much. Arysa laughed aloud and reached up to rub the gold's head. Maya obligingly lowered her head and sent a mental picture of just exactly where would be best to scratch, eliciting another amused chuckle from the harper.

Ah, it was such a nice day out. More of the Weyrfolk should be up and about out here, it would raise their spirits considerably, in her opinion.

[thewicked]

The rich warmth of the sun's strong rays poured down over the sandy cove, warming both sand and spirits. The constant sound of the waves crashing on the shores was enough to lull even Delano into a light snooze. Stretched out across the sand, Delano rested his head on his rolled up hide-leather jacket which he propped against a stone jutting out of the sand like a lone talon. He had needed this peace and quiet. It was difficult being cooped up in the Weyr for any amount of time, seeing as he despised everyone in it.

Laidon, his bronze firelizard, curled up in the crook of his arm, wheezing slightly from the awkward angle of his neck. Meanwhile, a little more restless, Milz, one of his brown flitts, sat in a small tide pool, chewing on a few barnacles stuck to the rocks. Lethe, Sagitta, and Malt were on the prowl for something a bit more edible, and they circled around the cove, watching for signs of any fish and diving into the water when one was spotted. They were pretty good when it came to sharing the food. Each would take its turn when a fish was spotted, communicating to the one who was next to make the dive.

[Tealah]

So where was Breni while Arysa and Maya were enjoining their sun-soaked walk? Why, working her way down the beach, pouncing on and consequently gobbling up fingertails and spiderclaws, of course. She was an enthusiastic, if not completely talented, hunter and her hunger was quickly assuaged.

But what was that? She sat up quickly, pounced-upon spiderclaw forgotten, when she caught the faint rasp of teeth on something hard. Was that... a brown? It was! Oh, what fun! With a chirp of happiness, she popped in and out of between to the brown's side. Oblivious to any potential hostility that might arise from her abrupt appearance, the green chirruped and fluttered her wings coyly.

Oh and look! Another two-legger! Chittering excitedly, Breni performed the mental equivalent of tapping Maya on the shoulder. Look! Interesting! Fun! Accompanying her joyous thoughts was a - somewhat vague - picture of the two-legger, who seemed to be sleeping. In return she received the gold's acknowledgement and amusement. What luck that she and Maya had both Impressed to music-making-happy-Arysa, she was so much more fun than other bossy-haughty-nose-in-the-air golds.

Arysa was startled when Maya chirped in her ear, tugging at her hair gently. "What is it, Maya-love?" The gold chittered and clicked and sent a wash of interest-fun-Breni-flirting-happy-let'sgosee, and a rather distorted view of someone sleeping on the beach. Arysa blinked. She'd gotten adept pretty quickly at following Maya's simple directional sendings, but this was a little complicated. She meticulously sorted all the emotions and pictures the flit had sent, and it seemed to boil down to one thing: Breni had found another person sleeping on the beach with some firelizards, and Maya wanted her to go see. "Sure, all right. Why not?"

With Maya's cheerful directions, the harper started down the beach toward the other person.

[thewicked]

The brown firelizard dug his claws into the crustacean and scratched at it as best he could. The barnacle was stuck tight though. Milz paced back and forth, eyeing the strange, smelly thing, getting a bit irritated. He then opened up his little maw and clamped his teeth around the barnacle. Tugging and chewing, the barnacle finally dislodged and bounced on the rocks, falling into the sand. Darting after his treasure, Milz, not expecting Breni to pop out right beside him from between, tried to dodge her at the last moment and ended up clipping the rock with his left wing and plummeting a short distance to the sandy beach. A little dazed and incredibly shocked by the other flitt, Milz staggered to a small crack in the rock and tried futilely to squish himself into it. He chirruped, sending a fearful message to Delano.

Delano started at the sudden sign of fear in one of his firelizards. He jerked awake, sending poor Laidon flying into the sand. Delano sent a quick apology to the disgruntled bronze who flicked out his tongue in disapproval. Delano leapt to his feet, calling to Milz, trying to locate the little, clumsy brown. His eyes roved around the beach but it wasn't the brown flitt they spotted. Approaching him from a little ways down the beach was a young woman. He couldn't make out much more than her long braided hair. Delano was a bit hesitant, but stayed in his place, Laidon alighting on his shoulder, and chirping his own suspicions in Delano's ear.

[Tealah]

Breni was a little startled at the other lizard's... startlement, but she recovered quickly. She fluttered over to the brown, who seemed to be trying to hide himself in a much-too-small crack. What an odd brown, he was. But, he was still a brown and so Breni continued chirruping and chirping in a friendly and flirty manner as she stuck her piney-green snout in his face. A sort of hello-hello-I-see-you sort of greeting.

Arysa, having making her way closer with Maya's helpful guidance, stopped a few feet away from the stranger at a tap of the gold's claw on her ear. "Hello," she said in the general direction of Maya's interest. The way the gold was regarding the stranger assured her that the man was more than likely awake now so there would be no awkward talking to herself, and the glimpse she'd been given hadn't really looked like anyone she knew so Arysa introduced herself. "I'm Arysa, Weyrharper. Beautiful day, is it not?"

She tilted her head expectantly for a reply. The slight smile on her face, the polite interest with which she gazed, the small talk all would have seemed perfectly normal, had her gaze not in fact been fixed somewhere in the vicinity of the man's left shoulder, rather than his face.

Maya added a welcoming trill of her own to the bronze, her eyes whirling a curious and friendly blue-green.

[thewicked]

Milz cowered near the little crack in the rock, afraid of this new firelizard. Although Breni was being very sociable and not aggressive in the slightest, Milz was terrified. It was Sagitta that responded first to Milz plead for help. Sagitta, the cobalt blue firelizard made a few lazy circles above Breni and Milz before settling on a rock above Milz. Saggitta proceeded to flex his wings in front of the green before a series of chastising chirps erupted towards Milz for being so scared of a harmless green. Sagitta then leapt from the rock to beside Breni, chirping his welcome. Milz slinked away from his refuge and sped down the sandy beach to claw fearfully at Delano's leg, whimpering slightly.

Delano looked upon Arysa with suspicion, wondering what she was staring so intently at on his shoulder. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, feeling awkward under her intense gaze. "I am Delano. I work as a runnerbeast handler at the Weyr. You probably don't recognize me because I was just taken here less than a week ago," Delano announced, regarding this girl with interest. There was something... strange about her. He couldn't quite place it, but whatever it was it made him uneasy. "The weather's decent, yah... " he responded awkwardly. His social skills were still lacking when it came to small talk, but he was trying to improve.

Laidon tilted his head slightly to one side as he regarded the brilliantly glowing gold. He had grown up only knowing his own flock, so meeting a new firelizard was rare and startling for him. Of course, when he first came to the Weyr he was overwhelmed by the huge numbers of flitts skirting about. As intimidating as it was for the majority of his flock, he found it very intriguing. But he was also very defensive of his little group and wasn't very appreciative when flitts came to meet them. But since there was only one firelizard perched on this newcomer's shoulder, he remained fairly relaxed. His eyes whirled with interest but were shadowed with caution.