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When a Green and a Blue Love Each Other Very Much....


Date:  March 16, 1996
Place:  Benden Weyr's Weyrling Barracks
Game:  PernMUSH
Copyright Info:  The World of Pern is copyright(c) to Anne McCaffrey 
l967. The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is a registered copyright.

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Kassi's Note:  Tiffy's player is a wonderfully tolerant sort.  As I
recall, Aph (with some rooting on from me) pestered him into giving us
this lecture a bit in advance and in some unholy hour of the 
night/morning.  Unfortunately, his 'Net was evil and we had to receive
the OOC rules and regs via +mail later, but the IC stuff was fully
covered and that's what's in this log. :)  The log starts a bit after
Tiffy comes into the barracks, at the very beginning of the lecture.

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The Log:

T'fian looks between Prefeth and Lysseth for a moment, his eyes resting
marginally longer on the green. He clears his throat. "I know you've all
been witness to the various green flights that have occurred since your
Impressions, correct?"

Kassima nods. "Aye, sir, and a couple while we were Candidates."

Aphrael chuckles softly, nodding. "Yes sir." She gets an inkling of what
this talk is about. "Prefeth, er, kinda showed interest in the flights
lately, I've noticed.."

T'fian nods. "Of course. You can't spend as much time in the weyr as you
have without seeing at least one or two... thousand," he smiles. He nods to
Aphrael. "And that's what I want to talk about. Soon, a green..." he
pauses... "maybe Lysseth here... will rise and Prefeth will want to give
chase. I want to talk to you a little about that so that the sensations
don't come as a complete shock."

Kassima quirks a slight grin at the thousand remark, and glances up at
Lyss, then back to T'fian.

Aphrael nods slowly, finding a comfotable seat on Prefeth's foreleg.

T'fian smiles. "So, here goes. You two ready because there are some things
here, especially concerning you, Kassima, that you /must/ remember."

Aphrael chuckles softly, "Ready as we can be sir." She says in reply,
leaning agains the blue hide.

Kassima nods somberly. "Aye, sir." She glances at Aph and grins a bit.
"What Aph said."

T'fian nods, and starts pacing absently in front of the two weyrlings and
their dragons. "Okay." He pauses again. "You both understand how the
different sizes of the dragons affect their flight and maneuverability.
Prefeth will never have any interest in chasing a gold because he
instictively knows that he'll kill himself trying to catch her. He lacks
the endurance of browns and bronzes, but makes up for that in terms of
maneuverabilty and speed."

Aphrael nods proudly. "Aye sir, that he does."

T'fian smiles in response. "Now the first stage of a mating flight really
only affects the female rider... and by female rider, I mean the rider of
the green. I'm not covering golds because we had no gold in this clutch and
T'lar'll learn all of this soon enough." He smiles, "That first stage is
proddiness. Up to a sevenday before a green will rise, she will start to
become irratable, and sometimes even irrational. This will effect the rider
as well. Yet it seems to me that a green rider is always the last to know
that his or her dragon is proddy."

Aphrael smiles quietly. "It was that way with K'nan, I noticed.. he got
very irratible when I suggested he was proddy."

Kassima nods thoughtfully. "Aye, sir, I've seen greenriders who were acting
rather peculiar, and everyone said 'twas because they were proddy, but if
anyone suggested it to them, it wasn't particularly pretty sometimes...."

T'fian nods. "That is true. Now, a proddy dragon can often broadcast her
emotions strongly. A green rider will often feel the effects by becoming
irritable, out-of-sorts. And you may find yourself preocuppied by sex,
which is a natural response to a proddy dragon. Male dragons and their
riders can often feel that as well, so you may find yourself constantly
surrounded by them which can cause a feeling of claustrophobia at times as
well."

Kassima looks thoughtful again and murmurs something under her breath about
throwing rolls, but then simply nods.

T'fian says "If you have any reason to believe, at all, that your dragon is
proddy, you are not to leave the Weyr, at all. Your dragons emotions are
affecting you, and your judgement and even temper are affected. I have seen
a few greenriders stupid enough to take their dragons out of their Weyr
when she is nearing rising and end up in a knife fight because some holder
doesn't understand what the female rider is going through."

Kassima tilts her head. "Because of that bit about the greenrider being the
last to know, sir?" she asks. "So they didn't realize what they were 
doing?"

Prefeth tilts his head slightly, caught in a pose of listening intently,
which he normally never does.

T'fian nods to Kassima. "That is correct. Even the slightest comment can be
insulting to a prodddy female rider. And Holders are generally insulted by
the actions of a proddy greenrider in their Hold, and that situation can
escalate very quickly."

T'fian continues. "As the time of the rising draws near, any female rider
that has a dragon near rising as well, must get out of the Weyr. We all
aware of the old Ballads about what can happen when two females rise
simultaneously. And one female rising can cause another female who is not
quite as close to rising to rise... if that makes any sense."

Aphrael sighs softly. "It does sir. I've seen it close to happening during
a gold firelizard flight once.."

Kassima nods. "Aye, sir, it does; the, err, emotion generated by the flight
could kind of induce the near-rising female into rising, is that what you
mean?"

T'fian nods. "That's what I mean. Golds are always more territorial than
greens when it comes to a mating flight, but greens have also been known to
get possessive about 'Their males.'" He pauses and glances around. "Shards,
I knew I should have brought some juice for this."

T'fian shrugs and continues. "Now, when the time approaches very close, the
male dragons will know this. They will descend upon the feeding grounds to
begin blooding, which is, believe it or not, a worse sight than dragons
feeding. Shortly after the males start, the female will come to the feeding
grounds as well, generally in a foul mood. She will not allow the males to
approach her...."

Aphrael listens intently, biting her lip slightly as she visualises the
flights she's seen in her mind.

T'fian says "A major difference between the male and female riders at this
point is their levels of control. Unlike the male dragons, the female will
want to eat her kills instead of blooding them. You /must/ not allow her to
eat. She must blood only, otherwise she will gorge and cause the flight to
be short and unsatisfying as the meat settles into her stomach. This will
not be easy. She will be frenzic and irrational and it will take all of
your control to keep her from eating, Kassima. And it will not be easy
because you will feel her emotions strongly and it will be difficult to
separate them from your own."

T'fian says "The male riders will try to help the greenrider through this,
usually resulting in a harsh rebuff to the male riders. Don't worry about
that. We're used to it," he grins."

Aphrael raises an eyebrow, looking over towards Kassi with a grin.

Kassima grimaces faintly. "Aye, sir, I can imagine it wouldn't be." She
chuckles at the last remark, grinning.

T'fian smiles. "Now, when the green is finishe blooding, she will take
flight and the males will chase after her. The riders will make their way
to a ground level weyr for this, often clustered around the female rider
who will want to get away from the male riders. At this point, all the
dragons and their riders have bonded completely and cannot separate
themselves from the dragons. The green will start the flight fast and
strong, often performing very difficult acrobats all the while taunting the
weak males, but eventually she will tire and the males will try to catch 
her."

T'fian says "It is not unusual in this for a male to tire. They are intent
on catching the green, often as soon as possible, so that they push
themselves to the limit to quickly and will be forced to drop out of the
flight. Wing strains are not uncommon among males during flights, and I'm
sure you know what to do about those.""

Aphrael frowns slightly at the thought of injury. "I never realised that
could happen.."

Kassima nods, remembering some of the injuries from flights she's seen.
"Aye, sir. 'Twas explained to us during flight training and before then,
what to do with the strained wings."

T'fian nods. "It can, and it does. Dragons can get so intent on catching
the green that they push themselves too hard. You, as a rider, cannot
control this because at this point the rider has almost no control over the
dragon. In fact, it's usually quite the opposite." He nods and continues.

Aphrael swallows, running a hand along the blue hide she's perched on,
Prefeth crooning very smugly in answer to an unspoken question.

Lysseth> I bespoke Prefeth with << My rider wonders why you sound so
*smug*? >>

T'fian says "Eventually, the green will tire and a male will catch her,
generally by entwiling the tail around hers and entangling her wings. When
the green is caught, she surrendurs completely to the male and they mate in
the air, with the male holding the green and supporting her. They generally
mate for several hours and their riders will do the same. It is not often a
pleasant experience, but ... well, it can't be helped. At this point the
losing males drop to the ground and their riders leave the weyr to attend
to their dragons. And then, because of unfufilled desires, they will often
seek comfort among the lower caverns or elsewhere.""

T'fian takes a deep breath. "That about covers mating flights. Are there
any questions?"

Dragon> Lysseth senses that Prefeth croons reticently. << Oh, nothing
really. >>

Kassima shakes her head. "Nay, sir; you've explained things pretty clearly,
to my thinking."

Aphrael smiles slightly in Prefeth's direction, then pauses, "Um, sir? I've
seen a lot of the riders come into the living caverns and drink after a
flight.."

T'fian says "There's not really much to explain, other than the rules about
leaving tthe Weyr and not allowing the green to eat." He stops and looks at
Aphrael. "Yes, wine is broken out for the male riders. They're minds are
still with their dragons and often they feel a sense of a disappointment.
The wine serves to dull those feelings and give the riders some clarity
back. Or at least drown them.""

[Editor's Note:  At this point, Tiffy's 'Net kicked him off and kept him
off for awhile, so Aph and I gave up the ghost and signed off to 
sleep. :) ]