Difference between revisions of "Logs:Trying To Get You To Quit"

Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr

The rest of the bowl may be barren, grass barely surviving at best, but here by the lake, it's brilliantly green in the warmer months: thickening and thriving in the silty, boulder-dotted soil just before it transitions to soft sand and thence to the cool, clear water itself.

A large freshwater lake fed by a low waterfall, it not only provides warm-weather bathing space for humans and dragons, but has one end fenced off as a watering hole for the livestock in the feeding grounds. The water there is often muddier than the rest of the clear lake, whose shallows drop off abruptly several yards out into deep water, and whose edge undulates against the coarse-hewn bowl wall: here close enough to just be bramble-covered rocks, there far enough away that a narrow land bridge divides the main lake from a smallish pond. Between are several rocky outcroppings that form excellent makeshift diving points, though only one -- across the bridge -- has a set of narrow, slippery, quite possibly tempting stairs.

The weather today is very pleasant. A few clouds chase each other across the mostly clear skies, and a soft breeze picks up in the afternoon to make for a fine day.

It's a nice, warm spring day as afternoon sheds on and many weyrfolk make the most of the beautiful weather. Tiriana's among them, stretched out on the shore of the lake with her legs folded up under her. By her side, her kid's playing in the dirt, toddling around or trying to stick rocks in his mouth or other stuff that year-old kids do while their moms oversee.

Tiriana's not the only one making the most of the weather, though K'del's a little late to the party, only just making his way across from the bowl. He's got two toddlers to deal with, both within a couple of months of two turns; for the moment, they're both dutifully holding his hands, though as they reach the edge of the shoreline, the elder of the pair makes a break for freedom. "Wa'er!" squeals Kasey, shooting for it.

It's the squealing that draws both Tiriana's and Rianev's attention, the latter gurgling happily and waddling a few steps that way before Tiriana scoops him up on the way by and deposits him back in the dirt on her other side. "You don't want to play with them," she says, with a typically superior look over at K'del and his pair.

It's a good thing K'del's legs are a lot longer than Kasey's; a good thing, too, that Nikalas consents to being scooped up into daddy's arms so rapidly. K'del retrieves Kasey before the tot gets to the water, but by that point, Nikalas has noticed Rianev: he squeals, too, waving his arms gamely at the younger boy. "Play!" With both boys more or less back under control, the bronzerider turns to glance at Tiriana, and the object of his younger son's attentions; his lips twitch. "Can't keep 'em apart together. Let him have some playmates, surely? Mine'll be gentle."

"Rianev can take it," is Tiriana's bullish retort, eyes narrowing as though her son's burgeoning masculinity was in question. She releases Rianev, though the boy doesn't seem in quite so much of a hurry to play now that attention is on him. He hovers uncertainly by Mommy, who finally shrugs and gives him a little nudge. "Fine, go on, then."

Calmly; "Only meant that he's littler than Kase and Nik." But K'del lets both boys back onto the ground, echoing Tiriana's nudge onto each of their backs: go, play. It's Nikalas who moves first, though he rather rapidly falls onto his bottom on the sand, and, moments later, begins to dig. See! Fun! "He's getting big, though. Growing up, all that."

When Nikalas plops down, Rianev finally wobbles closer and then flops down in the dirt, too, to dig his chubby little baby fingers in it and probably also get in the way of whatever the older boy has in mind. Isn't that what the younger ones always do? "That's what they do, I hear," is Tiriana's dry observation. "Though I appreciate as always your expert fatherly advice."

It's Kasey who really begins the directional work in this dirt-playing exercise: he is, after all, the eldest by a couple of months. "/Up/," he tells the other two, imperiously, demonstrating. It's not what Nikalas had in mind, though, apparently, because /he/ knocks down what his half-brother has just built. Ignoring them - since, as yet, there are no actual /screams/ - K'del rolls his eyes at Tiriana. "It was a compliment. Shells, can't you even take that much?" Surely he knows better than this, by now.

Ooh, smashing! In proof of parentage, Rianev gets behind that bit of Kasey's plan and shortly starts smashing his little fists into everything. Also, there is giggling. Tiriana mostly looks bemused at all that, though her eyes cut sideways to K'del a moment later. "It was a stupid one," she informs him. "And more observation than compliment, really, since any moron can see he's getting bigger. If you can't do beter than that..."

Smashing it is, then. Funny how - with three boys - it gets to that point so quickly. The giggling is enough to draw K'del's attention back towards them, but his expression is nothing more than fond. "Fine, it was a stupid one. Whatever. He's very like you." Which... /could/ be a compliment. Possibly. "Are you thinking about having another one at some point? Or is he enough."

Tiriana will take it as one, anyway. "Better," she judges his compliment-making skills, with a faint smirk as she watches the boys destroy away. "He is like me, kind of. Except, not exactly. I don't know." Genetics, they're puzzling things, and Tiriana knits her brows a moment before shrugging. "Another one?" That catches her off-guard, earns her Weyrleader a sharp look. "Why would you ask that?"

Whatever the intention of the 'compliment', K'del aims a sunny enough smile at Tiriana for her assessment of of it: it'll do. "That's the fun of it, I guess. Figuring out how they're alike, how they're different, all that." And his question? He shrugs. "Just making conversation. Seems like people do start thinking about it, at about this age?" Some people, anyway. "It's been kind of nice, having Kasey and Nik so close together. Sometimes."

Tiriana eyes the other two boys, eyes K'del. Eyes the boys again. "Of course it is, for /you/. You didn't have to pop 'em out, or feed them, or do anything for them except take them to the lake every once in a while and call it father-son bonding. Hardly the same," she scoffs. Although, "Maybe I'll have another. Maybe. Don't worry, I'll make sure you're the first to know."

K'del's smile tightens to a thin, sharp line. "Excepting, of course, the months and months when Milani was down at Cove," he says, with a calm that doesn't /quite/ reach his eyes. Not that he's angry, as such. But. "I'll grant you the other things. But." He's at least a little offended, though it doesn't stop him from adding, "You do that. At least with two juniors, now, you can probably afford the time."

"Well. You chose her. If you get dumped with the thing because she's not fit to be a mother--." Tiriana doesn't finish, but shrugs instead. Her own calm is a little disturbed, however, by his latter words; and her blue eyes narrow. "So what, you're trying to lay me up out of the way, is that it?"

At least K'del is used to Tiriana enough not to be overly perturbed by the first thing she says. As for the second - well, the roll of his eyes, a visible, exaggerated thing, goes a long way to illustrating exactly how serious he isn't. As does the sarcasm. "Sure, why not? Obviously, I'd rather Teris - hah! - or Lujayn to be in charge, and I'm trying to get you to quit. Lots of babies ought to do the trick, don't you think?"

Tiriana snorts. "That sounds about as brilliant a plan as I'd expect from you," she agrees. "Well, let me assure you now, it's not going to happen. Maybe--/maybe/!--one more, and I'm done." So there. Rianev, in the meantime, has progressed to throwing clods of dirt in the air, in his babyish fashion. It makes Tiriana just shake her head and sigh. "See what yours started."

"What can I say," says K'del, all dimples and false smiles. At least he /seems/ to be mostly amused by the exchange; maybe he really is finally growing up. Fatherhood, you know. "Well. That's good to know, too. Guess we don't all need to have big families." Beat. "Not that I'm /planning/ on more for the moment, either, you know." He does follow Tiriana's gaze towards the boys, but it doesn't seem to worry him. "'least they're not actually eating it, for now. They're fine. Do Rianev some good, playing with them. We live so close together-- shells, it'd be a shame if they couldn't be friends. Not that Kasey lives with us. But. Still."

"Rianev has friends," and Tiriana is only moderately defensive there, watching K'del with pursed lips. "Anyway, he could do much better than--." A gesture takes in both his boys. "If you want to set up a playdate, talk to R'uen. He's more... R'uen, about that sort of thing. But don't think you're ever going to babysit /my/ son. Or vice versa." Glare.

K'del lifts both hands in a gesture that could be defeat, or defensiveness, or something similar; it's hard to know exactly what he means by it. "Guess I might do that," he opines, cheerfully enough. "Don't mean babysitting. Just--" He tips his head towards the three boys. "Seem to be doing all right, for the moment. Can't hurt to continue that."

Tiriana still looks suspicious of the whole thing, but she shrugs it off and moves on, rising to her feet. "Well, maybe. Someday. It's naptime now, though," she notes, with a curl of her lip. "After bathtime, anyway. Goodbye, Weyrleader." She steps forward to scoop up her filthy kid, which of course sets him to making vague whining noises and reaching back for K'del's pair.

"Someday," agrees K'del, breezily. If he's intent on making it happen, he isn't showing it for now. "Have a nice afternoon, Weyrwoman." His two seem as unhappy as Rianev to be parted from their playmate - the squeal that sounds from Kasey is decidedly ear-splitting. It doesn't take them too long to forget him, though: Rianev who?