Logs:A Better Friend
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| RL Date: 21 January, 2014 |
| Who: Elise, N'dalis |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Suraieth is proddy. Elise helps ground a flaky Dal. |
| Where: Nursery, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 13, Month 11, Turn 33 (Interval 10) |
| It's afternoon, a clear fine autumn one, and N'dalis sits, cross-legged, on the floor, surrounded by blocks. This is clearly the work of a child of about five who is working determinedly, building them into walls, arches, and interior buildings of some description. "Daddy," says the boy, impatiently, reaching across the wall to tug at his father's sleeve. "/Daddy/. You're supposed to be /helping/." Dal doesn't move; Dal stares into space, completely and utterly /not there/, despite his physical presence. "/Daddy/!" Very definitely /not/ normally in the nursery, Elise knows her way to it nevertheless, even while checking from a list on a clipboard and with three little girls in tow. As they all trail in, she's saying, "Gertie and Persha, your next lesson will beeee... in one hour. And Alecsa, yours is in just fifteen minutes." She turns to face them, to make sure they heard, her eyebrows lifted in that classic 'am I understood' quirk. They all nod say in near-unison, "Yes Elise." And, satisfied, she allows them to scatter to another part of the room where an actual nanny waits to fetch them coats or a spare pair of socks. Elise has by now seen N'dalis there on the floor and, though she's smiling, she seems to be hesitant to approach. Eventually she decides to regardless of her second-guessing, that's when she realizes Dal's in his happy place. Or somewhere not here. She reaches over to touch his shoulder. "Dal?" Perhaps it's that Elise has actually /touched/ him, albeit through his shirt, that rouses Dal when his boy's tugging did not. He seems dazed, somehow: bewildered, as though he's not entirely sure how he ended up here and what he's doing. "Uh," he says, intelligently, blinking fast. And then: "Oh." Dark eyes slide from Elise to his son, who kneels there, waiting. Carefully, Dal picks up a block, and puts it atop some of the others. "Silly daddy," announces Jay, dismissive, as he replaces the block in an apparently more appropriate location. Even so, he's apparently content, going back to what he's doing without further comment. To Elise, then, Dal turns his attention. "I... must have spaced out." He's blushing. At least she has a smile prepared for when he finally does look up, even if she's a little weirded out by his behavior and it might not be appropriate to smile about it. Since both he and his son are on the floor she bends to join them, otherwise it'd be a little awkward, and after a little rearranging of her legs she's able to make those tailored pants cooperate. She watches Jaymin play for a moment, that smile lingering until she looks over at his father. "Dal," she says quietly, "are you okay?" "Su's, uh," Dal doesn't quite manage to finish that explanation, though it's difficult to tell whether it's because he's lost his train of thought or because he's decided it isn't actually necessary to put it into words. His fingers grope for one of the blocks; having picked it up, he turns it over and over in his hand, as if marvelling at the sensation of wood against skin. "Since this morning." It doesn't take long for her to catch up. Her mouth forms an 'o' of instant understanding and she makes a gentle sound, suddenly Dal seems a little more fragile. She watches him turning that block, looks across the other blocks at Jaymin, mustering a smile if she should meet his eyes. Her own move back to the greenrider next to her, so she can check on him too, and she keeps her voice quiet to ask, "Do you want to go somewhere?" Else? Jaymin, despite the oddness his father is displaying, gives Elise a brilliant smile. But he has a wall to build, and this clearly takes precedence. "No, I should stay," answers Dal, his brow crinkling with intensity, as though he's forcing himself to focus (which is certainly likely). "He'll have to stay here, until afterwards. SO I should..." Words fail. "But I shouldn't be responsible. Her logic's all screwed up, and I can't... it's not making sense. Am I making sense?" At first Elise just rests her hand very gently on Dal's shoulder, in case this might help. She seems only slightly more confident about this as she was back when she was playing nurse for him in the jungle all that time ago. "Not really," she answers him honestly, with a little shrug and a warm smile. "But it's okay. You're doing fine. I... I wish I could say something or do something to help. I'm afraid I'm kind of useless right now for you. Isn't she usually /really/ logical?" There's no blood this time. That's an improvement! Dal favors Elise with a brilliant smile, that kind that is so very rare in his ordinary life. Again, physical contact seems to improve the situation: when he speaks again, it's in a more measured tone. "I don't think there's any help for it, really. Until she goes up. Except that talking helps, I think. Otherwise I just get lost in her. Yes, she's usually very logical. In her own way, anyway. So it's... strange. But. How are you, Elise? Talk to me." A fact not lost on Elise, since it's the second time she's done so little as touch his shoulder and he's already speaking more clearly. She leaves her hand where it is then, if it helps, and directs her eyes up at the ceiling while she thinks about what to say. There's a lot of information she /could/ give him. "I'm good," she goes with, nice and simple. "I've been helping Shevena with everything. Now that we have Candidates again. It's strange being back in the dorms, even if it's just to clean them. And... hm. I don't know, I guess that's it." It isn't, but she gives him a shrug and rubs his back a little, toys with a loose thread on her sweater with her other hand. N'dalis is not, it seems, a flirty proddy: while the motion of Elise's hand is clearly soothing and grounding, that's the extent of his reaction to it. "That's it?" Even in this state, the greenrider manages to be dubious. "Not that I'm not glad that you're... that you're good. It seems like it's been kind of a difficult few months for you. From what I've heard." There is, at least, no judgment in his tone. Elise gives him a serious look, meets his dark eyes briefly and then looks over at Jaymin, just like that. But there was a lot happening in that look, however quick it was. Her smile for the little boy is /bright/. "He's gotten so big. You have. It's like you sprouted. I heard someone in the kitchen say they lost some magic beans, did you take them?" For his father, "Has he been liking it here? How long has it been, did you bring him right when you graduated? I feel like I haven't really gotten to talk to you in forever." It's enough: Dal doesn't press for more. Jaymin, glancing up, positively beams back at Elise. "I ate them all up!" he tells her. "And then I became a giant overnight, but then I shrunk back a bit because it was incon-- incon-- because it was too annoying." It makes his father smile, though less brightly. "He loves it. He still gets to see his grandparents regularly, but it's been good, being so close again. It's been... months. Since graduation, yes." The exact count is beyond him, at present. "I guess we've both been... busy. I didn't mean to... I'm still glad you're doing well." For Jaymin, "Probably bonking your head on everything, I imagine that can get /very/ annoying." And for N'dalis, "I bet it has. Been good I mean. I bet you missed him a lot all that time, Candidacy and then Weyrlinghood on top of that. But here you are." Her smile for /Dal/ is just as bright and also a little bit encouraging, meant to be like her hand on his back. "We have both been busy but... I miss you. You and Bria, and... Razi." Her eyes go a little distant on that note, her fingers brushing against her cheek like there are tears there, when there aren't. "You're right you know. It's been rough." "'zactly," agrees Jaymin, firmly. "Though I /could/ climb up to the weyr on my own, then." Which has merit, but... clearly not enough to convince him otherwise. "I did," agrees Dal, quietly, though he's still smiling. "It was hard. And..." She's mentioned Razi, which once would have caused an expression of distaste, and later, a flinch, and now... his smile fades, and he gives a more serious nod. "I'm sorry," he says. "That you got... left behind. It shouldn't have been like that. It should... and of course it's been rough, and we should have been there for you, and..." He has to stop, and try and solidify his thoughts. This is /hard/. "It's okay," Elise says quickly, her hand resuming its slow back and forth; it was paused before, while she thought so heavily on heavy subjects. "It is. It's just to go from living with all of you every day to almost nothing. And everything else has been my fault, so don't worry about it." She gives him a little pat, a little smile, it's all okay, and then turns that smile on Jaymin. "I heard they have these /other/ magic beans that give you wings. That might be better." "/Wings/," says Jay, positively beaming. "I need to get me some of those. Like Su has! We get to go flying, sometimes, and it's /so much fun/." His enthusiasm makes his father smile, but Dal is still looking at Elise, expression wavering. "It's not really okay," he says, his shamefacedness probably exacerbated by the present state of his green. Emotions are /hard/, okay? "Even if some of it was your fault. It's... are you going to stand again?" "It sounds /wonderful/." That's obviously for Jaymin, and she's still wearing that smile when she looks at Dal again, even if it does fade. Maybe to keep up appearances for the little one. "Oh, Dal, don't. We're both going to get all wobbly and we can't." Because they're in a nursery. And that's his /son/. She ups the backrub a notch, making it a little more brisk, maybe that will help! About standing, after a second to think, she says, "Hattie said I have her permission, but a dragon needs to Search me. So I guess I'll just wait around until that happens. If it happens. But yes, I'd say yes." It does sound wonderful, and Jay now seems lost in the fantasy of it, though not as lost as his father was previously, at least. "Right, right," murmurs Dal, squeezing his eyes closed as he attempts to reorient himself. They open again a few seconds later as he adds, managing to smile again, "Good. I'd ask Su, but... she's hard to logic at the best of times, and right now she's kind of inscrutable. But you've been searched once, so it's likely to happen again, right?" "Oh no, it's fine. And exactly. It's happened once, if it happens it happens, and I suppose I'll go from there. I'm just glad to be here and not back at Ruatha. Especially now, Uncle always gets irritable around this time, dragonriders showing up to take people away. I think he was always afraid it would be me, little did he know he didn't have to worry about it happening at home." That's an attempt at light-hearted humor, with a nudge of her shoulder against his, her hand curling companionably around his arm. "Let's not let things worry us. Just this once." This time, Dal manages to smile more genuinely, and more broadly. "You're right," he agrees, lifting one hand to press it atop hers and squeeze, gently. "Let's not let things worry us. It's-- I suspect I'd better avoid visiting home, just in case. I don't want to cause an incident with Lord Astivan. Not that we'll be going anywhere at all until... you know. Hopefully it won't be long." "Right. I hear it's best to keep them close to their Weyr. Although the thought of anything making Astivan's day a little more troublesome does cheer me up." Cheeky, Elise grins at him before settling in at his side, reaching over with her other hand to help Jaymin arrange a block just so. "I'm here, Dal. If you need someone to talk to about it. Or anything. Ever. I'm here." That /does/ make Dal laugh, relatively genuinely. "Me too," he admits. "Although I'd rather not be at the center of any storm of controversy. I'd rather blend in." He turns his head so that he can look at Elise directly, and smiles. "The same is also true, okay? If you need /anything/. I'd like to try and be a better friend." "Right of course, blend in and be /secretly/ mischievous, I like it." Even if that's not what he /meant/, Elise is still grinning so she must mean it to be playful, that careful rearranging of his words. His return of her oath earns him another serious-faced look, her eyes darker for it, and a nod to agree. "You were always a good friend. But I know what you mean. We'll both be better." And for the next little while, until one of them needs to go, she spends her time with the both of them, helping Jaymin build all kinds of things out of blocks and talking about all manner of magical beans til the cows come home. |
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