Splish, Splash

Writers: Emma, Phoenix
Date Posted: 11th September 2019

Characters: S'ran, Oria
Description: Saran helps Oria bathe Degrorth. Chatting ensues throughout.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 19 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: N/A

Mentor Approved

This takes place a day before Saran impressed.

Oria

Saran bailed from the barracks soon as their free-time was available
to him. He'd been getting antsy being cooped up in candidate lessons
and chores as well as continuing his craft time in the stables when
required. He made a beeline towards the lake and froze on seeing
Greenrider Oria and her dragon. He smiled shyly and waved at her when she'd faced him. "Hello Greenrider Oria." he said respectfully. "How are you and yours today?" he asked making his way towards the pair.

"Just Oria today," the greenrider told the young man with a smile.
"Both of us are good, but someone is in need of a bath."

}:Tell him he may help,:{ Degrorth told her rider. }:I don't think he'll ask
on his own.:{

"She says you can help, if you'd like." Oria gestured to the green. "I
have to warn you though, she likes to splash people and you might end
up as wet as her."

Saran blushed. "Of course." Saran replied looking at the young woman. "I'd love to help bathe her. Might I ask. What is her name again?" he asked apologetically. "I'm horrid with remembering names. Where would you like me to start?" he asked in nervous excitement. He'd loved his short ride on her mates dragon, so getting to interact and touch another dragon, he was all for it.

"Degrorth," Oria said. "She likes to start with her back," she
explained, as she grabbed a brush. "Take this, get it wet, then dip it
into the soapsand. then we scrub."

"Ah! Thankyou." Saran said smiling and bowing at the pair. He got the
brush and wet it then dipped it in the soap as ordered. "May I get a
lift m'lady?" he asked Degrorth. He didn't want to touch the green
without her permission. It wasn't nice. "How hard should I scrub? I
don't want to injure her on accident." He wasn't quite sure how much
her hide could handle.

"You can go pretty hard," Oria explained, "She'll let us know, but
it's more likely she'll find you're not going hard enough. Think of it
as giving her a good hard massage as you scrub."

"Ok thank you." Saran replied. Once he was on Degrorth's back, he
picked a spot and started scrubbing firmly. He was fascinated by the
leathery feel of Degrorth's hide and noticed the hidden textures in
the green's hide. As he worked, he started speaking to Oria. "So how
long have you two been a pair?" he asked as he dug in a bit harder to
get a dry spot smoothed. He knew dry patches could happen
occasionally.

"A good few turns," the greenrider said as she prepared another brush.
"She found me in the sands the first time I stood, seven, nearly eight
turns ago."

"I bet that was an amazing day." he said asked he scrubbed firmly.
"What is it like impressing?" he asked curious as dipped his brush to
get it wet again then started working on another area of Degrorth's
back.

"It's like everything you know is suddenly shaken up, twisted around
and put back together again all at once. And then you know you will
never, ever be alone again." That was the best way she could explain
it to another. "Like you're somehow part of something that matters, no
matter what the future brings."

Saran didn't know he'd stopped scrubbing as she spoke. "I hope I find
that one day." he couldn't help but mutter softly. He doubted it due
to his age though. Still he'd take what he could with his experiences
at the Weyr. Realizing he'd stopped scrubbing, he started back up
again. "Sorry..." he muttered sheepishly.

"Don't apologize, she isn't complaining yet, keep going." Oria told him.

Saran nodded and shifted to go to the next spot. He moved his left
hand to get into a better position when he felt something under his
hand. He looked down and ran over that spot again with his finger. It
felt a bit rough. "Oria, I think there's a small rough patch forming
over here." he said speaking up a moment later. It felt similar to the
dry skin runners sometimes got.

"Let me see," she said, mentally asking Degrorth to move a little. "Yes,
you're right," she said after reaching up to run her hand over it. "It
happens sometimes, the thing to do is to catch it now before it really
develops. So, we make sure that it's clean and dry, and that she's well
oiled."

"Not sure if its the same process for runners as it is dragons, but want me to try and get as much of the dry skin off as I can so the new skin can come in easier?" Saran asked as he looked at the dry spot closer. He remembered having to remove the dry skin off of one of his dad's runners before putting some cream on it to help heal it.

"No, just go very gently, the oil will help it ease away."

"Ok, will do." he said as he started working again. He cleaned out the area carefully before moving on. "So what's being a dragonrider like? What type of schedule do riders have?" he asked curious. He knew there'd be variations in scheduling depending on rank, but wasn't sure how the overall schedule would change.

"It depends, well for me it does at least," she began. "Usually there are
drills, and wing meetings on non-fall days, time to check our gear over and
make any necessary repairs to straps, or organize new leathers, as well as
duties like sweep riding, or messenger duty. When we have fall, we meet, we
check our gear, we have a meeting, then we have some prep time and then we
go. I'm a healer as well, so we fly in the first half, and then I report to
the infirmary for the second half." She waited to see if he was following
her highly abbreviated schedule. "If I'm on search, then it's different, I
check in with the Weyrlingmaster, meet my partner for the day - I don't go
out alone, sometimes it's with another searchrider, sometimes a bronze or
brownrider will accompany me, and we head out to our assigned areas, and you
know what happens there." She left out the fact that she almost always had a
male partner, some of the more conservative holds didn't react well to a
female greenrider.

"That's a lot, but sounds interesting." Saran said thinking over what she
said. "How do you become a searchrider? Or is that on the dragon? I assume
going in pairs is part safety and part to help carry back potential
candidates?" he said as he continued working down Degrorath's back. He was
closer to her hind quarters by this point.

"The dragons just know,"Oria said. "They can tell for sure, long before we
can, and they do run some classes about searching during weyrlinghood for
blue and greenriders."

"Interesting." Saran said. "Her back is now done. Want me to get her tail or
somewhere else?" he asked sitting up as he looked over Degrorth's back for
any spots he might've missed.

"Try it, but very gently, she's sensitive there."

Saran nodded. "Please let me know if I'm to rough." Saran said politely to
the green as he started scrubbing as gently as he could. He took his time so
as not to agitate the green especially as Oria had said she was a bit
sensitive there.

The green dragon wriggled a little as she felt the boy move. But it was when
she felt his scrubbing motion hitting a particular spot that she reacted.
Degrorth shifted her weight, trying to ease away, it would probably dislodge
him, but it would stop him.

Saran was being as gentle as he could but yelped and fell into the water
when Degrorth started wiggling. He didn't know if he hurt her on accident or
not but either way he still felt bad. He came back up quickly. "I'm sorry
Degrorth. I didn't mean to hurt you." he said apologetically. He looked to
Oria and apologized again. "I'm sorry, I thought I was being gentle with
her." he said looking down after he said that. He felt horrible.

"She's ticklish in some spots, and can have an odd idea of what we find
funny," Oria said as she stifled a laugh at the dripping candidate. "That
probably won't be the first or last time a dragon gets you wet, treat it as
a learning experience."

Saran couldn't help but chuckle in relief. He was afraid he'd hurt the
green. "Lesson learned. I was just worried I hurt her on accident. Are there
any area's I should avoid?" he asked moving to Oria's side.

"Wherever you just tried is a good place to be careful," the greenrider told
him. "But she's soaked you once, i don't think she'll do it again."

Saran nodded. "Sounds good. I got her back and upper sides done. Where would
you like me to go next?' he asked wiping his hair away from his eyes. He was
soaked but it was a nice day, so he didn't mind one bit.

"Here," Oria, moved to show him a spot on the green's flanks. "Just be
careful as that is a tender spot."

Saran moved over to Oria so he could see the spots she was talking about. He
nodded when he saw the spots she was showing him. "Got it." he said as he
got the brush wet again. He carefully moved over the greens flanks careful
to not agitate her to much. He understood about ticklish spots and he hated
being tickled himself. After making sure her flanks were washed and rinsed
he turned to look at Oria. "What's next?" he asked.

"She gets to go rinse off, then she'll sit in the sun for a while to dry."
Oria said with a smile "Something you might want to do," referring to his
wet clothing.

"Sounds good." Saran said putting the brush with the rest of Oria's washing
supplies. "How often does she have to be oiled? Or is that after every
bath?" he asked curious. He looked at his soaked clothing and shrugged. He'd
dry off with the sun. In the meantime the wet clothes were cooling down his
skin. Though he should probably go in before he burned. He may get a light
tan, but he burned more then tanned.

"I'll see if she needs it later, you get to know your own dragon, and they
are all slightly different," Oria explained. "Now I'm going to go take this
little lot back to my weyr. Thank you for your help today."

Saran bowed respectfully to her. "Thankyou for giving me the opportunity to
learn more about dragons and being a rider. I had fun and learned a lot." he
said smiling at the pair of them. "If you ever need help, I'd be more then
happy to do it again." he said figuring he'd interact with the dragons as
much as he could.

Last updated on the September 23rd 2019

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Splish, Splash