The World of Pern(tm) is copyright to Anne McCaffrey (c) l967.
The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is a registered copyright.

This is a log of roleplay on PernMUSH, available online by permission of
Anne McCaffrey, author of the Pern novels, and recorded by A.S. Korra'ti
(piper@murkworks.net), player of Mehlani of Telgar Weyr on PernMUSH.
This log may be distributed freely as long as this header remains intact.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Log Date:
	5/1/98
	
Log Cast:
	(People) Remo, Mehlani, Jaynelle, Manira, Emlyn

	(Dragons) Pleiath
	
Log Intro:
	Being Searched is arguably the most exciting thing that has ever 
happened to Mehlani... but it hasn't quite managed to distract the attention 
of the young men who have been competing for her affections. K'star has been 
delighted to hear of her Searching, and Mehlani has received from Devlin in 
Igen a fine carving of a hatching dragonette, sent up with the Minecraft tithe 
train. And she's also received a gift of flowers left on her cot, by someone 
who hadn't gotten around to identifying himself... perhaps because Mehlani's 
getting Searched distracted him....
	(OOC: Unfortunately, this scene was never finished, but I've kept it 
to reference Remo's kind gift of flowers. :) )

----------
Your location's current time: 14:04 on day 26, month 9, Turn 22, of the Tenth 
  Pass. It is a autumn afternoon.

Remo comes here from the direction of the runner pasture.
Remo has arrived.
Remo comes in from the pasture, brushing dust and dirt off his legs and boots.
Remo looks at you for a moment.

Off near the firestone bins, the behatted figure of young Mehlani, her usual 
  black vest wrapped about her form and her hair in its usual braid, can be 
  spotted at what is a rather incongruous task for her: the bagging of 
  firestone. Several of her fair are flitting around her, watching her at this 
  manual labor, curiosity whirling in their eyes.

The clack-clack of stones being piled atop one another grabs Remo's attention, 
  and he checks his stride, peering through the cavern to the slight figure in 
  the hat. "Mehlani?" comes a slightly confused inquiry.

Mehlani turns her head, looking up from the sack she's currently filling. 
  Under the brim of her hat, her face is slightly smudged with the dust of her 
  labors. "Yes?" she softly calls.

Remo tilts his head, brown eyes watching the young woman for a moment as he 
  veers off his current path and towards her. "Why're you bagging stone? Don't 
  they usually save that for candidates and all?"

Remo
     Soft brown eyes look back at you, almost a mahogany color, which catch 
  and reflect the light, seeming to shine. His thick, dark brown hair is cut 
  short, looking as if someone had taken a somewhat dull knife to it, the ends 
  uneven and looking a bit ragged. His face is strangely drawing, with a 
  square jaw, high, almost oriental-seeming cheekbones, and a sculpted, 
  prominent nose over thin lips. He has a habit of looking at everything as if 
  appraising its value or worth, but this seems as if it may be a function of 
  training, rather than inclination.
     He's dressed in a plain, homespun tunic of rough wool, which is a deep 
  brown color. It's not decorative, but it looks comfortable and very warm. 
  The sleeves come down to about his elbows, leaving bare his developed 
  forearms and curiously thick wrists. His pants are also rather plain, made 
  of a sturdy, thick brown wherhide, tucked into tall, thick brown leather 
  boots, slightly cracked and slashed, but still looking quite servicable and 
  sturdy. Looped over his right shoulder is a black and white knot, simply 
  tied to indicate a resident at Telgar Weyr.
     He seems older than his years, a combination of his mature manner and his 
  adult-seeming features. If you ask, however, he'll tell you that he's 19 
  Turns, 8 months, and 1 days.

Mehlani straightens up, blinking a little, and lifts a hand to first push her 
  hat back on her head, then to lightly mop her brow. She can be seen to 
  blush, as she murmurs sheepishly, "I... um.. _am_ a Candidate."

A congratulatory smile and a look of amazement chase each other across Remo's 
  face, fighting for dominance. "No kidding!" he breathes, eyes wide. "Well, 
  now I know for sure that the dragons always take the best people," he says, 
  half-teasing, half-reassuring.

Mehlani's somewhat unsure expression eases a trifle, in likely reaction to 
  Remo's exclamation. "Thank you," she murmurs, a smile peeking at the corners 
  of her mouth. "Yes... Lysseth and Kassima Searched me..."

Remo grins widely, nodding. "Well, one thing's for sure," he says, reaching up 
  to push a stray lock of brown from his face. "You'd better learn to talk up 
  a little more, if you want to be heard over a dragonet's peals."

Mehlani smiles hesitantly, as several of her fair flitter circles around Remo, 
  before they settle down on the bag that the girl's paused in filling. "We'll 
  just see what happens," she murmurs, the tone of one who's trying not to 
  hope for too much, but who is still arguably hoping.

Remo nods encouragingly, then gestures with an open hand to the bag. "Do you 
  want some help with that? I've got a good back," he suggests.

Mehlani chews briefly at her lower lip, saying earnestly, "I'm not sure I'm 
  supposed to _have_ help..."

Remo shrugs. "Why not? Is the point to get it done, or just to keep busy?" The 
  look on his face suggests that he's come across an interesting 
  interpretation of a particular rule. "After all, a dragonrider's supposed to 
  know when he and his mate need help, no?"

"Well, I suppose that's true..." Mehlani muses, then she leans over to shoo 
  the brown and blue fire lizards off her current bag of 'stone. "Come on, 
  now, shoo..." Then she glances up again, and concludes shyly, "If you don't 
  have any other duties and don't mind... you're very kind to offer...!"

Remo grins and nods. "Sure," he says, moving in to scoop up rocks with his 
  large hands, depositing the hunks into the bag. "I just finished my mucking 
  duties."

Jaynelle emerges from the passage to the entrance cavern.
Jaynelle has arrived.
Jaynelle disappears down the tunnel that leads out of the Telgar Caldera.
Jaynelle has left.

Manira emerges from the passage to the entrance cavern.
Manira has arrived.
Manira walks off towards the Galleries.
Manira has left.
Manira walks in from outside the room.
Manira has arrived.
Manira walks south.
Manira has left.
Manira walks here from the south.
Manira has arrived.
Manira disappears down the tunnel that leads out of the Telgar Caldera.
Manira has left.

Remo trots back in from the pasture, holding a shovel he's appropriated. 
  "Here...this'll make it go faster," he says.

Above, Pleiath flies over from the south end of the bowl.
Above, Pleiath dips a shoulder and backfans to drop for a landing.
Pleiath backwings for a landing.
Pleiath has arrived.

Emlyn slides down Pleiath's shoulder to her forelimb, then jumps to the 
  ground.
Emlyn has arrived.

Remo ducks away quickly, covering his face with one arm as the dragon sends 
  up spiral of dust throughout the bowl.

"Thank you," Mehlani murmurs again, then starts, along with her handful of 
  fire lizards, as Pleiath and Emlyn make their landing. She shields her mouth 
  and nose with her already dusty sleeve.

Emlyn nods at the people nearby. Dust gets kicked into bystanders' faces with 
  such regularity in a weyr bowl that it doesn't occur to Emlyn to apologize. 
  She calls a greeting before moving to take her dragon's straps off.

Mehlani lifts a silent hand to the green rider, then turns back to the task at 
  hand, bagging the firestone. Now armed with the shovel Remo's brought her, 
  the girl can make rather better progress, though she still looks out of 
  place as she leans in to put her back into the work.

Emlyn sends her dragon into the feeding grounds, then turns her back on the 
  scene that must inevitably follow. The young woman, in fact, strides off 
  toward the south bowl.

Pleiath goes home.
Pleiath has left.

Emlyn walks south.
Emlyn has left.

Remo lowers the shovel, he metal blade making a soft *clang* against the floor 
  of the bowl as he scoops pieces of firestone up with it and deposits them 
  into the bag.

'Lani's fire lizards lift off again, getting out of the way of the shovels; 
  after a moment, and a few quiet shooings of 'Lani's hands, they flit off 
  towards the feeding grounds, perhaps hoping to scavenge leavings from 
  Pleiath's meal. Mehlani herself just keeps working, quiet and steady.

Remo hrms, looking at the firestone rocks. "How big are the pieces supposed to 
  be?"

Mehlani peers downward, considering. "These are right, I think," she murmurs. 
  "They have to be big enough for the dragons to still chew properly." She 
  doesn't remark upon the heaviness of firestone chunks of that size, but from 
  the dusty, slightly sweat-sheened look of her, she's become acquainted with 
  that particular aspect of this chore.

Remo nods, and turns the shovel sideways, bringing it down hard on a larger 
  piece of rock. A loud *clang* reverberates through the cavern, sending a 
  nearby firelizard into fits, and turns the shovel again to scoop up the two 
  halves of the rock, scooping them into the bag.

Manira walks here from the south.
Manira has arrived.
Manira disappears down the tunnel that leads out of the Telgar Caldera.
Manira has left.

Remo looks over at you as he shovels, occassionally grunting as he lifts a 
  particularly large piece of rock. "What color are you hoping for?" he asks 
  idly.

'Lani can be seen to blush a little, but she also smiles a little, too. 
  "Everybody keeps telling me I should Impress a green," she murmurs.

Remo raises an eyebrow, his quicktime shoveling unceasing. "Green?" He shakes 
  his head. "You're not nearly as fractious as most greens. I see you more 
  as..." He pauses for a moment, thinking. "Blue, perhaps. Stable, hard 
  working, never complaining, and always undercredited. Maybe brown."

"Well, Ro said so because four of my fire lizards are green, you see," Mehlani 
  says softly, reaching down with a gloved hand -- she's got work gloves on, 
  that she must have borrowed from somewhere -- to nudge some loose fragments 
  onto her shovel. "But I like blues and browns, too."

Remo nods, using his shovel to push some larger fragments into a pile to hoist 
  up. "I always admired the blues and brown. They do most of the work, it 
  seems, but the bronzes and the Queens get all the glory. Not that there's 
  anything wrong with the metallics, but..." He shrugs. "I dunno. I've never 
  been much for glory or praise anyway."

"You don't have to like praise to be a bronze rider," Mehlani murmurs.

Remo laughs, with a nod. "Yeah...just have to like women," he comments, 
  although it's obvious he's mostly teasing. Mostly.

Mehlani's mouth flickers in a faint, fleeting smile; she seems to have heard 
  this before. All she says, however, is a simple, "Father says it's better if 
  a bronze rider doesn't like praise too much. Liking women is alright as long 
  as you treat them with respect and care."

Remo nods. "Aye, 'tis true. I've met quite a few people I didn't like much or 
  get on well with, but deserved my respect."

Mehlani nods gravely, carefully and almost daintily placing her shovelful of 
  rock into the sack.

Remo sets his shoulders tightly to get a larger piece. "My uncle always said 
  he'd rather have an honorable enemy than a dishonorable friend."

To this, too, Mehlani solemnly nods, straightening up again to consider their 
  progress at the task at hand. Dirty though she's getting herself with this 
  job, it's still infinitely better than the cleaning of latrines, and her 
  expression's a peaceable one as she moves round to get another small 
  shovelful of stone.

Remo continues his assistance, having cleared away a respectable amount of 
  rock in the time he'd been here. "Did you...did you like the flowers?" he 
  asks, rather all in a rush, the words slurring slightly.

Mehlani glances up, then can be seen to pinken slightly under her cheeks' 
  coating of dust. But she also smiles, timid, but earnest. "Yes," is her soft 
  response. "Thank you, very much."

Remo ducks his head, also reddening some, all the way to his ears. "I...I had 
  hoped you would," he stammers out.

"I do like flowers," Mehlani replies straightforwardly. She peeks out from 
  under her hat brim, considering Remo's altered tone of voice, and her 
  features remain a bit pinkened, timid. "It was very kind of you... thank 
  you."

Remo nods, silently, suddenly paying a lot of attention to his work. 
  "I...ah...I just wanted to..." He stops, and takes a deep breath. "I wanted 
  to find something as...pretty as you."

Mehlani shifts shades, moving from pink towards rose, and ducks her own head 
  down, the hat brim hiding her eyes, but not the blush. "Thank you," she 
  whispers tinily.

Remo looks at you for a moment.
Remo maintains his silence, apparently not sure where to go from here, and 
  just concentrates on his work, the two shovels making their twin 'clinks' as 
  they skim across the floor. "How much do you have to bag?" he asks, moving 
  on to a 'safer' topic of conversation

"They didn't tell me," Mehlani replies, her voice still very small.

Remo smirks. "Just shovel till you drop, eh?" He nods. "One way to keep the 
  candidates out of trouble, I imagine," he comments.

The lass makes a very soft noise that might be a giggle. "I don't really get 
  in much trouble anyway," she murmurs.

Remo glances over, trying to penetrate the brim of your hat to your eyes. 
  "Maybe you oughta," he comments. "Life oughta be at least entertaining."

"Oh, I do like my life," Mehlani pipes up.

Remo glances over, and nods. "Well, that's a Good Thing." he straightens up, 
  setting his shovel aside. "Want to take a break for a few? Get some klah or 
  something to eat?"

[Log breaks here.]