Difference between revisions of "Logs:A Threat (L)(Gr)ooms"

Western Bowl, High Reaches Weyr

The bowl's vast dirt floor extends in a rough oval from west to east, only sparse clumps of grass surviving between the crisscrossed pathways of daily traffic. To the northwest stand massive gates to the world beyond, allowing people, livestock, and tithes to pass beneath some of the seven jagged spires that stand sentinel over that area of the bowl. In late afternoons, their spindly, fingerlike shadows stretch over that end of the bowl all the way to the living cavern's hulking brass doors in the far north.

Eastward, the bowl sprawls on toward the lake, sloping slightly downward to allow runoff from rain and snowmelt, but to the south it's caged by more cliffs of dark, rough-cut granite. Rocks poke up from the ground here, a few large boulders and many smaller outcroppings worn smooth in spots by time and use. A few ground weyr entrances dot the wall, the most frequented ledge set up like a patio while the largest ledge services the Weyrleaders' complex, directly beside the huge entrance to the hatching sands. A more human-sized entrance, left of that, leads to the galleries.

From the Graduation Log...

...all of a sudden Solith hops down from her ledge: lightly, if not casually, floating out over the floor of the bowl until... there's a nearby spot, she can drop right into that, and did that larger dragon want to stretch out? Too late.

Rasavyth was about to stretch out, thank-you-very-much-Solith-Spot-Stealer. He snorts, his party mood significantly dampened from the earlier frolicking, but far from gone. His nose dips playfully to tap against the green, excuse me.

As for Solith-Spot-Stealer, she lifts quick-whirling eyes back at Rasavyth, quite as though she couldn't possibly have seen him there before, or perhaps it's that she forgot in just the last few seconds. What?

What? Rasavyth doesn't buy it. The tapping's warning enough as far a he's concerned. So he sprawls out anyway, flopping across the green, pinning her with his greater bulk, though at least he's careful that his weight isn't crushing. (To Solith from Rasavyth)

Surprise. Surprise, and dismay! When did he get that much bigger? It is not fair. Solith's neckridges can't be comfortable for the bigger dragon to lie on, but they also impede her somewhat when she squirms as singlemindedly and indecorously as a hatchling, her intent to wriggle free: into the neighboring blue, perhaps, even if she won't topple him over like a proper domino. Although that would be fun, too. (To Rasavyth from Solith)

To Solith, Rasavyth allows it. The allowance being full of oozy sarcasm. As though she needs his permission, ha! The wiggle, the freedom. As long as he's gaining ground in which to sprawl, she's welcome to move.

Allows. It's that oozy sarcasm that does it, a mental zephyr fluttering against it as Solith pauses, as though to cool it of. It's then that she must realize that, actually, since she really isn't being crushed... it's warm down here. Why, now that she comprehends that she could get loose without too much peril, it's almost like a nice thick blanket. It's just that it's a blanket, she's decided, that needs grooming. So she does. (To Rasavyth from Solith)

AUGH! It was a trap all along! He should have known, the bronze's mind bemoans playfully as green tongue starts grooming him. It's not as nice as it was the other day. Maybe he realizes it's because she was getting toward glowy the other day and is now on the other side. He snorts, backing off the green as swiftly as he may safely do, on the retreat, though one paw is used to try to pin her neck lightly - just to keep her from following. (To Solith from Rasavyth)

K'zin is quick-stepping it out to the bowl, trying to catch up with a certain blonde greenrider. As he starts to near her, he calls out, "Tela!" Then abruptly his expression becomes confused, as though he's not at all sure why he followed her to start with.

She turns. "K'zin?" And then abruptly Tela can't help but laugh despite all the wing-doings and not-wing-doings of earlier, shaking her head, because of course it's K'zin. So of course she beckons, only then she walks up after all to meet the bronzerider. "What's that look on your face? It wouldn't have anything to do with our dragons looking completely unlike adults, would it?" Solith would probably look more smug if she weren't still pinned like that, but as it is, she definitely is pleased. She's such a menace that if only Rasavyth let go, surely she'd take over the world. Never mind that she'd only wander off again.

"I--" The look on his face? Oh, yeah, that look. The one that only gets worse when it's pointed out. He's looking lost. "I just-- wasn't sure-- I'm not--" None of that's make sense. K'zin holds up his hand, shakes his head and starts over. "I don't want to keep you," The dragons who aren't acting like adults are given a look, "But I wanted to say congratulations and ask-- er--" A blush, "Are you okay?" She seems okay, now, but that's not when he means.

Lost. That triggers Tela's concern even more than it piques her curiosity; about to speak when he holds up that hand, she holds off instead, taking him in with those big bluish eyes. Which doesn't mean that she can quite resist asking, "Are you sure about that?" The keeping. But it's back to silent listening, then, the better to hear him out. Oh. That okay. "I think so. It was," she glances beyond him, all those dragons, if only for a moment before she looks back. "It was pretty overwhelming. A lot overwhelming." She might ask if he's okay, she might ask so many other things except he doesn't look okay and so, "You look like it's been quite a day. Did you get a chance to eat? I have some jerky and crackers and things."

Is he sure? He's a little lost about that too. "Would you want me to?" K'zin asks with furrowed brow, expression uncertain, still. There was that note and all, but there was also that mating flight and all. "No. I didn't eat." His brown gaze falls to her, expression thoughtful. "Want to go somewhere with me?" It's sort of the same question twice, or variations of it. But the latter seems to be addressing the issue of food.

Her answering smile is bright, but then, smiles don't have to deal with paltry matters such as time, place and manner. "Anywhere you like." Though, "Have somewhere in mind?" Has Rasavyth let Solith off the hook yet? Telavi really should get around to seeing.

No, no, no. Not so long as she still has that evil 'I'm going to groom him!' look in her eye. Or, well, that pleased look she had. It might just be him who has that particular interpretation. If she's not all that persistent, he might have let her go by now... "Weaver." K'zin answers evenly, "We can get some food there." A pause, "Maybe Ista after, since that was the original plan. Or somewhere else. I'm not sure I'd tempt the jungles of Southern at night." Not without a slew of weyrlings and hunting weapons, dragons notwithstanding.

Unfortunately, Solith is then still trapped, but at least she's neither skewered nor, recently, singed. Allowing Rasavyth a sense of complacency might have helped, but no, she had to wiggle every now and again, right when she might have seemed relaxed. It's enough that a rider could roll her eyes, but Telavi's very careful not to. "Weaver's nice, and what better time to go, than dressed like this. No," tossing us out for not measuring up, becomes, "problem. We can figure out the rest from there." It doesn't have to all be set out now, does it? Just one destination at a time. But Telavi waits to see whether this works for K'zin, before negotiating with Rasavyth for Solith's freedom.

"Sure. Sounds... good. Nice. Actually." K'zin answers, taking a breath, looking at the greenrider sort of strangely for a moment, indecisive. Does she have something in her teeth? Something on her fancy leathers? Rasavyth is watching Solith very carefully, each wiggle proving his paw's necessity. If he could narrow his eyes in suspicion, he would. He can't, so in his head, he allows a 3-D of Alida's face to look suspiciously at Solith.

"I wish I could take the credit," Telavi confides, and maybe she doesn't check her teeth but she does reach up one-handed to give her cap the habitual tug, except... it's not there tonight. Do her braids look so very different without it, in relative public like this? "But," she has a hint, at least, of a smile. "I think you might catch on that it really was your idea... Solith?" Solith is delighted. Solith has forgotten to squirm. Solith is busy asking if he can make that face say things, too. "Oh, Solith." K'zin will do what he will do, but Telavi has to retrieve her dragon, which involves walking over and making to knock what she can reach of on Rasavyth's paw. "Won't you please let her go? I promise she won't get you, as long as we're here, tonight."

"I wish I could take the credit," Telavi confides, and maybe she doesn't check her teeth but she does reach up one-handed to give her cap the habitual tug, except... it's not there tonight. Do her braids look so very different without it, in relative public like this? "But," she has a hint, at least, of a smile. "I think you might catch on that it really was your idea... Solith?" Solith is delighted. Solith has forgotten to squirm. Solith is busy asking if he can make that face say things, too. "Oh, Solith." She starts towards her.

Tela moves toward the dragons, but K'zin steps into her path, quite close, only bare inches between them. His gaze down at her is intent, and too serious as it has been so much of the night. He reaches up a hand to tilt her chin up, bending his head slowly, giving her plenty of time to make it otherwise before his lips meet hers in a soft kiss. Rasavyth isn't showing apparent attention to the riders, instead, he's distracting Solith. He can. She's not the only face he can do either. Who would she most like to see? What would she like them to say?

Apparently Tela hadn't had something in her teeth after all, unless it's just that K'zin just isn't that picky. She hadn't flinched when he stepped into her space like that, and her gaze doesn't flinch from his now, meeting it fully with hers eyes wider and darker than they had been before. It's public. There are people. There are dragons. This isn't a tunnel or even the dragon infirmary. It's not quick. It's not stolen. She can think about it. She can dodge. She can wait and wait until he's entirely bridged the gap, but no, much like how minutes earlier she'd walked back to join him, now she also eases up to meet him at least that remaining little bit partway. For once, or maybe twice, she doesn't say a word. Unlike Solith: Solith, effectively distracted, has put in a request for words. Several words, more Alida except with Meara's voice... if clever Rasavyth can do that.

It is public. And there are eyes to see. Of course, kissing her in the mating flight could've been chalked up to flight passions, and maybe Tela doesn't remember, but there were eyes then, too. He lingers close when the kiss is done, his hand reaching up to first lightly touch her cheek and then as he exhales, he seems to relax a little. "They can't make you cut your hair anymore," In case she didn't know. "You could take it down," He suggests, his fingers straying higher to touch across some of the braids, perhaps ready to start pulling pins if she only has a say so. "Would you-- like to meet my sister? That's why I want to go to Weaver. To tell her." He gestures back toward the cavern. That he graduated. That he's a real rider now. Or something. Rasavyth seems puzzled as to how pairing the wrong voice with the wrong face is entertaining, but he's obliging anyway, removing his paw as he has his mental 'Alida' speak words in Meara's voice, the selection pulled from a memory of some weyrling lecture. The lips don't always match the words, but... hey, it's a free show.

"That's right," she says with a slow-dawning smile, though some of that may come from how he's relaxed, even that little bit. And as long as K'zin's touching her hair like that anyway, Tela half-turns her head towards his fingers, not to dislodge them, only to brush against them like another kiss right there. "You could take it down," repetition and agreement. His sister? Color rises in her cheeks, though what she admits is, "I'd like to. To go with you, yes. And meet her. Well, really meet her, not in passing," or in flailing, "when I didn't really see her." She'd mentioned that, hadn't she? She'd meant to, if not the gory details. "I imagine she'll be proud." Solith is starting to look a little more presentable herself, now that she's up out of her crouch and stretching, though true to her rider's word or possibly her own inclination, she isn't going after Rasavyth. He does voices. For her, it's fun. Next should be the other way around!

K'zin's smile becomes a little wider as she gives him permission, and pins are pulled to loose some of the braids. He won't do them all, just now. Just a few. He even goes so far as to pin one or two into a different position. "I'll take them all out when we get to weaver. We'll probably have to wait for her. Kinzi likes to make an entrance." That's said with all the tolerant indulgence of a doting brother. He leans down to kiss her again before moving to Rasavyth, "I'm hungry. Let's go." Done, decided, no more time wasted. The bronze's show comes to an end. Or intermission, at least, so they can undertake the serious business of flying.

Telavi's quick to retrieve those precious pins from him, stashing them in an inner pocket. Once, too, she shivers as he works; after all, over this Turn, unbinding her hair's been made more personal than kissing in some ways... unless it's just that she's frightened to think of what she might look like, now that she's so-tolerantly let him arrange even that little bit. He's reputed to be not only a man but one without delicacy, after all, for all that she knows better. "Does she. What a wonderful craft to be in, then, I can't imagine that a farmcrafter would have nearly as many opportunities." For entrances, if nothing else. With the show paused and the presenter applauded, Solith does take a moment to oversee her rider's mounting a little more closely than strictly necessary... but if the image is shared, as it happens, Tela doesn't change a thing. Not even in between.