When Grandma Comes Around
wgrounds.jpg


Xanadu Weyr - Training Grounds
A wide, grassy expanse, nestled into the gentle bowl shape where something's taken a bite out of the mountain. It's high above the level of the beach, and there's a good eastern view of the lake and a long path leading down to that sandy shore. Granite cliffs surround it on the other sides.
While much of the grounds are left in their natural state, one area has been trampled and trodden by enough feet that the grass struggles to grow. A running track circles a set of equipment - straw dummies with wooden frames, obstacles of various sizes and shapes, and targets for flaming, archery, and whatever else.
There's a dragon-sized opening to the south that leads to the cavernous weyrling barracks, and a smaller tunnel to the northeast - large enough for dragons newly emerged from the sands, but quickly outgrown by hatchlings who are then forced to take the long way around - at least, until they learn to spread their wings and fly. Between them in both position and size, a jagged crack in the stone leads to a dim cave with the sound of water.


Rukbat's bright enough to make this mid-afternoon a relatively warm one even if it's still wintery weather. A ribbon of thought reaches for the young dragons wherever they may by, its hue rippling between pale pink and bright orange as Luraoth's mind tangles around each of theirs with a gentle curiosity and - if she finds them awake enough for it - an invitation to join her. The mental image comes of the training grounds, with her settled in loaf position to watch the barracks entrance. Soriana is near her, leaned back against a rocky outcropping on which is set her satchel. Better there than underfoot!

Faeth may have been resting contentedly but as Luraoth's mind touches her she responds with the sharp spearmint thoughts of interest - the invitation welcomed and responded to almost silently. A few moments later she appears out of the barracks, alone, curiosity apparently piqued enough that she manages to sneak away mid-oiling (if the gleam that is visible partially around her neck is anything to go by) to see why they might be being summoned outside. She could have asked, sure, but what fun is there in not just investigating? When Cara appears behind her it's almost at a run, a large pot of oil in her hand. "Here you are. You shouldn't sneak away like that. I know it's no fun getting your neck done but we need to try."

«Never would dream of keeping a lady waiting!» the smooth rose colored mind-voice of Azrith reached out with a sensual purring vibration to his grand-dam's summon. His sleek indigo form slinks in fluidly, his wings tucked up firmly onto his lithe back and sky blue tail twitching in his wake. Looking amused, Zaria follows after her blue with a smile on her lips at his flirting ways, a little shake of her head as she catches up to him and walks the rest of the way to where Soriana and Luraoth are positioned.

DID SOMEBODY SAY PARTY? Leirith's mind pushes back at Luraoth's with excitement, the young queen's intention to be there marked by the throbbing vibrations of bass against the minds of anybody who will listen. The queen emerges before her lifemate (after several hiccups that were definitely not her running into the door frame, thank you), bounding off in the completely wrong direction before Risali appears to redirect her. "Leirith, you really, really need to wait for me." « Seeing-eye minion! The party is about to start! » And the gold, as if she was never at all completely turned around and blind starts in the direction of her clutchsibs and MAGNIFICENT GRANDMOTHER DRAGON. Risali's still pulling on her jacket, but doing it with her eyes fixed on the others so that Leirith doesn't maul anybody. "Afternoon," she breathes, to Sori, and Zari, and Cara alike, not even bothering to try and stop Leirith as she just keeps going and bonks right into the elder queen - on purpose this time, at least. « Waheeeey! One day I'm gonna be this big, Risa! And oh-ho-ho, will they regret telling me I can't set the barracks on fire then! » Sigh.

For Faeth, that wordless interest is replied to with a flicker through time of that same training field in spring, when herbs - like that spearmint - might grow. The mystery of time and space, and how the world changes! For Azrith, there's a tinkle of bells, playful laughter for his words. « Oh, you've already kept me waiting, » she replies to him, an affectionate tease to her tone. « All that time I waited for you to come out of your egg! » Leirith? Oh yes, her granddaughter gold's intention is More Than Clear (unlike her vision). As Luraoth sees the babies emerge she croons warmly, lowering her head to be closer to their level. One, two, and… three? « Thiiiis waaaay~~ » suggests the ribbon of thought to Leirith, a streamer waving in the mental breeze with one end anchored at Luraoth. …and there's three! The croon increases a notch in volume. « Hello, children, » she says to them, her gaze taking in each in turn before nudging her head down at Leirith in a gentler (if much larger) bump. « Why would you set the barracks on fire? » She's curious, really! Also it doesn't seem like that great an idea, because… « Everyone would get cold. » Soriana… watches all this, with a look of amused reminiscence. She looks to the humans following these dragons, and offers them a grin and a wave both. "So… how few hours of sleep have you gotten?"

« Root and Branch Leirith, you're going to hurt yourself one of these days! » There's amusement threaded through Faeth's words - an open broadcast scented with lemonbalm - but she stays where she is and instead turns her attention to the training grounds and the lack of herbs there. Her head tilts to one side, peering over at Luraoth before shooting off a narrower tendril of thought, this one confined to those in the training grounds alone but not quite narrow enough for the odler gold alone, « Was that here? Where? » Cara, on the other hand, is much more flustered trying to take in everything at once and get her lifemate to stay still onog enough that she can finish oiling her neck. Finally stepping right in front of the little green she manages something, twisting her head so she can reply to Soriana with a quiet, "More than I thought. She sleeps a lot after she feeds if she's… you know… if it doesn't stay down. I think it tires her out." No point whispering if the person you're talking about can read your mind, but at least she tries to keep it on the down low.

Azrith stretches his neck and looks around, 3 females and him? The perfect ratio if you ask him. His throat vibrates and a squeeky wheeze is heard which seemes to trouble the little blue who looks to Zaria for reassurance. "That was great Azrith! That was an actual sound!" the ginger-haired girl says with proud reassurance as she comes up and rubs his throat lovingly, "Those exercises must be working." she says softly to herself as they reach the the senior queen and her rider. Zaria starts to bow a little bit and then shakes herself with a little pink flush to her cheeks, old habits die hard. "Sleep? What is this sleep you speak of?" Zaria jests as she arranges herself near Azrith's head, one hand laying wedge shaped head, gently caressing it absently.

« Not if I hurt them first, Faeth! Oh, thank you, » Leirith replies in upbeat tones to Luraoth. « Sometimes my seeing-eye minion is distracted, and you're probably wondering why I haven't replaced her yet. » Probably not, but she tells her anyway: « Firstly, because me and that seeing-eye minion have been through a lot, and secondly, it doesn't matter. That's why. » Leirith croons, bumping her head into Luraoth's (with a little guess work and harder-than-intended impact, given that she's seeing herself in the third-person), and then, with cheerful exasperation, explains, « Well that will just eliminate the weak ones! » She probably doesn't mean that. « Those that can stand the cold would have a big, big - Risa, what do you call them? Yes, that. A big, big bonfire! Everybody would come, and maybe some would fall in, and that would just increase my Risa's chances of this red colored whatever that is inside of her… » You get the point, she just goes on and on, sharing flickering images of K'vir in a way that has Risali pretending really, really hard like she isn't blushing and isn't there and Leirith doesn't know what she's talking about even if she was. "Ah… From what I understand it's normal, but she dreams when she sleeps and," Risali winces, making a helpless gesture at the little gold. "It's kind of hard to sleep through… all of that." Translation: not enough, that's how much. She might also be trying to edge behind Zari, or Cara, or both.

« Beside the mud-puddle… » Luraoth answers Faeth. Ah, but where was that? And… for that matter, when? There's fuzziness around Luraoth's mental pictures of it, worn away by time… but never mind that. « There could be again. When the cold is gone, plants will grow. » She shares an image of a different field, one where her Soriana - and others - put seeds into the ground that grow in a series of mental images like time-lapse photos animated together. Azrith's squeak draws another croon from her, approving of… the effort, at least! She settles back a bit, addressing all three of them. « When I was young, my wing was crooked. » The mental image shows her when she was the size Leirith is now, one wing extended fully and the other… still half bent. « We worked hard on it, and now… » She extends them both, showing off the matching span. « You will get there. » Her assurance is warm like hatching sands or sunlight… or a bonfire, yes. A very large bonfire that torches the entire barracks! With the flames of PASSION. « She hides. » Luraoth shares the image of Risali from her own eyes with Leirith. « You see that red in her when she doesn't want to admit it's there. But you can both get better at seeing things for each other, the more time you spend together. » Soriana frowns with concern at Cara's answer, even if sleep itself is good, and nods to her. Zaria's brings a smile of amusement, and Risa's… "You get used to it. Eventually." Which doesn't mean it goes /away/, now does it? Such fun! …then she looks back to Cara again. "How often is it happening?" Either way she's concerned, but… /how/ concerned?

Cara's hands, coated in oil that now splashes over her, clap together happily. "Oh Zaria! He squeaked!" Pure unadulterated joy, just ignore that massive drip of oil under her left eye - she is. her hands quickly go back to the dry ruffle around Faeth's neck, but the green is definitely not all thatinterested in staying still to be oiled. « We can go there? » Excitement comes with a whole bouquet of herbs, enough to fill any garden, and she wiggles awkwardly in place trying to stay still but at the same time eager to be off to see those super fast growing, possibly magical, herbs. But there's that question to be answered, though it takes Cara some time before she does so - and not all of it can be blamed on concentrating on the oiling. "A lot? I mean… not a lot a lot, but… we're trying to keep her to little meals, little bits, but that just makes her cranky because she's hungry."

Zaria looks at Risa hiding, a soft look of…something in her eyes, but Cara's comment gets a bright smile, "I know! It can only get better." Her and Azrith both look up at the big gold when she projects the image of her crooked wing, «You can't even see any difference. That does give us hope, doesn't it Zaria?» Zar nods her head and scritches his eye ridges a little harder, making the blue lid his eyes and settle down into a more relaxed pose, fore and back limbs sprawled in the same direction, his long neck is curled back so that it rests on his back and his blue/green eyes whirling coquettishly in Faeth's direction. «I hope you feel better soon little sister.» he offers good-naturedly then turns back to his lifemate and croons his mindvoice at her «Oh Zaria! The question I wanted you to ask!» His eyes swirl faster briefly and Zar give him a roll of her own eyes and raises her hand, yes, you read that right, and says, "Ummm, Ma'am. When do dragons mature, y'know.. for… flights?" she's totally asking for a friend.

Wings, crookedness; Leirith is taking note and trying to figure out a way to apply it to her eyes with varying results. Risali is only a little late to the party, and that is mostly because her lifemate is in the process of being an emotional terrorist in the worst way possible. Still, she's hedging towards Zaria, reaching out to grab one of the younger weyrling's hand and giving it a squeeze with a whispered, "Congratulations." Though the celebratory word is mostly directed towards Azrith, as Leirith hones in on what Luraoth shows her and excitement sends her booming again. FIRE! « Hiding? Ha! Risa's the fiercest seeing-eye minion I know! That's why I picked her. She's probably just found something really interesting… » Cue the little queen parting ways with the older gold, Risali blinking up to guide with gentle words and her own eyes so that Leirith makes it without manslaughter. « A hand! She just found a hand. » Then Leiright does totally shove her face into Faeth and Cara with a wuffle. This is probably her version of sympathy. Or an accident. Risali? Giving Soriana a weak smile, and a sympathetic (apologetic) look for Cara. "That's what I keep hearing." Which is NOT PROMISING AT ALL. And then Zaria is asking her question and Risali is SIDE-EYEING HER but keeping a straight face. Inquiring minds need to know.

« Someday. » Luraoth answers Faeth. The summerlands will be waiting… come summer. « The day will come when you can see the whole of the world… but not yet. » Luraoth lets those images fade, at least for now, and leans down with a soft nuzzle for the top of Faeth's head as she tries to focus her attention back to the moment… at least for now. « The oil is good for your hide. » The Leirith head-butts? Surely those must also be good. SURELY. « There are many interesting things, » Luraoth agrees with the soft bells of laughter. « You can find them for yourselves… and each other. » Soriana's frown deepens at what Cara says. "Do they seem to help? The smaller meals, I mean." She steps closer to Faeth, looking along the line of her neck down to her stomach. "We really don't want her hungry… not just for the grumpy, but because she needs to be putting on weight. "If we can get her some supplements… and she can keep them down…" That is the trick, isn't it? Her pondering's put on pause as she notices Zaria's hand - which makes her smile, even as she nods. Yes, go ahead… huh? Soriana looks to Azrith, then Luraoth - okay, yes, update noted - before turning her gaze back to… Risa. And then back to Zaria, as asker of the question! "It depends." A wry smile. "Usually it's somewhere between one turn and three, depending on the dragon… but." There's always a but, isn't there? "They've already got access to /your/ feelings, and so… sometimes you'll find them.. trying those on, as it were." A look to Risa, now. "Like how you get those dreams, she gets… your feelings." Nooot gonna talk about which ones those are. Only implications! "All of them do." Let's share the awkward around, and so she looks between all three of them. "So, they're all trying to make sense of that, in… their own individual ways."

« But soon? » Faeth's attention may be rivetted on Luraoth, but she doesn't miss the comment from Azrith and takes a second to wrap his mind up in a lavendar scented hug. Leirith… well it's more of a physical hug she gets, neck to neck, because she is Right There after all. "Careful! The oil!" The oil that is now beind shared between sisters, and a fair chunk more over Cara too as she gets caught up in that hugging thing. Extracating herself carefully she turns her head round as much as she can towards Soriana, but she's not an owl so she ends up having to turn away from the youngsters a little, "Most of the time? But if she eats too quickly then… splat." Zaria's question, and more importantly the answer, is listened to with keen interest. And a blush? "Our… feelings." « All of them. » Yes, that's definitely a blush.

Zaria gladly takes Risa's hand, if maybe a little too eagerly, and gives it a little reassuring squeeze. She nods to Soriana's reply and then gives a look in her blue's direction, who seems to be not paying attention now and is busy preening himself and warmly accepting the lavendar scented hug from his clutch sis and returns a wave of swirling turquoise, like a piece of expensive silk wrapping itself around the green's mind. With a little snuff, he gets up and oh-so-casually moves over to where his sisters are sharins a moment and subtle joins in the group cuddle, his tail wrapping it self around the two of them. as he curls up next to Faeth. A snort escapes Zaria as she rolls her eyes, "Me? He is the one with those feeling projected on me!" That's it Zar, blame your dragon.

WHAT! Risa blinks at Soriana's eyes on her once, then again, then shakes her head viciously as one hand goes out like it can WARD OFF SUSPICION. She's giving Zaria a (gentle, friendly) bump with her shoulder as if to communicate, 'Look what you've done,' without words - and then she's nodding concession with Zaria's conviction. Totally the fault of dragons. ALL OF IT. When their brother comes to join them, Leirith shifts around on both her sister and her brother - a tail for you, a snout for you - and simply makes herself as comfortable as she can, oil be DAMNED. « Excellent! This is what we call a SLUMBER party! » At least if you're Leirith, anyway, who is definitely trying to fall asleep on everybody. But back to feelings, Risali clears her throat, looking from Sori, to Cara, to Zari, and back to Soriana again. "How will we know when they're ready?"

« Not tomorrow. Nor the day after that. » Luraoth's firm in that as she replies to Faeth, concrete about the near future even as the distant remains open. « You must grow large enough. » A mental image of colorful fish, growing larger in a little pond. Someday, they will escape! But for now… they'll curl all about with each other, and Luraoth croons as she watches them. Soriana, meanwhile, hehs. "Extra oil does nobody any harm as long as you don't fall down because of it," she assures… which is a good thing, given how all three of the dragons are now getting themselves smeared with it. "Some turns I've been tempted to just build them a giant pond of it to roll around in…" A shake of her head, there, and then she returns to the more worrisome and awkward subjects at hand. It can't all be watching adorable babies! She nods to Cara. "Let's see about supplements, then. Something easy to digest…" Unlike the emotions of riders and dragons! Whichever side they're actually coming from. "Well…" Soriana says to Zaria. "Are they… feelings you've had before?" Can she be delicate? Maybe. Ish. She can at least let them maintain their denials! "He might be trying on memories, like… kids with their parents' clothes. Sometimes they get fascinated by something and… it's all you hear that week. Or month." A wry smile, and she looks to Risa… with a further quirk of lips. "Some folks get lucky and have real obvious changes. Some… well, I knew Luraoth was ready when I realized that we were at the feeding grounds, she was blooding, and I wasn't actually dreaming anymore." « The blood brings power. We rose far. »

A snuggle-pile of baby dragons. Faeth settles down happily, oily self slipping between her siblings til she finds a place where she can be both pillow and pillowed. If her eyes drift shut, well that's just from being comfy of course. She's not really sleeping. She does perk up again slightly at the mention of blood, however. One eye unlidding as a tendril of interest once again seeks out Luraoth. "Yes, ma'am." Cara nods, turning to go back to oiling and finding a heap of dragonhide that… well it's too much for one pot. The little laugh the bursts forth is short, but fond. The talk of feelings, that gives her more problems. There's a very clear 'don't think about it, don't think about it' expression that crosses her face, followed by a snort fromm Faeth that confirms she did, indeed, think about it.

Azrith shuffles a little bit, settling into the cuddle puddle. His eyes lid themselves and he lets one sleepy thought project itself, «Slumber Party? I have a feeling there's another term for this.» And with that his mindvoice fades to black as sleep takes a hold of him. Zaria shakes her head, a little confused at Azrith's last statement, but before she can say anything, a loud rumble comes from her mid section which she quickly covers with her hands, looking embaressed, "I skipped breakfast." she says in way of explanation for her vocal stomach. "If you'll excuse me, I really should eat before he wakes back up, he doesn't like me to be too far when he's awake." She smiles warmly at her fellow weyrlings and then gives a nod to Soriana and her queen, "Ma'am's." and she is off in the direction of the Caverns.

Ooooh, blood. For just a moment Leirith seems interested; but the mini queen's focus is depleted quickly on the heels of warm bodies and sleep. At least the beating bass quiets, instead leaving glimpses of colorful masks and places that Risali can't quite make sense of, distracting enough, but not nearly as distracting as when the gold is awake. Soriana is graced with a muted smile from Risali, one that dissipates under the obviousness of her own tired brain catching up with her, grey eyes leaving only to watch Zaria go. "Thank you," she tells Sori then, attention back on her. "For answering our questions. If it's alright, sleep sounds fantastic." If she's dismissed? Yeah, she totally races back to the barracks. Either way, the weyrling is going to get in some shut eye once Soriana leaves them - or hang out quietly in the back until she goes.

Soriana glances to Luraoth as well at that mention of blood. Not… exactly where she usually goes with babies, but now that she has those two streams in her head together… huh. It /is/ rich in nutrients. And it's a liquid, which means… maybe it /is/ the dragon equivalent of chicken soup. She gives a thoughtful nod, and Luraoth takes the thought to its conclusion. « We will bring you blood, » she says to Faeth. « It will make you strong, so you can go far. » Even if, for the weyrling, that's more about being able to make it across the field than flying through the sky. At least, for now. Someday! But for now… Soriana mostly hides her amusement at Zaria's tummy-rumble, and nods. "Go, get yourself fed so you don't fall over. I don't think he's going anywhere," really, Azrith looks to be right where he desires, "and Luraoth and I will be sticking around for a bit." She glances at the others. "That goes for you two as well, if you need to run and take care of things." Or get the most restful attempt at sleep they can manage. "We can keep an eye on your babies."

A tiny sagey finger of hope tickles Luroath's mind before Faeth is captured by the sleep that seems to have pooled right around the little ones. Cara looks relieved at the dismissal, "I should get…." She waves an oily hand by way of explanation. "Thank you. For… for everything." She, also, hurries off inside and it's only a question of which happens first - sleep or oil removal. Could get messy if it's the wrong way around.


Add a New Comment
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License