[ORP] I Thought Camping Was Fun?

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Stretching wasn't really helping. No matter what S'lvar tried there didn't seem to be a way to ease his sore muscles. Recareth didn't seem to be as bothered. The dragon had shuffled around for a fair while the night before until he had a suitable space to lie in. It had taken enough time. The odd rock here, stick there, uneven ground. These were all things that Recareth had to deal with before he was comfortable enough to sleep through the night. S'lvar had waited, in the dark, for his dragon to be ready. There wasn't anything else he could do. They'd spent so long finding enough food that it had been too dark to set up a camp by the time they were finished. Once Recareth was settled the young man had climbed onto his dragon. It had been more comfortable than the floor, and warmer. Unfortunately the night's chill had still worked into his bones and S'lvar had woken up in a tight ball, his body complaining about the sleeping arrangement.

They needed to join back up with the rest of the class. At least they only had to do this part alone. Daytime they were allowed to travel together. At least he didn't have to worry about them getting lost alone to the list. S'lvar found himself thinking, not for the first time, how much easier this would be if Recareth could between.  

[TawnyAngel]

Well, I feel great!

"Ha, well good for you then!" L'ux snorted and hurled his rolled up blanket at his blue as a wry grin curved his lips. "I swear I'm nearly hungry enough to eat you so be careful!"

Oh no! I'm doomed! Cochith tried to whine along with the dramatic pronouncement but it came out as a strangled bugle of amusement as he hid behind one of his wings. But really, he peeked out again and chirped, I think you did pretty well, I mean, other than not finding any food.

"Ha! Minor detail right?" L'ux grinned a bit more as he said that though because he was actually pretty proud of the camp he'd made for them, he'd got a good night's sleep, but he definitely shouldn't have spent as long on it as he had. Shelter was more important than food though right? L'ux stomach growled a vote against that notion but he decided to ignore it.

"C'mon," L'ux patted his dragon's shoulder companionably, "let's go see how everyone else did, and if anyone asks I definitely caught myself a nice fish and had it with wild greens." He probably wouldn't actually bother lying but it was funny to joke about, leastways he thought it was.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Recareth spotted Cochith and L'ux first, giving a welcoming rumble. S'lvar had been shifting a strap on the blue's shoulder after he had said it was irritating him. The darn thing had managed to get twisted, so S'lvar had to find where the twist started so he could undo it instead of just twisting it further. Looking up briefly he held a hand up in greeting. Once the strap was finished he slid back down to the ground with a thump.

"So how'd your night go?" He tried to ask it casually, and hoped that L'ux wouldn't notice the bags under his eyes or the way that S'lvar just generally looked like he'd had a rough night. Recareth looked as impassive as ever. How he had ended up with such a composed dragon, S'lvar would never really know. Even as the thought crossed his mind he felt the brush of love from his dragon. There was a sentimental side to Recareth, even if he seldom showed it.

You look well, Cochith. Recareth spoke to his smaller brother. He liked to check in on his siblings almost constantly, and had spent no small part of this exercise wondering how they were all doing.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once he finished packing up his camp and strapping his things onto Contrarath’s harness, S’yn stretched luxuriantly and smirked up at his blue. Their camp had been good and their haul of food even better, and such a successful night away from the Weyr - away from the other weyrlings and with a bit of privacy again after so many months - had been nothing short of wonderful. Did it have to end? ...hopefully they’d come on more camping field trips in the near future. “What do you think? Should we rejoin the others now, or drag our feet a bit longer?”

Contrarath hummed, contemplated the thought briefly before nodding his head. Yes, I think we should rejoin them, he stated, stubbornly suppressing a wheeze as he straightened back up and just as stubbornly ignoring the wave of worry and guilt he felt from his rider through their bond. Neither wanted to talk about let alone think about his slowly worsening symptoms, and so both halves of the pair pretended they didn’t exist a while longer.

“Alright then,” S’yn said as he pulled out a small sack from a larger pack strapped to Contrarath’s harness, and started walking back towards where they were supposed to meet the others. As he walked he occasionally popped a couple nuts or berries into his mouth from the whole bag of them he’d managed to find the night before. Contrarath followed a ways after him, and idly wondered which of his clutchmates would’ve returned first.

They didn’t have to wonder long; Recareth and Cochith came into view first, and S’yn lifted an arm to wave as he approached. “Morning! How’re you both today?” He called out, hastening his steps a bit to reach them quicker. Contrarath did not; in fact his steps slowed before he stopped a good distance away from his clutchmates, seemingly just because he felt like it.

Certainly not because he worried about possibly infecting them, too.

Good morning Recareth, Cochith. How did you and yours sleep last night?  

[TawnyAngel]

Morning Recareth, I feel well! Cochith chirped cheerfully as he trotted over to greet his clutchmate. How're you, did it go alright?

"Mornin' S'lvar," L'ux grinned and shrugged as he sauntered over, by the looks of it he wasn't the only one who hadn't had a perfect time of it! "Went alright thanks, went alright, except- Oh, hey S'yn!" L'ux waved back at the other weyrling, who was actually looking pretty chipper. "I was just telling S'lvar about my definitely amazing camping efforts. Definitely didn't spend so long making Hold Awesome out of branches that I run out of time to look for food or nothing like that."

Morning Contrarath! Cochith hummed cheerfully, his eyes whirling a little with amusement at L'ux description of their evening. I slept well thank you, and I managed to get food for myself too.

"Yeah yeah, rub it in why don't you." L'ux punched his dragon lightly on the shoulder and winked up at him. "But, what about you two? Amazing success all round?"  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Recareth hummed pleasantly, leaning down to nudge his shorter brother. I am alright. It was... acceptable. Sleeping without a camp as a dragon wasn't as difficult as sleeping without a camp was for a human, but he was aware of S'lvar's discomfort throughout the night.

S'lvar for his part was at least managing to smile as he listened to L'ux. It had taken a fair amount of effort for him to be comfortable with his classmates, his childhood trait of being alone hindering him. It hadn't been a natural move for him to interact with them. Recareth wasn't the kind of dragon to drag him into that either, so it was all S'lvar that had to make the push.

He'd finally gotten to the point where S'yn's appearance didn't make him at all uncomfortable. The young man reached up to wave back at the other blue rider with an easy smile. He laughed at L'ux's description of his evening. "Hey, we should have teamed up. We spent so long getting food together it was too dark to make a camp. Had to sleep on Recareth just to not be sleeping on the ground."

Recareth rumbled once again. Sleep was difficult to achieve, but once I had made myself a suitable wallow I was able to get to sleep. S'lvar is quite sore this morning.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Unlike his dragon, S’yn had no qualms hanging around the other weyrlings in close proximity, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the pair of them. One spent too long on his camp and so didn’t have time to get food, while the other spent too long finding food and so didn’t have time to make camp. Maybe they should have teamed up. Perhaps the Weyrlingmaster would let the whole class go on paired camping trips in the future? “Yeah, it sounds like you guys should’ve,” he agreed with a bit of a wince. “Maybe we can ask about camping in pairs or small groups some other time or something? I could teach you guys a few things if you’d like.” And what better way for them to learn than by having them do all the work themselves!

“Amazing success is a good way to put it though,” he went on with a sly smirk, and popped a few more nuts into his mouth. After swallowing he went on, “I got my camp set up just fine and we both got plenty of food. I even foraged enough to snack on today, too.” As if to emphasize this point, he popped a few more nuts and a berry or two into his mouth, feeling rather smug about how well he and Contrarath had both done… although not so smug that he didn’t hold his bag of snacks out to L’ux a moment or two later and waggled it a bit in a silent offering to share.

Contrarath hummed as he settled himself down comfortably. That is good to hear, I’m glad you both slept well once you managed to fall asleep. S’yn and I both ate and slept very well, if he hasn’t already made that quite obvious.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Heh, bad luck S'lvar!" L'ux grinned at his comrade's misfortune, but not any more than he had at his own. "I don't see what the point in splitting us all up is anyway, it's not like we're ever going to have to do something like that right? Probably meant to be," he made quotes in the air and rolled his eyes as he said; "character building. We should definitely ask about teams or something yeah, riders are meant to work together and that right?"

Teach them some things? Hu, S'yn had been a trader or something he guessed so it made sense that he'd have some skills in getting by on the road. As S'yn produced his snack L'ux laughed; "You jammy b*****d!" and took him up on the unspoken offer of a share of the bounty. "So," he munched on a couple of nuts, "you've done this kind of thing before I guess?"

Aww, well, I hope he loosens up soon - a walk's probably good for that right? Cochith chirped cheerfully, and then gave a huff of amusement at Contrarath's observation. He did make it pretty clear, but considering how well our riders did he deserves to be proud.