The Dragonriders of Pern® is a trademark, Registered U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, of Anne McCaffrey. This is a recorded session, generated by Harper's Tale MOO on Sunday, September 13th, 1998, for the benefit of members unable to attend. Logged by Pyrene.

News from Home

Living Caverns
The rough-hewn majesty of this cavern far outpaces any delight in the multitudes of curves that form its enclosure. The glabrous grey granite is shot through with translucent obsidian, lending subtly-veined sparkle to the walls and the foot-trodden smoothness of the floor that shows centuries-old placements of the scarred trestle tables; carven hollows give homes for the glow baskets and the coat-pegs that line the walls. No mosaics, no painting, no tiles: just a few well-done tapestries mark the pathway that lead to the kitchen to the north and the inner caverns to the west, and frame the nighthearth's stew and snacks, while a heavier strip of oiled canvas shields the unwary from the wind in the bowl.
Tucked into a glowlit niche are Nightcrawler, Bren, Ghost, Miriamele, Sobrinita, Shavira, Pantalaimon, BluePrints, Maeve, Kate, and Jobber.
You see Attentions all!!, Inferno Table, Bopp, Oa Pouch, Dwaggie, Klutzi, Aslyn's Amazing Bubblies, and Tuber salad here.
Obvious exits:
Bowl     Kitchens     Inner Caverns     Workrooms

Pyrene
Small, thin and pale, there should be a vulnerable quality about this young girl, but she carries herself as tall as her inches allow. Such pride is not reflected in her appearance however, her clothes seem to be chosen for comfort and a shock of dark hair falls over her face through which equally dark eyes stare out at the world in determination.
She wears the blue and black knot of a high reaches weyr resident.
She is awake and looks alert.
Pyrene is 13 Turns and 11 days old.

Kabes arrives from deeper in the Weyr.

Kabes
Kabes notices you looking at him and looks back at you with a smile. You cant help but notice how muscular this well defined boy is. Obviously he has worked hard in the past. Next his sharp blue eyes catch your attention. They seem to hold a hidden power behind them which you cant seem to figure out. His facial features are well placed and he always has a slight smile on his face. Kabes brown hair is short and well cut. You also notice a large scar on his neck that leads below his clothing. A dark hooded cloak is draped over his shoulders with a simple wooden clap shaped as a Watch-Wher holding it on. He is wearing a forest green shirt which fits his broad shoulders quite well and a pair of dark brown trousers which are combined with a belt. To finish off his outfit, he wears a pair of leather boots which are well oiled and well kept.
He is awake and looks alert.
Kabes is 13 Turns, 10 months, and 10 days old.

Kabes prances into the room "Hi Pyrene" He beams

Pyrene favours Kabes with a scowl, "Evening", and then resumes staring at the flames.

Kabes steps back from the harsh reply "Nice to see you to" walks over to the table and pours himself a mug of cider and finds a seat.

Conlan arrives from deeper in the Weyr.

Conlan
Unkempt black hair frames his wide, round face. Deep, dark eyes nestle beneath even darker brows, and the straight line of his nose lengthens and breaks the monotony of his otherwise unremarkable features. A soft mouth, perhaps more full than he'd wish, shadows his cleft chin. Broadshouldered for his age, he's stocky, and his torso's built like a brick. Big hands and feet, too big for the rest of him (though he's big already), sometimes seem less-than-connected to his short but sturdy arms and legs.  
Faded blue tunic, undecorated but laced with braided cord, tops his black trous and equally black boots. 'Round his thick waist, a black wherhide belt, plain-buckled, serves more as a carrier for pouch and pack than a fashion statement.
He is awake, but has been staring off into space for a minute.
Conlan is 16 Turns, 1 month, and 7 days old.

Kabes looks over at Conlan and waves "Hallo there" he beams

Pyrene snorts at Kabes in reply and at Conlan too for good measure.

Kabes gives a strange look at Pyrene "WHats the matter?"

It's not so much that Conlan makes a lot of /noise/ when he enters a room; he doesn't make much noise at all, most of the time. Rather, he's just so broad around the shoulders that he obscures people's views. And just now, he's taking a seat near the fire. "Kabes, Pyrene." He nods his head in greeting. "It's a pretty night. I took a walk, earlier."

Pyrene hmphs, "It's a bit cold with all that snow around isn't it?" She frowns and kicks the legs of her chair.

Kabes sighs "Cmon Pyrene be happy"  he gives her a wry smile "I am here now"

Conlan nods. "Sure, it's cold-- but I like the cold. It's a change."

Pyrene glares up at them both, "Oh, hooray! Kabes is here and it's cold! This incidentally is not a change."

Kabes chuckles "You get a proddy female Pyrene. YOu sure are not acting like yourself...."

Conlan stretches his short legs out, there near the hearthstone. He's got no moral obligation to cheer Pyrene up. After all, women are notoriously angry most of the time. He merely shrugs. "Yes, it's cold."

Jh'ral strides in from the Central Bowl.

Jh'ral
Silver streaks his once-brown hair, lending some rakishness to what otherwise is a very plain face:  brown eyes, okay cheekbones, largish nose, middling mouth, and crow's feet.  He's mid-height but on the lean side, with a certain air of whimsy to his freeflowing limbs.
Leathers have him in their clutches. Slug claims a shoulder with taut talons. Zein perches more lightly.
He is awake, but has been staring off into space for 60 seconds.
Jh'ral is 51 Turns and 5 days old.

Pyrene slaps at Kabes arm since she can't reach any other part. "Don't be ridiculous, I'm not proddy. My mother on the other hand..."

Kabes chuckles again "You get bad cookies then??" this time he takes a new seat a  bit farther from Pyrene

Conlan just shakes his head. "Did anybody want anything?" He stretches up, stands, and is insignificantly short for his breadth. "I'm thinking of klah, maybe a snack." It's just what's always on his mind.

Jh'ral does the walking-in-the-door bit, although he has none of the usual gloves and coat and scarves and so forth to shed.  Indeed, he's dressed rather casually for approaching winter.  Then again, he's more or less living on the sands.  Gusting a sigh, he looks around while stepping smartly out of the way of a passing drudge.

Pyrene sighs at Kabes' typically male inability to understand the seriousness of the situation, "No, my mother's pregnant." Apparently this isn't a good thing.

Kabes jaw drops "Oh.. This means she is going to have a kid??"

Kids in the caverns.  Jh'ral drops himself off at a table, parcel post, and eavesdrops with little diplomacy as he filches from a neighbor's plate.

Pyrene doesn't bother to dignify that with an answer, instead giving Jh'ral a nod. She doesn't know the weyrleader very well, so perhaps she should show /some/ respect for a change.

Jh'ral doesn't show much in kind, gaping a grin at Pyrene.

Conlan winces at Kabes' intellectual might as he gravitates toward the klah pot. "That's usually what it means. Sure you don't want anything, anybody?" And while he noticed the Weyrleader's interest, their paths don't exactly cross, so he does what he can to avoid authority and pours his klah in silence, waiting a couple of beats to see if Pyrene or Kabes speaks up with a request.

Kabes thinks for a second "Pyrene.. Dont you want a baby sister or brother?"

Pyrene scowls at Jh'ral. This isn't funny. The scowl is then turned to Kabes, "I already have dozens of sisters and brothers of all shapes and sizes. I have no idea why my parents need another one!" Particularly if they're all anything like her.

Jh'ral was scarcely laughing, but he easily could.  "They don't like sleep?" he suggests.

Kabes decides that his ignorants to this situation is just going to get him yelled at even more "Oh... " He frowns wondering why he always gets yelled at

Conlan brings extra cookies back to the hearth, anyway, with his klah. "Ignore them," he suggests quietly to Pyrene.

Pyrene sighs, taking Jh'ral seriously, "Well, they don't tend to miss out, since they have all these other kids to do babysitting duties. But not me! Not this time, I'm staying right here!" In an entirely differnet tone she adds, "I'll have some redfruit juice, Conlan." and takes some cookies. So what if he's not at the table anymore? he's still standing.

"Sure thing." Conlan's feeling awfully helpful today. It's not such a long walk, and there are more people watching opportunities this way. "There you go." And he hands over the glass gingerly.

Pyrene takes the glass and, if you listen hard enough, you might even hear a muttered "Thanks."

Kabes glances over to Pyrene and frowns..

Jh'ral drops into serious mode for a moment, if only to reassure that he wasn't laughing at Pyrene, "Children are like dragons, in some ways.  Sometimes you hate them, sometimes you love them, but once they're there you can't imagine life without them."  My, isn't he philosophical.

Conlan says lowly, "I can't imagine life without cookies," and pops two into his mouth at once.

Pyrene frowns, "I'd better be able to imagine life without this one. If they expect me to come home just to babysit... I'll, I'll..." Since she has to admit that the possibility of persuading any dragonrider to flame her family's hold for her is rather on the small side, she trails off until she can think of something better.

Kabes shakes his head.. I should not of woke up he thinks as he heads back to bed

Kabes steps into the shadows that lead back into the Weyr.

Conlan shrugs expansively. "That's why they have foster parents, Pyrene-- you just let them think for a minute that you might strangle the kid if left alone with it for too long, and that'll clear it all up." Oh, sure.

Pyrene looks very tempted but shakes her head regretfully, "If I did something like that they'd just blame it on the weyr's morals... Anyway, I don't want to have to go and look after it at all."

Conlan nods. "You'd still get out of having to watch it, though." He doesn't look overly concerned with the issue of the weyr's morals.

Pyrene kicks the chair's legs again, "You don't know my parents. If they get me out of the weyr, they'll come up with some need for me. I'll be helping my mother with her duties if I'm not looking after the baby."

Jh'ral, who had remained silent for a time -- when snooping, it's not polite to talk overmuch, after all -- speaks up again, "How long have you been at the weyr?"

Conlan's brows knot in a little frown. "The thing to do then," he suggests mildly, "is make yourself completely invaluable here." He breaks the next cookie in half before stuffing it into his mouth. "Make sure that at least a couple of people here just can't function without you-- then you'll be all set." See? Easy. Conlan's world is so simple, isn't it?

Pyrene blinks and considers, "Nearly a turn now, I came at the end of winter. This is so far the latest in a long line of excuses for my parents to get me to leave. Well, they haven't ordered me home yet, but they will..." She looks hopefully at Conlan, "You think? But how am I going to do that?" Getting people to want her to /leave/ is easy enough...

Jh'ral nudges his nose at Conlan, "That's more or less what I was thinking.  If you've been here this long, and had no problems, there's no reason in my mind why you shouldn't be able to stay."

Pyrene snorts, "Tell that to my parents..."

"Maybe I will," Jh'ral says softly, then turns attention back to his neighbor's plate.

Conlan smiles knowingly. "Well, you make friends with someone, a couple of people in high places--" he looks at Jh'ral; he's a likely vict-er, possibility, "and you start, I don't know, helping them out. Do stuff for them that they like. They get to like you, they want you around, sooner or later your parents don't have any ground to stand on. 'But Da, the Weyr /needs/ me!'"

Pyrene jumps and stares at Jh'ral, startled, before turning to Conlan, "Sounds good...umm will he" pointing surreptitiouly at Jh'ral and adding in a lower tone, "/can/ he do that?" she knows he's the weyrleader and all, but this is her /father/: he who decides on bedtime and chores.

Conlan's so worldly; just ask him. "Oh, /sure/," he asserts. "Weyrleader at Igen always had more power than anybody's parents."

Jh'ral is playing he-can't-hear, now.

Pyrene's eyes widen, hard to believe anybody really has that much power and she suddenly grins, "Oh, good! Umm, Weyrleader Jh'ral, if there's anything I can ever do for you, please let me know." It's amazing what motivation can do...

Conlan has cookies, he has klah, and people are following his advice. All is right with the world.

Jh'ral swivels back to Pyrene with humor again lighting his eyes; perhaps he's decided to have a word or three with parental units after all.  "If you'd like to sit on the sands occasionally, I'd appreciate it to no end, but Tiareth might object, and Rennth's fussy about that."

Pyrene swallows. Tiareth's big. Rennth isn't much smaller, "Maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea," she replies weakly, "I'll come and watch the hatching though." Cause there just won't be enough people for /that/.

Jh'ral mms, "Well, we'll think of something.  Meanwhile, don't worry so much."

Conlan nods. This Weyrleader guy, he gives good advice. "Here, have another cookie."

Pyrene smiles and nods, taking the cookie, "Thanks both of you, and...umm...sorry about before." She should really say that to Kabes who she practically chased off to bed but never mind....

Conlan shrugs. Nothing a few cookies couldn't cure: food conquers all. "I'm glad you feel better."