We Rule the Sands {Open}

[Bellatora]

Amaeli grinned as she leaned forward over Taero's neck as the horse charged forward through the sands, pulling him up after a moment and turning him back towards the Weyr, but headed out into the haves, reveling in the feeling of water splashing up from his hooves. He always needed exercise. And this was her favorite way to do it. She gave a sharp whistle and he stopped, standing alert, waiting, pulling at the bit ever so slightly. She clicked and gently nudged him forward, letting him prance through the waves which lapped at the sands and pulled them out to sea. She wondered how the beastcrafter who had helped to train Taero was. She had rather liked him... Which had lead to some more... awkward situations. She grimaced at the thought and sighed, pulling Taero up once they reached dry land and sliding down, kneeling to wipe his legs down and get him dried off some, making sure his hooves looked good before walking over to a little outcropping and tying him up so he could rest for awhile and she could enjoy a little swim herself.

She thought nothing of throwing off the majority of her clothing and her boots as she ran to enter the waves with a grin. Oh! they felt wonderful! If a bit cold still. She didn't think anyone would be around right now. After all. It was still too early for the riders tobe taking a break and most of the Weyrfolk were still busy with chores. Weyrs were just too busy for her liking most of the time. She turned back towards the shore, running from a wave that would have knocked her over as it easily reached her shoulders... but as she ran, she was hit in the waist and had to do her best not to go sprawling... though she did anyways, rolling onto the beach with a few scratches, though she simply stood up and cleaned herself up, glaring at hte water as if it had wronged her and heading back out into the waves in hopes of washing off hte sand.... though the salt was rather painful in the scratches.

But... it did remove the equally painful and abrasive sand that was sticking to her now. It seemed that you always won these kinds of battles. There was always pain. and plenty of it. But that was something everyone ahd in common - pain. Everyone had pain of some kind. And some had more than others. She quickly turned back to the beach and brushed a bit of sand from her shoulder with a light hiss as it stung a scrape just below it. She frowned. Great. She didn't want to have to be treated by the healers. She WAS a healer! She could treat herself!

[Kitsuneko]

Tesla had been at the Weyr almost a week now, and she wasn't any happier than she had been when she'd first arrived. The work was easy enough once she learned her way around the caverns, but she missed the familiarity of the Harper Hall, and the few friends she'd made in the last Hold she'd been stationed in; she missed her family, and most of all she missed her brother. She and Teyla had been together since birth, literally, and this was essentially the first time she'd been on her own. She was not enjoying it.

Serkan wasn't exactly helping, either. The two-tailed garnet flit was far from what she had expected when she'd bought the egg, and all he ever did was eat, sleep, and scratch her with his talons when he felt she did something wrong. Where was the love and loyalty fire lizards were supposed to show their owners? He was calm for the moment, resting on her shoulder, but he was also half asleep.

Dwelling on her angst, the harper wandered towards the nearby beach, not expecting to come across anyone else at this early hour. Nevertheless, she blinked in surprise as she saw a runnerbeast tied up nearby, and she looked out towards the water to see the owner--who was promptly knocked over by a particularly large wave, and Tesla winced in sympathy at the sight. She walked gingerly towards the water, unwilling to let her boots get too wet.

"Hey, are you alright?" Tesla yelled to the other woman. "That looked like a nasty fall." The noise captured Serkan's attention, who hissed and eyed the new person curiously from Tesla's shoulder.

[Elessar]

Liam wanted to get away for awhile. Candidate chores were piling up all around him, and he felt significantly overwhelmed. Being a Candidate wasn't bad, and it was certainly better than his life before, but the work was harder and there was a lot more interaction with people.

That was what bothered him most, he supposed. He was a friendly guy, but shy to the point of almost being afraid of other human beings unless they approached him first. Few rarely did. And so Liam kept his head down, did his work and chores, and tried not to get on anyone's bad side.

With his Candidate chores completed for the day, the young man decided on a walk. Blue eyes shining, he set his course for the beach, whistling a soft tune as he walked. He had wanted to be a Harper at one point, and had taught himself the basics of playing a set of reed pipes, but he didn't want to fetch them now or risk losing them at the seashore, so he settled for whistling.

As he neared the beach (it was a bit of a walk, to say the least), his eye caught sight of a slim figure being bowled over by a wave. Almost seconds later, as he drew closer, a second woman approached the first, asking if the former was alright. Liam had to agree with the second woman (he did so silently); it looked like quite a nasty fall.

Stepping cautiously to the water, standing off to the left of the second woman. He nodded. "S-she's right. Are you okay?" His fear of meeting and approaching new people was overcome by his desire to make sure the first woman was okay. After all, that wave was huge, and Liam knew how much being knocked over by a veritable wall of water hurt from his own excursions into the ocean. He wanted to make sure she wasn't hurt.

[Akira]

Thaden was wondering when the exciting part of being a candidate would begin. He was so bored with chores that he had finally managed to make some time for himself and get out of the Weyr. He was walking down the beach when he heard Trueno chirp. He looked where his firelizard was looking and smiled softly. There was a small gathering of people, but as he got closer he felt like something was wrong. Trueno crooned happily at the gathered people and firelizard. Is everyone ok? He was just arriving and didn’t know what had happened but a worried expression blanketed his face and his voice was like that of a worried friend. That’s when he saw that one woman had some scrapes and wondered what had happened to her. Then he looked at the water and wondered if she had been knocked over by a wave.

[Bellatora]

Amaeli brushed herself off, choosing to ignore Tesla as she arrived and feeling a bit... self-conscious as first one male then a second arrived. Great... So much for her private time on the beach. She finally looked at them. "I'm fine. Just minor bruising. Didn't hit my head. A bit painful... but shouldn't be a problem." She turned to look to them, looking back towards where Taero was watching, one hoof digging into the sands. She looked at them, not meeting the eyes of the two men, but rather looking at Tesla, feeling that she should simply not look and then perhaps they would ignore her... less than presentable nature. Why did there even have to be males on the beach at this time. And they were Candidates! Didn't they still have chores.

She felt awkward, but tried not to show it, wrapping her arms around herself and hunching her shoulders a bit as if in attempt to keep them from seeing her and walking towards the cave where Taero waited, quickly pulling a towel form her things and wrapping it around herself to trey to shield herself from the eyes of others. Faranth! Did the Weyr know no decency at all!?

She didn't much care for the freedoms the Weyr seemed to enjoy. In fact, she took major issue with the communal bathing pools. How indecent was that!? Riders were a necessary evil, in her mind. One that she could not wait until they were finally ready to be rid of all ready. Holier-than-thou, power hungry, aggravating... Hmph. Wherhandlers seemed little better to her... but those serving the holds and halls were different. They didn't see themselves in teh same light as the others. She turned and looked at them again.

"I am Amaeli, Journeywoman Healer. You all are...?" She sized them up... The girl didn't get as much of a look. The one with the bit of white in his hair looked handsome enough, withdrawn, different.. maybe darker... the other seemed friendly, collected. And of course, they all had the aptitude to Impress. Just lovely.

[Kitsuneko]

"Oh...well, I'm glad you're alright." As if meeting one new person under such awkward circumstances was not enough, the two women were quickly joined by two men, both apparently just interested in making sure everyone was alright, but still. This was more than Tesla had expected, and she gave a squeak of dismay at the sudden influx of strangers. She was a Journeywoman Harper, though, shardit! She was better than that.

She squared her shoulders and stood up straighter when the attention turned to her. She decided to ignore the men for now, addressing the woman, Amaeli. "My name is Tesla; I'm a Journeywoman Harper newly assigned to Trelis."

Serkan apparently was picking up on her nervousness, however, as he glared his fiercest at the other humans, and Tesla silenced the young flit with a hand clasped over his muzzle and a whispered "Hush, Serkan." Faranth, as if this meeting wasn't awkward enough; the last thing she needed right now was a badly-behaved flit.

Feeling her own introduction was over, she ducked her head and stared pointedly at the two male candidates, hoping one of them would speak up to take the attention off of herself.