Tall, Dark and Mildly Confused. (Open)

[silver]

If there was one thing that Khorshath liked better than eating herdbeasts, it was being admired. Of course, the daily inspection wasn't actually being admired but it was close enough for the bronze. His rider paced around him, one hand rubbing absently at the scruff along his chin. A'miri paused in his inspection to stare up at the dark bronze dragon. Khorshath arched his neck to look bemusedly down at the man.
"If I didn't know better, I would swear you were still growing. Those straps are far too tight."

I seem the same to me.
The dragon spread his wings diligently and swung his large head from side to side to inspect himself. After all, the best person to do the admiring really was himself. Well, other than A'miri of course, his rider was better at pointing out the good parts.

The dark haired rider dropped his hand from scratching at his chin and bid the bronze to crouch down with a flick of his hand, he then went back to tugging at the straps to see if he could get the harness to lie correctly.
"Well... We did go swimming yesterday, perhaps the straps shrunk some then. You didn't exactly wait for me to pull them off."

The bronze wingsails rustled as the dragon folded them back against his sides and his eyes whirled as he looked plaintively down at his rider.
The water was warm and between is so cold. Waiting is hard.
A'miri found himself chuckling despite himself and reached up to pull off the harness. He slung the straps in a bundle over his shoulder and sighed. It was time to go visit the leatherworker again to see if he could get these adjusted again.
"Well my dear, it looks like you need another set of straps. Hopefully they won't threaten to take it out of my hide again."

At the dragon's sudden bristling and posturing, A'miri chuckled once again and patted the bronze's arm.
"I don't mean it my dear. They wouldn't dare with you around." Khorshath rustled his wings and snorted in derision.
Good, no one will harm you while I am around.
A'miri grinned, teeth flashing and shifted the straps to his other shoulder with a grunt.

[Marnark]

A'lez had been leaning on a tree for a few hours, doing just as little as he could possibly get away with for the moment. Physically anyway. His mind was churning along as always, thinking on matters of the Weyr and matters of his wing. A stick was just about used up from whittling, though the edge of his blade was barely marred from the use. Scratching one ear he watched idly as A'miri did his weird stalking around his dragon maneuver before tinkering with the harness for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

Finally, A'lez got off the trunk he was leaning on, and started over, tossing the whittled stick off to one side with little regard to where it landed in the leaf litter. Tucking the knife back into its sheathe at his hip, it was short order before A'lez arrived near where the other bronzerider was standing.

"Getting ready for a beauty competition?" He asked in a rather flat tone that did not reveal that he was merely poking at A'miri. He tucked his thumbs into his belt as he looked up at the bronze dragon. "Good afternoon, Khorshath." He greeted amiably, before looking over at A'miri again with lifted brows. "Feeling puny today?"

Okay, maybe he should lay off with the torment a little. Or ... maybe not. A'lez was in a strange mood that day. "How's he flying today?" He asked of A'miri with a touch more seriousness.

[silver]

At the sound of his Wingleader's voice, A'miri bristled automatically. The dark haired strip of a man turned his head around to regard A'lez rather coolly. Beauty competition indeed, with Khorshath around that was no contest. The sense of profound amusement floated between the dragon's connection to his rider.
"No, Wingleader. Khor's straps are tight again. He seems to have it stuck in his head to keep growing even yet. And... puny?"

A'miri arched one near black eyebrow as he shifted the straps over his shoulder once more. What exactly did A'lez mean by that? Khorshath in the mean time, was more than happy to pose and he arched his neck prettily for their Wingleader's appraisal. It was safe to say that the bronze's favorite time of day was when someone was staring at him for any extended length of time.
You may tell him I always fly very well. I can fly as well as any in this Weyr.

The Wingsecond chuckled and patted the bronze's foreleg absently, glancing up at the dragon before looking back to A'lez. "He flew well, still thinks the greens should always be in front of him though." The dark wings of his brows lifted with amusement and a small smirk graced his face. "That and he seems to think he can out fly Aerith or somewhat."
That... is not...
True though, dear.

The bronze dragon snorted and rustled his wings, rumbling amusedly. Greens were nice to look at, they weren't really what he was interested in though. Too quick and flighty, they were frustrating little things. Especially when they wiggled... They loved to wiggle. Khorshath snorted once more and decided to go back to posing. After all, he would hate to disappoint his Wingleader, Neinoth would be cross if he did.

[Marnark]

It was amusing to see A'miri's reaction to the sound of his voice. Almost as if someone had taken a stick and run it down the lad's spine to make a brrrrrrrraappp sound on his vertebrae. A'lez smirked slightly, and shook his head just a touch. "Bronze dragons never stop growing. I suppose they skipped that in weyrling lessons for your class, hey? Minute differences, true. But true none the less. Just the same as any other male creature. You're still growing too, you know. By the time you get old, you'll have a huge nose." He gave a very serious nod, before grinning again and looking up at the Bronze's posturing antics.

Sorry, but he was biased. No dragon, much less a Bronze, could ever measure up to his own Neinoth. But then ... yeah. No. He was biased. He knew that, and wasn't ashamed of it. Neinoth was his life. Nice dragon anyway, though.

"Yeah. Puny." He flicked a hand at the straps his second was apparently struggling under. Considering how often he was adjusting them on his shoulder, or from shoulder to shoulder. Then he looked at A'miri and grinned again, making it plain he really was just teasing. "Too heavy, then? Try adding a few adjustment buckles to the main girth. But ... that will also add about ten pounds to the weight ..." He nodded. "Should solve the too tight issue though."

A'lez couldn't help but chuckle and shrug at the mention of the Queen. "Aeriath seems to think otherwise, obviously." Neinoth was still sore over losing that flight, too. So A'lez carefully didn't bring it up ... or the queen ... and lately even mentioning Zorometh was taking his sanity in his hands. "But, all that aside, greens is about the only fare he's going to have for quite awhile." Truthfully, given how many turns had been passing between flights ... A'lez was not looking for another Queenflight until maybe seven or eight turns from now. Or, maybe sooner if that hatchling gold survived weyrlinghood. But even that was a good three, four turns out. The bronzes would have monochromatic fare till then.

"I was more interested, actually, to know how he performed through some of those new maneuvers I was talking about yesterday. Or did you not try them out? Straps too tight for mobility?" A'lez asked, with a touch more seriousness than he'd had previously. Some of the proposed ideas were a touch on the difficult side for dragons as big as Bronzes ... more suited to smaller dragons. But agility was not something to be scorned by the bigger fellows.

[silver]

A veritable storm cloud passed over the young rider's face. Why oh why did A'lez always have to tease him? The man had a seriously twisted sense of humor and the look that the Wingsecond gave his senior was that of a cat that had just been drenched. A'miri resisted the urge to reach up and feel his nose, a growing nose... As he peered at the Wingleader with disbelieving eyes, he couldn't decide if A'lez was poking fun at him again or not. But, the younger bronze rider was not without his own barbs and after a moment he returned the smirk with one of his own.
"Good for me that your nose will be larger old man."

As A'lez turned the conversation back to the issue at hand, A'miri turned his head to survey his still posturing bronze. Khoshath was long and lithe, but he didn't have the broadness or sheer muscular power that some of those of his color were known to sport. Even so, he was a far cry from a little green for whom weight could very possibly become a real problem.
"No, I'm not worried about weight. But the belly straps rub up against his wing joints, hes not fond of that on a tight turn. Thats a good idea though, I could let those out further if I need to and that might take the pressure off that belly strap." Of course, that meant A'miri would be hauling around ten more pounds of straps. Ah well, most of the other riders poked fun at his thin frame anyway. Like dragon, like rider he supposed; neither he, nor Khor showed any sort of impressive musculature bulk.

When the conversation turned to Queenflights, the dark haired rider found himself growing introspective, simply listening to the Wingleader for a time. Dragonkind was far, far too few. No longer did thousands take to the skies in Pern's defense. Less than a handful of Queens ruled the Weyrs, and gone were the days of clutches of thirty or more. The black wings that made up A'miri's eyebrows knit together as he thought. That was one thing he couldn't fix. As willing as his bronze was... There was simply nothing he could do to influence the Queens, other that give them the flight of their lives. And now that Khor was old enough, they planned to do that at every opportunity as few and far between as they were.
"Khor... Is not exactly the biggest fan of greens."

Luckily though, A'lez changed the direction of the conversation once again and A'miri visibly sagged in relief. Now maneuvers were one thing he could talk freely about, no politics there and the Wingsecond turned his agile mind to the subject. "Oh we tried them, several times. That one wingover is still giving us some trouble, with Khor's long wings, he has to really watch. I don't think I'll ever figure out how they know exactly where they are all the time. That belly strap cuts the forward motion of his wings, hes not too fond of that, but maybe those adjustments will help. And... I would like to work on some more long flights. I'm concerned that with Khor's size, he might not have the same stamina as Neinoth or Zorometh."

Of course that admission in and of itself was saying something for the proud man and the bronze dragon next to him tilted his head in question. But then, even A'miri wouldn't put safety above his own pride. And if Khorshath couldn't keep up because of his failure, well that was even worse. Especially if it came to a Gold Flight... or putting another in the wing in peril because of his in-admission to grow. So A'miri ran a hand through his spiky hair and watched his Wingleader, heavy brows still draw together in thought.

[Marnark]

A'lez chuckled freely, and shrugged. "Big noses look good on some people." He answered. "You just keep an eye on the ears. They're sneaky, and sometimes they get long and wobbly. Almost like wings." His grin grew a little bit more, and then he laughed again. A'miri was too much fun to poke at, but really ... he needed to rein it in a little. The kid looked a tad discomfited. A'lez reached over and patted him on the shoulder in a comradely fashion.

A'lez listened to the other Bronzer talk for a moment, considering the Bronze before him as he did so. He did not interrupt, hearing his second out until he was done talking. "Well, first I have to ask why you're using a belly strap at all." A'lez offered. "Even if you drop the fastening point to somewhere below your feet, it won't work well. Up high, it interferes with the wings as you say. It does this even for greens. But shifting it down low makes it chafe against the front leg and limits mobility there." A'lez offered a shrug. "I just removed it entirely. The neckridges work well enough to keep you from sliding around if you fly well enough. Meaning like something other than a sack of taters up there." He gestured at the place in the dragon's neck where a rider sat before shooting a look over at A'miri. "Make sure the neck strap is snug enough that it doesn't slide and you should be good. Save you two thirds of your harness weight, too." A'lez nodded. He himself rode with only a neck strap, as long ago he'd failed to see the point in all that extra leather ... not to mention always having to oil and care for those chafing areas. But then, he was also a very good rider in the riding aspect of dragon-riding. There were times he and Neinoth went without harness ... but never for drills. He tried to not do it too often, lest he give the younger riders the wrong idea and them get hurt cause of it.

"Most Bronzes don't really like greens, no. But they're better than nothing. Though I do have to say most greens aren't terribly fond of bronzes either..." There was a rather substantial size difference there, after all ... A'lez only offered a small shrug. Life was life. Not much anyone could do to get around it.

He was quite pleased to listen to the answers to his maneuvers question, however. He watched A'miri with interest as he got a touch more animated in his speech patterns. A'lez nodded occasionally as he listened, waiting until A'miri was done. "Excellent. Well, for the wing over, have him tuck them in. There's no point in having the wings fully extended for that, and you'll find you'll even turn over faster with the wings in rather than out. Have him practice twisting his tail, too. Those ridges count for something when it comes to steering. For the rest of that ... get you a harness without a belly band and give it a try before you modify your harness. See if that doesn't help a lot." A'lez suggested in all due seriousness. He fell silent for a moment, before nodding again a tad more shallowly as he tucked his hands into his pockets. "I see. Well ... Neinoth has an endurance run that he does at dawn. Would Khor be interested in going with him?" A'lez offered. Neinoth had his reasons of course ... the most prominent one being Aeriath.

[silver]

Once again the younger bronzerider found himself eying his elder dubiously. Sometimes he really debated pulling a prank or ten on his Wingleader. The man was in some sort of perpetually good mood. And more often than not, A'miri was the one that got teased.
Well... We are very good looking. If they tease you it is only because they are jealous.
Sometimes it was hard to argue with dragon logic. A'miri simply shrugged helplessly and began to debate weather some pink dye or some slow brewed numbweed would be the best addition to A'lez's weyr.

Luckily, the Wingleader did change the conversation back to work and thoughts of mischief and mayhem were forestalled for the moment. No belly strap... Well that made sense in several ways, however it also really drastically reduced safety aloft. Not that A'miri was worried about that, Khorshath would never let him fall unintentionally and besides, they spent a ton of time on catching practice. With so few of the large dragons, it was even more important than ever that they were competent at catching another rider or dragon in the skies.
"Speaking of losing harness weight, I was actually thinking that if we could cut weight, we could add a couple extra catch straps. When we do the injury drills, Khor always complains about the greens slipping off. If we get rid of those belly straps, we could add a safety strap that could be flung across his back."

As their Wingleader suggested the change in the manuver, Khorshath shifted from forepaw to forepaw, visibly listening in. After a moment he informed A'miri with no doubt that he could in fact do that. He didn't even think it would be too hard. Though it would make the wingover a bit faster, but then neither dragon nor rider ever complained about speed.
Once again A'miri found himself nodding absently.
"Yes that should work rather well, Khor thinks he can do it. Surprised I didn't think of that myself actually." The young bronzerider rubbed the back of his neck a tad sheepishly, once and awhile it seemed that confidence did in fact need to be earned.

"A endurance run? That sounds like just the thing." Maybe it was him, or maybe it was bronzeriders in general, but he always measured himself by the standards of the other riders in the Weyr. Behind him, the dark bronze dragon rumbled a soft approval.
An endurance run would be good. Perhaps in full harness, with weights?
A small frown creased A'miri's eyebrows together as he thought. Weights?
Well as long as you don't push it too hard love.
I know my limits.
"Khor suggests doing the run in full harness, maybe even with weights." The young Wingsecond shrugged once again, the thought was a sound one. Even Weyrlings with enough growth practiced with weights to get up to holding their riders. Logic stood to reason that it could certainly help the fully grown dragons as well.

[Marnark]

A'lez heaved a slow sigh and rubbed his wrinkled forehead with one hand. "A'miri, there's a reason why caught dragons aren't strapped to the catching dragons. If they were to suddenly succumb to their wounds and die before you could get them to the ground, what then? They would between, and because they were strapped to your dragon, they'd take you with them. Then, fft, no more Bronze and rider." He snapped his fingers, a dead serious expression on his face. "Rather like how your dragon can take you with him between because you're strapped to him. Understand? Beyond that ... try a flip catch instead of a straight catch. You can't do it with all of them, but give it a try anyway. Rotate upside down, and have him actually grab a hold of them, rather than just having them land on his back. It's trickier mind you, and you're going to have to really practice the maneuver. Bronzes really aren't cut out for that kind of flying, but it can be done. Just ... be careful. And make sure your straps are secure when you do it. Might be best to have him practice it without you at first, just to be safe." A'lez suggested.

Wow, but he hadn't known the areas lacking in his own Second. That ... didn't bode well. What else didn't he know about his own wing? Crossing his arms across his broad chest, A'lez took a moment for thought. A'miri was young yet. In time he'd learn all the tricks the older riders knew. In time he might even be cut out for his own wing, if - Faranth help them - they ever ended up with that many dragons. "Weights are fine." A'lez answered. "Just don't over do it. Start small, gradually increase them. But don't take it too high. Weighted endurance runs will really build bulk, and bulk will cut down on your agility something fierce." He warned. Everything in due measure, of course. "I would warn you to inform Khor to not make any overt gestures however ... Neinoth might not take it too well." A'lez really did wish that Neinoth would get over having lost the flight ... weren't dragons supposed to have short memory spans? Whatever the case might be, the bronze had taken the loss rather hard. Harder than A'lez liked, though he could understand vaguely why it had happened. Neinoth had been so sure of having won the Queen's favor, only to get shot down as inadequate.