Dolphin Education

5/15/2008
02:18 PM
Logfile from Pippa.

Main Beach
The beach here is of a fine, glittering black sand… volcanic sand, remnants of a long-past eruption. The beach is fairly wide, which is a good thing since many of the Weyr's dragons like to come here and lounge in the sun. The crystal blue waters of the ocean roll up in gentle hissing waves on the shoreline, sometimes leaving shells or other treasures from the sea in their wake. On the north and south ends of the beach, the cliff from the plateau retreats into the forest, and trees flank the beaches.
It is a winter midmorning. Tiny puffs of high clouds speckle the sky, like fish scales.
To the northeast, you see a blue dragon.
In the water, you see a green dragon.
To the south, you see a green dragon.
Curled up in the sand are four firelizards.
You see drink tray here.
Bajiren is here.
Obvious exits:
Plateau Hillside Path North Beach Pier Water South Beach

Bajiren
The boy is tall and skinny, quite reminiscent of a stick, but for the round head that sits atop his neck. Thick and feathery red hair is kept short, made to stick up this way and that throughout the course of the day by the boy's activities; generally a mess by evening. His eyebrows are a red-tinged gold, their visibility depending on the light, and freckles have shown up along his cheeks and the angular bridge of his nose, though they disappear before reaching its lightly rounded tip. His eyes are amber-toned, offering no break from the fiery look of him. Scabs, scrapes, and fading scars are to be found all along his limbs and hands, proof of a rough-and-tumble nature.
A pair of dark blue pants are cinched around the boy's waist with a brown belt, only visible when the untucked shirt, that was probably white when it was first donned, is lifted enough by a twist or turn to reveal it. A jacket made of brown canvas, designed to emulate a rider's flight gear, with even a little bit of fleece around the collar, keeps out the cold of winter. The sleeves have already been extended once, but already are proving a bit too short for ever-growing arms.
He is a child of about 8. He is awake, but seems rather distracted.

To say that Bajiren isn't Vanya's favourite is to lie outright, and the favour he's found with the journeyman means he gets to learn special things and do extra activities - despite being eight. This paired with poor Pippa's need to teach lessons as part of her senior apprentice requirements can only mean one thing: that the boy, in the process of stripping down to his trunks, means to learn all about dolphin bits from the senior apprentice in question. Which should be interesting, what with the speed with which he moves, and the general energetic aura he's putting out. Buzzing, really.

Pippa runs. Oh yes, she runs. Not a Baywatch run, mind you -although there is the swimsuit, and the boobs, but it is not in slow motion, nor is it pretty. Its kind of a 'omg, I was supposed to be somewhere at a certain time and now I'm totally late and I'm going to get into so much trouble unless I hurry my ass up' kind of run. And so, it is with that backdrop that the teen fairly careens onto the sand, kicking out of her sandals as soon as she hits the sun-warmed grains. The small figure is noticed, and her running takes her right to Bajiren. GASP. Her hands drop to her knees, body folding downwards, dark hair draping as well as she attempts to regain her breath. "Sorry."

Bajiren is not quite old enough to appreciate the Baywatch run anyway. By the time Pippa comes crashing in, he's standing on one leg, a hand on the ankle of the other one which is bent behind him, stretching out his thigh. The gangly boy continues with his stretching, all the while awarding Pippa a laugh. "Y'gotta be here first. Then y'have time to figure out what you're gonna tell people. An' then if /they're/ late," and here there's a wicked little smile, "y'getta be mean."

Pippa lifts her head to peer through the curtain of hair at the kid, dark eyebrows lifting somewhat in question. "Eh?" She could probably be more articulate, but right now she's too busy gulping air. Eventually though she rights, tossing her hair back to peer down at Bajiren, "Are you going to be mean to me?" Granted, not exactly the way of things, but still a valid question.

Bajiren puts the one leg down, and sets to stretching out the other one, wobbling a little bit when he first pulls his heel up to his behind, but finding his balance soon enough. "Dunno. If y'deserve it, then maybe." His chest puffs a little, fully acknowledging that he has the upper hand. "So you're gonna show me a dolphin, right?" There's a glimmer of excitement in the last comment, and a whole lot less of that cocky attitude.

"If there is one still around," Pippa drawls, cocking a single dark eyebrow to match his cocky attitude. "See any out there? They tend to just come along with the ferry. Although I did go'n ask Bob to stick around." Such a pretty old Terran name, isn't it? "He should be about. Swimming." Obviously.

"Bob, huh?" The boy is once again on two legs, which leaves his arms free to cross over his chest. He leans back a little, and it would be a downright condescending stance if he didn't have to look up to see Pippa. He's tall for his age, but that doesn't change the fact that he's not even into the double-digits yet. A glance is thrown out toward the water. "Didn't play with him much, yet. I getta see th'little ones, usually." A pause. "The pictures Vanya gave me were girl dolphins, though. They the same as boy dolphins?" Pause. "'Cept for the dick, right?" Bajiren is his mother's son.

Pippa nods her head. "Bob." His words though provoke a laugh out of her though, and her amusement is obvious. "They are pretty much well the same, on the outside. Often enough, you can't tell the difference. That is, unless you really pay attention." She gives him a sidling glance out of the corner of her eye, plucks off the wrap about her waist and heads towards the water. "You can swim, right? Like, know the strokes and can tread water well and won't drown kind of swim?"
Bajiren considers this for a moment, peering down his bared chest and staring quite obviously at his shorts for a moment. "So you gotta check to know what they are on the outside? An' they're not the same on the inside." The latter just seeming logical to him. The question about swimming gets a snort. "'Course I can swim."

Pippa continues to look dubious, eyeing his figure from toes to the top of his red-haired head. "Well, lets hope that you can. If not, I'm guessing we'll be having a lesson in staying afloat as well. Come along, 'lubber." She flashes the boy an amused grin before moving out into the water. "You can tell the boys from the girls… because the boys have two slits underneath them… one with the dick inside. Girls only have one. But don't go feeling around down there. Just ask 'em."

Bajiren makes a point of walking fast, trying to get ahead of Pippa without obviously getting ahead of her. 'Lubber indeed. "Duh," comes as a response to the thing about feeling around. "Someone went 'round grabbin' me t'make sure I'm a boy, I'd give 'em a nosebleed real fast." That subtle hurrying turns less subtle when he's a few steps away from the water, and then it's a running, flailing, splashing mess. The boy does like the water.

Pippa wades for a moment, allowing a wave to pass by, then she goes out to about waist-high. She stalls for a moment, looking out over the water in the hopes that Bob will, indeed, show up. "Good, then I trust you won't do that to him. Now where… Ah-ha." Just as expected the stormcloud-blue form of a dolphin darts through the water, and seemingly purposely does a bit of a flip in the air before them and then crashes back into the water. "Show off."

Bajiren keeps at about the same depth as Pippa, though feels no need to stick close. When Bob does his backflip, the boy gives a sharp little laugh, and declares the move to be, "Awesome." Stroking at the water (which is past his own waist) with loose fingers, as much for the sake of balance as for burning off all that energy, he peers up to Pippa. "So you're gonna tell me about problems for 'em, too, right? S'what Vanya said. That y'do that kinda thing. 'Cause I've looked at the pictures, an' I remember the names of the parts." Pause. "Mostly."

"Problems? Like inquisitive boys with more scrapes on them than skin?" Pippa counters with an arch to her eyebrows. She pats her hand on the water 'til Bob finally decides he has had enough with showing off, and instead decides to get a bit of bodily attention. As he approaches with a click and a welcome, the teen smiles, and then glances back to the kid. "Or are you meaning something else, boyo?"

"Girls think scars are hot," Bajiren notes quite simply, even going so far as to stretch out an arm and flex a little to make a recently scabbed area twitch a little. "Hi, Bob," he adds once the dolphin is well within range, holding out a hand, though not so presumptuous as to go right ahead and pat this one. He doesn't know this one. "So what if a dolphin gets a scrape? Like, on his do… d…" Pause. "Back fin?" Mostly remembers the names.

Pippa pretty much well fails at stifling a laugh at the 'scars are hot' statement. "Scars would be a sign that you can't take care of yourself -or are clumsy. You clumsy?" she asks, obviously amused by him. "Dorsal fin is the technical term… right, Bob?" To which the dolphin sort of bobs his head (pun intended). "Oh, you tend to treat them a lot like humans. Redwort is great for a lot of stuff. If it is really deep though, you might have to stitch him up. You ever need any stitches, Bajiren?"

Bajiren rolls his eyes. "Ain't clumsy. M'tough. An' long. An' braver'n a whole lotta kids. That's all." Here he reaches for that back fin carefully, and repeats, "Dorsal fin," a little under his breath. "Yeah, I had stitches. Lots on m'leg this one time, when I was runnin' past a wall with a sharp rock… You ever had stitches, Bob?"
Alas, Bob apparently hasn't had the rambunctious life of Bajiren though. "No no!" he is quick to reply. "'Tis only a matter of time," Pippa returns with a chuckle and a roll of her eyes. "Any bloodfish or anything on you, Bob? Lets get a good look at ya while we've got you here." Kids and dolphins, always seemingly so busy.

Bajiren stops with his idle prodding at Bob's dorsal fin, squinting, as if a more close inspection might turn up something exciting like bloodfish or open wounds. "An' that's a flipper," he notes, with a point toward the one nearest him. An' the ones on the tail're called flukes, right?"

Bob seems to be clean though, for all intents and purposes. He's just happy to be hanging out, showing off his awesome dolphin bod, that sort of thing. Pippa turns her shoulder into one of the waves as she looks back towards Bajiren, "Well, you did learn something then. Yeah, that they are. They've also got their blowhole… melon," and she gives a rub to the dolphin's head, "and on to their beak." To which Bob opens his nice and wide, obviously looking for someone to stick a fish down it.
Bajiren kinda paddles around and has a look at the dolphin's teeth. Even if he's relatively fish-less, and therefore has nothing to offer. "How come s'called a melon?" There's a little snicker to go right along with that. And then he's reaching to pat at Bob's head.

"Think about it," Pippa counters, giving the kid a look out of the corner of her eye. One of her hands slips under the water to a pouch there. At least her flizen are wheeling about in the hopes of getting fishy treats as well. All for Bob though, as she tosses him a couple of split fingertails. "Its round like a melon… Shells, hasn't anyone ever called your head a melon too?"

"No." There's a snort. "So just 'cause it's round? An' a flipper 'cause it flips? An' a fluke 'cause… it was an accident?" And the boy pins her with a furrowed brow and a somewhat dubious look. Bajiren waits until Bob is done with chowing down on his snack, and then is back to patting the dolphin.

Pippa snerts as Bob opens his mouth again. Like a little baby flizen, nothing but mouth and hoping you just keep shoving things down it. She sighs, grabs a couple more fishy offering and tossed them down there too. "Hrm? You know what, kid, I don't know. That's just what they call 'em. Crackdust, if they wanted to call it their swimmy thing, I'd be all for that too. I ain't gonna question it." Although he apparently does.

"Swimmy thing'd make a lot more sense," Bajiren murmurs, peering down toward Bob's tail. "So what else you gonna teach me?" And an expectant eye is turned to Pippa.

Pippa sort of shrugs her shoulders, and adds in rather wryly, "Ah well, I wasn't around when they were naming the things, so we have to go with melon and flipper and fluke." As Bob snaps up the fish again, happily swallowing them down, the teen reaches over to give his beak a good rub, smiling, "Depends on if there is more stuff that you want to learn. Like… how to flip like Bob does. Or swim with him -Oh, want to go for a bit of a swim with him? If that's okay with you, Bob?" Apparently the dolphin thinks this would be a riot, for he responds with a bobbled head and quite a few excited clicks.

"I gotta swim with a little 'phin a few times before," Bajiren chimes in. "We could still swim, though. Never been with one as big as Bob is." A glance to the dolphin. "He's probably stronger. We could probably go faster!" And a grin is pointed at the dolphin. "An' you could teach me how to flip."

Bob being Bob, the dolphin is quick to react. He skittles out from Pippa's hands, backfins, and then barely gives Bajiren a moment to grab ahold of that silly dorsal fin of his before shooting off. Pippa gapes for a moment, and then yells, "Hey! Hey! Shells! Don't drown him! They'll blame it on /me/. I don't wanna get dropped off with the renegades!"

Bajiren gives a little yelp, which gets some water in his mouth, though he doesn't seem totally phased by it. And then he's holding on for dear life, and laughing when he can manage. At one point when Bob slows for a turn (he surely doesn't really want to drown the kid, after all) Bajiren calls, "Y'gotta keep up," back toward Pippa. Bwahah.

This is the perfect time to facepalm, and that is exactly what the teen does. She peeks out between her fingers though to note where the dolphin and boy are, which really isn't that deep or anything, thank Faranth. So instead, she laughs, unable to help herself. A roll of her eyes though and then her voice lifts once more. "Bob! I've got the fish, not /him/!" Way to any males attention, through his stomach.

And they're off! Bob is swimming for the fish, and Bajiren… has come detached halfway. There's a quick moment of spluttering and thrashing, and then he's on his belly and doing one of them crawl strokes toward the journeyman - though he keeps his head up all the time, to be sure to know where he's going. (The boy can indeed swim.)

"Crackdust!" And a few other expletives drift from her lips. She might be a pretty teen, but she's got a mouth of a sailor when set to express it. "If you've gone 'n killed him, Bob…" Alas, the dolphin clicks in excitement once more. "Fish?" She tosses a couple more to him, only to peer after Bajiren. At least it isn't a dead man's float. "Maybe we'll do the flipping lessons another day."

By the time he's got back to Pippa, Baji is laughing himself silly, to the point where he can barely keep on swimming. Once he gets over it, and is up to treading water, he grins at Pippa. "We can still flip. Bob knows I can swim, dontcha Bob?" Another pat to the dolphin. "That was more fun. And flipping'd be even more fun."

Pippa peers at Baji for a moment, rolls her eyes again and aims a splash of water at the kid. "Well, if he actually sticks around instead of hanging out with the ferry, I've no doubt he'll be teaching you flips too." Instead though, the girl wades for the shore. "I can't though. I've bell duty." Aka, a chance to lay out and get some sun and hope just maybe something happens besides more rainy weather reports.

Bajiren sticks his lower lip way out in a pout, but reluctantly follows Pippa to the shore. He knows the rules: don't stay in the ocean without someone there. (Stupid rules.) "Bell duty sounds real boring," he notes as he hauls himself out of the surf and onto dry land. "Whats the point unless you got somethin' to say?"

"In case something happens, someone needs to be there," Pippa answers, coming free of the water. She turns about for a moment to cast a wave after Bob, who is busily enjoying a full belly and a good digestion. "Like an accident, or a storm, or if someone wants to know what the conditions are like. That kind of thing. Doesn't happen that often up here at the Weyr though." He bends over, shaking her hair out before pushing it to her back with a wet slap. "It is boring, usually. Here." Sand begins to collect upon her wet feet, bespeckling up long legs as well. "But there are always times."

Bajiren snorts at this, shaking his head. "Have fun with your bell duty," is said with that sneering sort of tone that kids can manage so well. He heads for his clothes now, already peering toward the sky to check for the ride that's sure to arrive to take him wherever he needs to go next. "So next time you can tell me 'bout their insides," he adds, as way of farewell to the senior apprentice.

Pippa's snort near to mirrors Bajiren's, only more amused then anything. She plucks her wrap back up, winding it about her, then looking back to the teen, "Innards, huh?" The teen chuckles, flashes a wink at the boy, casts him a wave and then picks up her pace once more. Running. Again. Bah!

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