0001-03-04 - Things Everyone Knows

The Igenese winter is done, and early spring already shows hints of the baking desert sun that is to come. Still, it's early, and the mornings are pleasant enough: Nashi's still got a shawl wrapped around her shoulders against it as she dutifully spreads another layer of oil upon her Nakaskioth, the brown lazing towards the middle of the cavernous weyrling barracks. "Don't wiggle," she instructs, sharply. "You know better than that. I can't reach when you act like a child."

Where Nashi wears a shawl, Lo is sleeveless. Where Nashi is dutiful, Lo is indolent, lounging against Eoventh's side, her own head wedged in between the gold's dropped head and forelimb. "But aren't they children?" that dulcet voice calls over, "They're a lot further along than most five months olds are, right?" Lo lifts her head just a smidge to try and find Nashi and Nakaskioth around the wedge of dragon trying to obscure her vision, and when that fails, she slinks lower and peers at the other weyrling pair from beneath Eoventh's already broad chin with a broad grin.

"They're the size of--" What is an accurate descriptor? They're big, in that still-small-in-comparison way. Big enough to already be a pain to wash and oil (and at least they're more or less able to feed themselves by now). "I don't think that counts as babies."

Nashi doesn't look at Lo as she speaks, but there's a pretty obvious disapproving sharpness to her tone: she's never done much to hide her opinion that Lo ought to be doing more to, well, lead their merry group of weyrlings.

<Projection to Eoventh> Nakaskioth : Nakaskioth stretches, cat-like and content, and extends a tendril of thought towards Eoventh. It's not his fault that wiggling is fun.

Whether Lo is oblivious to that overt disapproval, or has figured out a coping mechanism to coexist in this, ever-compressed space is unclear. The broad grin remains, though it appears to lose a bit of earnestness. Lo wiggles away from Eoventh more, sliding to the ground so her butt drops with an unceremonious thunk, and then runs oil-stained fingers through her slightly greasy bangs, the slick of them keeping them away and unattractively up. If Pern had lions, she might look like one at this point. "Sure they are. They only know a little more than they did when they hatched. We still need to muck until they learn to go between, they're like babies who are still aren't latrine trained, and who sometimes need to be reminded that maybe, MAYBE you really don't need to eat that third wherry." Eoventh rumbles something bemused and chuffs at Lo's hair, before nosing those electro-shocked bangs back down. Or tries to.

<Projection to Nakaskioth> Eoventh : Indulgent warmth wraps about those thought tendrils. She approves of wiggling, especially at the expense of Nakaskioth's rider. << It is fun, >> the gold puts the thought into words. << If I hadn't had that third wherry this morning, I would wiggle too. >> Perhaps Lo was right for once.

Nashi huffs something that probably isn't completely complimentary, though it could just as easily be for her brown-- who is wiggling again-- as for Lo and her lion's mane. "They can talk in complete sentences," she counters. "And walk. And soon they'll be flying, which is definitely beyond a human child. They can sit still and do what they're told, and when they don't, it's because they're naughty. Does she eve listen to you, when you tell her 'no'?"

That last may be intended as insult, but it's harder to make that stick when Nakaskioth is not precisely listening to Nashi, either.

<Projection to Eoventh> Nakaskioth : Nakaskioth is a veritable jumping-bean. Coffee-infused, indeed, though of course there's no coffee here. << I'm bigger than you, >> he tells her, though this is unlikely to last for long (if it's even true now): he may have had a growth-spurt, but what does that count for, really? << Are you trying to be bigger than me again? >> All that wherry meat. Heavy.

Lo does not need to think when she replies, "No," to Nashi's intended insult. Warmth returns to her grin, and her gaze slips up to Eoventh in a very besotted, if slightly quizzical, look. It deepens into amusement, the girl's entire face crinkling into an inaudible laugh. With Eoventh, Lo is at ease. By Eoventh, Lo is happy in a way that fades when she steps away, the physical proximity of her dragon, giving her confidence by proxy. "There's nothing of true importance yet to put my foot down and I figure she'll learn like all other little children do, eventually. We figure out, right?" Not that she has, but let's just ignore that for now.

"Are you hungry?" Hangry, perhaps? Lo heaves herself up from the ground and pats around her numerous pockets and finds a smashed bag of pistachios. "Want one?"

<Projection to Nakaskioth> Eoventh considers this. << You can be bigger than me if you want. >> Eoventh knows, somehow, that this will not be the case, no matter how big the want is. << For now. I wouldn't recommend eating more than two wherries, even if you think you're very very hungry. >>

Nashi's shoulders and back stiffen, and this time she does actually look at Lo, her mouth set to something sharp and not especially (or at all) warm. "She needs to learn to mind you now," is her opinion, "or she won't, later. Everyone knows that Queens are strong-willed." 'Everyone' apparently includes non-weyrbred healer washouts, too.

"No," she adds. It takes her longer than a beat-- several beats-- to add. "But thank you."

<Projection to Eoventh> Nakaskioth is bigger than Eoventh, and likes it, so that's fine. Good, even. He's a big brown, and he's wiggly, and maybe later there will be sunshine to wiggle in; what more could he want? << I'll keep that in mind, >> he adds. << But I've never wanted more than two anyway. >>

The bag of nuts falters and the brightness of Lo's geniality fades again. Eoventh did not quite succeed in pushing down any of those oil slicked crazy bangs of her rider's, and the whole image is woebegone. "You're right," she concedes, voice placid, "I'm not strong willed at all, and I don't know much about dragons," even though she's lived in a Weyr all her life, "It's the first time I've been a rider," as if you could be a rider more than once, "Thank you, Nashi." Is she for real? Like, what? But it sounds and looks so earnest. There are little tells, however, the grip on the bag tightening to white knuckles, as she plucks a few pistachios out to pop into her mouth. "Sometimes, I wish I could be more like you. You've been places and seen things and know so much more than I could."

Lo bows down. Eoventh is not pleased. The rumble precedes the dragon rising and lumbering out to the bowl, her very deliberate path causing her growing shadow to cast over Nashi.

Nashi hesitates. It's one thing to be bitter and unhappy, and another to... "We're all learning," she ventures, uncertainly. It might work better if she did not seem quite so condescending, despite the words. "You'll get there. Eoventh chose you for a reason, right? So. You'll get there."

Awkward.

<Projection to Nakaskioth> Eoventh : << The sun will be out soon. >> Swirls of blue twine with the golden warmth in her tone. << Since you are so much larger, you should sit a little away from me, not to put me in your shadow. >> She has decided they will sit together, it is how it shall be today.

<Projection to Eoventh> Nakaskioth : Something of Nashi's guilt shows itself in Nakaskioth's reply, his usual enthusiasm tempered into something that feels less comfortable, fits him less well. << If you like, >> he agrees. << Unless the sun gets too hot, in which case... >> He's too young for it to be anything more than solicitousness, unless, of course, this is another hint of guilt, carried from rider to dragon.

"Eoventh isn't happy," replies Lo. Unaware her words could be taken in any other meaning or way, she then adds, "She says I look wretched and should wash the oil out of my hair." A light laughter escapes, her hand reaching up to try and tame the oiled up bangs, "I must look a sight. I didn't remember I had oil on my hands and those nuts did taste a little funny." But now she knows. Not quite addressing anything Nashi says at all. "I'll see you later for whatever lecture we have today."

There are so many things Nashi could say. Should say, maybe. But... "Sure," she says, instead. "See you later."

Lo quickly gathers her bathing things and tosses a clean towel and clothes into a bag, heedless of the oil still on her hands and saunters out after Eoventh, who has decided to position herself for optimal sunning this morning until told otherwise.