04/08/01

Logfile from Sissi

[Klimth continues on his Naevyth-watch, much to Sissi's disgust.]

The narrow strip of black sand seems to be hidden away in the arms of the towering cliff walls. Several sea caves lead back into the rock face itself, tempting you to go in and explore. As you look around, you see the beach curve in a near-semicircle, southeast along the base of the cliff. South are the cove waters, sheltered from the pounding sea by the protecting tip of Rocky Point.

It is a summer afternoon. Scorching summer heat withers people and plants alike.

You see Piper and Naevyth here.

Shendti is here.

Above, Klimth glides down to land on the beach.

Naevyth is ladling sand with her forepaws over her rider's prone body -- Shendti makes little protest except to brush away the stray grains on her face.

Sissi rests her head in her hands briefly, a muttered "Ok, ok, we'll play it your sharding way," as she swings down to the beach.

Shendti

Tawny-blonde hair curls gently now, grown out of it's prior shaggy cut to wisp gently about her collar-bones, the sun having lightened the edges just as it's bronzed her still smooth skin; riding has wrought other changes, in the toned grace to her tall frame and the supple strength which gives her body a leaner though still curvaceous appearance. Thickly lashed mocha-gold eyes are more composed, more assured, though still does that glint of traitorous pyrite lurk beneath their depths as sure a sign of hidden facets to that sometimes displayed sweet smile.

Finger-wide straps suspend fine-woven black sisal from just under her collar-bones, fitting loosely along her torso to flare just under her hips and subtly enhancing her figure. A fringed lavender shawl is muted with flower patterns in a subtle shade of pale blue and tied over her shoulders and just under her breasts. Tiny purple flowers -- like those clustered around the buckles on her black-sandalled feet -- twist about the top of the two black chopsticks pinning her hair to the top of her head, coils of it escaping to tumble across her shoulders. Rian enthrones himself between shoulder and neck, curled in the meeting of the two. Etene coils a low, dangerous vigilance over Shendti's shoulder.

Shendti is 21 Turns, 4 months, and 19 days old.

Shendti lifts her head as far as she can and cranes it round to see the complainer, a smile cracking her face as she recognises - "Sissi! Hey. Klimth being annoying?" She sputters a bit as Naevyth twists and nearly buries her human under sand, and then mutely appeals for help with her eyes as the green returns Klimth's bugled greeting with a loudly voiced one of her own.

Sissi ducks instinctively from that bugle, scudding round to offer Shen a hand, should she care to sit up. "We should leave them to it." Another wince, and a snap: "Oh, cut it /out/."

Shendti uses the hand as leverage to tug her shoulders free, then squirms the rest of her body free -- her black dress is liberally covered with sand, not all of it dry, and she looks decidedly rumpled. "I think that would be a good idea," the greenrider agrees, brushing some sand from her hair and tying the shawl back round her shoulders in a succession of fluid motions. "What's his," a headnod for Klimth, "problem?"

Sissi squats down to grab a handful of the Istan sand and let it run through her fingers. "Your dragon," is her succinct answer, "But don't worry, hopefully he'll forget about it in a day or two." She brushes spare grains of sand of her fingers and stands up with a shake of her head. "I wonder if those caves are interesting exploration territory?"

"Naevyth," it comes out on the tail end of a sigh, "seems to be the problem with most of the Fort male dragons...and if we don't stay away from Ista Weyr, the Istan ones too." Shendti wiggles her toes back into her footwear -- little protection though it may prove to be -- and suggests, "We could always take a look? I don't doubt Naevyth and Klimth can keep themselves occupied here," a nose wrinkle, "considering."

"As long as they're occupied enough to not start on us," Sissi grumbles, heading back towards the cliff. "Still, at least you only get the problem once. For me, it's whoever's proddy /this/ sevenday - although he's pickier than some, thank goodness," she adds.

"He doesn't go for Spysseth then," jibes Shendti goodnaturedly as her green rumbles, pleased at the supposed compliment. "Ahh...apparently Naevyth wants some rocks for our weyr. That should occupy them at least." She stumbles a little in the sandals, digs her toes in further and traces Sissi's footsteps.

"But /not/ us, no, no, do it yourselves," is Sissi's comment over her shoulder before pausing at the cliff face and peering inside. "Oh well, don't need glows, and no, I think he's got some sense. Realistic, too." The last a little too flippant, she ducks slightly to make it through one of the openings back into the rock.

Shendti follows Sissi's lead, holding her skirt prudently out of the way of anysnagging outcrops of rock and wrinkling her nose a little. "--Poor X'in, when B'tin first went proddy, I'm sure he thought Spysseth meant to seduce Dobryth right under their noses -- and of course, Naevyth and Ayeleth /and/ Zhyfath were proddy then too, though I can't remember for the life of me about Scherzath."

"Don't remember," Sissi shrugs; her memory sometimes being little better than a dragon's. "Can you see in here? Bit slippy underfoot - I think it's seaweed." She leaves the wall and ventures half a dozen steps in, her voice beginning to echo. "Looks quite deep."

There's the short, sharp intake of breath of someone who just narrowly avoided falling over, then Shendti mutters an acknowledgement of Sissi's warning. "Urgh," she complains under her breath, "I just trod in something squishy...it's in my sandal." Remind her why she's doing this again?

"Only seaweed," Sissi says blithely, decidedly. "I mean, you eat that, don't you? It's harmless. Do you think this is a sea monster's cave? It's big enough. Maybe it goes all the way back to the Weyr, too. Come on!"

"Oh, yay us." Shendti grouses, but something -- the prospective of wading back on her own -- keeps her following Sissi as closely as possible. "--Naevyth says that if there's a monster, she'll eat it for us." a snort, "Urgh..more seaweed...yuck!" that last comes explosively, and Shendti whips her hand back from where she'd rested it tentatively on the wall. "There's slimy stuff on the wall too."

"Wall weed?" Sissi wonders, and after a splash announces, "Oh hello. Looks like a rock pool." She perrs down in the rapidly deepening gloom. "Maybe it's a small and friendly monster, though. Maybe it just collects rocks, or something."

"Is it small enough to step over?" Shendti worries, already hitching her skirt up above her knees by tying the hems around her waist with the shawl, and preparing to step out of her sandals.

Sissi splashes about a bit, flounders around a little, then "Ah yes - if you go right over to the right here, look." She half-turns, reaches out a hand, and beckons. "Over here, you can get over."

Shendti steps at the indicated place...and falls just short, one leg immersed in the water as she scrabbles for purchase and then drags herself out. "Yuck!-- Thanks, Sissi," she half-grimaces, half-grins at the bluerider and offers a hand to help her from the water.

Sissi uses that hand to pull herself out, almost overbalancing herself, but laughing. "Wow, I haven't been exploring caves since - well, not since I was a kid, I don't think. Wish we'd bought glows. We could go back so much further."

"And avoid the worst of the seaweed," Shendti peers unenthusiastically into the murky gloom, then glances sideways at Sissi with some hope. "I guess we should head back, eh?"

"Well," Sissi is clearly reluctant. "It's a lot /quieter/ in here. And not having glows makes it - well, more fun, somehow. Don't you think?"

Shendti searches for a spot relatively clean of sea weed and sits down, folding her skirt around her legs as protection against the rock and patting a spot next to her for Sissi. "Then at least let's sit down...I don't suppose you have any wine with you?"

"No," Sissi supplies, sinking down to sit in the indicated place. "Though, it's probably a good thing, I don't do too well with envisioning after more than a glass, though it's nice enough weather we could sleep on the beach..."

"Or we could head back to my weyr?" Shendti offers, because - "I have half a skin of Benden white -- not one of the best vintages, mind -- that my aunt sent me. My aunt never renounced my name, like my father." She half-grins, trailing her fingers over the rock and inspecting them for traces of slime.

Wine or caves, it's a tough decision, but after a good deal of thought Sissi comes to the conclusion that "Well, we can hardly go any further in here, so maybe come back another day, and go for the wine now, sounds good to me."

Oh goody! Shendti can hardly get up fast enough, but she's sufficiently prudent not to make a run down the tunnel, and instead picks her steps carefully.

Sissi follows on afterwards, also careful - she's learnt already that this is usually the point where she falls down and hurts herself - but then there's the wine to consider, and "Just as long as we don't let the dragons inside..."

"I think Naevyth will enjoy showing Klimth her selection of flora," Shendti notes over one shoulder, navigating that rockpool with graceless ease, but careful not to move too fast. "If you're ever down the Benden way, ask for Dennisia."

"Dennisia," Sissi echoes, safe in the knowledge that after the wine has been drunk she won't remember, and then, reaching sunlight once more. "Oh dear. I think we're about to have to transport rocks." There's a collection been going on.

[And back they go.]