Learning by Doing
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Aaron, Sia
Date Posted: 15th June 2024
Characters: E'kirim, J'ler
Description: J’ler doesn’t want to pass up the opportunity to have help washing and oiling Maishoth.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 9, day 8 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: E'kavas (unnamed yeller), K'aur, Kadira, M'thos
“So… you've washed Remiath before, right?” asked J’ler. It would be even better if Ekirim did not need any pointers when it came to scrubbing or oiling.
Ekirim was only half listening. He was much more concerned with flexing _just right_ as he removed his shirt and tossed it further up the shore of the winter lake where it wouldn't get wet. "Pretend I haven't." He said with a laugh. "Partially because I haven't. K'aur likes to demand, and when he does that I like to dunk him in the lake and walk away. Remiath seems to enjoy that, though."
J’ler could have sworn that someone had started playing music just as Ekirim’s shirt came off. Shells. He grinned from ear to ear and then let his shirt join Ekirim’s.
“We can pretend anything you like. Here. I'll show you. It's easy.”
Ekirim looked the other man up and down with a smirk then gestured towards the buckets and brushes. "I am so _helpless_." He intoned. "Please, show me. In painstaking detail."
J’ler could have done a little dance with how excited he was. He was tall, but Ekirim was at least as tall… so he was not sure how well the old “stand behind him and guide his hand with the brush in it” trick would work. But he could always do the soft, strong instructor voice. That always gave him goosebumps.
He grabbed a brush and waved Ekirim close. Then he slowly and carefully showed him" soapin’ it up, scrubbin’ it around, the usual, and he explained what he was doing and how to do it. With the soft, strong instructor voice, of course.
Oh, this would be fun. Ekirim scooted closer, only half-intent on learning. He hadn't been sure if J'ler was going to drop his brushes into the water in shock at the request, but he was delighted that the brownrider had decided to play along. A bit of flirting makes any task easy.
"How much pressure do you put on him?" He asked suddenly, briefly abandoning the charade as he lathered up the brush he had been given and trying it on his own. "Maishoth probably doesn't feel it much anyway, does he?"
“He feels it. But you probably couldn't hurt him, even if you tried. You can press as hard as you need to scrub off whatever dirt is stuck to him,” said J’ler. “He likes it. It's like a really good massage.”
Ekirim gave it a go, scrubbing a little harder at a particularly stuck-on bit of muck on Remiath's side. He did glance up at the brown's head every so often, looking to see if the eye color changed or if the brown decided to react. No one's dragons had tried nipping him so far, but he didn't want to test his luck, either. "I guess it's not like grooming herdbeasts, huh. You don't have to worry about getting all the hair out. It doesn't irritate his hide to scrub like that?"
Maishoth’s eyes swirled green and blue, though when the scrubbing got intense, he closed them, tilted his head to the side, and rumbled contentedly.
“As long as I keep him well-oiled, he likes it a lot,” said J’ler.
"Oh!" Ekirim startled a little at the house and the slight vibrations coming from the brown. He spent all that time comparing dragons to runnerbeasts, when maybe he should have been comparing them to felines. "Green and blue are happy, right? That's a happy sound?" He kept scrubbing anyway.
“Yeah, blue is happy, and green is more like… curious or interested?” J’ler explained. “At least, that's what Maishoth feels like when his eyes are green.”
"Like a feline." Ekirim exclaimed. "Well, not when being brushed. I don't know any felines that enjoy being bathed or cleaned by people."
“Maishoth likes to think of himself as a feline,” said J’ler. “For now, he's still the feline that's never caught an avian before.”
The brown snorted at J’ler.
Ekirim cocked his head and looked confusedly over at both dragon and rider. He knew enough to know there was some sort of conversation happening, though he didn't know what. "Isn't he big enough to hunt? You aren't feeding him by hand, are you?"
J’ler snickered.
“He's big enough. But that's not the kind of hunt I'm talking about.”
The wheels turned, albeit slowly. He patted Remiath's side in a 'there, there' gesture. "None of the girls suit your fancy, do they buddy? Me neither, man."
Maishoth wanted to be annoyed. In fact, he had _tried_ to catch several greens. But the idea of Ekirim trying to empathize with him in this way made him happy. His eyes swirled blue again.
“He likes you,” said J’ler.
"Oh, that's good. One gentle smack and I'd be out like an old glowbasket." Ekirim said. "Does he have any problems with you handling his feet or scrubbing his belly? My buddy's runnerbeast back at Amber Hills had that issue, the little shite."
J’ler conferred with Maishoth to be sure.
“He says he doesn't mind anything like that.”
"Well, Maishoth is _definitely_ better than that stupid runnerbeast, then." Ekirim said, though he shot J'ler a confused look. "You asked him, just like that? And if he wanted to, say, sit like a loaf of bread on top of his feet so you couldn't scrub them, what would do?"
“Well, most likely, I'd tell him to stop being such a wherry if he wanted his feet scrubbed… I think I could _make_ him if I really tried, like _really_ put my heart into it? Goldriders have to do that when the queens are rising. Or, that's what we always hear,” said J’ler. “But I don't think he would fight me on clean feet? Do you want to see him do the loaf thing? He thinks that's funny as anything.”
"I bet some of them _are_ like that runnerbeast." Ekirim said thoughtfully. "Like they can't all be as well behaved as Maishoth. There was one guy at the lake the other day just hollering at his brown to get out of the water, and he wouldn't." He paused for a moment, grinning. "Maishoth can be a bread loaf later. Once we're done scrubbing his toes."
“Maybe I'm just lucky that he doesn't want to fight me on much.” J’ler laughed. He never had really considered just how much harder everything would be if Maishoth disagreed with him about simple stuff like when it was time to get out of the water. “Or maybe I just don't feel like fighting _him_ on anything he thinks is important. And staying overlong in the water isn't one of those.”
"That's good. I'm just a beginner, I don't need a dragon deciding to play a game of 'throw Ekirim in the lake'. But, on the other hand, I don't think I'd be so lucky as to get a dragon as good as Maishoth. I'd end up with one like Remiath. He gives K'aur a time. Once K'aur showed up covered head to toe in mud because Remiath dragged him through it."
J’ler covered his mouth to conceal a laugh.
“I'd blame it on bronzes thinking they're hotter stuff than they really are, but Remiath is brown!” A little bit of the laugh escaped despite his best effort. “Maybe the Weyrlingmasters would say it's because we did double the training.”
"Sad beige dragons." Ekirim said as he nudged J'ler's arm. "Not Maishoth, though. He's a chill beige dragon. I don't think the Weyrlingmasters would say that, though…it wasn't like Maishoth's disposition was holding you back."
“No, I was my own whole pain in their asses all by myself,” J’ler agreed. “Maybe only one of us is allowed to be a pain in the ass at a time.”
"I'll keep an eye out for Maishoth's bad behavior, then. I'm very glad he's decided to be a shining example of dragonkind. My own dragon can give me a run for my marks."
“The shiniest,” said J'ler. “But hey, Ishath is a good boy, too, so maybe my family just attracts shiny dragons, and yours attracts dragons that dunk you in the mud.” He laughed. “You don't have to, you know. You can stay here, even if you don't want to be a dragonrider.”
"Ishath does seem like a good boy." Ekirim agreed. He liked Ishath from a distance, anyway, and Kadira was always excited to hear about little annoying baby K'aur. "I don't have to, what? Be a dragonrider? I know. K'aur moved us here before I was Searched. I'm a weyrfolk now, with or without a dragon."
“You kinda seem like you're not sure?” said J’ler. “If you're not sure, then don't do it. There's no shame in it. And then if you get sure later, then you can change your mind. You've got plenty of time.”
"I'm not sure, but hey. I don't need to be completely entirely desperate for a dragon to go out and see what happens." Ekirim said easily. He tested his grip before clumsily climbing up onto Maishoth's back. "It's probably even for the best that I'm not. Some of these guys are so disappointed that they haven't been picked yet. Worst case I coast doing this for a few turns and then go back to the gardens. It's not like my life would have changed a whole lot."
“That's a great way to look at it!” J’ler smiled. He always felt so… awkward? around the boys who made Impressing about their own self-worth when they did not Impress. Of course, it was easy for him to say that, on account of he had already Impressed.
"Don't get me wrong. Some people here seem to take it personally when I say my life isn't that different. The food is better, my mom's quarters are nicer even though she's just kitchen staff. I don't have to sneak around to make out with cute boys, and girls don't require a marriage proposal and three consecutive dances at the Gather." Ekirim looked down at J'ler and winked.
J’ler wished he had been cool enough to wink back. Instead, he beamed like an idiot and blushed like a holder.
“It's nice not to have to sneak around.”
Ekirim grinned and flicked some suds in J'ler's general direction. "The dragons are nice. But a farm is a farm, whether or not there's dragons flying overhead, y'know? But I am enjoying this little change. I don't understand the classes so much yet, but dang, have you _seen_ M'thos? That man could talk to me about wing formations all day. I can handle some extra learning and less work for a while."
J’ler laughed. He had, in fact, seen M’thos. He had never really thought of him _that way_ before, though. There must have been something about the flirting that turned on his man-liking switch for any particular man. It certainly seemed to have done the trick for Ekirim.
“I'm glad you're enjoying the view. I'm not sure it makes up for the extra learning for me, but I'm probably biased. I've had all the learning I can stomach for a while.”
"You were a candidate way longer than I ever will be." Ekirim agreed. "It's probably less learnin' when you're born to it, too. I don't know much about it at all, so I'm grateful to Remiath for being so patient."
“And you'll never be a Weyrling for as long as me, either,” J’ler laughed. “Unless you take that as a challenge.”
"Pff, oh please. The closest thing I'd do is shake the marks out of K'aur's pockets and hopefully drop some sense into his dumb ambitious head." Ekirim said. "And I might get a commendation for that, instead of a punishment. On behalf of the entire Weyr. But I need to get there first! Keep your fingers crossed for me. Lots of hatchings between then and now."
Last updated on the June 18th 2024