MoonLit's Maiden

[inkith]

Astrid, being the awesome person that she is, had been spending her time making a skiff. It wasn't just any old skiff to her, it would be the first one to be used at the Weyr.

It was a little one, easy to handle, even the young Weyrbrats would be able to sail it. But it was a skiff, and Astrid needed to get back on the water, the lake in the middle of the Weyrbowl wasn't as good as the open ocean, but for now it would do, and Astrid might even be able to teach some people something, anything.

Finally, Astrid was putting the final finishing touches on her skiff, which involved painting it and the name which, suitably, was, "MoonLit's Maiden." Seen as it was the first of its kind to sail Sky Lake.

Her hair was streaming out behind her, having escaped as used from her unruly braid, some of the curls were dyed a little blue on the ends from when they had trailed in the paint.

Her hands, face, tunic, shoes. Everything were, a little blue actually. She had stripes on her face, handprints on her tunic and blue gloves on her hands.

She stood up, admiring her handiwork.

"You know Baewenth, I think this might just work."

Hahaha, yes, but you could have done it without getting so blue. I mean, who wouldn't want to be blue, blue is beautiful. He winked at her to show he was just teasing her.

But your beautiful red hair doesn't mix well with blue. He smiled at her.

So, are we going to test this baby out or what. Baewenth was getting excited now, he couldn't wait.

[Raelyn]

Nate stepped out into the sunshine, a happy grin on his face. It was very warm - a thaw in the relatively cool temperatures so far - and it was just perfect for a swim in tte lake. He didn't think anyone else was around - most tohught it was too cold for swiming or other outdoor activities anyways, as there was still a cool breeze. But the sun was shining, and that was enough for him.

He didn't check for people around - he didn't see Astrid at first, coming from teh wrong angle to see her, as it was. He laughed and as he ran towards teh clear blue waters of Sky Lake, Nate pulled his lightweight brown vest, bright red tunic, and black fingerless gloves off and dropped them on the pebbled sand before giving a hollar and, after wading out a little deeper, diving in.

Under th ewater, Nate opened his eyes and smiled peacefully, calmly holding his breath and swimming along like a fish. After a little while he burst to t esurface and brushed his slightly-too-long brown hair away from his face.

Golden-brown eyes widened as Nate realized that he had company. A young woman- a rider - and a blue dragon were only a few feet away. He noticed teh skiff, too, but was mostly focused on th efact that his scars were quite visible. The water wasn't quite so deep over here and his torso was above the waterline, pale bare skin crisscrossed by tte variety of scars, some darker and some paler.

"Ehm..." Nate quickly ducked down, blushing. "S-sorry, I didn' realize anyone else would be out 'ere today...." Shards! I feel like I should say more but I can't think of anything not completely stupid. My name.. should I introduce myself? Would that be wierd? Maybe I should just leave? But that would be so rude, and not nice at all...

"Me name's Nate Connell, by the way. Er... I see you're makin' a skiff?" Most inland Pernese didn't have t efoggiest idea about boats and skiffs and th elike, but Nate liked knowing things, and he'd found out alot by simply asking everyone around him about things.

[inkith]

Astrid glanced around at the sound of someone speaking. Well, at least she knew the Weyr wasn't completely dead, there was 1 person out and about, other than her of course.

Admittedly it was early. But Astrid knew that she would have to get up early to beat the rain which was, judging by the looks of the sky, going to fall somewhere around midday.

The blue rider looked towards the newcomer. He was young, probably 18 or 19. Unfortunately way too young for Astrid as he was definitely attractive, but definitely too young for the 28 year old.

"Well hello Nate." She held out (and down) a hand to the boy crouching in the water, she wondered why his cheeks had suddenly flamed.

"I'm Astrid." Belatedly she plastered a genuine smile to her face. "And yes, I am building, well painting now, a skiff. It seemed to me that the boating technology of the Weyr is rather limited, so I though I could introduce a bit of boating fun into the young'uns 'round here." Her face fell momentarily. "O' course' I didn't think about the fact that this is probably extremely early for the young'uns in the Weyr, if they've bin' getting up to mischief in the dead of night." She gave the young man a wink.

[Raelyn]

Nate offered a tentative smile to the woman, and when she held out her hand he blinked a moment before swallowing nervously. Then he reached out of the water and shook her hand, smiling.

"Nice ta meet you." He said shyly, then directed his attention back to the skiff. "Oh, yeah, not too many boats 'round here. Which, I admit, is pretty strange, seein' as there's this whole lake 'ere." He commented with a short laugh. He tilted his head a little, crouching in the water so his skin was hidden. His small smile became a full-on grin, complete with dimples, at what Astrid said.

"Wha', us, up ta mischief?" He said in a mock-affronted tone, giggling a little. He shook his head. "It's not too early... Well, maybe it is. Bu' there're clouds over there 'eadin' this way. Wouldn' wanna miss a chance to be alone..." He flushed, looking away, mouth shut. He glanced back up at Astrid.

"Not that I have a problem. you were 'ere first, an' I c'n still swim if I like, anyway." He said hurriedly.

[inkith]

Astrid could tell that Nate liked swimming alone, but there was no reason for that. Swimming could be an incredibly fun sport when done with other people. And since he was the only one here, she could give him a spin on the skiff. She had finished it now, and there was no point leaving its maiden journey until people finally decided to show up.

"Well mate, if you want, I can take you on a spin on the Maiden here. Unless you really want to swim alone. 'Cause if you do, there's not point in me launching her yet. I can always come back another day."

Her voice took on a wistful tone. She had really hoped that she would be able to launch 'Moonlit's Maiden' today.

[Raelyn]

He rubbed somewhat absently at a pink scar on his shoulder and blinked at Astrid. With a glance to the all-blue little boat, he smiled, nodding quickly as he met Astrid's eyes again.

"No! I mean, yes, I would like ta, erm, I mean can I? I c'n swim anytime. Not so often I get a chance ta take a spin on a skiff 'round 'ere. Or at all, really.... Just- I'm gonna go... I mean I'll be... right back. I really do want to, erm... yeah." He babbled, flushing again as he gestured to the rest of his clothes on the other bank. As he flailed his arm in that direction the ligh frmo the sun would expose mroe of the scars on his skin. She might not notice, but then again she could, which was his entire reason for wanting to get dressed again even though he was dripping wet.

Technically he could've just hopped on board the skiff, but he was too self-conscious to do that, even if it made a bit more sense practicality-wise.

((ooc: so i have a bit written for nate's reaction if she doesn't mind him going to get his clothes, but i don't have to use it ^_^))

[inkith]

Astrid smiled warmly at the kid. He was so shy, always stumbling around his words and second-guessing himself in the middle of a sentence. It was sort of endearing. As he guestured towards the bank she saw them. Of course she did. I mean, they were sort of hard to miss. Now she understood why he was a bit startled that she was here, why he kept changing his mind and why he was so nervous.

He just kept smiling at him, trying to not make it obvious that she saw, as to not embarrass the kid further.

"Go ahead. Go get your clothes on."

She felt so sorry for him. It was as if the scars made him ugly or anything. They changed his appearance, but not badly, they just gave him a bit of character. But she knew that something that made those kind of scars would be hard to forget...

((Yeah. Use what you've written already that ok))