Log: Matchmaking
Who: P'draig, Sybil
When: 7/31/15
Where: Living Cavern, Fort Weyr
What: Sybil's mother is trying to /marry her off/ (say what?), to improve the standing of the family cothold. P'draig suggests an amusing alternative and a hearty dose of common sense.
Fort Weyr Living Cavern(#199RJa$)
Sybil is sitting at a table, her two green lizards fighting in the rafters as Sybil feeds a tiny brown firelizard from a bowl of scraps in front of her. Some hides are stacked to one side, carefully away from the little brown, who is occupying most of her attention.
P'draig walks in with a single sheet of hide in his hand, reading through it with a slight frown but an eye out for where he's going. The squabbling up above, brings his gaze to the ceiling and then back down to Sybil and he cuts a path through the tables towards her. "Another one?" he asks with a laugh as he sits down, setting the hide on the table's surface.
Sybil looks up at P'draig and smiles, a bit guiltily. "Yea....I was delivering a message to Reaches and stumbled across a hatching; couldn't resist trying with Palimeth egging me on from the bowl, and came home with another." she turns her gaze towards the ceiling and sighs. "I just wish they were as enthusiastic as Pali bout it. He's taken to calling him Mini-me, but I think I'm going to call him Pratt."
"Heh. Funny thing, this is a letter from there," P'draig notes, tapping the hide he just set down. "My sister is demanding a visit it seems, even though I was just there not /that/ long ago." He chuckles softly and folds his hands atop the hide. "Palimeth was egging you on? Funny dragon. Though ... heh, that's funny. Palimeth in miniature. Hope he trains up well."
Sybil smiles at P'draig. "Oh? It seemed like a nice enough place when I was there..." she says, and rolls her eyes at the mention of training. As if to spite her, the little brown hisses a bit and snaps his jaws, demanding more food. "I keep telling Palimeth that I have enough hides to oil, but he just goes on and on about how pretty and useful they are." she shrugs and tosses the little brown another scrap of meat, watching him eat. "They are cute, though..." she says, relenting a little, then focusing more on P'draig. "Maybe she wants to see Palia?"
"Yeah, it's a nice Weyr. The spindles're pretty dramatic," P'draig muses thoughtfully. "Born and raised there until I was Searched for here," he notes with a grin and looks down at the letter again, shaking his head. "No, my mother just had Palia for a couple of days last seven ..." The Weyrlingmaster shrugs and folds the letter up, looking across at the tiny brown. "If they're helping you out, that's good. My two've been useful."
"I think it's more a matter of helping Palimeth out..." Sybil says with a laugh, smiling as she scratches the browns headknobs, which results in even more outraged twittering from the girls above, although they're trying to behave as Sybil has been shooting them looks. "He has a taste for fish, and he's too big to catch them efficiently..." she explains, and shakes her head. "So he sends them off to catch him some occasionally; as well as collect pretty rocks and stuff. The usual hoarding he's done since he was hatched." she smiles at the thought of Palia being held by her grandmother. "It's great that she gets to meet her grandmother; that must have been a sweet moment.."
"Ohhh, so they fish for him, well, that's interesting," P'draig smooths out the corners of the folded hide. "Mostly I have mine trained to run messages and keep an eye on Palia so she doesn't toddle off when I have my back turned." His brows lift a little. "Why wouldn't she? It's easy enough to bring her, or for Mum to come here. She helped out when Palia was born and I've taken her up regularly for visits since she was old enough to go Between. Mum likes to keep her overnight now that she's weaned, sometimes for as long as a whole seven."
Sybil smiles at P'draig. "I didn't mean to suggest that she shouldn't! I'm just happy everyone gets along!" she shrugs and shakes her head. "I keep forgetting that most people don't have the same relationship with their parents...ah, parent that I do..." she says with a bit of a wince.
P'draig shakes his head and laughs, "No it just sounded like it'd be a rare thing or something ... and oh." His voice breaks off and he eyes Sybil sympathetically. "Yeah, I'm weyrbred and both my parents are riders."
Sybil smiles at P'draig. "Don't worry bout it..." she says with a little wave of her hand and grins. "I'm working on Ma....but would you believe she's started trying to arrange marriages now? Cause paring a rider with a cotholder would even remotely work?" she shrugs and strokes the little brown, lulling him to sleep as his belly is overstuffed anyways. "You're lucky in that....riders tend to understand riders."
P'draig stares at Sybil, mouth hanging open. "Say what?" Clearly this concept is totally foreign to the Weyrlingmaster. "Uh ... riders don't marry... she knows this, right?" He's still boggling.
Sybil nods at P'draig. "You know this. I know this. I've /told/ Ma this. And none of the cotholders she tries to drag into this even /attempt/ once they realize I'm a rider. She's just...persistent." Sybil shakes her head, sighing.
"Would it help if someone told her that it's completely impractical and totally lacking in any kind of sense, because you have a dragon to care for and he always comes first ahead of anything else?" P'draig still seems completely at a loss about this concept. "Dragons belong in weyrs, they'd only eat all the livestock at a hold." His head shakes again too, joining Sybil in sighing. "Guess she's pretty hung up on pairing you off yeah?"
Sybil nods. "I think once Kait gets of age it'll be easier for her.." Sybil says, shaking her head. "I've argued and argued with her about all this....I'm half tempted to just cut off contact with her for a while but she's so good at stringing me back home..Plus I miss my sibs and enjoy visiting them.." she says with a shake of her head. "Just another turn or two and she can get busy pairing Kait off..."
"Is it because your family needs the ties with another cothold? Or some other reason?" P'draig asks curiously. "And I understand about your siblings, I visit mine often."
"Since Da died, Ma is trying to make sure that the cothold continues, but most of the stablehands and such arene't thrilled with her being in charge, so she's trying to tie us to one of the other, bigger, 'properly managed'" and Sybil sneers a little at this term. "cotholds to avoid loosing her grip on it entirely."
P'draig makes a face and nods. "I see. So it's political really. And well ... driven by the desire to protect what she has and protect all of you. I can understand that. It's never pretty when a parent tries to pawn a child off to do that but, I understand it." The Weyrlingmaster leans acros the table and offers a hand, palm up to Sybil. "I hope she gets it sorted out and some sense about riders in her head too."
Sybil nods and takes P'draig's hand, then grins. "She's doing what she thinks will be best for everyone; it's just that I'm the only daughter old enough to use.." and shrugs again. "I do hope it works out for her; it'd be a shame to have to give up everything her and Da worked for and see someone else take over.
P'draig squeezes Sybil's fingers lightly. "Yeah, another option would be to put the fear of Palimeth into those stable-hands," he says with a wink. "Or you know, even if she's not that young anymore, maybe she could find someone /herself/ to help run the place?"
"Maybe /I/ should play matchmaker.." Sybil muses, starting to grin. "That's a very good point P'draig..I hadn't thought of that.." she grins some more, and gets a little devilish look in her eye. "And I'm sure Palimeth would love to do some acting towards the hands; he can tell that they don't like him much, and he gets so huffy about it it'd be fun for him I'm sure....Only thing is, would it get me in trouble here?" she asks curiously.
"There you go, could be fun too, for that matter." P'draig winks across at the younger brownrider and releases her hand then scratches at his chin. "Yeaaah, you'd have to do it just right, you know, not too much, or M'yr might be asking you why a bunch of cotholders are telling him a rider was on their case. So maybe Palimeth's particuarly brand of uh ... humor, isn't all that well suited for that idea."
Sybil smiles at P'draig. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of. I don't want to cause trouble, but it would be nice to give them a little scare." she shrugs, then looks thoughtful. "I think I will try to find someone for Ma though, or at least get her thinking about it. It'd make a whole lot more sense.." she muses.
P'draig's head bobs up and down. "It really does, I mean, she can't be that old, right? Maybe not young enough for more children, but there has to be maybe a widower cotholder out there, or even a bachelor who'd see the benefits in the situation and hey, if they like each other, that's a bonus, right?"
Sybil nods. "She's really not." and grins. "Thank you! You might just have solved my problem!" she says with a laugh.
"There you go. And if she can get past the whole thing, maybe then things will be easier between the two of you and she'll be happier overall!" P'draig beams across the table and leans back in his chair. "I hope it works out Sybil."
Sybil smiles at P'draig and nods, gathering up Pratt in one hand as she grabs her hides in the other. "Thank you.. I'm going to go write a letter right now..." she says with a grin, the sleepy firelizard protesting for a moment before settling into the crook of her arm. "I'll let you know how it goes!" she says, a bounce in her step as she heads out of the caverns, humming to herself.
P'draig casts a loose salute after the other brownrider. "You're welcome and best of luck with the letter. See you around Sybil."
When: 7/31/15
Where: Living Cavern, Fort Weyr
What: Sybil's mother is trying to /marry her off/ (say what?), to improve the standing of the family cothold. P'draig suggests an amusing alternative and a hearty dose of common sense.
Fort Weyr Living Cavern(#199RJa$)
Sybil is sitting at a table, her two green lizards fighting in the rafters as Sybil feeds a tiny brown firelizard from a bowl of scraps in front of her. Some hides are stacked to one side, carefully away from the little brown, who is occupying most of her attention.
P'draig walks in with a single sheet of hide in his hand, reading through it with a slight frown but an eye out for where he's going. The squabbling up above, brings his gaze to the ceiling and then back down to Sybil and he cuts a path through the tables towards her. "Another one?" he asks with a laugh as he sits down, setting the hide on the table's surface.
Sybil looks up at P'draig and smiles, a bit guiltily. "Yea....I was delivering a message to Reaches and stumbled across a hatching; couldn't resist trying with Palimeth egging me on from the bowl, and came home with another." she turns her gaze towards the ceiling and sighs. "I just wish they were as enthusiastic as Pali bout it. He's taken to calling him Mini-me, but I think I'm going to call him Pratt."
"Heh. Funny thing, this is a letter from there," P'draig notes, tapping the hide he just set down. "My sister is demanding a visit it seems, even though I was just there not /that/ long ago." He chuckles softly and folds his hands atop the hide. "Palimeth was egging you on? Funny dragon. Though ... heh, that's funny. Palimeth in miniature. Hope he trains up well."
Sybil smiles at P'draig. "Oh? It seemed like a nice enough place when I was there..." she says, and rolls her eyes at the mention of training. As if to spite her, the little brown hisses a bit and snaps his jaws, demanding more food. "I keep telling Palimeth that I have enough hides to oil, but he just goes on and on about how pretty and useful they are." she shrugs and tosses the little brown another scrap of meat, watching him eat. "They are cute, though..." she says, relenting a little, then focusing more on P'draig. "Maybe she wants to see Palia?"
"Yeah, it's a nice Weyr. The spindles're pretty dramatic," P'draig muses thoughtfully. "Born and raised there until I was Searched for here," he notes with a grin and looks down at the letter again, shaking his head. "No, my mother just had Palia for a couple of days last seven ..." The Weyrlingmaster shrugs and folds the letter up, looking across at the tiny brown. "If they're helping you out, that's good. My two've been useful."
"I think it's more a matter of helping Palimeth out..." Sybil says with a laugh, smiling as she scratches the browns headknobs, which results in even more outraged twittering from the girls above, although they're trying to behave as Sybil has been shooting them looks. "He has a taste for fish, and he's too big to catch them efficiently..." she explains, and shakes her head. "So he sends them off to catch him some occasionally; as well as collect pretty rocks and stuff. The usual hoarding he's done since he was hatched." she smiles at the thought of Palia being held by her grandmother. "It's great that she gets to meet her grandmother; that must have been a sweet moment.."
"Ohhh, so they fish for him, well, that's interesting," P'draig smooths out the corners of the folded hide. "Mostly I have mine trained to run messages and keep an eye on Palia so she doesn't toddle off when I have my back turned." His brows lift a little. "Why wouldn't she? It's easy enough to bring her, or for Mum to come here. She helped out when Palia was born and I've taken her up regularly for visits since she was old enough to go Between. Mum likes to keep her overnight now that she's weaned, sometimes for as long as a whole seven."
Sybil smiles at P'draig. "I didn't mean to suggest that she shouldn't! I'm just happy everyone gets along!" she shrugs and shakes her head. "I keep forgetting that most people don't have the same relationship with their parents...ah, parent that I do..." she says with a bit of a wince.
P'draig shakes his head and laughs, "No it just sounded like it'd be a rare thing or something ... and oh." His voice breaks off and he eyes Sybil sympathetically. "Yeah, I'm weyrbred and both my parents are riders."
Sybil smiles at P'draig. "Don't worry bout it..." she says with a little wave of her hand and grins. "I'm working on Ma....but would you believe she's started trying to arrange marriages now? Cause paring a rider with a cotholder would even remotely work?" she shrugs and strokes the little brown, lulling him to sleep as his belly is overstuffed anyways. "You're lucky in that....riders tend to understand riders."
P'draig stares at Sybil, mouth hanging open. "Say what?" Clearly this concept is totally foreign to the Weyrlingmaster. "Uh ... riders don't marry... she knows this, right?" He's still boggling.
Sybil nods at P'draig. "You know this. I know this. I've /told/ Ma this. And none of the cotholders she tries to drag into this even /attempt/ once they realize I'm a rider. She's just...persistent." Sybil shakes her head, sighing.
"Would it help if someone told her that it's completely impractical and totally lacking in any kind of sense, because you have a dragon to care for and he always comes first ahead of anything else?" P'draig still seems completely at a loss about this concept. "Dragons belong in weyrs, they'd only eat all the livestock at a hold." His head shakes again too, joining Sybil in sighing. "Guess she's pretty hung up on pairing you off yeah?"
Sybil nods. "I think once Kait gets of age it'll be easier for her.." Sybil says, shaking her head. "I've argued and argued with her about all this....I'm half tempted to just cut off contact with her for a while but she's so good at stringing me back home..Plus I miss my sibs and enjoy visiting them.." she says with a shake of her head. "Just another turn or two and she can get busy pairing Kait off..."
"Is it because your family needs the ties with another cothold? Or some other reason?" P'draig asks curiously. "And I understand about your siblings, I visit mine often."
"Since Da died, Ma is trying to make sure that the cothold continues, but most of the stablehands and such arene't thrilled with her being in charge, so she's trying to tie us to one of the other, bigger, 'properly managed'" and Sybil sneers a little at this term. "cotholds to avoid loosing her grip on it entirely."
P'draig makes a face and nods. "I see. So it's political really. And well ... driven by the desire to protect what she has and protect all of you. I can understand that. It's never pretty when a parent tries to pawn a child off to do that but, I understand it." The Weyrlingmaster leans acros the table and offers a hand, palm up to Sybil. "I hope she gets it sorted out and some sense about riders in her head too."
Sybil nods and takes P'draig's hand, then grins. "She's doing what she thinks will be best for everyone; it's just that I'm the only daughter old enough to use.." and shrugs again. "I do hope it works out for her; it'd be a shame to have to give up everything her and Da worked for and see someone else take over.
P'draig squeezes Sybil's fingers lightly. "Yeah, another option would be to put the fear of Palimeth into those stable-hands," he says with a wink. "Or you know, even if she's not that young anymore, maybe she could find someone /herself/ to help run the place?"
"Maybe /I/ should play matchmaker.." Sybil muses, starting to grin. "That's a very good point P'draig..I hadn't thought of that.." she grins some more, and gets a little devilish look in her eye. "And I'm sure Palimeth would love to do some acting towards the hands; he can tell that they don't like him much, and he gets so huffy about it it'd be fun for him I'm sure....Only thing is, would it get me in trouble here?" she asks curiously.
"There you go, could be fun too, for that matter." P'draig winks across at the younger brownrider and releases her hand then scratches at his chin. "Yeaaah, you'd have to do it just right, you know, not too much, or M'yr might be asking you why a bunch of cotholders are telling him a rider was on their case. So maybe Palimeth's particuarly brand of uh ... humor, isn't all that well suited for that idea."
Sybil smiles at P'draig. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of. I don't want to cause trouble, but it would be nice to give them a little scare." she shrugs, then looks thoughtful. "I think I will try to find someone for Ma though, or at least get her thinking about it. It'd make a whole lot more sense.." she muses.
P'draig's head bobs up and down. "It really does, I mean, she can't be that old, right? Maybe not young enough for more children, but there has to be maybe a widower cotholder out there, or even a bachelor who'd see the benefits in the situation and hey, if they like each other, that's a bonus, right?"
Sybil nods. "She's really not." and grins. "Thank you! You might just have solved my problem!" she says with a laugh.
"There you go. And if she can get past the whole thing, maybe then things will be easier between the two of you and she'll be happier overall!" P'draig beams across the table and leans back in his chair. "I hope it works out Sybil."
Sybil smiles at P'draig and nods, gathering up Pratt in one hand as she grabs her hides in the other. "Thank you.. I'm going to go write a letter right now..." she says with a grin, the sleepy firelizard protesting for a moment before settling into the crook of her arm. "I'll let you know how it goes!" she says, a bounce in her step as she heads out of the caverns, humming to herself.
P'draig casts a loose salute after the other brownrider. "You're welcome and best of luck with the letter. See you around Sybil."