Friendly Competition

Writers: Devin, Iluva
Date Posted: 9th January 2026

Characters: N'vanik, Th'reyos
Description: N'vanik and Th'reyos have a casual chat after their dragons set up a meeting.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 13 of Turn 12
Notes: Sunny 78°
Mentioned: Jossenth, I'serin

N'vanik

Th'reyos

Mid-afternoon under a clear, unmarred sky, Zarkarth dove low across the sparkling white sands of Dolphin Cove at break-neck speed, a mission in mind.

Their morning had been an exploration of just a small sliver of this side of the Continent. Lush wilds and hidden inlets and tucked-in coves that peppered the coastline across the Weyr's territory. Hidden jems, they both agreed.

Now, his wings locked in an clean curve with the coastline, Zarkarth was eager to return to Jossenth.

**You're gettin' way too big for your britches, baby.** Th'reyos chided from up on his neck, long arms stretched out to mirror his dragons wings. They'd been in Dolphin Cove just over a sevenday and he was already tan again, the sun catching on his hair, in his smile. His tone was equal parts fond and annoyed, **You don't stop arranging our lives, next thing you'll be trying to make us Weyrleader of somewhere.**

While he hadn't, Zarkarth dropped low like he suddenly hit a thermal, though possibly hitting a nerve. Talons skimmed the surface of the sea, drawing a scar through the glassy waters all the way to an open spot of beach.

}:Ha. Don't tempt me. You still don't know what's good for you.:{

Th'reyos shot a squint at the back of his big head with a look of 'what's that supposed to mean'. But before he could press it, his attention caught on the glitter of coppery bronze. It didn't take much guessing to figure out the stretched out shape beside him was obviously the Weyrleader of Dolphin Cove. Th'reyos hadn't known what exactly to expect, but a combination of rumor and firsthand observation had painted N'vanik as markedly more relaxed than I'serin, and he liked those odds.

He vaulted down with a soft thump in the sand and as he approached he gave the man a sloppy salute. "What's up, bossman? Here for my play date."

"Ah, yeah, the one our dragons set us up on," N'vanik said with a little smile. "Come have a seat." The Weyrleader set aside his hidework, placing a rock on it so a stray breeze wouldn't blow it away.

"Yeah, that one." Th'reyos shot back and stretched out with an obliging nod, leaning back in the sweltering hot sand on his elbows. "This place." He mused with a pleased, reverent sigh, scanning the blue horizon with unshaded eyes. "I could get used to this place. No wonder Loseth keeps winning." He grinned. "Who'd wanna leave?"

"Not me," the Weyrleader chuckled. "I came here from Dragonsfall, too. I was thrilled to leave that frozen wasteland."

"That where you Impressed?" Th'reyos said with a sidelong glance, watching Zarkarth take to the air again in a light spray of sand. "It's a fine enough Weyr. The people are generally the kind you want around. We've been there almost a turn now, but I dunno if I'll ever get _used_ to the cold. I'm a creature of heat."

N'vanik shook his head. "Vista Point. I've moved around a bit."

It was both surprising how many former ex-Vista Point riders had found their way to Dolphin Cove, and also not surprising at all; a trade of heat for heat was pretty much a no-brainer. "Same here. On both accounts." Th'reyos smirked a little. "Hey -- was K'tenil on staff when you were there? Brownrider with red hair. Needlethorn stalk up his ass."

N'vanik frowned thoughtfully. "Not on staff, no. I think he was a wingrider when I was there. Probably safe to say we didn't get along, though." He chuckled.

Th'reyos' voice rippled with an easy laugh, too. "He was a huge _dick_, you weren't missing much." He assured him, pushing bleaching blond hair off his forehead. He then gently raked those long fingers down through the simmering sand, smirking at the Weyrleader like a feline with an avian in his mouth (as perhaps the dick-ishness hadn't been entirely one-sided), then shook his head.

"But you've been roosted here a nice while now, haven't you..." He paused a moment, debating. "Mind if I ask why here?"

Shadows flickered across N'vanik's eyes. "I chased after a goldrider. And some small part of me was stupid enough to want this job." Then he brightened. "But I don't regret it, because I love it here."

The goldrider remark prompted a brief side-eye from Th'reyos, though he let that slide away, out into the cresting waves where a pod of dolphins were playing. "Even though you gotta deal with holders. Brave man."

"They weren't this bad when I got here." N'vanik laughed with dark humor.

"You're saying you made 'em worse?" The brownrider teased with a soft chuckle. For the moment he wasn't particularly concerned with formalities of any kind. And maybe he should have been, at least somewhat. Th'reyos gave the man another side-long look. The Weyrleader was not a conventional man as he understood, so if N'vanik didn't have an issue then Th'reyos hardly saw a reason to. He was enjoying getting to know the people here outside the harshly defined lines of 'Fall and he'd take a cussing out, or a reprimand, or anything else, if it came to it.

Th'reyos, squinting against the brightness, arched a brow in challenge. "Alrighty, enough chitchat. What're we doing? Go swimming, go running. Climb a tree. Wrestle." He smirked. "There ain't no one around, so this would be a real good time for you to _lose_, bossman."

N'vanik's eyes lit at the challenge. "You think you can beat me? Come here and catch one of our golds and now you think you can do anything." He didn't have patience for the kind of man who was always trying to one-up someone, but Th'reyos had a casual, playful air. A little friendly competition would be a nice break. "Swimming."

"Yeah, that's right. We're hot shit." The brownrider declared loftily, somehow not snorting out loud at his own bullshit. "But then-- there wouldn't be much point in challenging you if I already knew I could win. I'm _thinking_ I can," he lied lightly, as he hadn't lived near the ocean in nearly a turn.

He decided to take the lead and rose, stretching his toes lazily through the sand like they were about to go for a little stroll, not compete. His eyes, however, glinted like the glassy surface of the sea.

"All I'm saying is that if you'd like to try out losing for a change, see how it feels, you are welcome to. I'm a far more gracious winner than Zarkarth." Th'reyos smiled. He was pushing his sharding luck in a lot of ways, and was probably going to get himself drowned for it, so he may as well set out toward the water. He threw a glance over his shoulder at N'vanik, the corner of his mouth tugged up. "Sorry to be such a shit. Don't you ever get tired of bein' the boss?"

"Yeah," N'vanik admitted. "But the alternative is someone else bossin' _me_ around." He smiled as he followed the brownrider.

"HA! Fair enough," Th'reyos paused and, shuttering his gaze against the high glare, sought some sort of marker or waypoint. The boundaries between sand, sea, and sky seemed to recede a little on days like today. Days when everything was light, and the world shone. "Some people you don't really mind bossing you around... and when they've got that particular flair for it..." He pointed down the gently fraying ribbon of beach to a scraggly cluster trees. One long trunk was snapped and pitched forward, withering into a dry line drawn in the white sand, a dark finger of jungle crooked under the sun.

"How's that?" His eyebrow arched at N'vanik, "Too far?"

"Nah, that's good." N'vanik stripped off his shirt and kicked off his sandals. "I'm gonna swim laps around you." But he wasn't going to gloat _too_ much.

Last updated on the January 16th 2026

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