I'll Never Let Go, Dummy!

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 10th January 2017

Characters: R'nar, A'vel, L'pin, Thaura, P'jehn
Description: The Weyrling class learns to catch falling dummies.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 5 of Turn 8

The dragon fall-and-catch earlier in the sevenday had gone well
enough. Only one severe accident had happened, and it wasn't something
that was going to permanently ground a pair. Now they'd be working on
rider drops, something which terrified a lot of weyrlings. Even those
who loved doing acrobatics on their dragon didn't always like falling
off of their dragon.

One of the terrified weyrlings was A'vel. He'd woken up well before
the sun rose, nervousness about what was going to happen consuming
him. He'd eaten a meagre breakfast, been distracted while following
his senior rider buddy, and only picked at his lunch a few times
before going off to be sick from nerves. It was because of the
vomiting he was a hairsbreath from being officially late to the
practical lesson. He was the last person in not only his group, but
the whole class, to fall into formation outside with the other
weyrlings. As he slipped into place next to R'nar he didn't even smile
or nod.

L'pin began to speak about the proper method for catching a falling
rider, how to position your dragon underneath them, to catch the
person and clip them to the straps. A'vel wasn't processing any of it.
He was too busy trying to hold still and not having his trembling
show.

R'nar studied A'vel from the corner of his eye, while still giving a
listening ear to L'pin. It wasn't as if he hadn't received a full
fledged lecture from his mother anyway on the proper way to catch a
falling rider.

"You okay?" He asked under his breath.

Shards, other people were noticing. A'vel's instinct was to flush and
duck away - but if he did the weyrlingstaff would see him. So he
straightened his shoulders and gave the other man a nod. "Fine," he
answered, just as soft.

}:He is nervous,:{ Tsogath told Iorath. }:Is yours?:{

Iorath searched his rider's feelings before answering Tsogath, }:Mine
seems a little anxious, but mostly calm. I believe his mother gave him
some advice.:{

R'nar nodded and let it go at that. He'd gotten to know A'vel pretty
well over the course of Weyrlinghood, R'nar might even go so far as to
say A'vel was the only real friend he'd made.

}:I wish mine was calm. I had fun at the earlier drill. He will have fun too.:{

A'vel shivered slightly as L'pin kept going. His heart was racing and
he just wanted this to be over with.

L'pin had been discussing the first phase - dropping the sack dummy
and having them practice catching those before people. He wrapped up
his speech and split them into groups, with weyrlingstaff going to
each group. He came to A'vel and R'nar's group and smiled at them.

"R'nar, how do you and Iorath feel about going first?"

R'nar had come to expect doing things first, which he supposed was to
prepare him and Iorath as bronzeriders for leadership, since they were
suppose to set an example to others. His gut twisted with a sudden
bout of nerves, but he pushed the feelings down and capped a tight lid
on them.

}:We can do this. It's only catching a dummy.:{ Iorath said, with the
air of rolling his eyes, if that were possible.

"We can do it, sir." He assured L'pin.

"Mount up and follow me up. You'll be at the mid-altitude level for
the catch," L'pin said, having Chaneth reinforce his words with mental
images to Iorath. He preferred the mid-level so they had time to dive
for the dummy if it had been missed the first time.

He mounted Chaneth and took off to the high-altitude level, waiting
till he saw the pair in the right spot. The bluerider unstrapped the
sack dummy and held it out.

}:Ready?:{ Chaneth queried.

}:Ready.:{ Iorath confirmed as R'nar tightened his thighs against his
dragon's neck, his body tense and ready for the falling dummy.

When the figure began to fall, Iorath automatically slanted his wings
to manuever them in the best place possible to make the catch. The
bronze pair miscalculated a bit and R'nar had to lunge hard against
his straps and extend his arm to the fullest. He made the catch, just
barely, by grabbing the straw hair that protruded from the top of the
dummy's head.

**Ugh.** He grimaced as he dragged the dummy over his lap. It was a
technical catch, but he knew that in real life catching someone by the
hair was exactly going to cut it.

}:He made it,:{ Chaneth told L'pin.

**Tell them it was a good first try, and to fly up here to hand it
back,** the bluerider said.

}:Bring it back to us,:{ Chaneth told the younger dragon. If R'nar
could throw it to them it would save him having to continuously land.

Iorath swiftly winged up to where Chaneth and L'pin waited, and R'nar
tossed the dummy over to L'pin before they descended back down to
watch some of the other Weyrlings.

}:Up next is Lavith. Mid-altitude,:{ Chaneth announced.

Thaura took her dragon up and readied for the catch.

A'vel ignored watching her try in order to ask R'nar, "How was it?"

"Not bad," R'nar said. "But it's not like standing on your own two
feet and catching something. You really have to coordinate well with
your dragon to anticipate where you should be in the air to make the
catch." The bronze Weyrling crossed his arms over his chest as his
lips curled with suppressed laughter. "Poor dummy, I nearly snatched
it bald."

"That sounds difficult," A'vel fretted.

Tsogath was watching the next toss, and A'vel looked up when he felt
her alarm to see the dummy plummeting down past Lavith to impact on
the ground. It bounced and some stuffing rolled.

"Bald is better than dead," he said, gesturing.

It shouldn't have been funny but Thaura's mortified expression made
R'nar laugh, which he hid behind a hand, because he was sure that
nothing about this drill was suppose to be funny.

"You'll do better." He assured his friend.

"You certainly can't do worse. Unless you drop R'nar here," P'jehn
said helpfully. "Imagine cleaning a person up off the ground. Splat,
like a trundlebug!"

Wasn't _that_ a nightmarish mental image? A person lying limp on the
ground, blood pooling around them... But A'vel didn't have time to
dwell on it.

}:Tsogath, you and your rider bring us the dummy, then get ready to
catch,:{ Chaneth ordered.

**Great,** A'vel thought. He walked along the ground and picked up the
dummy, hoisting it onto Tsogath's back. As they took off to fly up to
L'pin's level, he pondered the limp sack with the stuffing poking out,
feeling bad about its sad condition.

He threw it to L'pin and Chaneth, thinking about how easy it was to
hurl this sack. The later ones with pellets in them were going to be
worse, and then the level with _people_... He kept picturing what
P'jehn had said.

Tsogath was unaffected by his dwelling. She had her eyes up waiting
for Chaneth, and when the blue told her to go, she was ready. The
dummy fell. The green angled herself a little to the left... a bit
more over... A'vel reached out his hands - and the dummy fell just out
of reach.

A'vel didn't have time to swear. Tsogath folded her wings in
immediately. Without them, she dropped rapidly through the sky, her
weight bringing her down faster than the dummy. Once she was below it,
then she flared her wings out and banked left. A'vel's outstretched
arms caught the dummy and he was able to yank it to his chest.

}:Good recovery,:{ Chaneth said. }:Bring it back for the next pair.:{

A'vel's heart was pounding in his chest as Tsogath carried them back
up. Tsogath had dropped so fast - she hadn't told him what she
planned, just _did_ it - it was sickening and a rush at the same time.
When he threw the dummy back it was with shaking hands, and Chaneth
had to move quickly to get it in time.

Once the handoff was done, Tsogath spiraled back to the ground, much
slower this time. The next pair was already going up before she
landed. A'vel dismounted on shaky legs.

"You did it!" R'nar clapped A'vel on the back. "You were the best one
by far. Your person kept their hair and their brains intact."

"Tsogath did it, not me," A'vel said, but he smiled at R'nar as he
did. "She just thought and _did_."

}:I knew I was faster than it,:{ she said smugly to Iorath, looking at
the young bronze with happily whirling eyes. }:Was I not impressive?:{

Iorath, who was at an age to begin noticing females, turned
appreciative eyes onto the green, }:You were very impressive,
Tsogath.:{ He agreed.

"Either way, it was impressive."

"Hopefully we'll do all right when catching each other." A'vel said.
He'd meant in the drills, but suddenly he realized another possible
meaning, and he flushed slightly.

R'nar caught that other meaning and forced himself not to react to it
outwardly. There was the very real possibility that Iorath might catch
Tsogath someday, and then he and A'vel would wake to a very awkward
situation. R'nar liked A'vel just fine as a person and friend, and he
thought no differently of him for being a greenrider, but R'nar had a
healthy taste for the fairer sex, which was evidenced by his bronze
dragon.

"I'm less worried about catching and more worried about the idea of
falling through the air for someone to catch _me_." He lowered his
voice, "And to Faranth I hope it's not Thaura trying to catch me."

Another pair was performing their catch even as they spoke. This one
went passably as well.

"I'm sure the Third will make her practice more on the dummy first.
All of us too, probably." A'vel shivered. "I don't want to fall
either..."

Last updated on the January 31st 2017

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I'll Never Let Go, Dummy!