Cadgwith's Ledge
A short flight of steep and narrow steps connect the ledges of High Reaches' other queens to this one, encompassed in the bay of the craggy rocks. There is still ample space for a queen to rest comfortably with another large dragon, but ancient landslides have scalloped into what was once a larger ledge, leaving most prominent the wide spur of rock on which a dragon may rest and survey the bowl both above and below. On either side, the ledge's depth is shallower, although a good expanse still sweeps before the cavernous entrance to the weyr, its scarred surface raked daily by the commutings of its largest occupant. On the other side of the main projection, nestled into the rocks, is a smaller, more private ledge denied to dragons by virtue of its size, but providing a handy sunning nook for a rider at ease.
  It is an autumn midmorning.  The sun is rising higher in the sky, but the air is still crisp and cool.  A strong breeze whips along the ground.  The sky is brightening to a rich, light blue.
Sunning in the face of the winds is Tremayne.
Gold Tiareth, gold Cadgwith, and green Alymath are here.
Pyrene is here.
Obvious exits:
Weyr     Stairs

"If she's anything like her mother, there'll be amazing strength in those jaws," Pyrene points out. "Even gums can bruise. And I'll cope with the Sands I think. Cadge is excited about it. Having kids... I just wish B'art hadn't stuck around." Ugh. Cadgwith herself ignores the adults' conversation and stretches her head out to listen to the children instead. Trenny's terribly informative.

Lis gives Pyrene a knowing /look/ at she informs the goldrider, "You don't have to tell me about it. She's not exactly fun to feed." And boy, do you get the oddest looking bruises. "Aw... Turning down your suitors, huh?" goads the greenrider again with a wink, knowing full well B'art's not everyone's idea of a bronzerider in shining leather. "Oh!" announces Donis suddenly, drawing Treneere's attention up to Cadge's head as he yanks the girl's hand upwards with his own.

Pyrene bites her lip against a smirk at the thought of Lis feeding a baby. "Maybe I should recommend you to B'art?" she asks dryly. "Careful Donis!" she calls over to the lad wickedly. "She might eat you. Got funny cravings now she's pregnant." Cadge wouldn't of course and flashes her rider a reproving look. The slightly gaping jaw and the sheer size of her fearsome head don't exactly help matters, but she means well.

Hey, the bust is good for something, at least. "Hah. Funny, Pyrene, but I'm not one to pick up other people's leavings." Lis will not have herself classified as a rebound skank, thank you very much. Trenny, meanwhile, hears Pyrene's words and neatly sneaks herself behind Donis, guiding him forward. "Trenny! Stop that! Or I'm leaving you with Pyrene." That seems a fair threat, as the fosterling knocks it off and steps back from pregnant-Cadge. "Your sister's evil, Py. Did anyone ever tell you that?"

Pyrene leans against Cadgwith's foreleg and grins at Lis. "I thought I told you myself? Besides... it runs in the family, you know.... D'you want a drink or anything?"

Trydanth has arrived.

"True, true... I should know by now," Lis admits with a roll of her eyes and huff for Pyrene. At the offer of a drink, she perks. "Anything alcoholic? It's been so long since I've had wine... and only one glass won't knock me on my bottom." Just as long as they don't spike it with that mead from Keroon... "C'mon, Trenny, and bring Donis - they can have drinks too, right, Py-love?" Alymath's head cranes, and she alerts her rider to the incoming blue with her usual husky greeting croon.

D'renn slithers down Trydanth's side with only minimal help from the blue.
Trydanth takes off.

Pyrene stands, dusting the seat of her trous off, and giving D'renn and Trydanth a not exactly welcoming look. "I'll bring it out. It's a warm day and Cadge is enjoying the sun..." she says to Lis distractedly. "D'renn? I suppose you'll want something too?" See? She can be polite. Almost.

Trydanth lands, drops off a message-tube-clutching D'renn, and takes off again.... to fly round nearby, making eyes at Alymath for a moment before he heads towards the lak"e. "Pyrene, morning.... This is for you. And sure I'll have something," D'renn greets the goldrider very cheerfully, holding out the tube. "Hello Lis....Is that my boy?

Pyrene takes the tube as she disappears into the weyr; grumbling drifts out from the opening, indicating it wasn't necessarily something pleasant. Nothing urgent either for she reappears without the tube but with a tray bearing glasses, a pitcher of redfruit juice and a skin of white wine. "Come help yourselves... consider it an early turnday gift, Lis," she winks at the girl. Lis-turnday is rarely forgotten.

Lis waves amiably at D'renn, adjusting her other spawn on her hip as save Donis from the evils of Pyrene's sibling, grinning at the bluerider. "It is. Say hi to your father, Donny," she instructs, managing to get a shy 'Hello, sir' from the little boy. "Turnday? It /can't/ be!" Was that a plaintive wail from the greenrider?

Tyara tries not to bump 'gainst any sharp joints as she slides down Alymath's forearm.

D'renn looks stricken - maybe because Donis called him 'sir', maybe because he's forgotten Lis' Turnday. Still he reaches for a glass, then kneels down. "Donny? You don't have to call me sir, you know...." Another Donny. Oh dear.

Treneere is still not quite convinced that it's a /bad/ thing to get Donis eaten. "You sure Uglydragon isn't hungry, Rene?" She glares balefully at the kid.

Alymath takes off.

Pyrene can only bond with D'renn on all opinions there. "How would I know?" she asks her sister. "You should ask D'renn." Oooh. Sly. "Cadge is fine though. Fed yesterday, and she's not eating /that/ often. Tyara? What's up now? Lis, did you invite people to a turnday party here?" This is what happens when she's nice to people. They take advantage. Cadge at least is welcoming to the new arrivals, rumbling happily at all her visitors. Saves her the bother of moving her weightier than usual bulk.

"Trenny said..." Donis begins, before looking first to his mother, then his father for approval before breaking into an embarassed little grin. "Oh." Toddling over, he reaches for D'renn's knee, ready to peer into the glass. "Gee, thanks, Pyrene," mutters Lis in regard to the Turnday 'gift', taking her own glass as she greets Tyara and reprimands Treneere. "Treneere, Donis is too small to be anything useful to Cadge. And I did not!" she protests to the other, elder sibling.

"You're too little for that," D'renn reprimands his son teasingly. Precocious, though... "Thanks for the wine, Pyrene," he remembers to say belatedly, glancing around the women. And the small girl. Certainly an interesting collection of people....

Of course. Blame it on Trenny. If Lis isn't a corrupting influence, then Trenny /must/ be. The kid smiles happily. "What'd I say, Donis? I said anyone with raps...razz...raspberry leathers /had/ to be much better than you." She likes this notion. "Therefore, a sir." She eyes said leathers. Very nice.
Treneere adds a mild frown for Lis. "I'll bet she's eaten smaller stuff." Uglydragon.

"When she was a baby, sure. But she's not eating Donis," D'renn states, reaching out a hand to the toddler's shoulder, and glaring up at Treneere from his awkward kneeling position. Hard to be authoritative when you're looking up at a child.

Pyrene isn't sure of her sister's logic, but doesn't question the girl if she's being respectful for once. She passes out juice and wine to the remaining people--even little Donis, and then settles down with her own wine. "So, Lis... 24 soon, hmm? Who're you getting pregnant by this turn?" Cadgwith continues not to eat anybody, resting that foreboding head on her foreleg instead and firstlidding her eyes blissfully.

Donis gives his father a disturbingly familiar pout, wrapping arms around D'renn's legs as those brown eyes become wide and puppy-like. Lis, meanwhile, seconds D'renn's approval of the wine. "Yes, it is good... And sorry, Pyrene, I think I've had enough kids for a while. But 24? Shells, I remember when you were getting me drunk for my twentieth." There's still a slight glare for the goldrider over that incident.

D'renn ruffles Donis' curls, and snickers, balancing the boy's juice glass in one hand and his own wineglass in the other. "I remember that birthday very well, Lis.... but surely she's only getting pregnant every other year now?" See? He's not bitter.
D'renn even adds, "I hear Benden's new Weyrlingmaster is a bluerider." /Definitely/ not bitter.

Treneere sighs woefully at D'renn's edict. "Fine. Uglydragon won't eat Donis." She muses, and then adds hopefully, "What about your dragon?" She takes a moment to guzzle at her juice.

Pyrene wrinkles her own nose at the memory and purses her lips tight shut. D'renn's mouth on hers... Shudder. D'renn's comment draws a snort of laughter though, and she hastily takes a sip of wine, her eyes watching Lis and dancing.

Lis tries very hard not to stick her tounge out at D'renn, but the reflex is already half finished before she bites down and pulls it back in. "Again, no thanks. Trenny's enough kid to make up for those of blue weyrlingmasters in /all/ of Pern's weyrs. Besides, he probably isn't as cute as you." Hah. A smirk apears, dimming only slightly for a reproachful glare at Trenny.

Treneere eyes Lis speculatively. "You mean I'm better than Donis?" Beam. She likes this notion.

"Aww, you're so kind to flatter an old man, Lis..." D'renn replies, beaming. And not commenting on Pyrene's facial expressions.

"Always..." Pyrene assures Treneere fervently. "You've got a much better pedigree for a start." No old-man flattery from this corner anyway. "Will you two stop flirting?" she addresses the other riders. "You are /not/ having a reunion on my ledge." To take the sting out of her words, she slips over to Lis and drops a peck on her cheek. "There's your turnday kiss."

Lis just dips her head in a demure little bow as she replies cheekily, "I do my best. And we are - oh, thanks, Pyrene." The Turnday kiss is well-recieved by the greenrider, blowing a similar one towards the elder of the evil siblings. "Now where's my Turnday kiss, D'renn?" demands she, with a flutter of eyelashes just to annoy Pyrene. Or many not. "And I didn't say you were better - I meant you were more trouble," she tells Treneere with a huff.

Treneere can settle with Lis's answer. "More trouble, right. /Better/." She translates as she will, and eyes the kissing curiously. "Don't I get a kiss? I had a Turnday."

D'renn ignores Treneere's plea, and Donis' stranglehold on his legs.... It's hard to walk with a toddler round your knees, but D'renn makes it as far as Lis. "Pucker up..." he tells her, with one of his best smiles.

Pyrene hmms at her sister. "Ninth, right?" She only remembers because she remembers how long she's been at the Weyr. "Go on then, you can have a kiss." And she kisses her sister on the forehead, muttering in her ear as she does it: "Don't let D'renn kiss you though. His breath smells." And she's not going to watch D'renn and Lis. It /isn't/ a pretty sight.

Lis isn't about to say no, puckering up with an open arm for the bluerider with his own baggage of a child. Eyes are lidded shut, but one cracks open just barely to eye Pyrene's - and, more interestingly Treneere's - reaction.

And when was the last time Pyrene kissed D'renn to know if his breath smells or not?  Lis gets to find out though, since he slides one arm around her shoulders, and kisses her.

Treneere does the whole ten fingers thing, offering up spread-fingered palms. "Yup. Nine." Nine and she /still/ can't count. "Thanks," she chirrups at Pyrene, post-kiss. "Does his breath smell like fish? Fish is gross. I bet it smells like Tillek. Eeew! Lis! He's biting your face!" She regards in horror.

Pyrene *laughs!
Treneere  * ergs. Didn't mean 'smells like Lis.' Honest.
Lis * glares at Trenny. Gee, thanks.
Treneere  * meant Tillek. Or fish. My fingers got ahead of my mind.
D'renn * snickers.

Lis gets to enjoy her Turnday kiss from D'renn this Turn, snuggling into that arm with the shamelessness of certain other greenriding clutchmates of hers with a delighted sigh. "/Thank/ you, D'renn," coos the greenrider, biting back a giggle at Trenny's shock. "Oh, no, Trenny, he's supposed to do that. You'll understand when you're older." Fear for the adolescent Treneere.

Pyrene just winces and takes her safe position on Cadge's foreleg next to the gold's head. "Be careful there D'renn... You'll have cadge in premature labour at this rate. And Trenny... it's nicer when it's not D'renn doing it. You'll see." She also fears for the adolescent Treneere. "But don't start yet. I have to lie enough in my letters home as it is."

D'renn was listening with half an ear while Treneere insulted him. Which means an ear-and-a-half's worth of attention was on the kiss.... Unpeeling himself from Lis, he just smirks. At least till he looks down into Donis' very puzzled face.

Treneere will probably understand all too well when she's older, based on that pensive, intrigued little look on her face. Corruption starts early, it seems. "Oh," she says. "Right. So I shouldn't let D'renn bite my face. But he has nice leathers..." She admires the raspberry hue again. "And /Lis/ seems to like it." Twisted kid takes back the fish statement. "You're just jealous because she's more interesting than you."

Lis sneaks a glance down to Donis as well, giving D'renn a /look/ of 'You're explaining this one - I had to raise him for two Turns and then some'. Or something along those lines. "Don't worry, Pyrene, I'll take care of her," the greenrider assures her with a smile that's hopefully more calming than worrying. "D'renn's not biting your face, Trenny. He's an acquired taste."

Pyrene studies D'renn and adds dryly: "If that's what happens to interesting people, I'll stay boring." Cadgwith makes an odd little noise in her throat, and opens her eyes at Treneere, gleaming at the little girl. "Lis... when you take care of her, take care of her in a different way than we took care of Auri, right?"

D'renn pats his son's head again, gently, offering the boy the juice glass. "S'alright, Donis...." he attempts to reassure him, before starting to chuckle at Treneere. "Oh, Lis is /definitely/ more interesting than Pyrene..."

A sudden panicked look takes over Lis' face before she swallows it down, telling Pyrene primly, "Of /course/. And whatever you head about me and Auri, it's not true." Donis, for his part, clasps both hands around his juice glass for a steadying drink as he mulls over 'face-biting'. "Thank you, D'renn, and Trenny," she adds with a grin for both - and a wink for the elder.

Pyrene can't help it. She bristles at that statement. It's one thing coming from her sister; it's quite another coming from D'renn. "Oh, really? And what's Lis got that I haven't?" Apart from the whole busty part. And...? She flashes a Look at Lis. "What about you and Auri?"

"What's Lis got that you haven't?" D'renn gives Pyrene a long, assessing look, and steps away from Donis, looming towards the goldrider. "Well....... Hmm?" His attention's twisted. "What about you and Auri, Lis?"

"Auri?" Trenny is innocent here. "Who's Auri? Is she any fun?"

Pyrene leans closer to Cadge for protection from the looming D'renn. Distraction still claims her attention for potential Lis-Auri gossip of course.

"Tyara made it up," Lis bites out to Pyrene, looking at D'renn with a sudden 'heh' as she finds herself having to explain it. "See, well, she said she'd heard this nasty rumor that I'd gone and, um, well..." Her eyes dart between Trenny and Donis, deciding to edit this for little ears. "At any rate, /done/ something with Auri that involved a loss of innocence. Which I haven't." Miravith scares her too much.

Cadgwith is more or less dorment at this moment, scant comfort for Pyrene. A random twitch of tail indicates she's not quite sleeping, but isn't into looking menacing right now.

Lis lets out a slight sigh of relief as Trenny spots a playmate among a crowd of brats being more or less handled by one of Tyara's minions, and runs down the stairs to join them. A sip of wine is taken from her glass - a /long/, draining sip.

D'renn just gives Lis a grin at her explanation, advancing still on Pyrene. "Want to learn to be more interesting?" he offers with a leer..... well, it has to be done.

Pyrene wants to run and hide, but that would be admitting defeat. She settles for using her wineglass as a shield--pitiful, but it coveres the vital mouth area. "Now D'renn... How could /you/ teach me?" she mutters from behind it.

There's a smothered snicker from Lis, an abortive attempt at silence involving getting the last bits of wine out from her glass which sends the drops down her chin and has the greenrider mopping herself up. "I could think of a few ways," catcalls Alymath's rider helpfully, providing a new leg for Donis to latch onto.

"I know /you/ could...." D'renn calls back to Lis, drinking back his own wine with a practised tilt of one wrist. But the bluerider seems to remember his personal decisions (crises) and retreats. "Awww, well, I suppose you'll learn soon enough, Pyrene."

"If she hasn't already learned from C'lan," comes the floating comment form the peanut gallery (i.e., Lis and her brood).

Pyrene lowers a glass in some relief and peers at D'renn. "What's /that/ supposed to mean?" she asks him critically, rather glad Treneere's no longer around. Lis is ignored, but there's a twitch of her shoulders as eloquent as the rudest gesture.

D'renn steps back a pace or two. "I just remembered that I don't bother with girls any more," he states cheerily. Which apparently includes Lis, since he stands in a spot all by himself.

Lis isn't going to pout, really - she'll just put a lot of effort into biting at her lower lip. She's not a girl - motherhood's a qualifaction for womanhood, isn't it? "Lucky you, Pyrene," comes another sardonic comment, low-pitched in her amusement at that shoulder-twitch.

Pyrene raises her eyebrows. "So who /are/ you bothering with? Since I'm almost certain that R'sli got his position on his own merits. No, don't tell me... let me guess. Ko'en?" Wherries of a feather...

"So sure about R'sli, hmm?" D'renn asks with both eyebrows raised. He completely ignores the Ko'en suggestion, that's for sure.... "There are plenty of mature women around, Pyrene." Women his own age... women that he hasn't just insulted completely.

Lis siddles around to Pyrene's side, giving D'renn a slight sideways look for that bit about 'mature women'. "Oh, Pyrene, no one bothers with Ko'en for more than a night," she scoffs at the goldrider. "He's too obnoxious." That they can both agree on.

"Some of us have got more sense than to bother with him for even a night," D'renn mutters.

Pyrene glares again. "I'm as mature as anybody else! Mature enough for Cadge! which is more than I can say for some people around here." Although one would think that D'renn had greater barriers than his maturity when it came to Impressing Cadgwith. "Anyway, if you're so mature, why don't you have a weyrmate?"

Of course, those natural barriers could be fixed.

"He died." D'renn answers very flatly, and turns to look out over the bowl, as Trydanth wings his way towards the ledge.

Lis' eyebrows jump slightly at Pyrene's insult, hissing over at the goldrider, "That was a bit low, even for you, Pyrene." And she's seen Py pretty low - namely, during that first pregnancy.

Trydanth has arrived.

Pyrene starts and her mouth drops open, before she presses back against Cadge whose eyes are whirling with lilac concern. "I.. I'm sorry D'renn... I didn't know..." She flushes at Lis' reproach and drops her eyes, taking a nervous swig of her wine.

D'renn shrugs forgiveness. "It's a long time ago, Pyrene. And I don't have a weyrmate now, because no-one lives up to my high expectations." Although he gives Lis a suspiciously longing look. But as Trydanth lands, D'renn hunkers down to say 'goodbye' to his son, ruffling the boy's curls again. "Thanks for the wine, Pyrene... Happy Turnday, Lis."

Pyrene is subdued and makes her farewells to D'renn with a good deal more courtesy than her greetings. "I expect we'll have another party on the actual day, hmm, Lis?" she asks the greenrider, seeking forgiveness from her too.

Lis' throat unsticks itself after that look to call a goodbye after D'renn, even as Donis - oblivious to the conversation and flying insults - waves a tiny hand cheerfully after his father, and Cerise awakes from slumber to peer after the leaving blue. "Sure, sure, Pyrene," she assures the goldrider, giving her a wan little smile. Pyrene's lucky that Lis loves her as much as she does.

D'renn scrambles up to settle himself between spiked neckridges.
And D'renn and Trydanth fly off into the sunset.... or maybe just the noon sunshine.
Trydanth takes off.

Pyrene waves D'renn off and settles next to Lis. "I didn't mean it, y'know. I'd no idea he'd had a Weyrmate before. It must have been before I came to the weyr. Maybe the plague..." See? She does have a conscience, and it's pricking her right now.

"It was, from what I hear," Lis informs Pyrene - she's got her gossip circles among elder riders other than D'renn, though the goldrider probably doesn't want to know. "You couldn't really have known, though, Pyrene." Assurance is imbued into her statement, and encouraging nod with a solemn expression.

Lis is right. Pyrene doesn't want to know. "But you've never thought to weyrmate him then? Because..." And her eyes dance with regained amusement. "I think he loves you, y'know..."

"I..." Lucky Pyrene - she's not the only speechless one today. Lis is doing her part to gape and trying to make words with her mouth without sucess. "Well, you heard him, Pyrene. He doesn't mess around with 'girls' and apparently considers me one." Her lower lip slides out, against her best efforts, and her voice takes on sulky undertones.

Pyrene sighs at Lis. "Did you /see/ the way he looked at you? He's got a huge crush on you, Lis-dear... I only wish that Pia had been here to see it." Alas for opportunities lost. "He may say that he thinks you're a girl, but I think that's a cover."

Pia would probably be crowing over Lis' bloody carcass, had she been here. Lis, however, just ducks her head with a shy grin - and was that a blush coloring her cheeks? "Oh, /Pyrene/... I couldn't. Even if he /did/ have a huge crush on me -" She's still in denial, see. "- I couldn't just start in on him, could I?" Eyes that look up at the goldrider are naked, honest and most disturbingly, looking for Py's approval.

Pyrene furrows her brow at Lis, trying to read her reaction for good or bad. "Start in on him how? You don't mean to use it to make fun of him? And you say /I'm/ low..." Not that Pyrene would be above it if she were the recipient of the crush, but Lis bore his child for Faranth's sake. "Or are you seriously considering... ?" She trails off. That thought is almost equally disturbing.

"Of course not!" Lis returns, bristling at the first suggestion of Pyrene's. "That would crush him. I don't have that sort of evil in me." A leer - for once, without any lustful undertones - is given to the goldrider. "I meant that I'd seriously consider it. Give up on all this flirting and joking and /do/ something about it."

Pyrene stares at Lis rather limply. "Seriously? You'd settle down... with D'renn?" A soft, half-hysterical laugh and she takes the greenrider's hand. "Oh, dear Faranth. How far we've come from dyeing his boxer shorts.... But, Lis. Do you /love/ him?" The concept's nearly incomprehensible.

Lis lets out her own hysterically-tinged laugh at Pyrene's last question. "Oh, I don't /know/, Pyrene. You're talking to someone who's had a string of failed relationships, each one building up on the end of another. Only D'renn..." The greenrider gulps, coming to a realization. "Only D'renn's been following me around since I got to the weyr, from boxers to Braniff to babies!" Feel the alliteration. The next giggle is decidedly hysterical as she asks her friend, "Oh, Pyrene - what have I done to this poor man?"

Pyrene laughs wryly but not hysterically as she hugs her friend. "I haven't a clue... wasn't it him that Searched you the first time though? It's probably those eyes of yours. So... what are you going to do next?" She's genuinely curious. And she's a feeling that she might have to start being nicer to D'renn. D'rat.

Lis returns Pyrene's hug warmly, an utterly disoriented - possibly lovestruck - smile on her face. "I haven't a clue, Pyrene," she admits, running a hand through her hair with a shrug. "I don't know how to court people - they're usually tripping over my feet." At least the goldrider knows how to nail a man, even if it involves hair braiding and baths.

And Pyrene has a weyrmate where? C'lan was the one to make the move, and even then the relationship did not survive Cadgwith. Pyrene can't even flirt with somebody without backing out and Searching them instead. "Well, don't court him then. Just invite yourself back to his weyr one night and keep doing it until he gets the hint?" That's the Pyrene way of man-nailing.

"I'm sure that'll go over well..." Lis states, gentle amusement showing her hesitancy to try that plan. "I'll catch him in his underwear, no doubt - or even worse," and she's not sure how threesomes go over with the bluerider. "Besides, I've got kids - I could try one night a week, I suppose..." Her eyes unfocus, musing over the idea.

Pyrene studies Lis with some fascination. This is a girl who's seriously considering weyrmating D'renn. "That's a point though... don't you dare bring D'renn back to your weyr while Trenny's there. She asks enought questions as it is."

You'd think someone like that would only come around once in a lifetime... Lis gives Pyrene a delightful, lopsided grin as she tells the goldrider, "Oh, don't worry. I've got more sense than that. You wouldn't be able to get past 'face biting' before she'd interrupt and want to know what you're doing." Not that she'd /try/...

Pyrene chokes at the mere thought. "Tell me Lis...." she asks, laughter in her eyes. "/Why/ did you foster Treneere? I mean, I know the girl's got her good points... but. With your, ah, lifestyle?"

"Did it ever occur to you High Reaches' most promiscuous greenrider could reform? Besides, Mhari seems to enjoy it more than I ever did, when she's at her worst." Lis chuckles quietly to herself at this, bracing Donis against a numb thigh as the little boy continues to snore - and doesn't hear his mother's self-slandering. "Actually, Trenny asked me, and I figured another one couldn't hurt..." It wouldn't, if that other was anyone but Treneere.

Cadgwith sighs lightly in her doze and Pyrene reaches an absent hand to the gold's jawline. "I have to admit, I encouraged her to ask you--I just didn't think you'd say yes.... So you're reforming? Told Alymath that?" Forgive her skeptic tone. It's at least partially understandable, isn't it?

Another chuckle comes from Lis, and she peers over at her lifemate, who's catching the noon sun at just the right angle on her pink blushing belly. "Oh, she's put up with me for more than five Turns, and she's finally getting through her thick head that I don't have her stamina. After all, /she/ only climaxes once every six months." Whereas Lis' suitors demanded a few a night, at least. As the green's head turns, she gives the dragon a smile and a thought probably along the lines of, 'Yes, you, lunkhead'. Aw...

Pyrene sighs and stands, nudging her own lunkhead dragon. "I ought to oil Cadge. The way her belly's stretching, she needs oiling twice a day. It was nice of you to call, Lis... want to take the wine with you?"

Lis can spot a chore when she hears one, and gathers up her offspring as she heads for her dragon. "Sure - never know when I'll need nice skin. And maybe another glass when I get back..." She'll need it, now firmly of mind to - gasp - court D'renn.