Inspection and feeding.

[Kahvi]

S'mael walked among the herd-beasts while Fenrath stretched out over by the black lake. S'mael made it part of his routine to check the herd-beasts every few days while candidates were busy doing their chores... or supposed to be doing their chores at least.

This one looks okay... a little young though... This one is fine... Well, they all look healthy this time, love. I would recommend the herd-beast over by the front. Out of this bunch, they look to be the best for you... of course there are better ones, but we should reserve those for the golds. Ever since that bad bunch....

S'mael was worried in his own way. Fortunately he wasn't hungry at the time the meat was served and Fenrath had just eaten two days prior and wasn't hungry either. He was fouler tempered now that everything ran its course. Though to many it just seemed like him being his normal self only more so.

Not many would recognize it... but S'mael was worried. He didn't want something like that to happen again. Just like when he took over the candidate master position... that was a long time ago... He found it hard to hand over the position to someone else now. Especially now, when he could trust so few to do it even adequately by his standards.

You worry for what could be, more than what already is, rider-mine. You cannot change what happened.

S'mael turned around to look to where Fenrath was by the lake.
No, but I can try to prevent it from happening again.

[menta]

Ki'lair walked at his usual quick and rigid pace down to the feeding grounds, Alazrath flying overhead. So is anyone there already? the Wingthird asked his dragon. Candidate Master S'mael and his Fenrath. Good, he probably wouldn't be one to bother the pair too much while Alazrath fed. Since he'd coem to the Weyr he'd heard just aweful stories about the Candidate Master, but having worked with Weyrlings most of his life, he had great respect for anyone dealing with Candidates. For some reason working with the young folk had a tendancy to harden you.

Ki'lair walked up quietly to the gate of the feeding grounds and crossed his arm over his chest. He noticed S'mael was doing inspection of the Beasts. Hmm, Laz, you might want to ask Fenrath if its alright if we fed right now, and if there are any beasts we shouldn't take. Just to be polit. Alright.

Alazrath flicked his eyes towards the other Bronze and questioned him, Fenrath. Mine wonders, sicne we came here to feed, are there any certain beasts we should not take and should we return another time? The dragon asked politely, as his rider still waited by hte posts. Even though he could have easily shouted this over to S'mael, he usually found it much easier to communicate through his dragon, even if it was somewhat more time consuming.

[Kahvi]

Greetings Alazrath. Fenrath replied.
Rider-mine, Alazrath and his rider wish to know which beasts are suitable to eat.
S'mael, who noticed the dragon and rider circling overhead, thought back to Fenrath. Well, just like I told you. All of them are healthy from what I saw. The ones near the front side of the pen are good. The best ones are over by the lake, and we should save those for the golds. The ones over by the stable are still a bit too young for eating though.
I will tell Alazrath.

S'mael hopped over the fence that divided the feeding grounds from the main part of the weyr bowl, waiting to see which ones Alazrath would go for.

Alazrath, S'mael-mine says that the beasts near the front are good. The best ones are near the lake, but should be saved for Zhariath, Sharieth, and Amenth. And the beasts close to the stables are still a little young. All of them are healthy from what he can tell. Fenrath was starting to get a little peckish with all the talks of food. but decided to lay by the waters of the lake a little longer.

S'mael, on the other hand, looked straight up to Ki'lair and Alazrath. Waving as a signal to go ahead and feed. His inspection was over with, so there was no need to force a hungry dragon to wait a few more minutes.

[LyricalBlue]

A streak of green dragon zoomed by both bronze pairs and into the feeding pens, scattering the herd beasts every which way. Neth roared with delight, her brightly mottled wings buzzing like a hummingbird. She flitted back and forth before finally deciding on one of the largest, plumpest beasts. Which happened to be nearly as large as the half grown green dragon. She tore into it with mad delight, eyes whirling brightly red. Her wings still buzzed, mantling over the kill she was quite determined to protect from Alazrath and Fenrath. Though the weyrling could have easily made a meal herself for the much larger, fully grown bronzes.

A lanky boy came running toward the grounds, arms pinwheeling wildly.
"Neth! Neth! Neth you have to ask first!" He came to a halt next to S'mael and bent over panting, his klah hair, falling disheveled in front of his face."Sorry... sir..." He panted and stood up, fixing the stern Candidate Master with his winning-est grin. It wasn't too long ago that S'risan had graduated from S'mael's care. The young man looked up and noticed the other bronze and went pale.
Oh shards and shells Neth! Thats the Wingthird!

The little green glanced up a moment and growled at the large form of Alazrath before digging back into her kill.
He'd better not touch my food! Its mine!
NEEEEETTTTTTTHHHHHHH
S'risan glanced wildly from the Candidate Master to the Wingthird and he wanted desperately to crawl into some dark, deep cave. Oh he would never graduate now! And even if he did, they'd probably get a terrible wing assignment; the Weyrling groaned and shook his head.

[menta]

Greetings Fenrath. Alazrath formally greeted the other Bronze. we can take any of those. The Bronze told his rider, focusing on the group of herbeasts so that the Wingthird could se through his eyes. Alazrath circled a few time before diving into the group and pulling out a nice plump beast and proceeded to rip out its throat.

Ki'lair looked up, startled by someone new entering the feeding grounds. Being new he certainly didn't know everybody, but Laz did. S'risan and Neth. The dragon offered without prompt. Ki'lair jusy waited in his place to let S'mael handle the Weyrling.

[Kahvi]

With the sound of Neth zooming past, the unflappable S'mael looked up to the sun to check the time. "Hrumph, Neth's early today..." Weyrling lessons must have finished early if Neth was here so soon. Of course afterwards came the familiar sound of S'risan running behind. "Nothing can come between that dragon and its stomach... not even her rider's wishes" A warning about being too leniant when it comes to care and feeding. A few seconds later and it could have been possible that Alazrath had Neth in its clutches. S'mael knew that mistake, how ever rare a possiblity, was one that is not worth tempting.

"Worry not, S'risan. Neth should be fine... I finished checking the herdbeasts already." His eyes were not at S'risan at the moment though. He appeared to be staring straight through Neth. "However, perhaps a certain green scaled friend of yours would like to do some latrine duty with my candidates. I know they could use the help." The implied message was that he would say something to I'lsen about this incident. S'risan was a weyrling now, all S'mael could do is suggest what could be done and let I'lsen do the rest. No harm seemed to be done overall... with the exception of startling a few herdbeasts. "Fortunatly, Neth didn't cause a stampede."

Fenrath, seeing that now would be a good time to eat, took to the air and circled around. After a few minutes of being airborne, Fenrath came swooping down. The herdbeasts had no time to react as the bronze sunk its claws into a plump one and proceded to lift it up into the air. Taking its time, Fenrath landed nearby where it was resting earlier and proceded to feast on the meaty morsel. On occasion, the herdbeast would twitch slightly as Fenrath was eating. Aparently, Fenrath's meal didn't realise how dead it already was. Even with Fenrath munching on it.

[LyricalBlue]

S'risan blushed brightly red and twiddled his thumbs. How was it that S'mael seemed to intimidate every rider in the Weyr. The young Weyrling would hedge to bet that not even the goldriders messed with the surely Candidate Master. He nodded to S'mael's words, jittery and brightly flushed.
"Uh no sir, I'm sure she wouldn't like that sir."
He glanced up at the comment about a stampede and watched the herdbeasts milling around the pen, eyes rolling white. Well between her and the other two bronzes they certainly didn't seem far from it.

Neth looked up from her kill and bugled, buzzing her wings and as a whole totally unafraid of the males who were easily ten times her size. But of course being so little, she could hardly finish a beast her own size, though she had done a knock up job of most of it. Deciding in her usually fickle manner that the bronzes might be worth sharing with after all the little green crooned to Alazrath and then to Fenrath, inviting them to the kill she had moments before been guarding fiercely.
S'risan blushed even brighter, sure that this new display wasn't going to improve matters any further. Bronzes didn't fly greens... Especially greens with male riders. S'risan swallowed nervously and tried to smile. Oh my this was awkward.

[brimstone81]

((Maybe I'll take a little pressure off of S'risan, yet perhaps D'lon won't help.))
D'lon sauntered up, nodding to the bronzeriders and grinning friendly like to S'risan, who was in the same boat as him. Male weyrling greenrider. Women never took D'lon seriously, but he didn't think S'risan was old enough to talk to him about it. The lad looked around fourteen turns old. Maybe fifteen.

His little bottle-green dragon circled above, she had smelled the kill, and it was as if that triggered her hunger. Agreesivly she shreiked, plucking a medium sized beast up neatly, and a few feet away she started to feast. Tamurath was not going to share, either. She wasn't in the best of moods, but D'lon seemed to be her opposite, how strange . . . The rider smiled friendly-like, "And how are you lads doing this fine day, eh? I thought I would take a walk since Tami insisted that she just had to have a beast right away."

I needed food. You might not understand that, you skinny little man. The green said, her eyes whirling with mirth.

I am not . . . that skinny. Replied the rider, slight stung. He narrowed his eyes at her, but he was determined her moodiness would not get him down tonight! If he was going down tonight, it had better be with another person. He almost laughed at his juvenile mind-humor, but stopped himself, not wanting to look like a total fool in front of the other guys.

[menta]

((well i missed a little....lol))

Ki'lair watched silently as the events unfolded. Well S'mael was a little strict, that much was obvious now. He gave the Weyring Greenrider a quick nod in agknowledgement and then to the other newcomer. Hmm, the feeding grounds were getting crowded. Not thta it mattered. Alazrath was already brining down his second kill, sinking his teeth into the beasts throat and ripping into its flesh. mm, yummy. Ki'lair decided that he should possibly introduce himself. Asken had said he should try to meet more people.

"Hello." he called from the fence, "How are you all doing today." He asked, his feaures showing no emotion in this greeting. Alazrath just blinked and went back to his meal.

[Kahvi]

And another rider shows up for thier dragon's meal. "Greetings, D'lon." Even though he implied talking with I'lsen about the aparent recklessness of the greens, he made no motion to act on it yet. He was just watching the gore of the dragons feasting. All it took was too many dragons comming from the same direction to cause a stampede. Sometimes, the strangest thing can spook the beasts...

Fenrath, was finishing up his first herdbeast and decided he was hungrier than he thought.
Hmmm... perhaps I'll have another...
Heh, well wait a few minutes and come in from a different approach this time.
Fenrath took to the air once more, circling around until it seemed the herdbeasts were calm and unaware of his presence. Then diving down and snatching one before the others had even noticed his comming and lifting the beast up into the air. Fenrath decided to play a little with this one.

Rising quickly into the air, Fenrath let the bleating herdbeast go as he slowed down. The herdbeast was weightless as Fenrath turned to catch it in his mouth. The catch was successful, and broke the beast's neck at the same time. Satisfied, Fenrath circled and came down with the herdbeast in its mouth sideways. After landing back where he started by the lake, Fenrath ate once more.
Show off.
You still can't toss grapes into your mouth yet, love?
Hrumph. S'mael turned his attention back to what was happening with the other three riders nearby.

[brimstone81]

D'lon couldn't meet S'mael's eyes. It was impossible. The man gave him the willies. And the greenrider suspected that the man did not especially like him. Even as a candidate D'lon was kind of a prankster, and never was serious in his life-so very unlike the proddy rider. He almost laughed at his own thoughts. And furthered this thought by adding to his dragon, Sometimes, Tami, I think he's more proddy than you'll be in flight. That's enough, rider-mine. Don't you get too arrogant. He is Fenrath's. The bronzerider deserves respect despite his cool exterior. He was like your father when you didn't have your own. The green was not in a joking mood.

This thought, however, made D'lon uncomfortable. S'mael was like his father at times. He didn't think he ever saw the old Steward smile, and there were some definate disciplinary similarities. I can't wait until I graduate and I'll be done with all this 'Master' business.

[LyricalBlue]

Shifting from one foot to the other, S'risan sent a hopefull grin to D'lon when the older Weyrling showed up. D'lon was near to graduation and being a greenrider himself put the boy as close to an icon as S'risan would ever consider anyone. The young man batted his long lashes at D'lon, still grinning; he didn't want to look back at S'mael, if he did, S'risan felt his knees would start clattering they were shaking so hard. So instead it was a much better idea to flirt with D'lon a little.

At the arrival of Tamurath, Neth was once again mantling over her kill. Oh surely she would have been happy to share it with the bronzes, but the arrival of another green changed that mood rapidly. She watched the other green, litteraly her older sister, take down her own kill and it was only then that Neth turned rapidly whirling eyes back on her rider.
He is Tamurath's. I don't want Tamurath.
S'risan had to cover his mouth quickly to stifle a giggle.
No but that doesn't mean I can't have fun. Besides we're supposed to gain some experiance for Flights.
Neth considered this a few long moments before responding.
Well practice is alright, as long as she stays away from my kill S'risan was hard pressed to stifle another giggle and instead tried to smile winningly at D'lon.

[brimstone81]

D'lon looked at the youth. Was he batting his eyelashes at D'lon? The older greenrider grinned and playfully winked at S'risan. He'd rather flirt than make small talk. He walked over to stand next to S'risan. Smiling down at him, "You have a rather nice green, Neth, I believe Rathie told me. Exciting, don't you think? That no matter what we'll involved in flights." He folded his arms in front of him and then looked at his green, finishing up the beast and eyeing up another.

Not too much darling, you aren't as big as those bronzes so you don't have to compete with them She snorted in turn I am not competing. Will not compete. Any competition around here will be for me. D'lon chuckled, Yeah, sure.

[menta]

Ki'lair looked down as they ignored his greeting, but his face was more thankful than hurt. You done? He asked th bronze who in a large gulp finish tripping another beast of its flesh. For now. "Ok." He said softly allowed. Well perhaps he'd better go then, he didn't want to be in the middle of whatever was unfolding.

His large Bronze lifted off the ground gracefully and silently, even with is full belly and came over to his rider. Ki'lair nodded to the others, just as an instinctual agknowledgement and began to walk after his Bronze off of the feeding grounds.

[brimstone81]

((I forgot to put "hey" in D'lon's reply! I'll just make D'lon jump to conclusions.))

Och, said D'lon to his dragon, Is he uncomfortable around us? Implying D'lon and S'risan. Some men weren't comfortable with sexuality, but only one rider he met in the past two turns was openly uncomfortable around D'lon, and perhaps this guy wasn't. He was, after all a macho bronzerider. D'lon puffed out his chest a little further. Let him go. Even though, in reality it wasn't true, it made sense to D'lon, and in his mind he noted it. I'm eating. Stop talking. Ooooh. Still touchy, are we? Tamurath was like that sometimes, but more so the last few days. You eat your food and shut your muzzle D'lon giggled at the fact that he was baiting Tamurath. He usually never did and just did what she told him. The green looked up from her second beast right at the rider, and D'lon shivered, Sorry. I'll be quiet now. And she ate.