Herd Watching in the Snow (open!)

[Rust]

01.22.3189

It was just after the blizzard, and the herd still needed watching and tending. The sun was out, reflecting off what could have been bright, fresh snow if the animals weren't outside at the moment, trampling it all into an awkward brownish white.

On the other hand, the lack of bright white seemed like a good thing to Kogran, and it was the only good thing. It was too cold outside to be doing this herd tending stuff, and yet, here he was. It made sense; he was an apprentice, new to the weyr, and nobody else wanted to do this job. Not even him.

Bundled up, Kogran stared up at the sky. He knew he was supposed to get a dragon sometime in the future (if he was lucky, anyway!) but there was something horrifying about the things. It was worse when they fed, of course, but thankfully Kogran couldn't see any blood on the snow.

Then again, that might mean some dragon would be coming to feed any moment.

Well, at least nobody would see him scream? Then again it would have been nice to have some company....

Why did the herd need to be out in all this stupid snow anyway?

[farsing]

Just as it turned out, some dragon was on his way to go feed at that moment.

The lumbering hulk that was Phaetelth had dipped down from his ledge of his weyr, wings unfurling as he glided out over the Weyrbowl. It was nice to have a good stretch, the blizzard had kept the dragon locked away from the harsh cold, and shards, it was starting to get cramped in there. That, or it was a mild case of cabin fever. Dragons weren't meant to be cooped up for too long, they had wings and they were meant to fly. On this chipper day Phae found himself grateful for the lull in the storm, and he also found himself ravenously hungry. The bronze hung in the air, nearly still for a moment before he soared further towards the hunting grounds. A nice fat herd beast would be absolutely delicious.

You ought to go outside. J'ray frowned down at the mug of klah in his hand, looking up at the ceiling of the dining hall before downing another mouthful of the drink. And why would that be? You want me to freeze of a limb out there? J'ray wasn't going to be caught out in any blizzard, and although being tucked safely inside the Weyr was making him a bit punchy and on edge he would much rather deal with a bit of crazy than lose a hand, or a foot, or a whole leg. The snow is done falling. Come outside.

J'ray huffed, finishing the klah and pulling the heavy coat around him tighter before he finally gave into the bronze's wishes. If the blizzard was finished, this could be a nice breath of fresh air. The Weyr was crowded, especially with the gaggle of candidates coming in for the clutch on the sands. While J'ray's coat was thick herdbeast leather and lined with wild feline fur (probably one of the nicer things that J'ray owned), it did nothing to protect his head. His ears were a bright red from the chilly temperatures, but the cold didn't stop him from trudging through the snow. Unbeknownst to him he was following the path that someone had set before him, and before long he managed to catch sight of the young man standing there not too far away. J'ray, someone who had never been the least bit shy, sauntered right up next to the figure.

"You may not want to watch this." He didn't greet with a hello or introduction, but a bit of advice as Phaetelth stretched over the sky above, starting to circle the area in attempts to find the beast that looked the tastiest. "He's a brute, and messy. I swear he's just as bad as the day he walked off the Sands."

[Rust]

Unsurprisingly, it hadn't been long before there was a dragon in the sky. Kogran tore his eyes away from the herd to watch the bronze as it got closer. A bronze! He still couldn't help but feel small, in so many senses, around bronzes and golds. Not only were they massive, but there was that sense of power and prestige whenever he saw one.

It was also really hard to show the respect he was told to give the dragons and their riders when part of him wanted to scream and hide.

Tearing his eyes away from the bronze, Kogran looked first at the herd and then at the approaching man. Dragonrider? Kogran looked up again. Yeah, that made the most sense. He smiled at the rider just as he stopped.

The rider's words didn't comfort Kogran at all, though. Even though his face was red from the cold and wind, he paled just thinking about all the blood. He also took another quick glance up at the dragon (when did it get so close!?) before he adjusted himself so he was facing his visitor and not the mess about to happen.

"Thanks," Kogran said, smiling slightly. "I don't know how dragonriders deal with it!"

[farsing]

Perhaps it was a blessing that the candidate actually did turn away when he did instead of look on at what was about to happen. The bronze didn't wait much longer after his rider had spoken to begin toe process of picking out exactly which herdbeast would be suitable. Phaetelth was never a picky eater, but today he needed something large, the blizzard didn't leave much room for the dragon to go about and feed accordingly, so he was making up for that now. There was one beast on the heavier side, and really Phae wasn't about to let a good thing get out of sight just because, so he went for it. The dragon lunched down, claws pinning the herdbeast to the messy, snow-ridden ground before he snapped at the beast's head with his jaws.

Phaetelth was at least quite humane and decided to kill the thing early on. Hearing it scream would probably be quite distracting.

J'ray was calm, and rather blank-faced through what Phaetelth did. The rider was all too used to the bronze tearing into his meals, and although he had never been weak-stomached it did take a little bit of getting used to, at least in the beginning. He smiled at the boy nearby, chewing at the inside lining of his cheeks as he tossed around what he said for a moment.

"You become kind of desensitized about the whole thing. They're all messy in the beginning, so you tend to get an iron stomach soon. Afterwards it just becomes normal." True, and perhaps it was because of Phaetelth's messy ways that J'ray was rather stone-faced when it came to anything particularly gory. "Most of them are much cleaner than Phae, though. He's sloppy." He glanced briefly past the boy to the dragon, and sure enough the bronze was ripping the carcass open and snouting around, tearing up the flesh-bits that he found the most delicious.

"Pardon my forwardness, I figured some warning was better right off the bat than any formalities that would've dawdled on. Really I can't stand 'em anyways." J'ray had never been the most proper of dragonriders. "I'm J'ray." Simple and to the point, J'ray rather fancied that sort of approach most of the time.

[Rust]

Kogran was doing his best not to listen to the sounds behind him, but rather, what the dragonrider was telling him. A good conversation was what he really wanted anyway, so it shouldn't be hard, right? The sounds he could hear from the dragon behind him did seem gross enough, but... but they weren't too bad. He'd get used to it after enough time, he thought, if he was going to be tending the herd anyway. Plus... when dragons weren't in the sky, they were a bit less horrifying to watch. Some even lumbered and waddled awkwardly. How can waddling be scary?

After hearing J'ray's explanation, too, Kogran couldn't help but feel better. It was just too new to him! That's it!

"I'm Kogran, and it's no problem. Small talk is..." Kogran shrugged one shoulder to indicate that he felt similarly. Truth be told, Kogran liked any type of talk over none, but discussions about the weather and gossip were less interesting to him than stories of adventure and discussions on how to do interesting things.

He finished up the shrug with a, "Yeah." and a fast change of topic. "Hey! I haven't got to talk to lots of dragonriders since I was Searched. Is it a lot of fun? All I've heard about so far is the work."