Who

Ember, Eala

What

What? Not everyone walks their baby dragon with two fishes in tow?

beware… enough cuteness to hurt…

When

It is late night of the tenth day of the fifth month of the seventeenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

North Bowl, Igen Weyr

OOC Date 25 Jun 2019 07:00

 

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It seems like, if the fish are hers, they ought to want to stay with her.



North Bowl

In the quieter spaces of the Northern Bowl, there is less activity; all is kept serene for young, forming draconic bonds. Beneath the sweep of skies' ever-changing colors, this round little panorama hosts the short distances between the Hatching Cavern and the weyrlings' ultimate destination: the barracks and training grounds. More packed dirt and tiny little hillocks than clean white sand, the floor is an uneven thing, a startling trap for the unwary and the clumsy. Further onward, the Ground Weyrs beckon, a haven for those who may seek medical attention.


"Why? Whyyyy must I carry this around with me?" Ember moans, a faint whine to her voice. Their first venture away from the barracks have carried the newly minted greenriding pair to the very edge of the Northern Bowl. The sun has set and the sky is a deep, azure midnight that heralds the coming of deeper night. Chayallanth skitters from point to point, fluid in her movements while the shadows swallow her darkened hide. Only the gleam of her eyes gives her away and the way her glowlight tailtip catches the moonlight just so. "Ugh, but it's so heavy and I swear, Dolly looks like she's swimming sideways." Fed, bathed, oiled: Ember and Chayallanth are now onto the final exercise of the evening before bedding down. The greenrider has a squarish bowl-tank tucked against her hip, the tendons of her arms straining against the weight of carrying two of the ugliest fish known to man.

What do you do with grounded Wingleaders who have too much time on their hands? You make them an AWLM! Eala isn't sporting that handy knot on her shoulder, though, given that she's not yet technically on duty — but her Parhelion vigilance hasn't lessned any for the fact that she's not currently among their ranks. So when she spies Ember struggling her way around the edge of the bowl, with flashes of what appears to be a baby dragon nearby, the greenrider can't resist making her way over. One brow is arched as she eyes the unfolding situation skeptically. "What are you going to do if your dragon falls asleep on your way back to the barracks?" Because babies, man. "Or if you need to salute?"

Eala's pop out of the shadows like a jack-in-the-box startles Ember, which in turn, startles Chayallanth and causes a strange hissing sound to emanate from the little green. Her back arches and she scuttles closer, eyes whirling faster. Play? Not-play? She seems to hover on the edge of making poor choices! "I'm going to salute," Ember says with a grin, awkwardly holding the mini aquarium while affecting the WORST salute ever, "ma'am." The weyrling is tired — it is etched into the bones of her face, shadowing her eyes with fatigue — but it's the kind of exhaustion that brings an internal joy. "If she falls asleep, then I'm fucked, but she won't exercise with Dolly and Dot." Water swishes as Ember juggles the aquarium. "Right now, I'm triaging the battles I pick to fight. If I bring the fish, she walks and will sit down for her bath."

Eala cracks a smile when Ember starts, before her gaze strays toward the scuttling green. She's reminded faintly of Oriahysciath, although she wasn't so blessed with… "Fish?" Leaning forward, the greenrider attempts to peer into the odd little aquarium. "Have you considered a wagon?" The suggestion is faintly hesitant, because she's not entirely sure she should be encouraging this, but she had a strong-willed dragon of her own and there's only so much that can be done at this age. "Have you tried telling her that it's probably terribly frightening for the fish to have to travel like this, and that they'd be happier staying in the barracks?"

Exhaustion does not make a good friend to Observation; Ember is as dull as a box of rocks for anything except Chayallanth. "Yes, fish. Meet Dolly and Dot. Chayallanth swears she can tell them apart and I believe she can. Somehow." Raising her eyes to Eala when the greenrider makes that suggestion, the girl blinks. Taking a moment to process the words — listen, they are hard — she blinks again. "Why… why you're brilliant!" Enthusiasm is somewhat dampened by fatigue, but her smile is huge. "I could get one with the little pull handle." Shifting the aquarium from one side to the other, the weyrling shakes her head. "She is insistent that the fish are hers and they will grow legs and run away if they are not with her at all times. She watches them until she literally passes out, waiting for them to crawl out and try to escape. I try to tell her it's not possible, but…"

"Dolly and Dot." Eala's opinion on the fish is somewhat inscrutable, but doubtless her opinion is unnecessary — unless she attempts to take those precious fish away. "Does she try to talk to them?" There's genuine curiosity to be found in this question, as Oriahysciath never attempted to communicate with another species, unless she was trying to communicate her immediate desire to devour them. She laughs quietly, taking that praise with a hint of skepticism. Exhaustion can make one say funny things, after all. "Seems like it might be a slightly smoother ride for them, which is probably… better." With Chayallanth right there, she doesn't want to suggest that the death of the fish might be imminent, but it's there in her inflection. "It seems like, if the fish are hers, they ought to want to stay with her. Oriahysciath thought a great many things were hers when she was young, but it turned out they belonged to other people and she didn't get to keep them."

"I… don't know." Ember looks hesitantly at Chayallanth. "Her thoughts aren't always clear to me yet. It's like she's behind this vast, deep well of water sometimes." With her precious free hand that's been relieved of her fish, she rubs at her eyes. "We're working on our bond. I'm told it gets better as she ages and we both know what to do." In surprise, Ember stares at Eala, gaping just a hint. "You too? Your lifemate wanted things too?" Maybe she felt alone in this sea of strangeness that is Chayallanth and so she latches onto such a simple admission from Eala. "Will it… get better?" The strangeness, she means. As to the fish, Ember is avoiding even THINKING of fish death. One of them fishes isn't looking too healthy, after all.

"It's different for everyone," Eala admits, following the line of Ember's gaze to the young green. "There are some who understand each other immediately, and others who need to work at it. We didn't always see eye-to-eye, when I was a weyrling." Because STEALING IS BAD. Amused, the greenrider nods. "Yes. Chiefly things belonging to other weyrlings. Not to mention the marks she left around our couch." She makes a little claw out of her hand, indicating just what sort of marks she means. "It does get better, yes. You'll gain more skills in control, and she'll gain a better understanding of what you need to work together." There may still be fishes, though. Probably not these, because fish trauma is real. :(

"Hah!" Ember stretches out her free arm to show off a round of fresh scratches. "I understand that. She's already shredded my mattress and broke my favorite jewelry box." Chayallanth makes a sound — part protest, part pained mewl. "I know, dear-heart, that you didn't mean it. But your butt is big and it was small and you really didn't need to see if you could push it off the edge of the table with your foot." Heaving a sigh, she switches the bowl to her other hip and rests her arm, taking a few steps in the direction of the barracks, Chayallanth shuffling along. "Stealing?" A quick glare at her green to not get any ideas. "That must have been awkward." Beat. "Having to explain that." Em quirks a brow at Eala. Who knows, maybe the AWLM didn't exactly tell the victims. "I hope so. I'm lost, but it's still days yet. Everything is so new." One of the fish struggles to swim. Ember privately hopes to Faranth the damned thing lives, but fish trauma is definitely real.

Eala grimaces, wincing sympathetically at the sight. "As I recall, my arms looked similar in the early days." She could roll up her sleeves to show off a scar, but perhaps it's better not to remind weyrlings that they may be permanently marked. "Maybe it would be better to keep your things of value up very high, or locked up?" Rather than on tables, where curious dragons can see what happens when things fall. Remembering the burden Ember is carrying, Eala tilts her head toward the weyrling area in invitation — they can walk and talk, if she prefers to get somewhere with a flat surface sooner. "Yes. I wouldn't try it, it doesn't end well," she advises, glancing sidelong at the young green. HEAR THAT, CHAYALLANTH? "Inevitably, you get caught, even if you try to sneak things back to your clutchmates." She hasn't entirely broken Oriahysciath of the habit, either, but that doesn't need to be mentioned to impressionable weyrlings. At least, not tonight. "Everything's going to be new for a while," she admits with a faint smile, "but it's always a different kind of new."

Please don't tell Ember it's going to never go away! She's running on the HOPE that it's a PHASE. "I… see." Her voice is hesitant as she shoots a quick look at her green. "I hope I… can do it." But she has too, right? This is her new life. That daunting thought is pushed aside when Eala offers to walk and talk. "I'd better get back to the barracks, but if you'd tell me about some of the other stuff you went through…?" Then maybe she wouldn't be feeling so uncertain. "It is new," she agrees, however, "Different. Exhilerating. New. Whatever happens. Whatever she breaks, I regret nothing." She is Chayallanth's as much as Chayallanth is hers. But as they walk and talk, Ember is going to be true to her opportunistic little soul and pump Eala of as much information as she can squeeze out of the greenrider! (And hope against hope that Dolly lives to see the morning.)

It's definitely never going to go away, sorry. Some of us have read Chayallanth's page. "You can do it," she assures, glancing between the pair. "Sometimes with a more… challenging partner," pain-in-the-ass would be the other appropriate term, "it can seem impossible at first, but she chose you because you can do it." Hopefully she's not making promises that can't be fulfilled, but Eala seems entirely confident that she's speaking the truth. "Even at the worst of times, You'll never truly regret it." Like, say, when your green is grounded and you're going stir-crazy and HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE THIGNS TO HEAL, SERIOUSLY???!!? Ahem. But Eala will gladly walk and talk, and perhaps share a little more than she should, given Chayallanth's quirks… but any ideas she might inadvertantly give the green are problems to be ironed out another day. Or just forgotten in favor of a tragic funeral for Dolly.

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