Arrakis - The Funeral Plain - Tuesday Evening

[atreideslioness]

It was still hot in the early evening, one of the two moons was rising over the mountain range when Ghanima took them out of Tabr and into the the vast plains of the Deep Desert

One of Ghanima's Fedaykin bodyguards went to set the thumper just south of their position as she went over how to mount and ride the worm using the maker hooks, demonstrating slowly how to use them to catch hold of the giant creatures.

The thumper underscored her words with a steady thump/whomp, thump/whomp as they summoned their ride.

[OCD is up!]

Comments

During the Lecture

[atreideslioness]

Pay attention, or one of the Atreides will probably wack you on the head and send you back to Tabr. You can still chat with your fellow riders, but you do need to focus on what's being said, unless you want to end up squished.

Re: During the Lecture

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

Savannah was quietly listening to everything that was being said.

Re: During the Lecture

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

Jon was crazy enough to do this, so he was going to pay very close attention to what he was told.

Re: During the Lecture

[stylin-wizard.livejournal.com]

Alex listened intently to what was being said because she was going through with this.

Re: During the Lecture

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle was doing her best to pay rapt attention, but was getting that nervous feeling that she was going to miss some important thing and screw it up.

Re: During the Lecture

[bitten_notshy]

Jack, serious, focused closely. He had no desire to die horribly or humiliate himself by falling off.

Re: During the Lecture

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Sandworm! They were going to get to ride a sandworm!! Oh, you bet Dinah was paying attention. And practicing with the hooks. And barely managing not to bounce out of her skin.

Re: During the Lecture

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine's stomach was turning even as she listened to the lecture. Not because of the extremity of the...sport itself, but merely because it existed. Great big giant worms, so let's hook them and ride them for....what? Was it just a high? Shits and giggles? Or was there something else, something more and deeper, a religion to it? She seemed on the edge of her seat in her attention, torn between ideas, mind racing.

Re: During the Lecture

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

Minsc was trying to pay attention, really, he was! But...come on! This sounded awesome! As similar as this place was to Rashemen, he had to admit, they didn't have anything like this. Well, dragons, sometimes, but not as much as they used to. And he wanted to give it a try!

Re: During the Lecture

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

Paying attention was a must when real directions were being offered. Griff wondered briefly what other things people did for fun on alien planets.

Re: During the Lecture

[puppy_fair]

Oh yes, Zack was paying rapt attention to this lecture. Normally he was squirmy when he had to listen, but he'd make an exception for the sake of riding a sandworm.

And for the sake of not being eaten.

Re: During the Lecture

[17andinfected.livejournal.com]

Shilo was silent, and listened, but her eyes roamed all over. She was too excited for words.

Re: During the Lecture

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona was listening with a great deal of focus. She knew what happened when you didn't know what you were doing.

Re: During the Lecture

[chic-harper.livejournal.com]

Harper wasn't sure about this, but she listened attentively to the lecture.

Re: During the Lecture

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri was listening very closely, her face serious in the moonlight.

Re: During the Lecture

[wantstobehuman.livejournal.com]

George... really wasn't sure what he'd gotten himself into. At all.

But he was here! And he was definitely paying attention.

Re: During the Lecture

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin paid careful attention to how things were supposed to be done while staying at Arthur's side. Just in case something went wrong.

Or someone fell.

Someone blond.

Oh, shut up.

Re: During the Lecture

[trigons_child]

Raven was definitely paying close attention, but she did not intend to ride one of the worms.

Re: During the Lecture

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice was shivering with nerves and listening intently. A sandworm. Riding one. Unimaginable, the things she had seen today. So strange to think they were perfectly normal, for Ghanima and Leto.

React!

[atreideslioness]

One moment, there was the steady thump/whomp, thump/whomp of the machine, and the next, there was a worm bursting out of the sand, mouth yawning wide to swallow the contraption down even as two of the Fremen moved to mount it, their maker hooks flashing as the worm rolled them up and they began to steer it towards the waiting students.

Yes, they were going to ride that.

Re: React!

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin's eyes went big at the sheer size of the beast. But he wasn't about to back off. Really now. He threatened dragons in a bitchy way.

"How do you even manage it?"

Hop Up!

[atreideslioness]

Use the maker hooks to pull yourself up, mod one of the Fedaykin helping you make the leap, or ask Ghanima, Leto, or Irulan for help. Ghanima will be the last one up, to make sure no one gets hurt.

Re: Hop Up!

[irulan-atreides.livejournal.com]

Irulan was up on the worm without much incident but there were still a few butterflies in her stomach everytime she attempted the leap. Not that she would let it show.

During the Ride

[atreideslioness]

You get a nice view of the desert, if you can concentrate on that while on the back of the gigantic worm. If you ask politely, you can move up front with Ghanima and she will show you how to steer.

Re: During the Ride

[irulan-atreides.livejournal.com]

The desert was truly spectacular sight to behold from this vantage point. "Much, much better than thoppter ride," she murmured.

Jump Off!

[atreideslioness]

Yes, the only way off the worm is by leaping. Hope you all remember your parkour class!

If you weren't in the class and are afraid to jump, one of the Fremen will hold on to you when they dismount.

Re: Jump Off!

[puppy_fair]

Zack could have made this jump, easy, but he wanted to ride this creature out as long as he possibly could. And so he was going to hang around for a while to make sure that nobody else was having trouble with the dismount.

On the odd chance that someone preferred to make a leap while being held on to by a classmate, instead of a person who did this kind of thing all of the time.

Zack logic.

After the Ride

[atreideslioness]

Watch the worm disappear beneath the surface of the sand, or just ignore it now you're on solid ground again.

As solid as sand gets, anyway.

Re: After the Ride

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela wasn't entirely sure what she thought of the whole worm thing. It wasn't bad, she supposed, but she would stick with cars and stuff.

"Do you have a minute?" Triela asked as she approached Ghani. She seemed a bit stiffer and more formal than usual.

OOC

[atreideslioness]

Sorry for the late, had a work emergency that kept me down in the archives for four hours. I am now a Popsicle-Ahddie, srs. The adults and non-Terrain students along on the trip are totally invited to the riding, but it is not mandatory for anyone if they'd rather stay and socialize back at Tabr.

For size reference of how big the sandworms actually are, check out this or this or look at these. Unfortunately, YouTube has decided that all the clips I had bookmarked from Dune and CoD are now "Not available in your country due to copyright restrictions," so I lack video references. Although they apparently all still work for future_sandworm, so I sulk in her general direction. With love.

Re: OOC

[thatsamilkshake]

*asks because Francine would*

Is there a watching option? Because no way would GIANT. WORM. WHAT. girl actually ride one, but she'd be freaking the hell out about the safety of Various People if she couldn't verify it somehow.