[Time] 6:28pm on day 9, month 5, turn 2.
[People] Calleigh, Cr'pel, L'ten, Lyndee, Wendra
[Scene] The weyrlings start moving in formation, and Cr'pel wants a drink.
(Beginning of log stolen from sdric)


Southern Bowl
Late Spring. Partly Cloudy. 64F / 18C.

The primary feature of this end of the mile-long bowl is the Weyr's lake, which takes up nearly a quarter of the bowl's capacity by itself. About two dragonlengths deep at the deepest part - which is safely nestled along the wall of the bowl, far from the shore - the water is fairly clear for all that it's warm. Even in the winter, the water never really dips below "chilly," heated as it is by the Weyr's internal thermals. Occupying the southwestern corner, the southeastern finger of the lake puddles around the fence to the feeding grounds.

The tunnel to the weyrling barracks opens on the eastern side of the bowl, just north of the patio-like overhang that serves as the Weyr's stables. Almost directly across from this on the western wall is the tunnel leading in to the lower caverns, meeting up with the road out of the Weyr.

-- Players --
L'ten..........Whippet-lean with narrow features. Clean-shaven. In his late teens.
Calleigh.......Painfully thin, dark hair and eyes, faded freckles on her face. Late teens, perhaps?
Wendra.........Brown hair, blue eyes, about 5'4", slender.
Cr'pel.........Forties, dark hair, scarred hand, limp.
Lyndee.........Sturdy-looking; reasonably tall. Short, somewhat curly blonde hair. Pale blue eyes.

-- Exits --
Out......................[O] Guest Weyr...............[GW]
Northern Bowl............[N] Weyrling Barracks........[E]
Feeding Grounds..........[S] Patio and Garden.........[SW]
Lower Caverns............[W]

There's a group of weyrlings already out in the Bowl clustering up around Cr'pel as he gestures with his good arm. "Group up by threes!" he's calling out with Sembruth lurking and underscoring the message to the weyrling dragons, showing visions of triangles. It's a nice day, warm but not too warm, with a fresh breeze and clear skies.

More groups of three form up and Cr'pel waits, hand on hip. "All right you lot, today we start drilling formations. The other two people you just picked? Get used to them. You're stuck with each other as drilling companions for the next little while 'til the Weyrlingmaster starts changing things up a bit. All right, Sembruth is going to give your dragons a pattern. We're going to demonstrate it for you. Today, you do it side by side, dragon and rider and in triangle formation, one on point, two to each side. You move through the steps in time to the beat we drum out. Once you've sort of got it good enough, you'll get up on your dragon's back and we'll run it that way too." Beat. A look around the ranks. "Any questions?"

Wendra can't help but look excited when he mentions mounting the dragons. She beams over at the other two and stands next to Dulcieth at attention.

Calleigh shakes her head no, no questions here. She and Kitsth move into formation next to Wendra, leaving Lyndee and Dallianth to form the point of the girls' formation. "You don't mind going up front, Lyndee?"

A look towards Dallianth - who has been paying close attention, thank you very much - from Lyndee to confirm she's heard and understood has the green looking rather unimpressed for a moment. Lyndee keeps one hand loosely against Dallianth and was smiling back at the girls, though she starts a little when Calleigh poses her question. "I, er, guess not, no," she replies, as she and Dalli shift properly into position.

Roving eyes take in the ranks as the triads form up. "Come on, into formation!" Cr'pel calls and catching a few still drifting marches over and points insistently. "You there, you there, you there!" His eyes skitter over to the trio of girls and his brows lift a little, then he just shrugs and heads back up to the 'head of the class'. "Listen up then, this is a standard, simple position swap drill. You start out in two lines, staggered, shift up, swap over," explains the cranky brownrider. "Dragons, pay attention to Sembruth, share with your riders." And a moment later, the brown is sharing what's expected with the dragonets.

Wendra concentrates, her brow furrowed, as Dulcieth relays. "Looks confusing" she murmurs to no one. Dulcieth croons and nudges her Weyrling encouragingly.

"You said it, Wendra... I don't really get it still," Calleigh mumbles back, scratching at her neck. She ducks a bit to try and hide behind Kitsth, lest Cr'pel has overheard!

Dallianth is very still as she concentrates and processes, then looks back at Lyndee and becomes just as still again as she conveys what she makes of everything. Lyndee herself doesn't look convinced as she offers, "...I think, if we're at point, then we peel off as we go and one of you takes point instead and Dalli and I are back in the gap left..." quietly to the girls.

Sembruth is still sending, showing the triangles rearranging and the lines swapping from one side of the Bowl to the other at the end of each rotation. Rotate the triad, swap from left to right with the other line, rinse, lather, repeat. Cr'pel on the other hand is pulling up the drum already, looking at the group expectantly. "Two lines of triads, let's go!" It's times like these one almost wonders how the man got that assistant's knot at all.

Wendra steps into line in formation, still looking rather unconfident. Dulcieth seems to be more serene, though, and watches Cr'pel with his drum curiously.

Lyndee is staring at Dallianth intently as she relays more information, her face moving through a range of expressions before settling on something resembling determination still tainted with a little confusion. The two move into formation all the same.

Make that three girls who don't really know what they're doing... Calleigh just follows suit, with a daft sort of look on her face.

L'ten may not know what he's doing, but he's relatively good at faking it. He and B'spel have clumped up together, avoiding A'ren and his cronies. After a little while of floundering about C'nav joins the pair, and the two blueriders somehow end up at the back of the pattern, forcing Len to take point. There's a sour look from the brownrider, but he folds his arms and looks resigned and patient while the other groups jostle.

As the groups finish forming up, Cr'pel starts to beat on the drum. "In rhythm, in time, start swapping around, when you've swapped around in the trio, then march across, still in triad formation to change places with the other line!" The brownrider's grip on the drum is poor, though he beats it steadily enough with his 'good' hand.

Wendra begins to go the wrong way at first, but Dulcieth nudges her in time for the Weyrling to end up where she should be. The back to front part is easier for the pair, but still awkward.

It's Lyndee paying attention to the beat and Dallianth leading her through the motions. The green appears to know what she's doing, with her rider still not quite so sure, but they manage it in the end, swap swap, if a little shaky with it.

With Sevuuth at his right, L'ten starts marching to the beat. The young brown is quite serious about this, though he's not good at moving in time. He's better than C'nav's blue, who keeps trying to move out of position to play with a green in the next formation over. When the trio tries to swap positions their group ends up in a tangled mess, since C'nav was paying more attention to his dragon than what was going on and Javaralth ends up knocking the young man over. "Sorry, sorry!" B'spel calls, and Len breaks ranks to try and help C'nav back to his feet.

Boom boom, the drum goes on. Sembruth is the one who touches minds here and there at first, to correct dragons going in wrong directions, repeating the visual of how it should go. When that tangle starts up though, Cr'pel moves that way, still beating on the drum. "Don't break formation! Pick up and try to keep going. Think Thread is going to cut you a break?" Gruffly.

Calleigh almost bumps into Lyndee, and then Wendra as she and Kitsth both head the wrong way to start with - they quickly correct and the girls' formation starts to look a bit better. "Ack, sorry! Kitsth!" She hisses, as they start marching the right way. "Are we doing it right, now?"

Wendra is concentrating too hard to notice much of what is going on, though she manages a brief smile at Calleigh's whisper. Then she does the crossover, getting into a tangle with some others crossing, with no one the wiser as to who goofed.

Confused, L'ten backs away from C'nav, letting B'spel help the other young man up. The next group is nearly upon them by the time the trio is back to something approximating the proper formation, and everyone has to hustle to not get involved in another crash. They're still marching with Len in front, and by the time he realizes this, they're passing Cr'pel. Len's head snaps back around as he tries to bluff his way through.

"I don't know," Lyndee quietly admits in response to Calleigh. She notices Wendra getting into her tangle and hesitates for a step, only to be insistently summoned forward by a Dallianth who apparently has no time for anything but the task at hand. Somewhat helpless, she can only watch and wince, though Dallianth too falters when their formation falls apart.

With the whole thing coming undone like a stack of dominoes, Cr'pel brings the drum to a halt. "Stop!" he calls out clearly. "Freeze!" And Sembruth echoes the order. Then the weyrlingmaster's assistant stalks along all those tangled places, baleful glare on face.

Wendra freezes in place, not even getting up from her fallen position. Dulcieth obeys as well, though at least the dragonet isn't prone.

Calleigh's mid-step when she freezes, and it only takes one count for her to tumble into Kitsth. The fat dragonet is stocky enough to take the weight, and simply snorts on impact. "Shaffit!"

L'ten's group stutters to a halt, the six males stopping in various speeds. Javaralth ends up nearly on top of Sevuuth, who snorts irritably and shakes the blue off. L'ten's arms windmill and he backsteps so as not to fall over, while C'nav ends up under another dragon, this time his own lifemate. Len looks back and winces at the debacle.

At each tangled group, Cr'pel yanks anyone fallen or tangled out. "You're injured badly, you, you're dead, you and you, dead. Minor injury, major ..." And so on. "All dead and injured go sit right there. The rest of you regroup and start over again on my mark. Dead and injured owe me a lap after class."

Wendra heads over to sit where indicated. Dulcieth lays beside her, and Wendra absently scitches her dragon as she watches the rest of the exercise.

Calleigh's majorly injured according to Cr'pel, so off she and Kitsth toddle to the sin bin to sit the rest of the exercise out. There's no scritching bewteen this pair. Calleigh does mention to Wendra that, "It's so much tougher than it looks, hey?" And she plonks herself down next to the other greenrider.

L'ten remains 'uninjured', so is B'spel, but C'nav is 'dead'. So are the two others from A'ren's trio, so the bronzerider joins the pair and immediately claims point. Len and Sevuuth retreat in good graces, murmuring something to B'spel and nodding toward the front spot. The bluerider listens and nods, murmuring back.

"Hold it there, you!" Cr'pel shouts out to A'ren and fixes the bronzeriding Weyrling with another look. "I said regroup, not reorganize. You have to fly out the rest of the Fall without your wingmates," he gruffs roughly and waits a moment longer until they're back into the starting two lines. Then he starts beating on the drum again. There's a few more tangles and every time, Cr'pel pulls out the 'dead' and 'injured' until about half the group is on the ground on the sidelines. The remaining few manage to finish out the formation drill and then the drum is left behind. "We'll run this again and again until you get it," the assistant states. "In the meantime, look at each other long n' hard t'understand what happens when you screw up in the air. I'll give you a minute to think it through, then all on your feet to mount up and run a simple line-swap a-dragonback."

Wendra contemplates as ordered, and then rises and approaches Dulcieth, unable to hide her anticipation.

Calleigh makes a face as Cr'pel instructs the weyrlings to contemplate and then mount up; she gives Kitsth a quizzical once over, contemplating just how to get herself up there. On her feet, the greenrider starts to look around for inspiration - how is everyone else getting up there?

Sevuuth scrubs at his muzzle with a foreleg and looks fiercely studious; L'ten rubs the back of his neck and just looks thoughtful. He was the only one of the original trio to survive Threadfall, though B'spel lasted until the second-to-last halt before colliding with a green and her rider. Len looks around at the groups - slowly reforming as the dead return to life - and nods, just once. After a moment he nudges Sevuuth's flank. The brown startles and swings his head back around to his soon-to-be-rider; after some silent communication the brown flops down in the bowl to let Len scramble up, using his knee as a step.

"All right," Cr'pel calls out as the weyrlings group back up. "You'll need to have them crouch down like Sembruth is doing," and he gestures to his brown, demonstrating not unlike Sevuuth only less floppy. "That way you can use the foreleg like so, to step up." Cr'pel steps up, carefully using the proper side of the dragon so he's able to then reach up for a ridge to haul himself upwards. "Sit between the two neckridges. It's safe enough on the ground. In the air? Well, that's what straps are for." And he slides down again. "Up you all go." A little grumpily.

Dulcieth studies Sembruth for a few moments, then does an excelent imitation of the crouch. Since the green is tiny, it's not hard for Wendra to scramble up between the neckridges. Once she's settled Dulcieth stands back up, warbling happily.

Kitsth bends a la Sembruth for her rider, and scramble is a good word for what Calleigh does as she tries to mount. He first attempt is unsuccessful, and sees the greenrider sliding back down to the ground very disgracefully. Her second attempt is a little better, jumping and kicking her legs to try and get enough momentum to swing herself up over her rotund dragon's not-so-little back. Kick, kick... and she's up! A little pale all of a sudden, Calleigh leans down to hold on tightly around Kitsth's neck. "No sudden moves!" She hisses. Kitsth just snorts again, jerking her head towards Dulcieth.

L'ten must have done some riding in the past. At least, he doesn't have the white eyes that some of the other weyrlings have. "I'll fall!" a greenrider, one of the youngest in the group at not quite sixteen cries, which results in a lot of laughter from A'ren and his friends. They're up as well, lurching a bit as their dragons maneuver into position.

One weyrling goes up way too fast, misjudges and swings right over to the other side of the dragon. Partly anyway. The poor gangly kid winds up hanging by one foot, upside down, arms pushing against his green's side. "Shaffit!" he shouts. Cr'pel meanwhile is just eyeing all of this with a tense jaw. "Oh for Faranth's sake," he mutters about hanging boy over there and goes to help. "Try not to launch yourself over like that, a cracked skull is no fun," he grouses. A few others need help and he has to walk the lines of weyrlings, showing where to grab on, where to put a foot, how to swing the leg over.

Wendra appears to have ridden before as well, and holds her place decently as she waits for the others. She shows no sign of impatience, though Dulcieth rustles around a little.

Calleigh's still holding on for dear life, both with her arms around Kitsth's neck and her legs dug in tight. She clears her throat a bit. "I will not loosen up - I don't wanna fall off," she tells her 'mate sharply, keeping her eyes fixed on the green's head.

To Kitsth, Sevuuth observes brightly, << It is very different, is it not? To have her up on you? >>

Sevuuth practices crouching and standing, standing and crouching, while Len rocks in the 'saddle'. There's a mutter of, "Wish you wouldn't," from the brownrider and Sevuuth straightens, this time to check out what the other dragons are doing. One or two have stretched out their wings, and the brown quickly follows suit.

To Sevuuth, Kitsth is just as bright, if a little peeved. << She is heavy, and holds on too tight. But it will be fun - I will play with her, watch us! >> Far brighter with this last announcement, is she!

Passing by Calleigh: "You won't fall off," he notes and reaches up towards neckridges on Kitsth. "These hold you in place. Hold on there. When you have straps those'll be for safety, but y'only really need them when things get bumpy and this drill ain't bumpy." He looks up at Calleigh with a narrowed gaze. "Or are you too much of a wimp to get on with it?" The assistant casts a cursory glance over others in the vicinity, but it's Sembruth who sends: << Wings down, y'all. Not the time for flyin' yet. >>

Dulcieth was not one of those prepping her wings, but at Sembreth's command she stops rustling around, standing still.

Calleigh gingerly unwraps her arms from around Kitsth's neck, but admits to Cr'pel that, "I'm more than a little wimpy, sir." Nevertheless, she adjusts her grip as told, but keeps her legs tighetened firmly by Kitsth's sides. Her mount bounces once with a merry chirp, and swings her head around to find Sevuuth. Calleigh yelps, but manages to stay atop her dragon. "Kitsth!!!" The scold was inevitable, really.

<< I wasn't flying! >> Sevuuth protests with a sulky bubbling and trace of cromcoal in the back of the throat. << I was just holding them out. >> You know, exercising. His wings. With his rider on his back. L'ten settles into his seat and turns to look at the others using only one hand to hold onto neckridges. A'ren, of course, has been doing this for simply ages and isn't bothering with a handhold at all. He's gesturing to his cronies as he tells some story that has them in stitches, his voice pitched high and floating back across the field.

Calleigh's response earns another look from Cr'pel. "I see. Well I'll make sure to give you extra laps to help with that," he notes a little disparagingly and them moves away, checking a few more out. << Just lettin' you know. >> Sembruth soothes mildly. "All right. Two lines again. No swapping around within a trio this time though. Just line up and then on my mark, this line moves towards this line and you trade places by going through each other. So you have to space out the right way. Got it?" Again Sembruth is trying to be helpful by showing what Cr'pel means.

Wendra still looks dubious, but once again Dulcieth seems to know exactly what needs to be done. She warbles a reply to Sembruth and takes her place on the left corner of her triad.

Great. Calleigh looks down to hide her eyeroll, and kicks a leg into Kitsth to back up her scolding. The two then fall in with the rest of the group, clumsily mucking up the drill here or there, nothing out of the ordinary for this pair.

One of A'ren's groupies points at Calleigh and brays a laugh. Subtle, they're not. Meanwhile Sevuuth rumbles at Kitsth and reluctantly folds his wings, waits while others take up position next to him. "Ready!" Len calls, causing a few others to echo him. An excited green tries to break and has to be called back by her rider, resulting in a few more minutes of delay before finally everyone is settled and ready.

Finally everyone's all set and Cr'pel starts beating the drum again to signal the marching start to swapping lines. Sembruth keeps sending, visualizing how it's supposed to go down.

Dulcieth is far more sure of herself than Wendra was, and keeps in step with the others. For once her small size is to her advantage as she avoids any collisions.

L'ten's intent and serious, though it's Sevuuth doing most of the work. The brown is solemn as well, head lowered as though he'll plow through anything in his way, and not shifting from his path. The blue that was facing them gets so excited he flings back his head and nearly unseats his rider, then sidesteps nearly into the green on his other side. Sevuuth grumbles and - after a few seconds - slows to give the blue a chance to straighten out, earning him a pat from Len.

Sembruth takes on the role of conductor, nudging this green, that blue, reminding Vizorth that he's not the end all be all, since Cr'pel can't seem to shake off whatever funk he's in long enough to explain anything properly. The brownrider's jaw is just continually tense by now as he bangs on the drum. Eventually, with some bobbles, the two lines shake themselves out having successfully traded places and the drumbeats end. "All right! That's it, dismount! Dead and injured - go run."

Dulcieth dips down so Wendra can dismount. The latter does so reluctantly, patting the green once before sliding down. Then, Wendra joins the group of runners, keeping up better now than she did at first, though not about to win the race by any stretch of the imagination.

Len doesn't dismount immediately, but lingers a moment while the dead and injured head off. Just as Sevuuth's starting to look impatient and shifting his wings like he'll extend them again his boy rouses from his thoughts and jumps off. He stumbles a bit on landing but collects himself immediately, turns at once to check on the brown who is doing likewise. << That was very good, Sembruth, >> Sevuuth decides, torn between wanting to practice his flying and get Len onto his back again.

Sembruth meanwhile, with the weyrlings out of 'danger' has curled around Cr'pel a little. The rider's looking a little peaked. << Thanks, funny guy, >> Sembruth replies jovially. << We'll see you later. Gonna take Cr'pel home. >> And indeed, the brownrider's straightening and waving his good arm. "Go on. Class, sharding dismissed!" And he mounts Sembruth a moment later and they glide away.