The Dragonriders of PernŽ 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 4 January 2004 for the benefit of members unable to attend. Logged by K'nex.
Tsunami Takes Things in Hand
Tidal Pool
Blue and white carpets are spread across the floor at random, adding some warmth
to the cold stone weyr. The ceiling stretches impossibly high, making the whole
room seem larger than it really is, and creating a noticable echo-effect. All in
all, it's a small and cozy space, with a rather large dragon couch to one side.
The dragon couch is piled with several blue and white blankets, and many small
throw pillows. On the other side of the room is a worn looking couch, with more
Tsunami-colored pillows on it. The center of the room is occupied by a large
round table, covered in a Tsunami-striped table cloth, and several chairs.
Tucked into the back corner is a small pool, only big enough for... [look
closer]
It is a winter afternoon. The air seems to be getting colder as the sun creeps
back down the western sky. A light breeze picks up, making it seem
even colder.
Gliding above are three firelizards.
You notice Zai asleep here.
Tatia, Lylia, Lis, and M'nty are here.
Obvious exits:
Ledge Winding Stairs
M'nty is scratching his nose as he strides in. "You've got places to go. Where?
Honestly. I've been stuck here and I'm not precisely pleased with the whole
thing. -Your- girls aren't stuck at other places, Hrmmm?" M'nty is only slightly
bitter. He prodds at one of the cushions before settling down. "Right... How
complicated?"
"Hey, I ain't got anything better," Lylia answers cheerfully, flopping down on a
cushy chair and kicking back. The longer they're there, the less sweeps. Maybe
they can stay there all night. "So. What do we need to do or decide?"
"Complicated, lovie? Do you know I just said that today myself?" trills an
effeminate tenor as S'titch wriggles his way into the Place Of All Things
Tsunami and drapes his lanky form indolently over the back of some lucky
person's seat, fluttering a hand. "Of course, it was about this darling new
pattern I'd gotten theother day, but..." He prattles on happily, oblivious to
Entymeth out on the ledge and groaning in embarassment.
"Eh? What's complicated?" Pipes up the ever-intelligent and knowledgeable K'nex
as he makes a late entrance on the metting. S'titch, as usual, gets a slightly
confused and annoyed look, as he says somethign about patterns, but the
brownrider says nothing, just shaking his head and sitting down. Right...
Lis picks at the edge of the table, little splinters of wood falling to the floor. "Hey, how about everyone shuts up and lets Tat talk?" she barks, unhelpfully.
Tatia pulls her legs up to perch crosslegged, fingers tapping impatiently
upon her thighs. "I'd love to, Lis, but it seems a bit pointless to start before
we're all here, doesn't it?" she notes with a pointed glance toward the door.
Lylia's given a sidelong glance. "I should think it'd be rather obvious, really.
It's not as if High Reaches has been /normal/ lately." S'titch is simply
ignored. Firmly. With vengeance.
M'nty does not ignore S'tich, being that he's infinitely amused by the
light-in-the-loafers 'rider. "Oh? Complicated pattern? Well, I suppose you
-could- draw a couple line between that and this. Speaking of -this-..." M'nty
eyes Tatia for a moment. "We're not normal, but then... when was that new? And I
thought we were supposed to be discussing complications, Hrrrmmm?"
"High Reaches is /never/ normal," Lylia counters, giving a faintly smug look at
her wingleader. Cute, isn't she? But she offers a slight nod and a rolling of
eyes. "Yes, I think we /all/ know what's goin' on more-or-less-or-less, but why
are we /here/?" She's rather good at sifting through gossip, but those she
thinks of as 'oldtimer freaks' have nothing to do with her, to her own mind.
S'titch should never be encouraged. Because, like a cocker spaniel, the
slightest hint of attention, and he fawns embarassingly. Transferring to lean
himself over near M'nty and pat the bronzerider peripatetically on the shoulder,
the pretty and witty (not) and gay greenie chirps happily that "I could show you
later lovie!" before some quality of self-preservation shuts him up. Until he
thinks of something to offer. "Maybe we could make everyone presents, and cheer
them up that way?"
K'nex simply looks properly ashamed. For talking? For showing up late? For
tapping S'titch? Any are good reasons. The last maybe more than any others. "I'm
normal...," he objects to M'tny's assement of the weyr. "Although that's a good
point. I guess." He nods at Lylia too and then shrugs unhelpfully.
"I agree with Lylia," Lis begins, sitting up in her chair. "This isn't the first
time something bizarre has come to the weyr. Not even the plague, though there
aren't as many who lived through it as there used to be. No one seems to be
taking ill, not that I've heard. Why are we all in knots?"
Tatia eyes Lis for a moment, and then heaves an obviously exapsperated sigh.
"You don't think that it's a bit above and beyond to suddenly have double sets
of major leadership positions.. or that we're /still/ locked inside this weyr
while one of those sets of leadership tries to figure out what's going on? Don't
you think that it's important for us to talk about what's going on?"
"No one can usurp Pyrene and Sii'kyn," Lylia responds, but a bit of trouble has
crept into her voice, and no longer are her eyes dancing with amusement. She
gives a sober shrug. "There's too many of us younger-bloods who would defend our
Weyrwoman." Pyrene will be defended, at least. "Besides, they were the ones
foolish enough to try and come to the /future/. I mean, c'mon." To her mind,
that automatically qualifies for demotion and extra sweeps. "Being locked in
this Weyr is the most frustrating thing ever, but no one's getting sick, so they
/can't/ keep us here much longer. I just want to know when we're gonna ship
these people to Southern or Igen or wherever you throw old riders." Even if most
are younger than her, the fact that they know a High Reaches pre-Nuff puts them
as old fogeys in her mind.
"And aaaaanyways, lovies, the oldtimers are from somewhere else. Pyrene and Ikey-dear
are from -now-. So they stay, and the new people need to leave at some point,
and we'll all just go back to normal, hhhhhmmmm?" This is S'titch trying to be
profound.
Lis chimes in. "Half the people they know are dead anyway - and everyone else
has given them up for dead. It can't be easy, living like walking ghosts here.
Send 'em off to some tropical, western island. Let 'em be watchriders.
Something. And lift the damn quarantine already."
K'nex shrugs again. "Uhm, it's a little weird," he comments slowly, sounding
none too sure of himself. "But I'm sure someone'll figure sometihng out...and no
one has gotten sick. Well, you know, seriously sick." The brownrider makes a
face. "It'd be nice to not be cramped up here anymore, though... Wait, what?
We're shipping theme somewhere?" Kez trails off confused at Lylia's comment.
M'nty has completely lost track of the conversation, after not replying to
S'titch and lapsing into a bit of a conversation with his own dragon. "Hurm
what?" He peered, "Are we talking about Cloudburst? Can't they just leave?
They're causing enough problems as it is, what with..." He waves his hands
generally.
"And you think they're just going to agree to be quietly shuffled off somewhere
else?" Tatia questions, dragging her gaze around the group. "Even /if/ everyone
at this weyr were one hundred percent happy with the leadership, they'd still
have a pretty big population of their /own/ riders supporting them." She pauses
on M'nty, frowning. "Where are we supposed to send them?:
"Why do we have to send them all away?" wonders the Lacy One, pouting in
adorable (or irritating.) thought. "Some of them are awfully -cute-. Why not ask
them if they want to stay or not, if we tell them they can't be in charge? It's
not -all- Adel and that bronzerider with the nice--" Fortunately, S'titch
elabourates not.
"If you're stupid enough to leave your Weyr to try and time it forward with an
/entire wing/? You deserve to be shipped off wherever the future can fit you,"
Lylia responds sharply, venom in her voice. "I feel bad for them leaving their
lives, but they're not gonna be happy here, we're not gonna be happy with 'em
here, so we need to find somewhere to send them. /Something/ to do with 'em.
Talk to the other Weyrs, let 'em go where they want. I don't care. Stay here if
they really must. But the quarantine /must/ end soon, and they'd better not try
to mess with our Pyrene." Her voice darkens, her gaze turning into a sullen
glower. "No one messes with Pyrene. "But I pity who has to explain that we need
extra tithes for the winter months for 23 more dragons because of /timing it/."
That would be Pyrene. She does adore her favorite goldrider. "I just want some
sort of statement on what's going to happen."
M'nty frowns at S'titch. "Cute my shiny bronze's tail. The -cute- ones are
sleeping with one of my favorite greenriders." M'nty scritches at his nose.
Shrugging at Tatia, M'nty shakes his head. "I don't know who we're going to
foist them off on... but Ly's right. The quarantine needs to end... and end
-now-" He sighs slightly, "And what about Pyrene?" Oh yes, what about the
exaulted weyrwoman? M'nty missed something.
"Uh, no?" K'nex in answer to Tatia's question. S'titch gets a short glace for
speaking, but no comment is made. Lylia, however, is another story. The
brownrider looks rather taken aback at her words. "But we can't just /make/ them
leave, can we? From the past or not, I mean, we cant just send them all away.
They did live here. I'm not sure they should take over, though...but I don't
think we can really just kick them out...er.."
S'titch is definitely in over his depth in this little discussion. And so, with
a lingering protest that "We can't just send them away, lovies, there's -Thread-
to fight..." he subsides into quiet and fidgeting with some of the lace on his
sleeves.
"They're lucky we didn't send them away in the first place," Lis scoffs. "Come
in, dragging their plague behind them. I say give them an ultimatum. Let 'em
know they're guests in this weyr."
"And we fought it just fine before they ever showed up!" Tatia points out
swiftly before nodding at Lylia. "Aye. It's got to end soon. It's just
ridiculous that it's taking this long to get things squared away. I know it's a
strange issue... but really, they ought to have at /least/ taken care of that
pompous Adel, parading around like she's still senior."
K'nex looks slightly uncofortable and shifts in his seat. "Uhm... we don't
really need them, and I don't think the plauge is catching, but it stills seems
a little wrong to just kick them out. I mean, they have to be reasonable, right?
Well, some of them, anyway, " Kez corrects himself, thinking of Adel. "Or maybe
not, since it's taken this logn to figure anything out..." Failing to make any
poitn at all, he trails off.
"Or let the riders stay if they want, but in my opinion? Ship off Adel, maybe
R'meld. If Adel's a threat to our leadership hierarchy, I don't want her here.
It's going to cause problems. Let her go somewhere else, that won't cause
conflict in the Weyr." Lylia's quite fine with that option, if nothing else, but
the idea of another gold isn't pleasing to her. "Besides, can we really support
/another/ gold. I mean. It's difficult to expect us to, they can't expect us
to." She shoots a quick look at K'nex, giving an annoyed shake of the head
towards her fellow brownrider. "They still /came/ here knowing they may have the
plague. That's not asking for a friendly reception."
Lis rubs her chin thoughfully, fingers running over the beginnings of a zit,
which is greeted with a grimace. Thankfully, however, that's not what comes out
of her mouth. "What worries me is what happens when - if - Adel's queen rises.
If she's caught by, say, Sidramuntalath, things could get nasty."
"And what are we supposed to do with the ones who stay?" Tatia questions,
uncurling to stretch a bit. "I mean, honestly, it's bad enough trying to
integrate new weyrlings into our wing every cycle - I don't sharding want to
have to try to /retrain/ riders out of whatever moronic notions they've learned
under those two."
M'nty twitches his finger a bit for Lylia's attention. "Actually, really, they
didn't -know- that they'd bring the plague here. Or, more rather, It didn't
occur to R'meld. It was a bit of a shocker to him, if I remember correctly.
While some of the others in the wing just groaned like a bad joke." M'nty lapses
into silence for a moment. "Well, if Pyrene's flies, then it wouldn't matter if
Sidramuntalath caught, would it?" He's a bit sketchy on the rules, as it is.
He's a bum, what can be said?
K'nex nods. "I'm not saying we should keep troublemakers around..." It's not
like High Reaches doesn't have enoguh of that wiouth old riders trying to usurp
those they think are in their place. "I don't know what we'd do with them, but I
doubt any other weyr would want a whole bunch of riders, either,
though. And maybe some of them will choose to move." He shrugs, not really
havign any information about that. "Uhm, well, no...it's not really asking for a
friendly reception," says, having to agree with Lylia on that, if uncertainly.
"Sidramuntalath does /not/ have a chance against Druseth," Lylia responds
lightly, but she does give a somber nod to Lis. "I don't want to know what Cadge
or the other queens will think of her rising, we've got so many queens..." She
just snorts at M'nty's comment, however, a little amused. "Then the last thing
we want in the Weyr is R'meld, if he doesn't even think of /that/. But Tat, I
think most of the riders, should they choose to stay, we could integrate...
shards, they /have/ to listen to the Weyrleaders, and they can keep their own
wing for all I care."
"If Adel's rises before Pyrene.. what does that do to seniorship?" Tatia
questions. "I'm not sure I've ever been clear on how that works." Lylia's given
a level glance, annoyance clear. "Integrate? Riders who've been trained under
/those/ morons?" Tatia shakes her head shortly. "Even keeping their own wing..
we'd have to rethink every formation, reorganize every Fall, cover their weak
spot.."
Lis scritches at the back of her neck, looking up at the ceiling for
inspiration. "Could we put them in the weyrling wing for few weeks? With the
excuse that we don't want to rush dragons who've come so far in time?"
K'nex ponders Tatia's question of seniorship, but only for a short while. Then
he just makes a face and gives up. "I dunno. I've never really payed attention
to how queen seniorship works," he says honestly. "I think they could be
retrained though...maybe...if they listen..." They more Kez thinks about it,
though, the less he'd really be willign to try that. Although more because he's
lazy than its not the fair thing to do. Li's comment gets an interested glance,
however, since that sounds liek a good idea.
"Nothing, in my opinion. Pyrene is our Senior Weyrwoman. Adel doesn't know this
time, she doesn't know this Weyr as it is now, and timing it forward is reason
enough to my mind to deem her unfit for leading." Lylia won't stand for anyone
messing with Weyr leadership, and folds her arms over her chest
with a sour expression. "And I'm /sure/ some of them most be intelligent and
willing to adapt to here, integrate with wings here." A wince follows. "I
suppose they could be put with the 'lings to learn new formations. But. Pity us
weyrling staff, please."
Tatia wrinkles her nose. "Better you than me," she shoots toward Lylia before
settling back with a heavy sigh. "So.. what? We think they should stay, or they
should go? What's the general feeling, here?"
"Adel should go. R'meld should go. Any who wish to stay here and are willing to
adapt to our times and our wrings and our formations should be allowed to stay
if they wish. I'd like them /all/ to go, but I suppose that won't happen. Best
to get rid of the potential troublemakers at least, though." Last thing Lylia
wants is conflict... Even if it means dealing with a weyrling wing that includes
riders older than she is. She simply shrugs, giving a faint nod. "Anyone know
what they want, though? Anyone talk to many of 'em?" Best to know the situation,
after all.
K'nex nods, mostly agreeing with Lylia. "Yeah, I'm with gettign rid of anyone
who's trying to cause trouble and giving the rest of them the option of staying
or going. If they stay, well, I guess they'll just be sorted into wings...I
haven't talked to any of them, though, so I don't know what they want."
M'nty frowns slightly. "All out." His girls, thank you very much. "They all need
to go. But if they don't, I want them split up. Loyalties and all that. Just
because they're Cloudburst wing now, they should understand that we want to
spread them out. Hey... they should know all about tradition, right? Only a few
wings?" He stood, however, "Well... let's see... I think I might have to be
going..."
Tatia snaps swiftly at M'nty. "You're not going til I say we're done," the
wingleader states before glancing around at the others. "Right. And whatever
happens, it needs to happen /soon/. This waiting around is just... well. I'll
see if I can't track down Wyn or Sii'kyn or Pyrene and have a chat."
M'nty quirks an eyebrow at Tatia. "I just thought that since we're going in
conversational circles that I might as well tend to my dragon." He sighs,
however, and returns to his pillow.
"Make them make /some/ sort of statement to us, some sort of preliminary
decision. The longer we're cooped up here, the more the tension will grow. That
ain't good for the Weyr, nor our visitors." Lylia leans back slightly, her
glance straying around the Tsunami lounge in hopes of noticing a lonely-but-full
wineskin that needs some attention. Her hope goes unfulfilled, so she returns
her gaze to the wingleader. "They can't keep us here in the dark forever. Best
chance the Weyrleaders have of keeping our good faith and patience is to give us
/something/."
Tatia saw that eyebrow, boyo. M'nty's given a patented Tat Look, enough to stop
most folks in their tracks. "I'll let you know when we're done," she repeats
coolly before nodding at Lylia. "I'll be sure to make that point. Surely they
have to realize.. Surely they aren't /stupid/," she declares, though she
privately has her own doubts about Sii'kyn.
Ooo. M'nty got /told/. K'nex glances at Tatia. "The sooner the better," he
states, nodding at Lylia. "Well, they've kept us waiting long enough...Maybe
they've even reached their own conclusion and haven't told us." Not that that
that's comforting particularly.
M'nty resists the urge to roll his eyes. Looks don't exactly work on him.
Females. Wingleaders. But he's sitting, and he's not going anywhere. Always obey
your leaders, keeps the peace. Doesn't mean he can't have his own opinions of
them. "All I can say is I hope they reach a decision soon." He glances to each
of his wingmates. "Lylia's right. The Weyr can't hold the tension that long.
We're already getting close to something or other." He gestured to all of them.
"Look at us now. Arguing over the things we all agree on."
"I didn't realize we were arguing," Tatia remarks before standing and giving the
group a firm nod. "Well. I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I get an actual
decision out of the leadership," she promises, though she sounds anything but
hopeful. "And /now/ you may go."
"Finally," sighs Lis, who was busy spacing out for the better part of the
last... oh, half hour?
"Force 'em, Tat. Use that cute little violent side we love so much," Lylia
chirps, offering a raise of the eyebrows and a wink to everyone's favorite
wingleader. "I mean, they gotta decide something, right?" Hopefully. Maybe.
Eventually. "Let us in on all the juicy gossip." With a creak and a crack, Lylia
gets to her feet, stretching onto her tiptoes. "Mm." Time to go get some grub,
and snuggle up with the dragon for a pre-sweeps nap.
K'nex glances from Lylia to Tatia, brow knotting. "Uhm. I don't think violence
is nessacery. Please don't hit anyone....". As in, don't listen to Lylia. "I'm
sure they'll decide something really soon. It doesn't help anyone just ot let it
sit." Like the others, he sounds a little doubtful, but tries to remain
hopefully anyway.
M'nty doesn't know. Now that he's down again, he might just want to say on his
cushion. But ah well. "Yes, Ma'am." M'nty snapped of a cheerful salute as he
stood up, yet again. "Hopefully you'll find out something or other. I do want to
know when this is all going to be over." Humming slightly, he grins at K'nex.
"Violence would be fine, it's not like the weyrleaders wouldn't smack 'em back."
Tatia lifts a brow. "He's yet to prove he's the backbone," she replies to M'nty.
"But then, Sii'kyn's always been a bit.." Tat stops abruptly, lips pursing
together as she thinks better of that sentence. "All right. Everyone out - I'm
sure we still have sweeps to do, at least, even if we can't land and do our work
properly."
K'nex still looks slightly worried, but then shakes his head and proceeds to get
kicked out like the rest of the wing. "Sweeps for some, paperwork for others,"
He says in a 'oh, woe is me' voice heading for the door. Not that he /expects/
any pity.
