Sands Logged by Thesy
Thesy suddenly finds herself in a very awkward situation - thanks to Shaela and L'shil - phew!
A single step and the heat increases. Another and it gets hotter still. A few more and you are out onto the Sands themselves, bathed in waves of warmth.
Heat rises -- ripples -- wavers in a stifling curtain that envelops dragons and eggs while smothering riders and visitors. The black sands have been raked into ruts and dips, an alien, uneven surface for anyone trying to walk across them. Some say tension seers the heat: residue of hope, fear, relief, sadness, pain and ultimate joy staining high grey walls and lurking about the many viewing ledges that speckle the walls. Ancient murals of dragonlore fade across the walls near gallery and entrances.
Twin egg-mounds are currently guarded by their dams, a neatly-dug trench lying between as if to delineate a battleground. Or perhaps, simply what's mine and what's not. Don't come too close though: firelizards or people! Two dragons can bite harder than just one.
Tucked watchful and warm onto a ledge are Ghost, Kya, and Imperia.
Gold Ysbryth, bronze Cairhoth, and gold Tiareth are here.
You see Egg Mounds here.
Areiah, Conrad, Taida, Tessera, and Oorla are here.
Obvious exits:
Bowl
Conrad slouches over to the next egg to catch his attention: remains ot a paeolithic..something. Fingers glide, explore. Hmm.
With her long easy strides Thesy saunters over to where the candidates are gathered, almost obscuring the petite frame of the weyrwoman. "Making yourself familiar?" she smiles as she comes to a halt beside Conrad, "And? Any of you found your favorite yet?"
She's still fingering the mauve egg, but Oorla's eyes begin to wander. Her gaze alights on an egg of darkest black. Smiling, she examines the tendrils of silver, and moves nearer to that egg, though she keeps a hand on the creamy one.
In the Galleries, L'shil edges in from one of the nearby ledges.
In the Galleries, L'shil goes out.
L'shil moves into the heat, shimmered and blurred by the ripples that rise off the Sands.
Favorites? Sure! Why not? Areiah has a favorite or three. Or four. Ooh - and that blue one is rather pretty. Shall we go for five? Sidle, slip, and she's straightening up again, sliding past a few more eggs with but a trail of fingertips and a press of palm. Blue. Almost cobalt blue. Matches her eyes. "G'afternoon, Thesy. It's an impromptu egg-touching - I'm rescuing them from Gladys." Evil, evil chore-organizer type.
Conrad blinks up at Thesy. "er. Yes." He nods once ot twice, still exploring the textures of the egg. Strange, that.
L'shil laughs, following Thesy onto the Sands. "Only Gladys? Not the ever-predatory, out-of-sorts Mins?"
Oorla likes every egg she's seen so far. And that lovely jewel-like on is beautiful too. Very beautiful, in fact. She gives the onyx egg a smooth caress as she walks by, then glances between it and the sparkling jewel one. So gorgeous, both of them. But which is her favorite? She's not certain just yet.
"Oh, Areiah! A good afternoon to you too", Thesy chuckles as finally the goldrider is spotted, "Haven't seen you at all." But then Oorla is /really/ tall, no? "Dear me, is Gladys after them again? You really should have a word with her. This time she's worse than ever before." And with a little shudder the bluerider remembers her time as a candidate under Gladys' tutelage. "And which one is your preferred, Conrad?"
Conrad shifts. Hot sands, and all -- noone's noticed that flush, right? "The black and silver one," He says softly, then: "I like this one, too." He touches the Remains egg.
Tessera looks up to grin greetings to Thesy and L'shil respectively as they step onto the sands. She gives her 'favorite' a final light pat before moving on. Mustn't make the other eggs jealous. New attention is fixed to a rakish pirating egg, seeming to swashbuckle it's neighbors into submission as it dominates the lump to the left. "Aye, Gladys is acting up agian." Tess can attest to that. Gladys is like a bad knee, puffing up to become a pain in the arse, or any other portion with the blowing of the wind.
Taida begins to shift among the sands, cheery smile given to her Searchrider and L'shil both as they enter: "H'lo!" Eyes're drawn to the gilded egg, fingers pausing above it before brushing down over it.
Oorla pats the shining, purple-gold egg, wondering what color of dragonet might be inside.
Taida goes home.
Mins? Seems Areiah hasn't had the pleasure yet - and will simply duck behind that lovely cobalt egg with a lopsided grin to L'shil. "Gladys is the only one I've been hearing complaints about," she offers lightly, and then turns once again, this time stalking after a greenish grey number, round and smooth and even.
Well, as long as she's here, Gladys can't get to Oorla! On the other hand, the sand is so hot, it's almost uncertain as to which is the better deal here. :) She lightly traces the blue and green on the sparkling egg, humming to herself ever so softly.
L'shil snickers. "Well, Mins has it in for Shaela, the way I hear it. Then again, there's something more between them than just the fact that Mins is put out about not being chosen to Stand. Something about -- what was it Shae said? -- Mins thinking certain male riders were her own personal property. I think I told you before, Thesy, that Shae's insinuated to Mins that we're an item. I do hope that doesn't inconvenience you? Because, if it does, I'm sure I could confuse the issue by sending about some more rumors."
Thesy nods at Areiah, "Gladys's really becoming more and more sadistic. Just this morning I heard her ordering a candidate to clean the necessary with a tiny brush." A startled glance is cast at L'shil, "Mins?" Areiah's question is echoed, "And Shaela's insinuating we're ..." her voice falters, utter confusion betrayed by her blank stare, "What, by the first egg?"
Oorla goes home.
Tessera is lucky then that Mins considers her no real threat at all to her subjugation of the male species, Tessera is merely ignored. Shrugging, she is content to outwit Gladys on occassion and stay out of harm's way, if not chores. Pirate egg is touched carefully, dusting sand from the top as she listens to the riders conversation with half an ear, the other half listening to the wind over the sanded eggs.
Conrad slinks and slouches further among the eggs, peeking.
L'shil takes a big deep breath and blurts out at twice the speed he usually speaks in, "Mins is this terrifying girl who actually likes me and has since I was a Candidate, along with liking almost every other fellow in the Weyr, and Shae's left her with the idea that we're, um, er, a...pair?" He ends this last on a note that sounds suspiciously innocent, accompanied by a nervous grin.
Curiosity urges Conrad on to the Celtic Cross egg, fingers sliding over the surface, tracing designs. Another one of those einteresting eggs.
Jazz moves into the heat, shimmered and blurred by the ripples that rise off the Sands.
Jazz escapes the earth-born heat and heads off the sands.
In the Galleries, Jazz comes up the stairs.
"Wait a moment", Thesy exclaims as the meaning of L'shil's words dawns on her, "You and me weyrmated?" Blue eyes start to brim with amusement, "And Shae only told Mins that so that she won't harrass you any longer?" Giving her fellow healer trainee's shoulder a reassuring clout she chuckles, "Oh, it's ok with me. If it stops Mins, that is."
Fingers tracing the X'd mark over the bared' side of the pirate, her fingers curve over the roundness of the side, marking handwidths absently as she brushes the callouses of her skin against the suface, roughness meeting equal pebbliness of egg. The conversation reaches her ears; though gossip, she is far too preoccupied with her task of curious and gentle exploration over the ovoid surfaces.
Firelizards swoop in and tag Tess's name to that unnamed pose, of course.
Areiah - who is sputtering with laughter from behind that vivid green egg she was so fascinated with but a moment before - tries in vain to suppress it, glittering gaze skipping back and forth 'tween /her/ egg and the Candidate. Oh, my. Interesting what one hears when egg-touching.
Conrad goes home.
L'shil gulps, and pales. "Weyrmate?" This is, after all, the fellow who's been heard arguing with his dragon over whether chasing greens is a good thing or not. "No, no, nothing so advanced as that. Just a, well, a claim. You know what I mean, don't you?"
"I'm sorry but I'm afraid I don't understand", Unable to resist the urge to tease L'shil a little for not stopping Shaela, Thesy pretends to be still confused though her eyes, sparkling with laughter would give her away, if L'shil only cared to look at her. "What exactly does that mean now? Are we supposed to be just friends? But that we are anyway. Or what? Is there anything else we could be?"
Tessera sighs, stepping back reluctantly away from the mounds of granule-covered hardening eggs towards the riders. At the mention of 'werymate' her gossip metre rises, ears pricking forward if they could, remniscent of her beloved runners. Hands are clasped behind her back to avoid the temptation to stay and linger over the leathery surfaces of the round objects so protected on the heated platform.
L'shil, meanwhile, is intently studying his boots. "I was afraid of that. It means that we're -- Quirky, stop laughing, this isn't funny -- we're more than friends but less than -- all right, Quirky, so maybe it is funny, but not that funny -- less than weyrmates. Is that better, Thesy?"
Laughing all the harder with this, Areiah straightens up, begins to slip closer herself, coming to eventually stand at Tessera's shoulder and observe. Ooh. Look at that. She isn't the only one to find this wickedly amusing.
"Ummm ..." Thesy feels a little sorry for roasting Lesh as she notices his embarrassment, "Not exactly. I mean what would that be?" Apparently his words have wiped away her amusement and replaced it with honest confusion. What else can there /be/?
Slanting a look at Areiah full of truimphant amusement, Tess bites her lip to hold back a guffaw of most unlady-like proportions. Yes, what /will/ the Lady Thesy respond with to that surely /gallant/ offer from the fumbling L'shil? A smirk stains her face as she crosses her arms, attention garnered on the two.
L'shil looks to Thesy, as utterly confused as she is. "Good question. Maybe I'm just under your protection?"
Hopeless, helpless, altogether useless, Areiah just giggles, hiding her flushed face behind a delicate collection of slender fingers. Priceless. Simply priceless. The petite 'rider /knows/ precisely what they're trying to get at, mind you - blame the older weyrwomen for that - it's just amusing to watch when neither party honestly knows what they mean. It's just /highly/ amusing.
L'shil tilts his head. "Or... Maybe it's a, whazzat, a plate relationship?"
Thesy blinks, repeatedly. "Under my protection?" Brows get drawn together in a slight frown as she tries to make sense of this. "But do you think that would keep Mins from dangling after you? I mean I don't regard myself to be /such/ a threat!" And she isn't, really! "And what ... errr ... would a plate relationship be? Never heard of it." Blue eyes, big as saucers by now, regard L'shil inquiringly. If only she had the tiniest clue of what that boy's talking of!
"Platonic?" Comes Tessera's murmured suggestion, doubtfully heard by the two, her vocabulary strutted as she sniggers, lip clasped delicately between straight white teeth in an effort to hold back the incoming peals of laughter. A pointey elbow itches to poke her companion Areiah in the ribs, but for the sake of politeness, holds back.
That poke from Tessera helped Areiah little, if at all, and the Candidate's shoulder is used as a perch for the delicate little hand not trying ineffectually to hide her laughter. "Platonic.. platonic is friends, Tess.. and that's really it.." she manages eventually, a crack or two thrown into lofty soprano here, there. Giggles settle, slowly, and hand drops to her hip - waiting. Well?
L'shil scratches his head. "Well, you are tall. And Mins isn't too big. I don't think. I kinda hid under the table the last time I heard her coming. Aiiie, but she's taking her temper out on anyone unlucky enough to get in her path! I'm not sure, Thesy, that I got the right word. Maybe it's a plate-on-it relationship? Or something like that?" He's obviously not hearing Tess and Areiah -- or if he is, it's not too well.
Glaring at Areiah under still knitted brows, Thesy mutters, "I /know/ what platonic means, Areiah. Just not what a /plate/ relationship is." Turning back to L'shil she casts the glare at /him/ now, "Are you teasing me or have you just taken leave of your senses? Are you serisouly considering that I'm going to beat Mins up in case she's after you again?" And to think that she'd have been quite willing to play weyrmate for him. Only to get him out of this scrape of course!
Tessera resists the urge to double over and hide behind the bulk of the eggs to let loose the laughter. Chided by how ill-timed not to mention unpolite it would be to spill in the middle of such a heartfelt conversation, she stifles it. Thesy's size is compared to L'shil's. Thesy can protect L'shil, that's a valuable asset in a relationship. Tess can visualize it now. L'shil back in the weyr, cleaning, eagerly awaiting for Thesy to swagger in from sweeps, ready for an ale and a pretty wenc-- er, L'shil on her knee. The thought brings shakes of laugher anew.
Silence. Anticipation. Not quite the range of mental pictures Tessera seems to have - thank Faranth for small mercies - and Areiah has quieted. Difficult to hear what she was trying to say through the sputtering, anyway. Well? Well? Genuinely interested, now, it seems.
L'shil bites his lower lip and tries to be shorter than Thesy, instead of about the same height. "It's not my fault I couldn't remember the word! No, you don't have to beat Mins up. Just tell her to stay away from me, or something. I don't know how these things work! I've sat on a sharding iceberg in the middle of the ocean to keep from having Piccath chase in a greenflight. He hasn't caught yet, and I sharding well hate getting drunk. Ok? I know the facts of life, I just haven't, er, like, um, experienced them. Ok?" This would not be the time to suggest that the not-chasing could have something to do with the not-catching.
From the Galleries, Gladys has arrived. And she spies a Tessera. Homing in on that rebellious little candidate, her eyes bore into Tess's back before she turns to see the woman. Tess grimaces. "Laundry," she sighs, tiptoeing back to the entrance, whipped on by Gladys' hemlock-filled glare. A regretful look at the touching scene between L'shil and Thesy, and she is gone to overstarch the unmentionables again.
Tessera escapes the earth-born heat and heads off the sands.
All Thesy can do is stare at L'shil in utter disbelief! "Quirky hasn't caught /any/ green until /now/? B-b-but you've impressed way before I did!" Oy, now she's even stammering, she really must be out of sorts. "Never?" Of course, she won't mention that day when Drinth caught his first green and her rider, a female, disappeared with someone else, leaving Thesy standing there all by herself. Not for the life of her will a single word come over her lips. Not ever!
L'shil wrinkles his nose, shakes his head, and replies, "Never. He's just too big to be as manuverable as the blues, even though he tries, and it's not as though he doesn't get close when he tries. They just decide differently, or drop all of a sudden, or something. And don't ask me about the time he chased Rhyath. He did well there, too, until he got tired out. Made it longer than the only other brown chasing, though!" That's not saying his memories haven't been altered by time. They might have been. "The worst was the time when we had that wierd mega-melding going on. You know the exercise, right, for dragonhealing, where you meld with your dragon more than you already are? Well, we got a little too good at it, and then we got stuck for about a sevenday. He chased during that." He looks utterly woebegone.
Blushing faintly Thesy can imagine how that had been for L'shil. However, she peers curiously at him, "And where, if I may ask, where you at that time?" A picture showing Lesh under his bed, fingers in his ears and cringing, suddenly enters her mind, causing her to chuckle softly as she waits for his answer. Still how he could have endured all these turns under such circumstances is beyond her. Yeah right, she's so clever, isn't she?
L'shil ummms. "Trying to fly through the bowl, I'm told. It was obvious we were going to lose that one. Quirky kept going off course so that I wouldn't crash into a wall or run through the center of the lake or things like that. I was incapable of watching out for myself during that. Take the struggle to not be your dragon during a flight and imagine what'd it be like living with that, seeing with your eyes and his most of the time, and then add in the super-difficulty of keeping yourself during a flight, and that was it."
Huff. Ysbryth - giving Areiah The Look - shifts slightly, rolls, and cues her lifemate. "Ah.. excuse me..? L'shil? Thesy? I'm going to go.." Anywhere else, really! "..would you mind?" Shifting from foot to foot, she implores, patient and polite. Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?
Though she knows how it gets when you intensify that bond with your dragon during the exercises, Thesy still eyes L'shil a little worried. "I just hope you didn't hurt yourself." Then their former issue is remembered and after a brief pause the bluerider continues, "Still I don't think that discussing this will help us to get you rid of Mins, no?" Obviously her common sense has returned. Areiah gets an absent nod as Thesy considers various plans, "Sure, sure. Don't let us keep you." As if they have been paying the weyrwoman any attention so far. "I think I'll have a word with Shaela about what she did tell Mins and then we can still think of something."
L'shil flashes his usual chipper grin. "Oh, Catia and I got it all cleared up. We even figured out what the problem was. I don't think Shae told Mins anything rock-solid. Just gave Mins the idea that we were somehow romantically involved. But, you know, perhaps we should move off the Sands and let Areiah take a break?" Ah. Normality -- such as it is -- has returned?
"Oh sure!" Smiling a little awkward at Areiah Thesy nods and takes Lesh's arm, "Lets have a drink, yes? It's quite hot here and yes, Ysbryth could use a break from visitors."
L'shil nods. "A drink would be wonderful. Perhaps we'll be able to get this all worked out, too."
"Fine, lets just go then. See you around, Reia". Thesy once more smiles at the tiny goldrider and nods at the huffing queen before she hurries off the Sands.
Oh yes it will be so nice to get off the sands...
Living Caverns
The rough-hewn majesty of this cavern far outpaces any delight in the multitudes of curves that form its enclosure. The glabrous grey granite is shot through with translucent obsidian, lending subtly-veined sparkle to the walls and the foot-trodden smoothness of the floor that shows centuries-old placements of the scarred trestle tables; carven hollows give homes for the glow baskets and the coat-pegs that line the walls. No mosaics, no painting, no tiles: just a few well-done tapestries mark the pathway that lead to the kitchen to the north and the inner caverns to the west, and frame the nighthearth's stew and snacks, while a heavier strip of oiled canvas shields the unwary from the wind in the bowl.
Tucked into a glowlit niche are Khama, Atlas, Ford, Bundr, Majicke, Kynance, Kelpie, Nocturno, Lox, and Charlemagne.
You see Tray 'o bubblies and rainbow bread loaves here.
You notice Tiberia asleep here.
Obvious exits:
Bowl Kitchens Inner Caverns Crafting Area
L'shil bounds in from the Central Bowl.
Liseria arrives from deeper in the Weyr.
Thesy ambles over to the Zephyr table and slips into D'renn's comfy chair, waving at one of the many drudges scurrying all over the place. "Really, I have to get me one of these too", she nods, patting the chair contentedly, "I must ask D'renn where he's got this one."
L'shil snickers. "Who knows. Maybe he got it the same place I got my plum couch, and just had it fixed up a bit?"
"Oh! And where did you get it?" Eagerly Thesy leans towards the brownrider, only tearing her glance from him for a moment as two mugs are placed in front of them to thank the woman for serving them. "I've got a monstrous couch up in my weyr. A gift from my uncle Hesdril. But I'd really like to have one of these down here."
Liseria plucks at her sleeve again, pulling the peel of redfruit out of the wool. Lis thought she got /all/ of them! Giving those all too long sleeves one final check, she sighs deeply. "That's the last batch I let Mayiree burn!" The scorching girl isn't good for anything! Suddenly realizing there's someone else in the room, quick little bob-nods are given to Thesy and L'shil.
L'shil grins. "I just asked the steward, and went searching through the storage caverns with a few friends and many good glows. Shae's often told me what bad taste I had to put plum fabric on it." Fingers waggle Liseria's way. "They've got a lot of neat stuff in there, if you've only the patience to look. All the leftovers from Turns and Turns of riders."
"Interesting. I didn't have a clue." Thesy sips on her klah before she puts the mug down again and goes on, "As long as I don't have to ask Jarem, I'm fine. That man seems to be grumpy all the time." Liseria is cast a smile and a nod by way of greeting. "Still, care to tell me what Mins looks like? I don't think I've ever met her."
L'shil errs. "Well, actually, I don't really know what she's like. I just hear about her. T'jay, now, I could give you a detailed description of, but you wouldn't want to hear it. Mins, though... Um."
Liseria widens her eyes a little. So, L'shil knows the finger-waggle too, eh? Delighted little smirk fixes itself on Lis' face as she peers at the klah pot again. Hmmph. It's gone cold. Well, there's not much left, so she pours herself a mug of cold klah. A tenative sip is taken, and Lis finds it surprisingly good. Grinning to herself, she sits in a chair near the kitchen, in case she's needed.
"Sorry but this affair is starting to really confuse me now", hiding behind her mug Thesy shoots L'shil a startled glance. Again. "You mean, you don't know her personally? Then why are you so scared? And how am I to protect you, whatever way it will be, if I have no idea what she looks like?" Giving a slightly mocking chuckle she winks, "I mean I can't pounce on every person I don't know coming from the kitchens, telling them to keep their hands off of you, no?"
L'shil guffaws. "Well, I do, but I have to think about it to give you the right description. So you won't pounce the wrong person, or whatever."
Liseria blinks at Thesy. Well, Lis'll never go near the kitchen again. At least, not with L'shil around. And Thesy. Pounced indeed!
"Well, you better do or I'll be making a huge laughing-stock of myself." Thesy slides deeper into the enticing cushions of D'renn's chair, "Ok, so /what/ does she look like? Tall? Small? Slim? Fat? Blonde? Redhaired? Come on, you have to give me some information on her." Legs are stretched and crossed at her ankles while she takes another swig. You have to drink your klah when it's hot, you know.
Shaela arrives from deeper in the Weyr.
Liseria looks up from her seat, which is now leaning against the wall with only to legs on the stone floor. Not as precarious as it looks; Lis is quite the experienced chair-leaner. Shaela is spotted, and fellow candidate is sent the Liseria finger-waggle. Yep, the /Liseria/ finger-waggle: near her chin, fingers wiggled quickly.
L'shil unhs and greets Shae with what is, perhaps, excessive relief. "Shae! What's Mins look like? Thesy needs to know. Thesy has a few questions to ask you, too, about the other day when you put Mins off."
Thesy waves Shaela over, too, and grins, "Because what Lesh told me didn't make head or tails to me at all. More than friends but not weyrmates. And I'm not to beat Mins up." Mug is refilled from a pot with steaming klah having miraculously appeared on their table. "Now I'm really curious what you did tell her."
Perfect timing, eh? Shaela trundles into the caverns, carrysack in tow, doing her own finger-waggling here and there before making her way over to L'shil and crew. "Questions about Mins?" Her vague expression sours. "Can't say I'd like to remember, Thesy. She didn't take things too well."
Liseria finds a convient pause in the conversation to slip away. Not that the conversation ever included her, but... Lis carefully plops the chair down, sliding it back and standing. From there, it's not too hard to skirt into the bowl.
Liseria exchanges the protection of stone for the bowl outside.
"But what /did/ you tell her?" This is of much more consequence to Thesy than how that girl took things. "Like I said, Lesh's explanation didn't explain anything." Getting a little impatient she drums her fingers on the table, wishing that someone would make things clear for her at last.
Shaela shrugs briefly, allowing her carrysack to slip to the ground beside her seat. "Well, after leaving here, I headed directly for the kitchens to find her," the candidate begins to relate the sordid tale. "And she was there, of course. Chopping vegetables."
L'shil winces. "She's still missing everyone's fingers by the narrowest fractions, isn't she?"
Heaving a tiny sigh Thesy realizes that she won't get the much needed information as quickly as she hoped. So she gives in and possesses her soul in patience, dedicating herself to her klah, waiting for Shae to continue.
Beryl arrives from deeper in the Weyr.
Running a comb through hair still wet from the bath, Beryl slips into the caverns in search of a snack. Tucking comb in pocket, a plate is filled with carefully selected slices of redfruit, cold sliced wherry and, oh why not, a couple of Amalia's cokies. Wine is chosen over klah, and eyes skim the cavern for a suitable place to perch
L'shil mentions off-handedly to Thesy, "Mins would be a super-scary greenrider. Makes me very, very glad she isn't."
"She has better aim when it comes to more important bodily parts," Shaela notes with a chew of her lower lip -- nervous habit. "Luckily for me, not much better. She didn't take the news well, Lesh." Fingers fumble at the clasp of her sack, and she bows her head a moment to concentrate on the task.
Beryl notices her sister across the room, and also the fact that riders outnumber candidates at that table 2-to-1. Probably a safe direction to head in. Nodding to folks as she works her way through the tables, she finds a seat nearby and, with a tired sigh, sttles down to enjoy her meal
L'shil winces. "Can't see why not. It's not as though I'm a great catch, or handsome, or even somebody ranking. Besides, I thought she already had someone as her primary target? H'ot, maybe?" This last is hoplefully uttered.
Thesy shrugs at Lesh's remark, "Don't think she could be more scary than /that/ candidate, if she'd impress". The bluerider's speaking of Aaliyah, of course. Her patience slowly fading she flings a weary look at Shaela, wondering if she'll ever get to know what the candidate has told that Mins person about Lesh and herself. Beryl's noticed and waved over. Some sane company at last, maybe?
L'shil is sane! Well, as much as any teenage boy is.
Oh, dear. Thesy is looking a bit exasperated. Maybe joining her sister /isn't/ such a good idea! Still, she hasn't seen her in ages, in spite of them living in shouting distance of each other. With a smile and a shrug, Beryl gathers up her dinner an drink, and slips in beside Thesy, nodding a greeting to the rest of the table as well
Liseria walks quietly, skirt swirling about her ankles, in from the Central Bowl.
"You guys ganging up on Shaela?" Beryl asks with a teasing glance, before she takes a nibble of the redfruit. "I have a feeling she is a match for both of you, hmmmm?" A wink at Shaela before she mouth contorts into a pucker. "Ugh! Sour fruit! You tink I'd know enough by now to avoid redfruit in the winter!
Shaela finally gets her sack opened, and pulls out her knitting -- this is a long story, she might as well have something to occupy her time while she tells it. Slowly, her yarn and needles are organized, and she begins to speak again: "So, I went in there, and she was chopping vegetables. So I interrupted her, and she was as.. uncivil as usual. It's the whole candidacy thing, y'know. At any rate, we got to talking about the weather -- I thought I'd ease her into things -- and all was going well, until she asked about L'shil."
Liseria meanders back in, content this time to listen to the conversation from a comfortably tipped-back chair.
L'shil blinks. "She what? Why?" That's right, interrupt. At least he truly seems to not understand why he'd be asked about by Mins.
"No", Thesy shakes her head at Beryl, "I'm only trying to get some information out of her." But since Shaela's started to tell the story, the bluerider's attention is immediately drawn back to the candidate. "She doesn't seem to be an agreeable person at all."
Shoving that wretched fruit to the side of her place, Beryl nods at Liseria and gives a small wave. Another candidate? Yep. Beryl knows her knots. Names, no. Knots, yes.
Denial. The poor boy's in denial. "She asked about you Lesh," Shaela repeats, violet eyes intent on the rider as though she's talking to a two-turn-old. "So I casually remarked that you were doing well -- better than ever, in fact." Click go the needles, flicker go the eyes -- to Thesy. "I told her you two were together. I mean, it wasn't so /nice/ as that when I said it to her. There was a bit more.. smutty detail involved. But."
Liseria returns the wave of Beryl's with a finger-waggle, a little distracted as she eavesdrops. And, at the same time, tries not to look like she is.
L'shil blinks, looking, not surprisingly, confused. "You mean you told her we were weyrmates? Or what?"
"Well, that much I got out of Lesh but not in which way we're supposed to be together." Thesy draws circles with her mug, watching Shaela closely, and grins, "And I most certainly would like to hear the ... errr. smutty details?"
With a slight choke on her wine, Beryl's head jerks up at that last statement of Shaela. Eyes flick back and forth: Thesy - Shaela - Thesy - Shaela - Thesy......Seems like there is something.... a mighty /big/ something that her sister has managed nt to tell her
Liseria steps into the shadows that lead back into the Weyr.
"Well.." Shaela flashes a nervous look to each rider in turn before looking down at her knitting. "I kinda told her you two were, uhm, expecting? I mean, the whole weyrmating thing just kinda evolved.. you know?" Misaligned teeth nibble at chapped lips once again. They know, right?
L'shil gapes, his gaze moving between Shae and Thesy. "You -- we -- evolved -- ex-expe-expecting?" He looks as though he might faint at any moment, and he certainly isn't making sense.
"WHAT?" Thesy stares at Shaela, not believing her ears, "You told her that we're /what/?" Slumping back in her chair from where Shaela's words had jerked her up she just glares, not able to think of something coherent to say.
"What!?" Not a brilliant comment by any means but Beryl has just found out her sister is /expecting/! Fork drops from suddenly weak fingers as she stares, mouth hanging open giving her a rather unpleasant fish-like apppearance. Her "Thesy!" comes ou sounding more like a gargling packfish than a person
"Well, I thought it was a little more.. you know.. permanent," Shaela argues, wide-eyed gaze darting rapidly between the two riders. "Babies 'n' all. They're pretty permanent things."
L'shil moans. "Shae. Shae. You didn't, not really? You're just joking? 'Cause, I mean, it's just, you know, not..." He raises a hand and overcarefully presses it to his mouth, looking pale.
"Ba....ba....ba...." The word Babies just won't work its way across Beryl's lips. Shaking hand reaches for her wine cup, finally needing two of them to grasp it firmly enough to gulp from. With a cough Beryl manages to splutter out. "Baby?! You're hving a BABY?!?!" Just where the heck has Beryl /been/ these past few sevenday
Coming out of her stunned silence Thesy casts her sister a glance in which anger and disgust are mingled, "Don't be silly! Of course, I am /not/ expecting. Shaela's made that Banbury tale up to get Mins off his heels." /The/ look now is torn at the candidate, a steely glint in her eyes, "And what evil spirit led you to say something as drastic as this? I'm pretty sure /that/ wasn't necessary /at all/!" Still she seems pretty much at a loss of words.
Shaela did. Her features scrunch, the nervous expression now turning to one of regret. She messed this up royally, didn't she? Slowly, her head makes its way from side to side, "I.. well.. Mins wasn't going for the whole weyrmating thing on its own. She didn't understand why -- she'd never seen you two together or whatnot. So I had to think quick.." And she thought up a baby?
"Baby?....No baby?...Baby?....No baby?" Beryl is muttering to herself, eyes glazing over. More wine. Yeah, that's it. More wine will clear this up. Another shakey gulp and Beryl waits for clarity to overtake her. Any day now......
"For Faranth's sake, get yourself together, Beryl", Thesy hisses in an aside to her sister. That babbling is almost insufferable for her nerves, raw as they are already. Still staring at Shaela with that icy glance, she reluctantly looks over at Lesh. "I don't know. Not now. Guess I have to sleep over it before I'll - or we rather - can decide what's to be done about it. Thank you very much, Shaela, for getting us in such a scrape." (repose?)
You're welcome? Chilled by that last icy glare, Shaela stuffs her knitting into her sack, and without bothering to lace the ragged thing, she dashes off back into the inner caverns. She really messed up something royal, this time.
Shaela steps into the shadows that lead back into the Weyr.
Beryl stands up on shakey legs, still looking stunned and no less confused.....nor less fish like. Shaking her head, she slowly makes her way back to the her room, mumbling about "sleep" and "baby" and "tomorrow....I'll figure it out.....tomorrow."
Beryl steps into the shadows that lead back into the Weyr.
L'shil nods. "There's certainly time to think things over, Thesy. Now, however, I think I'd better go pay Glimmer some attention before she decimates the plum couch."
"Yah, better get going too, though I don't think I'll get much sleep tonight." Wearily, Shaela's confession seems to have worn her out somehow, she gets to her feet and slowly shuffles towards the exit. "We'll talk tomorrow, Lesh!"
L'shil exchanges the protection of stone for the bowl outside.
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