You amble northwestwards to the bright and cheerful living cavern.
Osasune is sitting with K'dir, happily pigging out on bubblies.
Ilesyn sports a bruise that rims her right eye, and strides from Inner Cavern to serving table, pouring cider without pausing to test its warmth - folly, to say the least. She turns, facing the room, thoughtful.
K'dir looks up to see Ilewys. "Hello, Ilewys," he says, then sees the shiner. "Ho-oh...what happened to your eye, Eliwys?" he asks
"Ilesyn. Sanriel's rubbing off on you," Osasune says, shaking her head. She looks to Ilesyn and blinks. "Ohhh!"
Ilesyn peers blankly at K'dir, setting her mug upon the table before she, in turn, sets herself down - upon a chair, though, her feet curving around the rungs beneath the seat itself. "Ilesyn," she affirms, "I'm /not/ a goldrider." Her expression says it clearly: thank goodness. "Socked. By a patient."
"Who socked you?" Osasune demands, sitting up more and almost - puffing indignantly. Look at that.
Ilesyn waves her right hand lazily, head shaking. "N'cast. Brownrider. Doesn't like the insinuation that the reason he can't get sex is because he hates women, and it shows."
Osasune giggles a little. "Hee. Well. Really."
K'dir gives a snort of a laugh at that. "That's no reason to hit you! I mean, it is obvious the way he sneers at them. I've seen him do it, right here...in the Living Cavern. Has he been grounded?"
Ilesyn takes a gulp from her mug, spluttering the liquid back in-- it looks stone cold, and evidently tastes that, too. Once the initial shock is over, she takes another sip, swallowing it, before she shrugs, "People can get violent, when dealing with their problems, when they don't want to accept something. One gets used to it - at least he didn't dislocate my jaw."
Osasune shakes her head. "Did you look after it? I know some healers don't look after themselves at all."
K'dir says "Still, he has no right to hit anyone lke that! Violence in the Weyr isn't tolerated! Or at least, that's what the RUles scroll says."
Ilesyn nods vacantly towards Osasune, waving away the concern with another tilt of her hand - unconcerned. "Probably not," she agrees, turning her head towards K'dir. "But it happens, when people get emotional."
"He ought to at least be punished," Osa mutters.
K'dir shakes his head. "What is it with Brownriders these days? Shards....I hope I never get like that!"
"Oh, he's plenty punished," Ilesyn assures. "Without my help, he never will get any sex." Her smile broadens, "Ah, K'dir, you're a greenrider. That makes you different immediately."
Osasune's nose wrinkles. "I don't understand. Just because he's a greenrider? I thought anyone could be an idiot."
K'dir sputters his reply, covering his mouth with his hand, at Osa's clever coment. "That was good!" he says, then wipes his hand on a napkin, and his mouth. "I have no idea what I'm really like when Sylviath goes proddy. It's only happened once, and I was very scared. But I've been warned that I could be subject to extreme mood changes. Still, that should only be for a short while. Most people would excuse it, I think. I mean, who can hold that against me, right?"
Ilesyn shrugs. "Brownriders tend to have a higher change of being an idiot, is all. Greenriders can be, but not most. Bronzeriders, often. Blueriders-- hm, don't know many of those, really. Maybe." Sagely, she nods towards K'dir. "It's perfectly natural," she agrees, "People don't hold it against you. Riders of male dragons don't have that excuse, though."
Osasune's forehead wrinkles. "What would make brownriders have a higher chance of idiocy? Where's the, um, logic in that?"
K'dir looks at Osa and nods over at Ilesyn. Here's something they never discussed in Weyrling Classes.
Dump complete, resuming game.
"We don't know," says Ilesyn, mystically. "It just happens that way. Beware Impressing brown is all I can say."
Osasune picks up her bubbly and has a large bite. "Huh," she says.
K'dir says "If she impressed a Brown, the curve would change."
Ilesyn tilts her head towards Osa consideringly, and then nods to K'dir. "Perhaps. A fractional change in the probability charts. I should study this, perhaps. Research brownriders, and the exact percentages of idiocy."
Osasune smiles a little, chewing and swallowing. "Thank you, K'dir," she says. She shakes her head. "I, um, well. Me? Impress? That would be something."
K'dir nods eagerly at that, grinning. But to Ilesyn he says, "You can start by studying M'ial. He hasn't been acting himself lately."
"Not likely to happen, of course. I mean - hardly anyone even gets searched," continues Ilesyn, draping her hands upon the table, cold cider left, thankfully, alone. "M'ial. I've noticed that. I'll see what I can do."
Osasune's head bobs. "Uh huh." She giggles. "Hardly anyone."
K'dir sighs and again nods. "Thank you! I mean, he was downright rude to Osasune, and I can't say that I've heard her give him reason for it. She will argue back, but that's just...uhm...what is it...? That's just her defence mechanism, right?"
Ilesyn narrows her gaze towards Osasune. "You need to be more forceful in arguing to him, and not just about him. Don't let him walk all over you." K'dir's explanation draws a nod, "Exactly."
"I was," Osa sniffs. "I said I hoped a feline ate his leg."
K'dir says "I don't think she should have to argue at all," his voice almost gruff...well, gruff for him. "He shouldn't treat her like that. She lives here, she's just as important in this Weyr as anyone else."
Ilesyn's expression approves. "Good start, Osa. Well said." She tilts her head into a nod, appending, "Of course he shouldn't, K'dir, but that's not liable to stop him. Very little does."
K'dir slumps back in his chair. "/That's/ for sure!"
Osasune makes a little face, and finishes off her bubbly pie.
Ilesyn, apparently running out of things to say, takes another gulp of her cold cider.
K'dir says "You want me to get you something else to drink, Ilesyn? Maybe a bubbly from the kitchen?"
"That stupid N'cast," Osa mumbles, darkly.
Ilesyn shakes her head quickly. "Why should I ask you to do that, when I've legs of my own? No, thank you, K'dir. I'm fine." She pauses, head tilting upwards. "Still brooding over that, Osa? There's really no need."
K'dir says "i hope his dragon never catches Sylviath."
Osasune winces a little. "Oh. Oh, that would be awful!"
Ilesyn shrugs. "There's a great many dragons out there, K'dir. Odds are not all that high. But besides - you're a man. He doesn't hate men, so you'd be all right, I'm sure."
K'dir cringes, raising his rump off of the chair a bit. "Nasty!" he says, sitting back down again.
"It doesn't matter if he wouldn't hit K'dir - he'd still be - be - well - having sex with K'dir," Osa sputters.
K'dir blushes!
"I don't think," muses Ilesyn, "that he hit me because I was a woman, although I suppose that did augment the situation for him. I suppose you're right, Osa. Poor K'dir."
Osasune looks sidelong at K'dir. "Ilesyn thinks I should be able to say the, um, word."
K'dir blushes and nods, not looking at either woman. He's not sure he can say it now, though.
"You said it so well, before, Osa. And now it's just 'the word' again." Disapproval shows through Ilesyn's tone, before she grins, "Looks as though you might need by assistance, too, K'dir. It's just a word. Sex."
K'dir says "no, not when you're talking about having to deal with it and N'cast in the same breath!"
"I said it once!" Osa protests. "I didn't /have/ to say it the second time. So why say it if I don't have to? I wouldn't say 'bubbly pie' if I didn't have to, either."
Ilesyn considers. "You have a point, K'dir," she agrees. "It's certainly not a combination I care to think about. Osa, dear, by saying 'the word', you make it sound as if you're avoiding. 'It' might be more reasonable."
Osasune subsides, nodding with a sigh. "I suppose so."
K'dir just finishes off his bubblies with the last two small bites taken together. Now he slumps back in a casual manner back into his chair, stretching out his legs. "That was good!" he says.
Ilesyn nods rapidly, affirming her own statements, scooping up her mug again to drain the cold contents. "I'm glad to hear it," she remarks, "that it was good, I mean. It's nice to have pleasures in life."
"Like bubbly pies," Osa says fondly. "They're so good. I could eat twenty."
K'dir leans back his head and makes cute purring sounds, like a hut feline.
Ilesyn's lips twitch at K'dir's purring sounds, although she refrains from comment, adding to Osa, "The basic healer training in me requires me to remind you that eating twenty would not be a good idea."
"I know," Osa says, with a sigh. "I'd throw up."
K'dir says "ew...."
Ilesyn wrinkles her nose. Conversationally, she adds, "You know, that's one thing I've never done. Throw up, I mean."
K'dir says "Really? Not even when you were a kid?"
"Never ever?" Osa gawks.
Ilesyn shakes her head. "I have a metal stomach, or something," she declares. "Or something like that."
K'dir nods. "It would seem so!"
"You're not missing much," Osasune says. "But if you ever want to... try eating twenty bubbly pies."
K'dir waves his hand in a negative motion. "I wouldn't even try that," he admits.
Ilesyn wrinkles her nose. "Pass," she agrees. "I don't even like food that much. Wouldn't want to stuff myself."
K'dir says "Well, /I/ like food! I like catching it, I like cooking it over an open fire, and I enjoy eating it. But I dn't like that overstuffed feeling, either."
"I adore food," Osa says. "It's comforting."
Ilesyn admits, fiddling with the edge of her mug, "I eat, because I get hungry, but I don't see that there's anything /special/ about food. Why is it comforting, Osa?"
"I don't know. I eat it, I feel better," Osasune says.
K'dir nods at that. "You like to snack a lot?"
Dump complete, resuming game.
Osasune blushes a little. "Umn. Well. Yes."
K'dir nods a little. "Me, too," he admits. "I just don't get to indulge myself near as much as I'd like. By the time I get back here for a meal, I'm usually too hungry but too tired t eat much."
Ilesyn considers, thoughtful. "I suppose the feeling of being full is a comfortable one," she agrees, "and that might aid the sensation of feeling better, once one has eaten. Then again, there is a fine line between feeling full, and feeling bloated." Her eyes flick between K'dir and Osa, lips curving into a wry smile, "Embarrassed about our build, Osa?"
"Er. Well. I, um, am rather... festively plump," Osasune mumbles.
K'dir look over at Osasune and asks, "You don't get to run around much, do you?"
Osasune coughs gently. "Well, um. No."
K'dir says "That's just the problem. It may not be that you're eating to much, it could be that you don't get to use up all the energy that you have...uhm...available to you to use."
"And this is a bad thing?" wonders Ilesyn, solidly built herself. "K'dir is probably right. Exercise is apparently a good thing." She sounds doubtful.
K'dir says "You get plenty of exercise with a dragon."
Osasune glances down at her lap, and rubs one leg. "But, um - running around is, um, well - really - hard. And makes me sore. And, um."
"Running is too much work," agrees Ilesyn, with a lazy smile. "I don't see the point. It's the mind that matters -- who really cares how we look, anyway."
K'dir says "I like to run."
"You can't feel bits of you jiggle madly when you do," Osa points out to K'dir.
Ilesyn fiddles with the edge of her mug. "I think the idea is that you have to run until you stop jiggling, somehow, Osa."
Osasune huffs a little. "That is an awful lot of running."
K'dir gives a bit of a chuckle and lowers his eyes. Then he shrugs. "I guess I grew up on my feet. Sometimes, when you're hunting, you have to be able to run long distances to keep up with game. You end up climbing a lot, too. It was good training for becoming a rider." He sits up straighter in his chair, and tucks a foot up under him. "When we were weyrlings, we had tu run around the entire weyrbowl twice each morning at dawn, no matter what the weather."
Ilesyn grimaces at K'dir. "Yet another reason why I'm glad my life's work is in Mindhealing, and not riding," she notes. "That sounds awful." Sagely, Osasune's response is echoed with a nod. "Yes."
K'dir shrugs. "I didn't mind. I was used to it. Was doing since I was about...eight, I think. That's when my father and uncle started training me as a hunter. But if you want to keep healthy, and you can't handle running, just keeping your body limber and drinking lots of water helps.
Osasune murmurs, "I couldn't do that. I'd fall down and die."
"Water," begins Ilesyn, "I can do. I don't mind water. But the exercise..." she wrinkles her nose. "Guess we'll have to stick to being as we are, together, huh, Osa."
K'dir says "No, no you wouldn't. To start out with, you just sit on the floor, legs out in front of you, and push forward a the waist to try and touch your toes. Staying limber helps you to digest your food better. It just takes discipline..." He glanses at Ilesyn, "Oooh, the 'D' word!..." then looks back at Osasune, "and before you know it, your body is then ready to lose excess weight."
"By trying to touch my toes?" Osa repeats, sounding uncertain. She looks to Ilesyn.
Ilesyn wrinkles her nose. "I bet I can touch my toes. Not that I care. I just don't see that it's at all important. Not as though I'm never going to have to learn how to run or anything." She shrugs back to Osa.
"There could be a, a disaster," Osasune says. "And everyone would have to run. And we'd be wheezing, Ilesyn, until rocks crushed our skulls."
K'dir chuckles. "no, it's much simpler than that! You get your muslces to exercise, they get stronger, and it is easier for your body to digest food more completely. The more you exercise, the stronger you get, the more calories you are burning off, and the easier it is to keep your weight down. And the esier it is to move, and to run, or swim, or climb, or whatever."
"Dragons," retorts Ilesyn, lazily. "There's not really very far you can run in a weyr. Better to fly, instead." She lifts her eyebrows thoughtfully at K'dir's comments, "Yes, but that requires us to care about weight."
"If it's indoors where dragons can't go," Osa says, stubbornly.
"Then there's not very far for us to run." Ilesyn smiles. "Easy as that."
K'dir nods. "It there were a disaster, I would do my best to save you!"
Ilesyn indicates K'dir with her thumb. "There we go."
"Alright. So we won't get our skulls dashed in by rocks," Osa admits.
K'dir says "But you still need to exercise."
Ilesyn wrinkles her nose. "I'd rather not." She stands, dangling her mug over one finger lazily. "I'm off. Healer told me to come back and let her see my eye." Her expression is rueful, as if she understands quite well the irony of a healer seeing a healer.
Osasune smiles a little. "It was good to talk to you again, Ilesyn!"
K'dir says "I hope your eye feels all right soon, Ilesyn!"
Ilesyn smiles, half-heartedly. "So do I! Nice to talk to you, too. Osa, K'dir." She strides off, mug still in hand. Maybe she'll remember to return it, later.
You amble southeastwards to the darker inner cavern.
Posted by Louise at January 29, 2003 11:15 AM