Log by Tarish - 10/29/07
Fort Weyr - Living Caverns
This cavern, having been created by bubbles in the volcanic flow of this extinct volcano, has a breathtaking ceiling — a vast dome that arches high above the heads of the weyrfolk that scurry around beneath it. A hollow echo can be heard from loud enough noises, and the chatterings of various firelizards are consequently multiplied into a chaotic babble. All in all, the living cavern is a loud place.
Tables are scattered around the room, apparently in no particular order. Over to one side near the kitchens, two medium sized serving tables are constantly spread with snacks, klah, and other goodies. The tables look worn, yet perfectly fitted to the atmosphere of the caverns. In the 'corners' of the cavern, smaller two and four place tables are set up for more private talks or just a less chaotic atmosphere in which to eat.
Rhoslyn sits at one of the tables, taking a break from some of her duties in order to enjoy a few of the cupcakes from the candidate barracks. A wide smile is upon her lips in between bites. It seems that they are good to help her forget even more, ever being in that collapsed tunnel.
"Yes. I know. You're hungry. Stop. Your squeaking!" Tarish bounds into the caverns from the out of doors, her eyes full of fire and her green firelizard clawing up and down her jacket with such intense noises that many turn their heads as she enters. "Sorry. Stupid flit," she mutters to others as she dives into the kitchen with a plate of meat scraps. "There. Feast on those. Just stop trying to eat my bloody jacket!" Which, is actually quite literal; it appears the jacket she's wearing is still stained on sleeves and sides with dark, luminous blood. Flopping onto a chair at the table Rhoslyn is poised at, Tarish slams her head against the table and begins to moan. Oh, what a lament..
Rhoslyn watches tarish from the moment she makes her lovely entrance, slowly munching on the large bite of cupcake she had just taken as she does so. "is it being bad?" she asks quietly after being sure to swallow. "Sometimes I think I'd like to get one. Would you like a cupcake?" One full untouched cupcake is held out towards Tarish.
Raising her head with a slow, efforted crook of her neck, the dark-skinned woman's piercing green eyes bounce onto Rhoslyn's face with a bland, misty expression. "Being bad? Nah. She's just being the Lump she is. Thinks after a day of guard duty she deserves more food than she can shove in her belly, don'tya, you git?" The green Lump curdles joyfully as she begins to continue slurping down the meat. "They aren't bad. Lump's proven useful. But, she's a bit of an annoyance when I'd just. Like. Some. Sleep." She announces the words crisp and arrogantly, before looking back over at Rhoslyn with her eyebrows raised. "Cupcake? Uh.. Sure. Not poisoned, is it?" She mutters, taking the cupcake and sniffing it a few times. Looks like someone's a little paranoid. "You're a candidate too, eh?" She says, annoting their matching knots.
Rhoslyn furrows her brows a little bit before quickly shaking her head. "Nope, not poisoned, unless they're trying to get back at us for being in that tunnel." she murmers before smiling. "And yea, I'm a candidate too." Her fingers carefully pick up another one of the cupcakes. "I'm glad they gave us all of these. Have they been keeping you really busy?"
Tarish growls a bit, raising her eyebrows. "You were one of the gits down in there, then? I had to work my tail-end off to get you guys out, and all I got for helping was a glass of redfruit juice." Her brows furrow, and she shoves a piece of the cupcake in her mouth defiantly. "Mmph. Ah well, I'm sure you'll be tasty enough for Wiyaneth. See these stains?" She says, pointing at the blood stains on her jacket. "That's from the person in front of me the last time we went to the Hatching Grounds." Without even pulling a bluffer's face, she shoves into her mouth the rest of the cupcake, sloppily downing it with a chompity-chomp-chomp. "Work? I feel like all the parts of me are ready to fall off. At this rate, I wouldn't mind if Wiyaneth ate me, too."
Rhoslyn blinks as she listens to Tarish, sinking back into her chair a bit. "It wasn't our fault the tunnel collapsed…." she murmers, only to sink down more itno her chair at the words about the origins of the blood stains. "You're just kiddy about the stains, aren't you?" A slightly closer look is given toward the jacket before Rhoslyn decides it's better to concentrate on stuffing the entire cupcake into her mouth.
"Aye, that's what /you/ say. But, I suppose if that one poor soul died, then.. Maybe it wasn't /entirely/ planned. But, it seems like the moment I got here, I've been worked to the bone because someone thinks it's funny." Whether Tarish means Elara, Bellanne, or A'mar; well.. who knows, as she doesn't state. She just offers a hand out to Lump, and gives the firelizard a good stroke before letting it continue it's meal. "Kidding? /No/. We all went out to feed Wiyaneth… Had to bring some herdbeast meat to her, but in the end, she just wanted some Candidates." With a shrug, she points to one of the sleeves of her arm. "This? This is from the bloke in front of me. Couldn'tve been more than 14 Turns. She likes the younger ones, y'see.. Tastier. I had to clean up the leftover scraps. Poor kids. I'd be careful, though, if you ever hear the gold-dragon growling… Means your next."
Rhoslyn finds her mouth thouroughly stuffed with cupcake as she keeps herself sunk down in her chair quite a bit, shaking her head. Slowly, she works to chew the food she decided to eat, even with her mouth drying out quite a bit. "That's not funny, you know." she states finally as she manages to swallow the food. "Gold dragons aren't that way… are they? I always thought they'd only do something if we did wrong."
Raising her brows, Tarish's hands shoot up and make an exhasperated wave. "No, no, it's not funny at all! Seriously, girl, I thought I was going to be next— Wiyaneth gives me the creeps every time I look at her. And all the while? Elara in the background, just smiling. Everyone thinks she's a sweetheart.. Don't trust them. In the end? You'll just end up like poor Fivell." Her fingers poke at the blood on her sleeves. "In Wiyaneth's belly." She rolls her eyes, and shrugs. "Well, Wiyaneth's a clutch-mom. Ya never know what to expect from them. I didn't believe it, either, until I saw it a few Turns back at a clutch at Igen.." Well, Tarish has never even BEEN to Igen; but.. Rhoslyn doesn't need to know that.
Rhoslyn looks from tarish to the last couple remaining cupcakes that she had brought from the barracks and gently pushes them a little further away from herself. "I don't think Elara would let her do anything like that to any of us. I think she'd make sure we all got away safely… I think." she states, squirming in her seat a little in order to sit up straighter. Her eyes though keep going back to the jacket with the blood stains. "But if it happened in Igen…." she murmers, trailing off. First she gets caught in a collapsed tunnel where one person dies and now horror stories of people being ripped apart by gold dragons, oh yes! her candidacy is only getting better.
With a stiff shake of her head, Tarish tries as hard as she can to look distraught; a hard expression for Tarish. "I know. It's a hard thing to accept, but.. Deep down? Elara really…" She looks about, her eyes flicking from person to person around the caverns. "… is /evil/. You would've never guessed it, because she does her best to hide it so she can trap the unsuspecting. But! I was able to double-cross her, and because of it, she almost kicked me out of the Weyr for fear I'd tell her secret!" In all actuality, there's a thread of truth in that; but, only a thread in a whole tapestry… "Yes, it's not just Elara. It's /all/ weyrwomen. When their golds go proddy, and have a clutch.. It awakens something in them. You'd never know it, until…" She grows her eyes huge, and raises her brows. "It's too late." Lump waddles over, crooning that she's finished. "But! You can't tell anyone that I've told you. If she finds out.. Then you'll definitely be next on her menu. I already have to do everything I can to hide. As long as know one knows you know.. You may very well survive."
Continueing to squirm in her seat, Rhoslyn narrows her eyes once more at Tarish. "Weren't you the one that Elara got really angry at that one night when you were yelling at Bellanne?" she asks, head tilting slightly to one side. "She didn't seem that mean that night, even when she caught me trying to overhear what she and the other riders were talking about. Besides." and here she actually stops her squirming and leans forward. "Since i'm a candidate and you're telling me this, aren't you afraid I might impress a gold dragon and then send her after you?"
Rhoslyn is quick to shake her head, "She's not corrupting me!" she states firmly and quickly. "She just hasn't been mean to me, or around me. I just don't see how she would be or how she'd allow her dragon to get anyone. K'ori was pretty mad before, I could see him doing something like that, but.. You don't think greens would actually be like golds like that, do you? Besides, all the dragons I've been around have been nice."
"I'm not sure, dear." Tarish's eyes narrow affectionately, and her lower lip pouts a little. "And, of course, she's going to be as nice as possible. To hide it. But.. If you don't believe me, well.. If anything, be careful." Her head shakes, and she bites the tip of her finger. Oh, what a show! "May be! I haven't been around enough greens to tell. For all I know.. It's very possible. All I can say is what I've seen.. And that's Fivell and the other short one, and that poor child over at Igen…" Her eyes drift off into space, and she gets a horrified look on her face. "Hopefully, Wiyaneth won't have to feed again before the hatching. But, be forewarned! If she turns her head towards you and grows, and her eyes turn red.." She purses her eyes, and quivers, as if frightened herself. ".. she's hungry." Tarish's eyes grow wider, and looking around, as if paranoid, she bites her lip again. "I best be off, though, before.." She shakes her head. "I need to get this blood out of my jacket. If I have the evidence lingering around too long.. I may be off'd, too."
Rhoslyn leans forward as she listens, one hand idly moving the cupcakes off the table and into a pocket. "Well, wait. Is there anything else you think I should watch out for when around Wiyaneth? I mean, I haven't had much experience with gold dragons and I really don't want to end up like Fivell." She looks almost eagerly at Tarish, wanting to learn more of what the other seems to claim to know about the dragons.
"Just be mindful of the eyes.. If she locks onto you, with them swirling red.." Tarish shakes her head. "It's hard to tell. She might rustle around a bit, move her wings.. Act like she's ready to pounce. And, watch for Elara. If you see Elara looking at you, too… Like they're communicating.. It means that they're talking about feasting on you next." A small shrug accompanies that. "Just watch your back, okay, dear? And remember. Don't. Tell. Anyone. You could get in serious…" Tarish quivers a bit, paranoidly. ".. trouble. What was your name again, doll?" She's now standing, with Lump atop her shoulder, looking very poised to leave.
Rhoslyn moves to stand up as well as Tarish does. "It's Rhoslyn." she answers the question, frowning as she ponders over all of what the other has said. "And I won't tell anybody," well, almost anybody, "And I'll be sure to keep an eye on them both when I'm around either of them. Thank you for warning me."
"No problem, dearie," Tarish states. Faranth, she's gonna have to scrub her tongue to get rid of all the nice-nonsense, later. "And I'm… Tracy." Oh, good lie there, Tarish. "Alright. You take care of yourself. And, only for someone as cute as you," she says with a final wink, before heading in the direction of the bowl, caressing her flit with one hand. Lovely, another day, another feat of terribleness. This is the life, Tarish thinks to herself.
