(20.12) As the Snow Falls (males)

[Katlyn]

((OOC: Option 1 - continues on, no set backs; Option 3 - Mild Setback; Option 2 - Detrimental Setback (injury, falls out, whatever you what). Congrats to Oodath, the brown weyrling, and Tamoith for following Vatanith through her next antics Realtath and Serguth still can catch up if you guys want, though they will miss this particular opportunity to get close. If you guys want either of those two to not be competive from this point forward, let me know. If they don't fall out completely right now, then don't worry about posting options for them anymore. Everyone else is definitely still in the game, if a bit behind. Don't forget to post your options for all your dragons still chasing and who you standing a chance.))

Vatanith's antics took her to the forest line. A sane dragon might have flown over the trees, but Vatanith wasn't feeling fairly sane in this flight. She cork screwed her way through some trees where the opening was wide enough to fit a dragon, not bothering to see which of her suitors chose to follow her into the forest. Surely there was the scream of a dragon or two who stopped short when they realized where her antics were taking them. Then again, they were so soon into the flight that even those who stopped, if in fact any of them had stopped, surely they would be able to catch back up again. If they hadn't been hurt. But any male who got hurt surely wasn't worth her.

The forest line eventually closed up before her, forcing her go back above the canopy where she rounded around a mountain peak, staying up high where she began to weave figure eights around the peaks closest to each other. Eventually though she leveled out again, flying straight towards the lowest elevations of the island, and right towards the canyon that housed the island's waterfall.

[sorra]

[option 3]
Oodath silently praised himself for being able to stay close to Vatanith. The green was tricky, but the slippery blue was loving it. He enjoyed being sneaky himself, so this flight was great fun for him. The blue angled his wings to go after Vatanith. He barely even noticed the trees as he tried to keep on her tail. He had a feeling if he got too far behind her than he didn't stand any chance at all. She could change directions or tactics at any time and totally lose them. Oodath was determined not to let that happen as he pumped his wings to stay close to her.

[option 1]
Volcanth snorted as he lost some distance as he nearly ran into a tree. He wasn't used to the greens being quite so tricky. He was going to have to be more careful if he wanted to stay close to her and have a chance to winning this flight. The brown pumped his wings, having a lot of ground to make up. Thankfully not all the dragons had passed him, but quite a few had and that didn't sit well with him. He wanted to win this.

[kendrall]

((OOC - Posting to keep this Chase moving, and posting Realtath on behalf of Kit. Apologies if I went ahead of someone else.))

Microth roared in frustration as Vatanith got the better of him a second time. Instead of brushing against the tops of the trees as he thought she would, instead the Green performed a dizzying set of barrel rolls through a gap in the treeline. A few of the males in pursuit screamed as they realized too late they wouldn't be able to follow Vatanith, and several dragons were forced to break away at the last minute before colliding with each other or with the trees. Fortunately, none of them were seriously wounded, but crooned sadly as they were effectively eliminated from the competition.

Realtath, unfortunately, just happened to be one of those dragons forced to spread his wings as open as possible to keep himself from crashing headfirst into a rather wide tree trunk, but it wasn't enough to halt his forward progress as several branches scraped his sides. Keening sadly, the Bronze practically limped back to the Weyr. At the same moment, N'reus' nearly cried out as he realized just how close his Bronze was to suffering some major injuries, but he breathed a sigh of relief as Realtath was able to pull out before he could be seriously wounded. The Bronze rider quickly departed the Flightroom and ran as fast as he could down the corridor.

((Realtath is out. Microth - Option 2))

Microth, on the other hand, lost ground on the Green gem as she came back above the canopy, maneuvered around for a bit then headed towards the canyon. The Blue pulled hard against the chilly air, trying to get back into the Chase and did his best to get an intercept angle on Vatanith.

Tamoith dropped neatly behind his Blue counterpart but tucked in close, letting Oodath act as a windbreak as the two shot through the narrow gap behind Vatanith. Once they broke clear of the forest, Tamoith gained a little altitude on Oodath but was otherwise right on the Green's tail, following her around the mountain peaks before leveling out and edging ever closer to his intended prize. Shibora, in the meantime, watched as several suitors filed out, but otherwise knew she was in a tight competition with Tr'vin as the two Blues began to battle it out for the lead position in the Chase.

((Tamoith - Option 1))

[Mik]

((Option 2))

The Weyrling brown, in his reckless pursuit of Vatanith, followed her into the trees, trying his best to follow her path, spinning once or twice to avoid a near collision with a tree, but managed to make it out of the trees unharmed. Perhaps it was one of the few advantages of being young and not very sensible just yet, but whatever the case, he managed to clear the trees safely and began to follow Vatanith around the mountain peaks, pumping his wings as fast as he possibly could to keep up with her. So it was as the glowing green headed back toward the chasm that was the Weyr proper, the brown was still close behind her among those closest to her.
~~~

((Serguth is out))

As Vatanith dove beneath the treeline, Serguth remained above them, not wanting to risk a branch’s wrath and grounding himself. He was close at hand when she emerged finally, having kept sight of her glowing hide through the bare branches beneath him, but as she began her circling of the mountain tops, the blue could feel his wings burning to try to keep up with her. Being the size he was gave him a disadvantage in most cases, but as his Rider’s heart was not fully into this flight, there was little chance that he would remain in the flight much longer. As she headed for the Weyr proper, he lost speed and let the other males dart ahead of him, following the young bronze’s wake back to the snow-covered land of their island home.
~~~

((Option 1))

Seeth saw Vatanith disappear beneath the treelines, but remained above them toward the back of the pack, having not fully recovered from his near collision with Microth, yet he was still in this Chase. When the glowing gem rose from the trees, he pumped his wings harder to catch up now that she was in the open again, finally getting back into a decent position as she began her figure eights about the mountain tops. Though lean, the blue had a few tricks up his scales and darted after Vatanith with all his might as she headed back toward the canyon that housed most of the Weyr, driving to get close to her once again.

[Katlyn]

((Ok, gonna call this the last round before the catch, to try and wrap it up. From the previous round, option 3er are good to go, option 1ers severe set back, no chance to catch, 2 setback, harder but might still good enough chance to catch....for the dragons still in, this time pick 1-20. Make sure you dont double pick numbers. The one closest to what is rolled in the next round wins))

With the pack quickly dwindling, Vatanith found herself starting to tire as well. If ever wasthe time to pull a trick out, now was it. As the green approached the water fall, she dove close to the surfaceof the river that fed into it. Once at the cliff, the green dove straight down, flying through the water that was the waterfall itsel, leveling out just before she would have crashed into the ground below. She flew along the canyons river until it opened out into the lower level of the weyr, heading straight towards the ocean again, and not once regaining in atltitude. Once oever top of the sea, she grazed the ice cold water with her talons before turning back to the welcoming island and following the coast back to the cliffs.

There, the water turned icey and rocking, and she wove amongst the rocks jutting out of the waters surface. The snow was falling harder now, making it even harder for her and her chasers to see, but she continued on her path, right towards the cliff face. As with the waterfall, she only changed course at the last minute, heading straight up this time. Like in the beginning, she flew up and up, into the clouds and snow and wind. Who still followed, she wasnt sure, but her wings burned now. It was close to time to end.

[sorra]

Volcanth did his best to stay with Vatanith, but he knew it was futile. He had taken a wrong turn and nearly collided with a tree and another male dragon. The brown had pulled up in alarm and dropped out, knowing he wasn't able to catch the beautiful green. He snorted in defeat and curled up on his ledge to sulk.

T'res let out a gasp as his dragon narrowly missed a collision. He stumbled out of the flightroom as he felt his dragon return to their ledge. He didn't know if he would bump into anyone, but if he did, so be it.

(#4) Oodath snaked around a couple of the remaining dragons determined to stay close to the glowing green. She was throwing in some really good tricks and so far the blue had managed to stay close with his sneaky ways. Now if he could just keep up. He knew he was getting tired and if she kept up much longer he would have to back out. Something he really didn't want to do.

The blue snorted as she dove at the waterfall. Instead of pulling up though he followed her path. He knew no female was stupid enough to hurt herself in a flight. Although not all the males would be able to follow her path. The water glistened on his hide as he angled his wings to chase her. This was quite exhilarating in his opinion. Oodath pulled up a bit before she did as she headed for the cliffs, but he was hoping to get above her as she angled straight up. He knew he would only have one chance at this.

[kendrall]

Tamoith roared in disbelief as Vatanith dove towards the river, then through the icy cold waters spilling down from above. There was no way he could believe the Green would be that bold and risky to have water freeze on her wings like that! Oodath had shot ahead of him, staying in close to the Green gem, and Tamoith felt his stamina waning a bit too quickly. Keening softly at his inevitable defeat, the Blue decided to retire from the Chase before putting himself at a great risk by diving through the cold waters.

Shibora simply shrugged as she felt Tamoith break off and begin the slow return back to the Weyr. There would be more Chases for her Blue to get involved in, more chances for her to entangle herself with another woman under the furs. Either way, the Blue Rider would have to be a little careful when trying to make it back to her personal weyr. She didn't want to become involved with the first person she bumped into, after all. She had her standards.

Microth, too, broke away from the steep dive Vatanith performed as she shot through the waterfall, but instead opted to climb a little to gain some altitude so he could follow the Green's movements through the canyon and out into the open, then banked towards the coast. He did his best to follow her, but as she rose along the face of the cliff and into the clouds, the Blue knew it was a longshot but still worth trying to make his move. He pulled as hard as he could against the air, trying one more time to intercept Vatanith as she disappeared into the snow-filled clouds. (#10)

[Mik]

((Weyrling brown chooses 14))

Though young and fueled by flightlust, the Weyrling brown followed Vatanith as closely as he could, skimming the top river’s surface before diving after her down along the falls. He knew that he could not pull up as quickly as the smaller beauty that he Chased and so started to level out long before she did, finding himself several lengths above her as she emerged from the base of the falls. From there, the brown flew as fast as he could after her as she headed out to sea.

As the beautiful green turned back toward the Weyr, the brown turned tail by rolling to his side to make the maneuver as quickly as possible, managing to find himself at the back of the pack still close enough to make a catch whenever she got to Choosing from her pursuers. Yet, the blinding snow nearly hid the cliff face from him as the glowing green tinted snow that showed where the future green was told him to go upward. He scraped the cliff face when it popped into view, scrambling his way upward until he had his wits again and pushed away from the cliff to try his hardest to get back in the game, finding the pack to have thinned greatly after that stunt.
~~~

((Seeth is out))

Following the glowing green, Seeth dove after her down the falls, knowing that he could easily match her acrobats with his leaner build compared to most blues. He skimmed the icy waters of the falls as he waited for Vatanith to emerge and fly away from the falls, finding his guess to be correct and so found himself closer to her. As she darted out to sea, he stayed on her tail, spinning after her when she changed direction. When the rocky shores loomed ahead of them in their low altitude flight, the agile blue slowed his speed to be able to maneuver the edifices as best he could with little harm. In doing so, the green he Chased pulled farther ahead, turning into a glowing area of whipping snow. When she turned upward, he was a little late in reacting and nearly collided with the cliff face, scrambling to settle himself with the water and wind blowing him about, yet there was no way once he clung to the cliff and came to a stand still, that he would not be able to catch up to the glowing beauty that he had been after. With a warble of forfeit, the blue eventually moved off the cliff and headed back to the Weyr Proper.

[Katlyn]

(And the number rolled was 5, making Oodath the winner!)

With the snow thickening still yet, Vatanith continued to rise straight up along the cliff's edge.  She had only briefly glanced behind her to see a couple of males still following her before her sudden vertical incline and not for one moment did she suspect that there was another lying in wait above her.  At least, not until she saw him as she flew past him out of the corner of her eye, the blue keeping good pace with her then.  ((Oh, you're smart...)) she said to the blue quietly, almost in appreciation, as she found his little trick to be quite amusing.  It had gotten him right there with her, after all.  And so without much remaining hesitation, she turned just enough to let the blue catch her.  He would do.

[sorra]

Oodath kept his eye on Vatanith. The green was tricky, but the blue had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer. His wings were getting tired and he was sure the lovely green was beginning to feel the same way. Although the sneaky blue was not about to give up. Not until he had exhausted all his options. }:And you are quite lovely,:[ he said as he moved to make the catch, twinging his neck with hers.

Tr'vin was nearly floored as his blue made the catch. He had never expected that to happen. He glanced over at Zahal. She was becoming one of his friends, but one never knew what would happen after a flight. Although he didn't have any coherent thoughts as he stepped over to her.

[Mik]

The Weyrling brown saw the catch made by the blue Oodath and warbled his defeat as he slowed his pace in the blinding snow and headed back toward the Weyr stronghold. The now weary young brown found his ledge and curled up tightly on his great couch to take an exhausted nap after his actions.

The brown’s young Rider exited the flightroom as quickly as he could, a part of his mind hoping that he would not run into anyone on his way back to his weyr to let the flightlust leave his system.