Logs:Wine and More Wine
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| RL Date: 17 November, 2014 |
| Who: Lilah, Telavi |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr, Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Lilah and Telavi drink wine, angst, and talk about boys (and girls). |
| Where: Liilah's Sanitized Watercolor Weyr, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 17, Month 4, Turn 36 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Aishani/Mentions, Ali/Mentions, Azaylia/Mentions, C'stian/Mentions, Ebeny/Mentions, Elise/Mentions, Hattie/Mentions, J'vain/Mentions, Jadzia/Mentions, K'del/Mentions, K'zin/Mentions, N'rov/Mentions, Nala/Mentions, Quinlys/Mentions, R'hin/Mentions, Sasha/Mentions, T'stan/Mentions, V'ros/Mentions, Vidar/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: We finally finished! |
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| It must be said of Lilah's weyr that at least there is plenty of room for Solith even in the anterior room that also houses Eliyaveith's wallow. For all that Solith is not Family, the queen is not stingy in sharing her warmth and her wallow with the smaller green if she cares to. Deeper inside, the fire that crackles merrily in the hearth of Lilah's private chambers does little to alleviate the sanitized white, but it warms up the chamber nicely. A bottle of wine has been opened between the goldrider and her visitor, and the former has long since abandoned shoes to settle onto her bed to talk rather than standing on formality. "Your weyrlings have graduated now, correct? Are they tapped?" she is in the middle of questioning of Telavi. Solith does care to, all cozy; she's a tactile dragon and possibly not prideful at all, and is therefore easy to persuade to take up this space or that, or to adjust if Eliyaveith-- nearly twice as long as she-- ever needs to stretch. Also, she doesn't snore, though when she snoozes, today there are little plump wherries perceptibly floating through the edges of her dream. Someone's hungry. If Telavi might be too, so far she's satisfied herself with that wine; "Oh, the first class is mostly tapped, almost all I think? We've the next one not far behind them, although sometimes it feels far, being so close. It's funny," not funny, says her expression, "how next time there's just going to be the one." "It must feel the same for Hattie with this clutch, without Isyath and with Eliyaveith--." Lilah's lips press into a line, before she exhales a quieter, "But, no. This is entirely different, isn't it? To be without Iesaryth. How has High Reaches... been? I gave my condolences to both your Weyrleaders, but--." Eliyaveith's size naturally leads to her curving around Solith, almost protective in the curve of her beastly form around the finer-boned dragon. She does move often, twitching a tail here and shifting there, but she never moves to stretch away nor does she seem to snooze, as her mind seeks to keep the dragons around her, not only in this weyr, in her senses. Solith rests easily, then, which must add to Telavi's comfort for all that the two aren't as close as most. Even so, discomfort tugs at Tela's shoulders inward even as they slump, the greenrider half-turning to warm her backside, now, by the flames: a wilted flower, perhaps, in her coral blouse and darker divided skirt. "What about your other one?" Telavi asks. Not that it can put off the other topic for any longer; "It's been... mopey. But moving on, which I suppose a Weyr has to do," said with an indecisive wave of one hand in the air. "But..." "Aedrielth. Another turn, and she's bound to rise," agrees Lilah to the question, tipping her chin slightly before she seeks another sip of her wine. Over the rim of that glass, dark eyes study Telavi as she wilts, watching the greenrider. "But?" The question is gentle, quiet. She doesn't press if she doesn't want to go on. Tela's lift, likewise dark, but only from the shadows of the fire and their mood. She looks at Lilah, the other rider made the more remarkable for the sea of white that surrounds her. "But it doesn't seem right," she says finally. "She always liked the warmer weather; she should get to enjoy it." More than just weather. "And Aishani should get to commission the season's new styles. And N'rov should--." Lilah stops herself at that, cutting off with the tightening of her lips again as she twists her glass in a sharp gesture between her fingers. "It isn't right. One storm taking away lives. But, as I understand it, more people would have died in the place of them." Whether that makes it worth it, well, the goldrider does not seem to be saying so much as stating facts. "Enjoy the new styles on her?" Telavi tries, and tries a small smile to go with it, but in the end it's no good. "I suppose it's terrible to say, well, I didn't know them? Those people." She holds up her glass to look at its contents, red in that white, white room. "Then there's Iesaryth... does it feel to you like they say, all connected?" "Something like that," Lilah agrees softly, her own smile hardly making an impression on the corners of her lips for all that she attempts it too. It's the other woman's question that draws more of an expression to her features, her brows curving upwards in a question even as she adds, "How do you mean?" They've gone through enough of the bottle that Telavi starts to gesture, though at least all that whiteness isn't truly endangered before she realizes and sets her wineglass on the mantel. Now she can hold out her hands, fingers wide and slightly flexed, and dramatically draw them upwards as though pulling strings... or possibly pasta. "You know, reach out and feel their heartbeats? Your dragons here?" Lilah's gaze follows Telavi as she gestures, seemingly unconcerned even with the threat of the red wine to the white, though it is only after that she answers, carefully, "Eliyaveith feels connected to them all. They are all family, to her." "Do they wake you up, their dreams?" Telavi's curiously intent, as though this were somehow important in a dreamlike way. Only then, with a slight sway against the tiles, "I'm sorry; that might be too personal." Her hand flutters, just one of them. "I have never asked Eliyaveith if they do," Lilah answers, her tone light but curious as she watches Telavi. "Perhaps if they are particularly worrisome or strong or agitated, but she has never said and she doesn't remember a time. But dragon memories--." Her wine glass is rolled between her fingers again, this time thoughtfully before she adds, "I imagine that the dreams of dragons must be particularly worrisome, strong, and agitated after the loss of a Weyr's queen." "Compared to a hatchling, even a bronze," Telavi says quietly. "I didn't give you my condolences about him, did I. I'm sorry it happened. That's enough to give anyone nightmares, right there, if they think too hard about it." "It was its own tragedy. It would have been-- better, if he'd never hatched," murmurs Lilah in a soft response, her glass immediately lifted to her lips before she shakes her head in dismissal. Instead, she presses in a lighter question, "Do dragons dream differently? I've felt Eliyaveith's before, but--." "Better." It's a soft shadow of a repetition. But Telavi can be lighter, too; "And if they do, is it dragons, or your dragon and my dragon? I... every once in a while it might be Solith, but usually not." She's lowered her voice for her dragon's name, though Solith seems to sleep... just in case. "You've experience another dragon's dreams? Other than Solith's?" Lilah question, a certain interest sharpening her attention on the greenrider for all that they've dug into that bottle of wine. "What?" That wasn't so light, the whites of the greenrider's eyes ringing the darkened teal of each iris. "No," Telavi maintains just before she blinks. "Certainly not." Her lashes have lowered. Lilah gestures with her glass, a simple tip of it as she replies dismissive, "Sorry, I must have drank too much. I thought you were saying-- Nevermind." She rolls her shoulder upwards, lifting that wine to her lips for a sip before she adds, "Maybe we should talk about something else." Telavi offers her a small smile, one that holds more than a little relief. "Like what?" she passes the mark, though the hint of dimple suggests that she realizes it. "How are you? Anything new in your life?" questions Lilah lightly, instead, though she watches Telavi as if expectant of some tidbit of gossip or another. "How is K'zin?" That is a mock-reproving look, for Lilah's having passed it back; still, Tela wiggles her shoulders in a way that's more of a wriggle, really, and says, "One clutch down, that's the main thing. I do believe they're about all in wings now, too, as they should be, not that it drags out forever. K'zin's good," and the lift of her smile implies there may be more to it, but first, "Does Fort do it the same way, where it's up to the wingleader and so sometimes they're tapped on the night of, and sometimes afterward, depending?" "Mm, basically. It was a bit before I was ever tapped into Citrine, even though there was no question about which wing I would end up in. Not as long as waiting to be made a junior weyrwoman, but--." Lilah's shoulder draws upwards in another shrug, dismissive, as she offers a smile of her own in a reflection to Telavi. She continues with a light, "Good? So you two are still dating? Have you thought about weyrmating, or anything like that?" Interest sparks in Tela's eyes, but then she shrugs as well, near-mirror-- until she's startled into another of those wide-eyed looks, this one shorter-lived. "We're still with each other, yes," and she gives it amusement-leavened emphasis. "But no, no weyrmating." A moment passes in which she's considering Lilah; then, as lightly as if it had been her intent to admit this all along, "I'm in no hurry to do that again." "Again?" questions Lilah just as lightly, her brows only drawing up slightly in an expression of surprise as she catches Telavi's gaze. She doesn't ask more, but it's clear that she is waiting on the explanation. "Again," Telavi agrees, her smile momentarily brilliant. "In my foolish youth, you could say," as though she were anything like decrepit now. "It's not something that I go talking about, but you'll forgive me for entrusting you with such scandalous news, won't you, Lilah?" A smile touches at the corners of Lilah's lips, even as she says gravely, "Your secrets are safe with me, Telavi. But, I am not sure that weyrmating with someone is scandalous. Unless something happened--?" "It was awful, dreadful, and I don't wish to think of it in the least," Telavi says promptly but oh, so cheerfully. And then archly: "Haven't you ever wished to start over, Lilah, to live some other life?" Lilah tips her chin in point to Telavi's question, her glass lifted to her lips for a slow sip before she speaks again. "There's no need to rush into weyrmating," is what she finally says. "Or weyrmate ever again, really. There are plenty of riders who never do." "Plenty of happy, happy riders." Tela agrees. Happily. She wanders away from the fire, now, and leans one hip against the bed's edge rather than actually sitting. Offering her glass for a refill, she asks, "What sort could tempt you, Lilah? ...To the extent you're tempt-able at all, of course," this a little teasing too; perhaps Lilah's above such things. "I am not above tempting, if you are offering," teases Lilah back, though she only leans forward to fill Telavi's glass with the bottle rather than anything more suggestive. But, she does add with a hint of a smile, "I'm afraid the type that tempt me aren't the type that you weyrmate. Older, elusive, almost dangerous but in a way that--. Makes you feel alive?" Why she is asking this question of Telavi, well. The wine Tela will take, with a low flutter of lashes over laughing eyes; then, "Only 'almost'?" Is Lilah really going to claim that? "Well, I do like to think that I can handle myself, when it comes to danger," counters Lilah without skipping a beat, her lips twitching on another smile as she meets the greenrider's laughing eyes shamelessly. "I had a crush on N'rov for a while. He's a handsome man, isn't he?" That earns a laugh, an effervescent laugh, from Telavi-- and then Lilah goes ahead and pops her bubble. "It's so sad," Tela says, her lashes drifting down for the length of a sigh. "He practically had 'Aishani's Boyfriend' tattooed on his forehead when I went to look, you know?" "I know," agrees Lilah, lifting her glass to drain it before refilling her own wine. "And now, well." She shakes her head slowly, only offering as a change of subject carefully, "I think I would rather have a child than weyrmate. I just need to find someone willing to father it." This is a different variety of wide-eyed look; Telavi manages to confine her voice to a simple, "Oh?" at first, before a more demure, "Do you have... unusual requirements?" A soft, noncommittal noise meets Telavi's question, before Lilah admits,"I would rather someone who wouldn't want to claim the child, so that I wouldn't have to deal with interference from his part." A pause, before she turns the question around lightly, "Have you thought about children?" Tela's mobile brows tilt inward; "That's not so difficult to find... is it? I mean, it's not like he has to even know." With an afterthought's lack of importance, she adds, "I don't think I'd be a very good mother." "No, not that part," Lilah agrees, her lips twisting into a brief smile at the suggestion of her words. She dismisses the topic, though, with a sudden question of, "You've met C'stian?" A pause, before she thinks to explain, "Liesanth shared with Eliyaveith about meeting Solith and the weyrlings, a while back." 'C'stian' meets with brief, tip-of-her-tongue puzzlement; Liesanth, though... Tela's expression clears, bright-eyed, a softer humor curving her smile. "He's sweet, isn't he? All that Fast and Strong." Not C'stian himself, then! "The once, yes, at Healer. Solith-- well. Is his rider a... 'candidate'?" that last verging on impish. "They are both mostly harmless," agrees Lilah, as if 'mostly harmless' and 'sweet' were the same thing. "They are quite a pair, that way. --I've considered him. Probably for that reason." She presses in a question to that started statement, "Solith?" 'Mostly harmless' leads to decidedly impish, though Tela doesn't immediately comment; no, with new interest, she winds up speaking right over the other woman with, "Have you? Is he-- oh!" that with an apologetic glance. "Solith... she's, how to put this. She... gets along easily," said in a way that might suggest that her dragon's standards aren't terribly high. "When she rises, too?" muses Lilah innocently over the rim of her glass, a smile playing at her lips. "Or does she like to be caught by one dragon? K'zin's?" "Oh, then she sprouts horns, and her fangs overlap her chin, and--" Telavi's tone may initially suggest quite the contrary, but then it fades as her expression does, into something considerably more muted. "Rasavyth has never flown Solith, no." She glances at Lilah from beneath her lashes. "Next question." A laugh slips past Lilah's lips at that last bit, dark eyes meeting Telavi's shamelessly as Lilah asks, "Are we playing Twenty Questions?" Yet, she taps her free fingers to her lips thoughtfully, sliding a gaze over the greenrider longer before she adds next, "Who has flown Solith? Any female riders?" "It was starting to feel that way," Tela says, gently pointed. Still, "My weyrlingmaster's blue, her first time, if you can believe it; we hadn't even graduated. I'd have liked it if Olveraeth flew her again, but he hasn't yet. Yours is... a greenrider?" Lilah has the decency to at least wince slightly, apology written in that flitch of her features for all that Telavi is gentle in the way she says it. "I'm sorry; we can talk about something else," she offers. To the last, though, she nods. "Ebeny and green Laurienth." A pause, before she admits, "A blue almost flew Eliyaveith, when she rose. I am almost certain she would have made sure he won, too, if she hadn't gotten distracted--. She wanted him to chase, but he didn't." Telavi's slight headshake, blonde plaits swinging over her shoulder, isn't entirely negation-- but she never gets to explain, not when Lilah goes on, not with Tela startled as she is. "A blue?" Emphasis is all that saves it from a whisper. "To be completely honest, Jynth is at least larger than the dragon who did end up catching her, even if he was brown," defends Lilah to that question, only a prickle of it along her words before she relaxes to take another sip. "His rider is my best friend. I imagine, with our emotions jumbled-- That was why she was so insistent he chase, why she wanted him to catch her. It was our first time." Tela's biting her lip, blue-green eyes wide in shock; at least it's dismay more than judgment. "Oh," she murmurs, when she can speak at last; then she licks that lip and blots the two together, subsiding. "That sounds so complicated." In the next breath, "And he just about could have, couldn't he, and it might even have been--" better? "Yes," agrees Lilah on an exhale, her lips twisting into a frown. "Maybe she would have produced a clutch. Maybe it was Nsath's fault. But if she still hadn't and she'd been caught by a blue--. Well. I couldn't imagine what that people would say." Likely she could, from the way sharpness flashes in dark eyes, but she doesn't press it. She adds, lighter, "Green flights must be much less complicated." Telavi nods so very solemnly; she doesn't supply what people could say, what they would say. "I hope-- I imagine you know-- but I hope it goes better for you, next time," she says finally, all in a rush. Softer, "So very less complicated. The worst that's happened to me so far is winding up with... well, he wasn't my friend's weyrmate, but it was awkward." "More or less awkward then ending up in bed with your weyrlingmaster while you were still a weyrling?" questions Lilah, humor infusing words and drawing the conversation lighter still. At least, hopefully. That brings out Tela's dimples, whether consciously or otherwise; "That was fun. It was a relief, really. I mean, it's not as though it were J'v-- wait, I suppose you wouldn't know J'vain, would you. Anyway, he's old and he just has one arm and he's nice enough but still. I just don't even," her free hand flutters before she can ask, "What about yours?" Lilah's tone is still light, even as she remarks agreeably, "Better to end up in bed with someone you don't find objectionable, if you have to end up in bed with someone without a choice." But, her lips curve into a quick smile, lifting her glass for a long sip even as she adds in a murmur, "He certainly wasn't... objectionable." "So very, very true." One day, Telavi's luck will run out, but that's then and this is now. While Tela's at it, after her own sip-- as though prompted by Lilah's-- "Is he a prospect, then? Or do you want someone," she leaves a delicate pause, "better?" "I have been thinking about-- N'rov. As a prospect. I do not know if it is too soon with Aishani and everything, to have him think about a child," answers Lilah carefully, wincing slightly at that answer for what it might make the greenrider think of her. As if to combat that, though, she moves to fill their glasses, for all that they are still full. More wine will help! "Why would he-- did they want-- is it so he wouldn't want you, after her?" Tela's at a loss, but wine, more wine's going to make it all better. "Yes." That is left as a simple answer, even as the goldrider flushes and focuses on her now full glass of wine. "And because-- maybe he would want to have a family, too. It might be something, if... I know he would never love me, but he could still have a child." She shrugs, dismissive, as if she could dismiss the entire thing. That Telavi can do, dismiss it, at least in words-- light talk, spiraling out to the quality of the wine and friends and possibly even weather if that's what it takes-- if not the way she still looks at Lilah sometimes, uncertain, eyes wide and dark. But that wine, it isn't just for talking about, and it doesn't make promises it doesn't keep. Not tonight. Sooner over later, there's laughter once more. |
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