Difference between revisions of "Logs:Accused Of That Before"

K'del's Weyr, High Reaches Weyr

Rank certainly has its privileges, and among them are amply appointed apartments. The short flight of stairs from the Weyrleader's Complex opens up into the larger of two chambers, formally decorated and clearly designed to cater as much to important guests as the occupant's personal living. Old, but obviously expensive, llama wool rugs dyed blue-and-black cover the stone floor, leading towards the second chamber, the stairs, and the rush-filled dragon couch and ledge beyond it. A formal seating arrangement - a sofa and chairs, all blue-and-black - sits around a large, tiled fireplace, whilst along the other wall, a finely made, if now somewhat antique, desk sits between a bookshelf and a tall cupboard to which tack-hooks have been attached, riding gear arranged neatly inside. Two tapestries hung from the high walls depict overdone splendour for High Reaches Weyr, one a long view of the snow-covered bowl, and the other a hazy impressionist piece of dragons flaming over a springtime countryside.

The inner weyr, made up of a sleeping cavern and a private bathing area, is smaller and cosier and distinctly less ostentatious. An oversized wooden sleigh bed fills much of the space, the mattress piled high with overstuffed down pillows and comforter, their covers dyed in varying shades of navy blue, light blue and bronze. There's a nightstand on either side, both with reading lamps, and against one of the other walls, a tall, heavy wardrobe made from a dark wood that matches the bed. The bathing area is part of the same cavern, a folding screen shielding the toilet and slightly raised, double-sized bathtub built into the stone, and a small shelf holding toiletries, shaving equipment, and clean towels.

It's mid afternoon, time when people still tend to be working and getting restless about it as dinner draws closer. Teris, of course, doesn't have quite such a set schedule these days. Not with a baby dragon to keep tabs on. Especially this particular baby dragon. Iskiveth is the one that ends up making her way up first, the blonde following the gold up the stairs and pausing where the dragon doesn't seem to have any problems helping herself. « I don't like stairs! » she announces. Teris simply says, "Are you in?"

K'del is in, but only barely, if his half-dressed state is anything to go by: it looks as though he's been in the process of stripping off his flight leathers, leaving him now in an untucked shirt and shorts, the rest of his clothes flung willy-nilly on the floor. He's up, and that's probably why he heads straight to the door at the sound of talons scrabbling against stone, and then Teris herself. Leaning up against the wall, he turns his attention towards the pair of them, eyes Iskiveth warily for a few moments, then says, "Sure. Hi, Teris. Iskiveth. Come on in?"

The pointy little queen is moving to push past as soon as there's no door in her way. And be glad that she didn't try to claw it down because she probably would have if it wasn't opened so promptly. Teris offers K'del a smile that's a little more awkward than she tends toward. There's even something vaguely apologetic in it as she glances past him toward where Iskiveth is touring the weyr. "Thanks. We're not interrupting," she glances at the rest of him, "anything?" « I want one of these, » flickers openly as the dragonet pushes her nose down against one of the llama-wool rugs. "She got it into her head that she wanted to see where the Weyrleader lived," explains Teris as she comes in, too.

'Disappointed' is not quite the word to explain K'del's expression as Teris explains the reason for their visit - but it's not so far off, despite his valiant attempts to just laugh, instead. "She's--" Something he doesn't specify. "No, no interruption. Just got back, I--" He glances down, looks briefly rueful; "Let me put some more pants on." As he turns to head across the room to do just that, casting a wary glance in Iskiveth's direction, Cadejoth shifts in his couch to angle his head around to get a good look, too. « You'll get a whole weyr, when you're grown, » says the bronze, expansively, with an undercurrent of excitement jangling through his chains. « These ones are mine. »

Teris would perhaps not understand that expression very well if she gave it any thought or appeared to notice it at all. If she does, she doesn't say anything. "Good." Nearly relieved. Probably wouldn't be very fun to drag Iskiveth back out if K'del /were/ busy. Pants are probably good, too. The little gold looks up at the bronze's head, wings mantling unconsciously to make herself look bigger, however unsuccessfully. It's probably also good that she's not standing next to anything she's going to knock over very easily. Er, hopefully. « Grown how much? I've grown! I want a whole weyr now. » Teris moves toward the gold to touch a hand to one of her headknobs. "Be good," she says, more quietly, then raises her voice to speak to K'del, "I've been wanting to come by, too. To see you. How are you doing?"

K'del disappears into the inner weyr, presumably rummaging around for pants that cover more than his shorts, and are less hot and tight than riding leathers. "I'm fine," he calls back. "Busy, good, the usual. Ought to've come seen you, myself, see how /you/ were going..." By now, he's making his way back out to the outer weyr again, doing up his belt buckle. "You're the one with a whole new life, after all." Cadejoth seems mostly amused by Iskiveth, his tail wiggling merrily against the rushes in his couch, and he reports, « When you're closer to my size, /then/ you can have a weyr. Like this one! You could probably even pick it out in advance, if you wanted. »

"Yes," Teris agrees unapologetically. "You probably should have come to see me. Don't think anyone has actually /come/ to see me, though. Just to see how I was doing." She watches him, still holding onto one of her lifemate's headknobs even though Iskiveth is starting to lean away so she can move toward the ledge and closer to the bronze, her sire. « But you're so big, » she complains. « That will take /days./ » Teris finally lets go to head toward a chair and Iskiveth goes bounding, wings still spread out as much as she can manage. "Please tell me that they calm down and get some... sense." /Please./

K'del makes a face, running fingers through sweat-damp hair as he crosses back towards Teris. "Sorry," he says, apparently genuinely. "You're right. Will try and make that up to you-- visit more often." Jamming one hand into his pocket, he considers the gold, before concluding, "Well. Cadejoth did, a bit. Mostly, anyway. Think the first few months are hard for everyone, and later, you get used to it all, and it feels easier. Promise." Flicking his tail against the stone, Cadejoth agrees, a mournful note to his tone, « Months, even! But it's not so bad, being small. You can fit places I can't! That's kind of awesome, I think! » He's so /proud/ of his daughter.

"It's okay. I'm sure you've been busy," Teris allows with a small sigh. "Being Weyrleader. Playing with your girls. Getting all... gross," she waves a hand vaguely at him now. Because she doesn't get at all damp with sweat lately, right? She leans into the back of the chair and closes her eyes. "She doesn't sleep enough. She eats too much. I think she scratched Z'yi's blue and I don't think I trust her talking to that girl-convict's brown." Sure, she probably knows Taikrin's name, but she doesn't use it. Iskiveth makes her way to Cadejoth's couch and once she gets there, she lifts her head up high and sits back on her haunches to look at him. « I want to go everywhere. Teris says that no one will like it. But /I/ don't care what they think. I don't know why /she/ cares. »

With a wicked grin, K'del reports, "My girls, as you put it, tend to like it when I'm all gross." He settles himself on the edge of the sofa, now, one foot dangling just barely off the floor. "She sounds like a handful," he continues, sympathetically. "Must be really hard. I... remember. Cadejoth was pretty hard to deal with, too. Different kind of way, though, from the sounds of it." He tips his head to the side, considering Teris thoughtfully. "You struggling? Or just venting, 'cause you can?" Cadejoth drops himself lower to the ground, with Iskiveth in front of him, making sure he doesn't tower /too/ much, especially with the depth of the couch. « She has to care, » he reports, a little sadly. « They'll punish her, if you cause trouble. That's why you have to be good. /I/ have to be good, too. »

"Ugh," is the only real response Teris can muster about his girls and their tastes. "You didn't-- before...?" she can't even finish the thought before she cuts it off and attempts to move onto something else. "I'm fine. I'll be fine. Lots of people have done this. There's no reason that I can't." It's almost as though she's trying to convince herself as much as him. "Anyway... do the other weyrs have their own baths? The juniors'?" Iskiveth's wings relax down to her sides when Cadejoth drops his head. « Oh. » That's all she says at first, twisting her head around to look back in her rider's direction. « Well. I won't let them. » She might mean she'll be good. She might mean something completely different. It's hard to tell.

There's no apology for his candidness, though K'del browns at the unfinished thought, brows raising. "Didn't what?" That one's gone right over his head. Not that he lingers on that thought, when Teris obviously hasn't; his expression is back to sympathetic as he says, "Exactly. You're strong-- you'll manage. /Will/ get easier. S'far as I know, they all do. Would stand to reason. Never had much chance to get to know the facilities of the other ground weyrs, to be honest." Cadejoth's tail snakes out the back of his couch, off towards the exposed ledge beyond; he seems pleased by Iskiveth's reaction, though he seems to have taken it at face value. « Good for you! You can prove to them how awesome you both are. You /are/ pretty awesome. » They're /his/. Part of his pack! And it'd be pretty hard to miss that insinuation in his tone.

Teris sinks further into her claimed chair, yawning, but her head lifts and she looks down at herself with a small sigh. "I won't get in trouble if I use the baths in one of them, then, will I? Or maybe I should just come use yours," the last thought sounds a little more baiting and she looks up to smile at the bronzerider. Iskiveth distracted briefly by her sire's tail, sinewy muscles bunching all up like she's just about to pounce that way before she stops herself. « We /are/ awesome. The awesomest. » And she's so very pleased that Cadejoth thinks so, too.

K'del bites at his lip as Teris yawns, as though he's holding off doing something comforting-- which would probably involve physical contact, and yeah, he's not going there. Not that his concern doesn't let him give her a more wicked grin, as he says, "You're /always/ welcome to come use mine. Don't reckon there'd be a problem with you using the baths in one of the others, though, no. S'long as you didn't expect anyone to clean for you, or resupply towels and whatever." He bunches his hands on his thighs, twining fingers between each other. « Pretty awesome, » agrees Cadejoth, not arguing the point, though there's smugness: /he's/ awesome, and /his/ is awesome, and /she/ is awesome... but how could she not be? Ah, fatherly pride.

"Always," Teris repeats, evidently amused by that and his grin put together. "You and Ezalea never--?" Beat. "You know what I like most about all of this so far?" It's a question but she doesn't wait for an answer from him before offering her own. "The rules. Like how I could strip down to nothing here right now and go hop in your bath, which does seem like the better option if I have to clean up the others to use them-- and you couldn't touch me." She looks at him like she expects him to think that's great, too. Not that she's jumping to her feet to strip or anything. Iskiveth is all blazing with her own pride. Then she's glancing around again, attention wandering now that they've proclaimed their awesomeness. Maybe she'll go see what she can find in the weyr again. Her thoughts sparkle with jewels and sparkly treasures amidst the fire.

"/Ezalea/!" K'del says her name as though this is the least likely thing in the world; he shakes his head fast, though the rest of what Teris has said has him adding hurriedly, "You're a tease. You know that? But." And he looks positively mirthful. "Don't need to /touch/ you. Got a perfectly good hand right here, and I reckon the image of you in the bath'd do me fine." Sort of. In the short term. He casts a wary glance at Iskiveth in the wake of this, as if to reassure himself that even this talk isn't going to cause a problem. Extending a tendril of chain, Cadejoth warns, « Don't break anything. These are /our/ treasures... you'll have to purchase your own. »

Beaming in a very knowing way, Teris says, "Yes, I've been accused of that before. I don't do it with everyone, though." K'del is one of the lucky ones. Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it or who you are. Iskiveth isn't paying the conversation any mind. She's too busy with her own thing and it's not as though Teris has, like, feelings. "She's not very sensitive," Teris says, perhaps catching the glance even if she doesn't offer it in a particularly reassuring way. « Purchase? How am I supposed to purchase my own? Where did you get yours? » The little gold bristles slightly at the very thought, moving to wander back through the Weyrleader's weyr to covet the various treasures that she's not supposed to break.

"Lucky me," says K'del, without seeming to pay this too much heed; he's more interested in asking, "So she /wouldn't/ be affected if y-- don't answer that." He's got to be at least partially teasing, but... well. She's a tease. And he's a nineteen-turn-old guy. Cadejoth leans forward a little, but, well, he's definitely far too big to follow Iskiveth into the weyr. « K'del buys them. He gets a stipend, and he uses it to buy things. And sometimes people give him things, too. Because they buy them. /I/ don't buy things, but I don't need to, I guess, because K'del does! » And things... don't seem to matter too much. Except; « I don't think we need them all, but K'del likes them. »

The question makes Teris smile one of her more fake smiles. But not entirely fake. Those are just more practiced. "If I took a bath?" she suggests, clearly teasing. But she doesn't answer. He told her not to. And he probably wouldn't like it anyway, whether or not it had anything to do with Iskiveth. "I might come back later. Once she sleeps. To use your bath. You can't watch." Iskiveth stops near K'del's desk and looks over the top of it for anything that might catch her eyes. « If people give him things... » she mulls over this for a moment, « Perhaps he can give me something. I want something. Ask him. »

Two can play at this game, and though K'del is silent for a moment, he comes up with an answer he seems quite satisfied with: "Fine. Sure. Okay. Just... not too late, you know. Not after Milani gets here." /He/ seems to think it's a winner, this come-back. He's not /so/ pleased with it, though, that he can't cast his attention around to eye Iskiveth and his desk, brows raising slightly. « He says you can have all the wing reports you want, » reports the bronze, apologetically. « But he likes his stuff too much. »

Milani. That makes Teris smile fade, though not disappear entirely. What's left there on her lips is nothing genuine, though. "Perhaps I should just stay here until she gets here. And make sure she knows you were trying to proposition a weyrling before I go tell the weyrlingmaster, too." Oh, yes. The headwoman is a great come back. But Teris doesn't actually seems serious about the rest. Downcast at best. Iskiveth turns to look back at K'del, glances at Teris, then at the desk again. « I don't want wing reports. I want something that looks pretty in the light. » Despite not wanting wing reports, the gold moves her pointy muzzle to grab for any hides or papers on the desk.

K'del drawls his answer to that, more amused than discomforted. "Not sure you've much of a case there. Iskiveth's hardly upset-- unless intend to destroy my paperwork is her way of throwing a fit?" Oh no, he hasn't missed that, even launches himself from his perch to wander over, probably to make sure it's nothing /too/ important being ruined. "Point is, regardless, guess I enjoy this little teasing game we play. But if you think you're driving me to distraction with it, you're really not." « I don't think he's going to give you anything. /Especially/ not if you destroy all his papers. »

"You really know how to make a girl feel special, don't you," Teris returns, rather dead pan, eyes rolling and everything. She doesn't give her dragon a whole lot of attention, probably not caring about K'del's papers. Perhaps even encouraging her at this point, though you can't prove it! But, then, finally as she rises to stand, "/Iskiveth./ Leave those alone." The gold turns so that K'del can't grab anything away very easily, just in case he was going to try. But then Teris' voice makes her drop things and look up. « He said I could have them! » But she does leave them. Reluctantly. Then starts heading back toward the stairs, talons scraping more than they really need to. "There. Well." Teris waves vaguely at the papers and hides left behind. "I'll just use one of the others and save you any trouble at all."

"Teris..." begins K'del, now beginning to look awkward and uncomfortable again. Though at least his papers are safe, now, whether he really wants them or not. "You know I care about you. But..." But he's a guy. And she's a tease. And it's really not very fair. « I'm sorry, » says Cadejoth, sounding genuine. « I think he must have been joking. He never likes me getting rid of them, either, even though I think we'd be better playing or flying or something. » Riders! « You'll visit again? We could play. »

Iskiveth pauses at the door to wait for Teris who turns around to look at the bronzerider before she gets too far. "Did I know that?" she returns neutrally. "I'm not sure I did." The blonde looks away, turning her head as though she'll look over her shoulder at the dragonet waiting for her without quite following through. "Anyway, it was nice visiting you. I'm glad you're doing well. Have lots of fun with your... girls." No, she doesn't like saying just the one in particular. She turns to start for Iskiveth again, who burns at a dull roar for her sire, « Much better. And I will! Or you can come visit me and we can look for treasure! » So exciting. At least that thought has her feeling better as Teris opens the door so she can start descending the stairs.

"You /should/," says K'del, firmly, but that's about the only firm thing about it: he looks rather little-boy-lost, standing there, one hand on his desk, the other limp at his side, as he watches the weyrling go. "Look after yourself, Teris. We'll come visit. I'll--" Something unspoken. Probably he himself doesn't know what he intended to say. « Treasure? » says Cadejoth, sounding eager. « Oh! Yes, I think that's a good idea. We'll find treasure, and be lords of everything we see! » This could be a dangerous combination.

That dull roar turns into something considerably louder and hotter. « /Everything./ » Oh, yes. Iskiveth likes this idea very much. But she quiets as she navigates the stairs carefully and Teris? Well, she doesn't have much more to say. She turns back an acknowledging glance but leaves it at that before the door closes and the pair are off to do things that Teris probably has very little desire to do. Like cutting up raw meat. Or exercise. Ew.