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31-08-02: Lucid Llysereth (or not)
Bathing proddy Llysereth proves to be a trial for candidates Adareri and Christiana.

Away from Llysereth, Adareri heads down the stairs to the beach.
Away from Llysereth, Christiana heads down the stairs to the beach.
Away from Llysereth, Llysereth descends upon the beach as a gleaming mass of glittering gold - someone's proddy. Lydiere's looking far less comfortable; it might be night time, and dark, but she's still shielding her eyes from the light of the moon, and wincing with every step she takes. Both descend upon the water; the larger of the two sinks deep into it, looming, whilst the other shuts her eyes, still fully clothed, and sits upon the ocean floor.

Llysereth's lowered forelimb proves a perfect perch, allowing you an easy advent to the ground below--where Llysereth's loving gaze captures yours for a brief moment of solitary adoration.

Off Christiana's sandals go, kicked off into the side. Feet step down, sinking into the heated sand underfoot as she walks alongside her fellow candidate. A hand is raised to her eyes, shielding them from some of the glare as she watches the rider and dragon pair descend and land.

Adareri grins over at Christiana as she follows the good example. She has a towel over her arm, which she tosses as far up the beach as she can when she sees the rider and dragon come down and go into the lake, then she quickly follows... sandles get shucked off, and she's in the water the next moment, swimming out to where it's almost too deep for her to stand.

Llysereth rather notices the candidates; her whirling gaze considers them, and then - perhaps in a burst of magnanimous consideration, she leaves the right alone. Lydiere, however, having caught Llysereth's sight, watches both somewhat hesitantly, lifting one hand in greeting rather than going to the extent of nodding, which might further disrupt her aching head.

Christiana shifts her own towel from her shoulder to her hand, then it joins the sandals on the sand underfoot. She doesn't dive right for the water as Adareri does, she simple begins to wade out. A hand is raised in a waved greeting overhead to Lydiere, and also the dragon.

Adareri finally comes back up out of the water, and smiles. "Hey Lydiere. Good day, Llysereth." she calls, though actually pretty softly. Just loud enough to be heard. she figured something might be wrong, since usually she gets a nod from Lydiere, not a wave. She moves further in towards shore again, to be better able to have a conversation.

Lydiere's expression shows relief at the quietness of Adareri's greeting, and the silence of Christiana's, and in response, she indicates Llysereth's glowing hide, with a wrinkle of her nose. "Do you want to broaden your education?" she wonders - voice very, very quiet. "Not to mention life experience."

Christiana's eyes narrow just a touch as she comes even closer to Lydiere. "Life experience?" she repeats questioningly. "Are you alright?" The question is asked in a voice equally as quiet as the one Lydiere has used. "I was hoping to get some practical experience putting diagrams up against the real thing, but if you aren't feeling well...?"

Adareri raises a brow slightly, as she takes in the gold again, noticing just then the brightness of the glowing hide. "Well, I don't have any objection to broadening my education. Though how do you propose that we do that?" she asks, sounding merely curious, as she moves in closer so she can speak yet softer, and still be heard.

Lydiere lifts her hand once more, to indicate Llysereth once more, as the gold peers at her, and seethes somewhat, with rapidly whirling eyes. "Proddy dragon washing. I'm sure it'd be very educational for you, Christiana, with your dragonhealing, and for both of you all around." She smiles, somewhat hesitantly, and without moving her face too much, as she sinks back into the water. "She's not violent, or anything. Just emotional." As something of an after statement, she adds, vaguely, "My head hurts." Ow.

Christiana might be learning to be a dragonhealer, but it's still a healer, so she shows concern for Lydiere. "Your head? Are you alright? Did you hit it?" she asks, moving closer, then pausing to look at Llysereth as if to mention silently that she isn't intending to hurt Lydiere or anything. Can't be too careful around a glowing dragon, after all. "Is it close to the time?" she asks, nodding toward the dragon. "She isn't going to... while we wash her?"

Adareri smiles slightly. "I think I can handle one emotional dragon. She can't be too bad while we help her to wash, could she be?" she asks, perhaps a little disbelieving, for all that she probably should be wholly believing. "I'm sorry you don't feel well Lydiere. Do you want me to take some more of your paperwork for you?"

"She," Lydiere sticks her thumb rather brutally towards Llysereth, "Makes my head hurt. When she's proddy." She's not very glib today, either. "Can't think. Nothing to be concerned about, though." It takes her some time to get the words out, before she adds, "Oh, no, no. She'll be fine. I'll be fine. No need." Llysereth watches them all, somewhat cagily, as Lydiere gets herself up long enough to find the brushes and soapsand from Llysereth's sidepacks, and offer them.

Christiana takes the items offered to her, still casting a wary expression toward Llysereth. "I wasn't aware that physical pain manifesting in the rider was a symptom of being proddy," she states thoughtfully. "We haven't gotten that far in my studies, yet." Maybe a nice shiny green dragon isn't as appealing to her suddenly.

Adareri nods. "Alright. If you're sure, Lydiere." she takes the offered brush and some of the soapsand, and glances back to Llysereth. "Her being proddy really makes your head hurt? I'd never heard of that before. hmm." she looks thoughtful, but not put off by the thought. pain is relative. with a shrug to herself, she heads back closer to the gold. "Well now, Llysereth, what would you like washed first? a wing? a leg? just hold out whatever you'd like washed first." since she knows she's understood when she talks to the gold. Though she's never tried speaking with a proddy dragon before... oh well.

Lydiere explains, after a pause in which she shuts her eyes and covers her face, "She's so emotional, and she hates it, so it makes my head ring because she's so loud. I don't know if it's common." Probably not. Llysereth considers both candidates, and finally stretches out her wings - she's so tense that she's nearly quivering, her eyes whirling rapidly, her tail flicking through the water.

Christiana still isn't quite sure about how comfortable she is around the tense dragon, but she has chores to do and must do them. Plus, this may not be the last time she's in the proximity of a proddy dragon. The brush is held up toward the wing and she uses it to, not touching, trace the line of a muscle as she mentally quizzes herself. "I guess it isn't /that/ much different than the diagrams."

Adareri raises a brow slightly. "I guess I never really thought that they might alter their voices if they're feeling different. I've never heard any of them actually say anything, for all my talking to them." she shrugs. "But that is nice to know." with that, she wets the soapsand, and rubs it along the wing. Then she uses the brush and just starts scrubbing away, ignoring the gold's flicking tail, for all that it's sending waves in towards shore, making it a little difficult for her to stay in place. she wouldn't if the water was any deeper where she's standing.

"She shouldn't be," comments Lydiere, her voice remaining very low and quiet, and her gaze resting upon Llysereth. The dragon isn't prone to violence, or any physical measures, but she's still tense, still very stiff. "Different, that is. She's just the same. Except proddy."

Christiana begins to scrub, putting brush against wingsail and joints in a methodical manner. "What's it like? Being proddy, that is," Christiana asks quietly. "I mean, I know it's different for everyone - some people aren't even aware of it until their dragon rises I heard. Or is it too personal to discuss?"

Adareri smiles slightly. "Well, at least she doesn't entirely change her habits when she's proddy then. I had heard that some dragons do that. Wouldn't that make it worse, Lydiere?" she asks curiously, as she continues to scrub along the wing, making sure that she gets everywhere, and she's not pushing too hard with the brush. don't want to give Llysereth an excuse to get mad... or even more mad, it seems.

Lydiere hesitates, and goes silent - for more than a few beats. Finally, she explains, "For me, it's a pressure on my head, because she's so loud, so overwhelming, and it hurts - physically, but also emotionally, because she's so upset. She hates it. It nearly drives me insane." She nods, rather shortly, at Adareri's comment. "That's true. I know what to expect, and she's still herself. It goes differently, for differently people." Llysereth's eyes shut, and her whole torso seems to slump slightly.

Christiana steps back a bit, a wave almost pushing her over as Llysereth shifts. "Is she alright?" she inquires, brush removed from her hide.

Adareri nods. "I guess that's understandable, what it can do though. I just never really thought about it. This is the closest I've ever been to a proddy dragon." she coughs as Llysereth's shifting pushes a wave up into her face as she goes off-balance, but she recovers herself, and just goes back to scrubbing the wing without comment.

"Yes," says Lydiere, quietly. "Calm moment." She tilts her head forward, as if to encourage both to continue undaunted; Llysereth remains as she is, her breath coming out in a heavy cycle, all three eyelids still shut tight.

Christiana hesitates a moment, then continues the scrubbing. She tries to calm the dragon, or maybe just herself, by humming a soft seahold lullaby wordlessly. She also offers a quick grin of reassurance over toward Adareri.

Adareri grins. "Calm moments are always wonderful things." she murmers quietly, as she moves closer to Llysereth to get at where the wing joins with the body, making sure to scrub that area well, thinking it may provide more itch and discomfort there, if it's not cleaned properly, though she really doesn't know for sure... she's just guessing.

Llysereth croons softly, melodiously, at Christiana's humming; evidently, she likes that, and perhaps Lydiere does too - there's a softly curving smile spreading upon her lips. "Indeed they are," she agrees. "Calm within the storm."

Christiana continues the whisper of a song as she works, her brush moving with the beat of the lullaby. She'd been a Harper apprentice at one point and has a naturally clear tone to her voice that shows through in the humming. She makes a mental note to teach it to the other candidates in case it helps them, too. Scrubby scrubby... she's almost done with the section of wing she'd been working on.

Adareri smiles slightly and softly adds her voice to Christiana's, knowing the tune that's being hummed, her voice light, though slightly breathy when she sings. She finishes up scrubbing under the wing, and slowly, carefully, starts working down Llysereth's side, hoping that's alright with the proddy gold.

Lydiere's eyes remain shut - and so do Llysereth's; for a moment, both appear entirely calm, and very much placid. This is interrupted - Llysereth lunges through the water, sending waves towards both candidates, and Lydiere's eyes open with a blink. "Fardles," she swears. "I'm sorry. She's gone again. I-- Llysereth, we're going."

Christiana steps back, brush still raised in mid-brushing stance. "Gone? Who's gone?" she asks, glancing from goldrider to fellow candidate and then back to the gold.

Adareri jumps back, startled, as much as one can jump back in water that's suddenly deeper from waves. "What happened? I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have tried to do her side. Was that wrong?" she asks, looking concerned, as she slowly backs away from the gold, heading back towards the beach.

"Normal Llysereth. Lucid Llysereth." Lydiere all but mutteres these comments, shaking her head rapidly - regardless of the pain this might cause. "Sorry. This was a bad idea. I'm going to take her back home, calm her down." Lydiere splashes through the water, after her lifemate, adding, "Sorry." Again.

Christiana's brush dips into the water, leaving a trail of sudsy residue to stream through the water. "I hope we weren't doing anything wrong," she states, moving closer through the rippling waves toward Adareri, away from the gold a bit. "Maybe she didn't like my song."

Adareri nods slowly. "Well, alright. Don't worry about it Lydiere. There's been no harm done. not to Christiana and I anyway, I don't think." she says, glancing over to Christiana. "IF you need anything, just don't hesitate to send for me. You know I'll come. alright?" she offers.

Again, Lydiere nods. "Yes. Thank you." Wincing, she hauls herself up Llysereth's side, and the pair disappear - the larger of the two flying rather erratically.

Llysereth's absolute, devoted love for you is manifest within whirling eyes of blue; she lowers her forelimb for you, as you climb atop that silver-touched hide, using her straps to embark upon your spot between her neckridges.