04/08/01

Logfile from Sissi

[Klimth decides he needs to keep a proprietal eye on a proddy Naevyth.]

The wide plateau stretches out far before you, ground dropping off to all sides. The land appears to be fertile, gauging by the plentiful grasses; in spring and summer, this area is rich with wildflowers of all varieties. Here and there, a flat rock catches and holds the sunlight, making a warm place to sit and think, or maybe talk. From here, no human civilization is visible, except for the occasional dragon flying overhead.

The sky is a clear swathe above you, pierced only by the great bulk of the Fort Mountains to the north and west. The sound of rushing water can be heard to the west, and a steep trail leads off to the southeast.

It is a summer before dawn. The season's heat burns skies clear of cloud.

You see Mirauth, Seven, and Naevyth here.

Shendti is here.

In the skies above, Klimth wings down, down, down towards the broad plateau.

Perched atop one of the many flat rocks dotting the plateau, Shendti's got her elbows resting on her knees and her chin in her hands, just gazing off at some interesting point above everything -- nothingness, in other words. Naevyth is settled a little way behind her, slitted sapphire eyes gleaming thoughtfully at her lifemate's back, a deeper tinge to her hide than is wont.

Sissi tumbles off Klimth; the dragon self-satisfied with that sudden drop to landing, the rider clearly - and audibly - not so impressed, "What d'you mean, you 'saw' Naevyth down here? One minute we're gearing up for between, the next you're leaving our stomachs up there and dropping like a stone - and don't tell me you're copying Jespeth again, or, or, oh, honestly!"

Naevyth rumbles her own greeting as she flicks a tailtip in mimicry of Shendti's wiggled fingers, as the rider turns on her stone to observe Sissi's haranguing and greet the bluerider. "--Sissi. Hey." She ruffles a hand through her hair ruefully - clearly she's not the only one up at this awful hour. "Naevyth didn't call you, did she? She's been saying I need company."

"Naevyth would have more sense than to get /me/ down out of the sky," Sissi grumbles, glaring at Naevyth, just in case she did, though she takes a couple of steps closer to Shendti, as it does get her further away from Klimth. "Anyone who sits around on this place needs company. It's hardly - inspiring, is it?"

"Inspirational, no." Shendti agrees. "Quiet, yes. It seems that my weyr has become the one-hit-stop for every male rider since Naevyth's colour changed." She waves a hand at another rock near her, half covered by flowers, and draws her legs up beside her. "It's most tiresome, even if Magrit did bring round some of her Benden white. Naevyth doesn't /mind/ Andreth, but..." The green in question snorts her opinion softly, blowing pollen off some flowers in front of her and covering her forepaws with a yellow-gold shimmer.

Sissi sits down, squashing a few flowers in the process. "Oh well, guess you're not even safe out here." She mutters a few more things under her breath: yes, fair to say the suspicions were there. "Though why you think /he'd/ be insecure about it, I /don't/ know." Shendti gets eyed, too. "I've no wine, though."

"Are you planning on trying to jump my bones?" Shendti asks tiredly, yet still amused (amusedly?). "Because as long as you're not, the wine really isn't necessary -- Spysseth is glowing as well. I believe B'tin's been having even more invaders than I have," she snorts, ruefully, "who bring him lace. What he needs with lace..." the greenrider shrugs and adjusts the shawl over her shoulders, toying with the fringe for a moment. "He? Klimth?"

"No, the bronzerider behind that rock," Sissi retorts sarcastically, leaning forward to scrub at the sleep still in her eyes and muttering, "Stupid possessive little so-and-so - and no, I can't really say that I'm a morning person; were it evening, though, I might." If it's meant to be a joke, it comes out far too flat to be humourous.

"And I had hoped I wouldn't get followed," Shendti plays along mildly. "It just better not be S'ren, that's all. -- Naevyth, /did/ you call Klimth down? And be truthful." She seemingly gets no reply though, for a slight huff of disappointment gets directed at her lifemate before she, Shendti, turns back towards Sissi. "Klimth? Possessive? I hadn't noticed that. Of who? -- and of course," she manages just some semblance of sympathy, "you're tired. But at least you don't have Garret and Magrit pulling out 'clutchmate' tabs on you."

Sissi drums her heels against the rock: once, twice. "Oh, me, mostly, luckily enough only the odd green that - clutchmate?" There's the last word, surprised. "Clutchmate what?"

"Tabs. Clutchmate tabs. They both want to be there when Naevyth rises," Shendti explains, curling down onto her stomach to watch the impending sunrise. "They keep visiting, supposedly to 'see how I'm doing', but really it's to check Naevyth's colour." She snorts her opinion on /that/, resting her chin on the backs of folded hands. Behind her, Naevyth accomplishes a full body stretch and lays out to wait for the first hint of day.

"Brother and sister - there's some people that don't like that," Sissi notes, shaking her head, gaze fixed on Klimth again. "And it's Klimth - the dragon - dragons - that go if they're up for it, we don't have influence - much."

"Dobryth flew Ayeleth," Shendti reminds almost thoughtfully. "I think, if you rode at the same weyr as your sibling, they must make sure to leave when your green -- or gold -- flies? Incest is rarely practised 'midst humans." Her eyes are fixed on the coming sunset, whilst behind her Naevyth's sapphirine-emerald gaze is fixed also on the orangey-red glow suffusing the sky.

Sissi opens her mouth - then double checks, apparently thinking better of it, settling only for, "I suppose - and Seelinth - oh, I miss Laria." She shrugs, then. "But if people don't like it, you'd think they'd not like it when the dragons did it, either. Just as usual. Seventy-two different standards."

Shendti's eyes flicker back in her head as she corresponds silently with her lifemate, then she opens them wide again and smiles at Sissi. "Well, people don't seem to mind a bronze flying his dam, or a gold flown by her sire, so I guess it holds true for the rest of the dragons as well. After all, Sparneth flew Vyath. -- Laria...Laria...I think I remember the name," from the first time she was a candidate, "But what happened to her?"

"She -" Where /did/ she go? "She was a friend from, oh, way back, and we Impressed together. But after that, she never really - well, she went away." Sissi frowns. "Southern a lot. I guess she's just there all the time now. They don't keep in touch." Though that's more Sissi's fault than anything else.

"I've been down to Southern, to see Ch'loo occasionally. We had a trade deal going on a few months back." Shendti yawns, and now, in the growing light, the dark smudges beneath her eyes are clearly noticeable. "I'm going to head back to the weyr, see if I can get a few hours of sleep. Zeph took me off sweeps whilst Naevyth's proddy."

"See?" Sissi says suddenly, directed at Klimth, "You need to start being proddy too, then we'd get off sweeps and all that - and speaking of sweeps, we should go; at least show willing, oh dear, yes. Hide in my Weyr, if you want," she adds to Shendti, wrecking the apparent generosity of the proposal with a "It'd please Klimth no end!"

Shendti laughs suddenly, warmly, her eyes betraying her amusement at the suggestion. "Paint Klimth green and no one'd know the difference," she suggests, resettling the shawl over her shoulders as she stands and stretches -- stretches, stretches, until her spine clicks, then she sighs with satisfaction. "I'll keep the offer in mind if Garret comes round again, thanks."

Klimth rumbles, and Sissi shakes her head. "I'd get bored halfway through - how'd you like stripes?" Another rumble indicates, apparently, no, and Sissi pulls herself upwards also. "We'll go find seaweed, I think." And, a prompted tack on the end, "She's going up sooner - or later?"

Shendti glances towards her lifemate with an experienced -- well, /fairly/ experienced -- eye, and then estimates: "Within the next two to four days, I'd say." She grabs her riding jacket from where it was lying beside her lifemate and shrugs it on, doing up the clasps. "I'd hazard three days though, if you want it narrowed down."

Shendti says, "Naevyth's never been one for drawing it out, unlike Zhyfath."

Sissi nods, slowly, then shrugs at Klimth. "Well, you heard."