Playing Hooky [OPEN]

[Kitsuneko]

Wapitith shifted her weight on the sand and growled irritably to herself. Egg-watching is boring, she told her rider. Can we take a break?

Unfortunately, Sitka was getting a little bored herself. "Who will watch your eggs then, Wapitith?" she asked.

The green snorted. I don't care, get one of the other greens to watch them. Or let Marlbeth do it; they're his eggs too. Anyway, if you don't come flying with me, Wapitith continued as she climbed to her feet, I have half a mind to go by myself.

Silently, Sitka cursed to herself about stubborn, impatient, clutching greens, but she didn't let Wapitith hear. She finally relented, though. If Sitka didn't come along to remind Wapitith to go back to the sands when they were done, she'd probably ignore the eggs entirely. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to leave the eggs for just a few minutes, would it? Sitka would get make sure one of the other dragons would watch the clutch in the meantime.

"Alright," she told Wapitith, "But not for long. You don't want any of the eggs to not hatch because you didn't care for them closely enough, right?"

It was becoming apparent that Wapitith, in fact, did not care about that, though, and Sitka sighed.

Once they were ready to leave and a temporary surrogate mother had been found, they left the hatching sands and Wapitith took to the skies with Sitka on her back. This is much better! Wapitith said gleefully as she turned in the air. It had been a long time since she had really exercised her wings without a belly full of eggs to weigh her down. They soon left the Weyr behind them and passed over the dense forested land.

It had been raining a lot the last few days, and the trees' leaves were still dripping with rainwater, though the rainfall had fortunately stopped for the time being. Remember, Wapitith, let's not spend too long out here, Sitka said.

I know, Wapitith grumped, and she soon landed on the shores beside a stream in the middle of the woods. The water was cool and clear, and Wapitith dipped half her head into the water in order to drink. Sitka just smiled, and filled a water bottle she'd brought with her for later. That done, she looked around the clearing they had landed in.

[Zara]

Not too far away, Another GreenRider sat, staring into the water. Her rather irritable Green was curled up on the water's edge. Cass sighed. "Shhh, Love..." she crooned. She knew what it was that Hasth was coming close to her first Flight, but that didn't make it much better for her. In fact, it made her more nervous. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal if Hasth wasn't expected to mother a clutch. That was a lot of responsibility.

She felt bad for Sitka and Wapitith, already stuck on the hot sands with a clutch. Yes, it was necessary... but... It really didn't seem right. It wasn't a Green's duty to mother a clutch, at least... it hadn't been in the past. But it was now.

She looked over as she saw a Green shape land a little ways upstream. Love, I'm going to go see whoever it is who has come here. Be good.

Hasth's only response was a harrumph. She was especially grumpy today adn it seemed to come and go.

Cass walked closer to the Rider and dragon who had just come. It was Sitka. She smiled, though she still felt the unease that was rolling off of her own dragoness. "So... sneaking off, huh?" she said, her tone more teasing than anything.

[Kitsuneko]

"So...sneaking off, huh?" Sitka spun around to see another woman walking towards her from a little further downstream. She recognized her as Cassondra, a fellow greenrider from Eynalth's last clutch, and smiled.

"Not sneaking out. We got another dragon to watch the clutch while we came out here, don't worry," she replied with an easy grin. "But Wapitith was on the verge of mutiny if I didn't go flying with her, so I chose the lesser of two evils. So, how have you been?" Sitka glanced over at Hasth, remembering that the other green had not yet risen, though she was close, and added, "And how is she?"

[Zara]

Cass grinned, laughing a little bit. "Well, at least you got someone to watch the eggs." She sighed. "A Green is no replacement for Gold, Huh?" She shook her head. "Don't know how we are going to do this. Especially for so long."

Cass looked back over her shoulder at Hasth. "Irritable. Not herself. She doesn't even realize what is going on for the most part. Usually, she is willing to do anything so long sa she thinks it's a game, but even that doesn't seem to work right now." She shook her head. "She is giving me quite the headache. I didn't think Greens got so irritable before Flight especially so many days before... Do you think it is because they are clutching Greens?" She really had been thinking a lot about that because it was bothering her. Maybe it was just Hasth. Maybe something was wrong with her....? "Was Wapitith like that before she flew?"

Hasth nosed the water as though she were going to play, but didn't. She looked over at Wapitith. Egg watching is boring? she asked the other Green, her tone implying that she had been talking with Hers about the possibility and was not excited about it in the least.

[Kitsuneko]

Sitka tried to smile, even if she didn't really feel it. "No, but it's what we have. With luck, one of them will lay a Queen egg eventually, or one of the other Weyrs will have a Queen they can spare us. If not..." She shrugged. "We'll figure it out somehow."

She listened as the other greenrider told her how Hasth had been doing. She looked at the bright green dragon herself, not sure what to tell Cassondra. "I'm not sure...It's not like I have much more experience than you with this. Wapitith was certainly more touchy than normal, but not as much as Hasth is. It could be just a quirk of Hasth, or something that will get better over time; I hear first flights tend to be the worst."

Wapitith lifted her head out of the water as the other dragon approached, and shook herself dry. Yes, it is, she replied to Hasth's question. But at least the sand is warm and dry. It's almost as nice as sunning yourself outside, but it gets dull after a while.

[Zara]

"Do you think it is possible for a Green to lay a Queen?" Cass's voice sounded somewhat doubtful. She was older, but she felt so much younger than Sitka right now.

"That's true, I suppose. I hope that it is just the first Flight. But, at least, it is only once a Turn, I suppose, even if it wasn't just for this first Flight." Cass sighed and looked at the water. "I always love it after it rained."

She didn't really say anything else after that and let there be silence as she thought. "How are you holding up? You have the responsibilities of the Weyrwoman moreso than Jrolann or I..."

The bright Green seemed to think about that. I suppose that is something. Though... boring is not good. The Green's tone was grumpy and displeased with the idea, but she was relaxed for the moment.

Cass's expression was serious for a moment before she pushed away the sudden barrage of thoughts that always seemed to barge into her thoughts these days. She wasn't generally disposed to them, but she did have the problem for their onslaught quite often these days. Flights and whatnot and Weyr responsibility.

[Kitsuneko]

Sitka smiled wryly and shrugged. "To be honest? I have no idea. We can only hope. L'cal certainly seems to think so."

Cassondra was silent for a while after that, and Sitka was happy to leave her be. She turned to Wapitith. Are you ready to leave and get back to the eggs, Wapitith?

Sitkaaaaa, we just got here! Can't we stay a little longer? I want to keep talking to Hasth. Given the way Hasth had been acting lately, she figured Wapitith's concern was less for the other green and more her wanting to stay put. Nevertheless, Sitka gave in and agreed to stick around, and at the same time, Cass spoke up again.

"Hmm? Oh, well enough. It's mostly getting caught up after Kolyka's death, but things have been getting easier now that I've got the hang of it." She grinned. "Right now, I'm mostly stressing out over Wapitith's eggs. One of us has too," she added, with a mock glare at Wapitith.

[Zara]

"Yeah.... I suppose we'll have to see. It just seems odd to think of such a small dragon clutching a large Queen, you know?" then she giggled. "What do you think a Gold would say to a Queen being born to a Green?"

Hasth looked over at Sitka, her eyes whirling colors of sadness at the suggestion of Wapitith leaving. She wanted to spend time with her sister.

Be good. That was all Cass told her dragoness, receiving a snort in return.

She smiled. "That's good. Yeah... The death of a Weyrwoman is always a big thing... leaves a big mess and all." She looked at Wapitith. "Yeah... Those eggs are very important... And Greens just aren't that motherly most of the time," she said, shaking her head.

Cass looked at Wapitith. She hoped Hasth would be an okay mother... she would probably do as poorly as any other Green, though.

[Kitsuneko]

Sitka grinned. She couldn't imagine any queen being happy about a green laying a gold egg. The goldriders of the other weyrs would probably be mortally offended at the suggestion. "Well, let's just say I can't imagine them being happy about it," she said. "I do kind of wonder what will come from that big egg of Wapitith's, though. I'm pretty sure it's not a gold, but it's still got a sort of shininess to it."

It will be whatever it will be, Wapitith said pragmatically.

"Well, it could be it's just how Wapitith is," Sitka replied when Cass mentioned the extreme non-mothering behavior of the greens. "Maybe not all greens are like that." They were different in plenty of other ways; anyone who'd spent time around more than one dragon knew how they could break the stereotypes. Then again, if green dragons were anything like their smaller counterparts...Truth to tell, Sitka was probably being more optimistic than she had any reason to be.

Taking her mind to other things, Sitka grinned teasingly. "So, has Hasth attracted any suitors yet?" Wapitith had had more than one male flirting with her more than usual in the days before she had flown, many of them bronzes, though she had largely ignored those. She always had preferred the smaller colors.

[Zara]

Cassondra grinned a little, the troublemaker in her loving the idea of upset Gold dragons and dragonriders. A rather amusing thought that was, though it could be potentially quite frightening at the same time, she supposed. "I think they would be mortally offended. Hmm... I haven't seen the clutch, but I suppose it is a good bet that there is something impressive in that egg."

"Maybe not... dragons are very diverse, after all. It is just hard to imagine, what with knowing the mothering instincts of green flitters and all. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. I am hoping by the time that Hasth clutches... I can do that... trick again and convince her to stay on the sands..." she almost whispered the last part, hoping that Hasth wouldn't notice. Though Hasth didn't mind. she was just grumpy. That was all.

"A few... Some are a little more overbearing and annoying than others. She gets annoyed with some of them, but not with others. Depends on the suitor. She hasn't much taken to any one of them over any other. Which is probably a good thing... So long as there is a good clutch, anyhow. I don't want to influence her choice, but, I suppose, I may have to if it comes down to it." She sighed and shook her head slightly. "Although, she seems to prefer to give her attention Browns.... and some of the Bronzes. She pays attention to a few Blues. She's just picky." She sighed, shaking her head. "It is rather interesting, in a way, I suppose." Cassondra gave a somewhat tired laugh.

[Kitsuneko]

Sitka nodded. There wasn't much point worrying over it anymore when there was little they could actually do about it. They would just have to wait and see. "Well, with luck, it'll all turn out alright. If not, we'll make the best of it."

"Hmm, Wapitith's sort of the opposite," Sitka said with a tilt of her head. "She tends to prefer the smaller dragons, rather than the larger." Probably why the green had ended up with a blue weyrmate. Sitka wasn't exactly complaining; anyone would have been better than L'cal and his bronze.

[Zara]

"Hopefully... I wonder what will come from the clutch. I have to say, I'm very curious..." she smiled slightly, imagining different possibilities in her head, though she had to admit... They really weren't that far out there at all.

"I'm not really sure why she is so partial to Browns... But, yeah... They all have their preferences. They're all very different at that." She looked over at Hasth. "I have to admit... I really don't want her to be caught by Cherith... It isn't anything against him... but L'cal intimidates me..." She grimaced a little. He was a good Weyrleader and a good man somewhere on the inside... but... She didn't see the good man part that often, but the good Weyrleader part... and that was part of why he intimidated her.