Logs:Measuring Growth
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| RL Date: 28 October, 2015 |
| Who: Jocelyn, Leova |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: At the half-month mark, Jocelyn and Aidavanth report to Leova for a checkup. |
| Where: Dragon Infirmary, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 16, Month 2, Turn 39 (Interval 10) |
| The huge warm pool is swirling gently as it always does, if helped now and again by the paw of the electric-minded dragon who plays an island near its middle: Vrianth, overseeing the day's visits. It's a regular who's leaving just now, a gray-muzzled brown who manages to keep even his badly Threadscarred wing from trailing where it might land upon an errant weyrling or, worse, be pounced upon. Leova's still conferring with his rider, though she pauses upon spotting the arriving weyrlings to tilt her head towards the measurement lines: by now, can they arrange themselves on their own? « Before swimming, » Vrianth, gravelly amused. She splashes. A longing look is cast toward that warm, swirly pool by the next patient; Aidavanth and Jocelyn enter just as the much-older brown is leaving, and that brilliant wedge-shaped head turns to aim a final, wistful glance toward the water before long limbs carefully shuffle the little gold over to the indicated demarcations. Her partner, on the other hand, follows at a prompt stride, pale eyes lingering briefly on the brown's rider before turning to Leova. There's a nod, as she moves to check her dragon's position, silently prompting a small shift here or there until she's properly aligned. Mostly. That long tail might be a bit out of bounds. Said rider wasn't the sort to make memorable waves during Jocelyn's tenure in the inner caverns, but he gives her a nod like he recognizes her before getting back to layering on his hats: first the downy one that protects his bare pate, then the thicker, hairier wool part-fulled to keep the wind out. A grunt later, a fastening of earflaps, a more ambiguous look at the weyrling pair, and he's on his way out while Leova's all but closed the distance between herself and Jocelyn. And Aidavanth, who gets a look-over after her brisk greeting, the dragonhealer making practiced measurements. "Funny," she says along the way, dry. "Her tail's shorter than last time." Jocelyn watches that brownrider as he departs, brow creasing for a long moment; in the next breath, she's observing Leova's measurements, eyebrows lifting as her attention automatically flicks to the aforementioned appendage. "I didn't think that was possible, " a beginning that dissolves into an equally dry, "but clearly I'm not thinking outside the lines." Aidavanth's amused and makes a cheerful noise as she carefully snakes her tail into the proper set of marks. She otherwise holds still throughout this process and doesn't fidget, even if her focus remains squarely on that pool. "Clearly." Just as dry as before, until Leova's low laugh. "Look at that. Quick grower, your girl." She has just a few measurements to go, these with strings and angles, and then Aidavanth's waved free to go, go, go, go. "Staying symmetrical, too. Noticed anything I might should know?" Aidavanth doesn't need to be told twice; she's setting off for the pool with a warble. Fast-growing limbs aren't always compatible with a child's enthusiasm, however, so her entrance is more of a trip into the water than a graceful step. Splash. And she's all too happy to share her delight with Vrianth once she gets her bearings, thoughts filled with sociable cheer. Hello! "She really is growing fast, " Jocelyn notes, arms folding across her chest. "We haven't had any remarkable issues yet, aside from occasionally getting who's hungry mixed up. But that's improving." There's a side-glance for the greenrider, considering. Then, quietly: "On my end, it's still the biggest adjustment to have someone who can know everything that's in my head. It's an advantage in some ways, to not have to really explain myself. It's just strange to not have the, " grimace, "privacy. Even if she is as respectful as anyone could be." The island's more like an outcropping by now, an inverted shoreline that's higher rather than lower: Vrianth, lounging half by the wall and half where it becomes floor, away from the ramp that makes it easier for oldsters or littles. She gives Aidavanth cheerfulness back, not light but fizz. Leova's got a wry nod for that familiar hunger-story, meanwhile, and jots a few more graphite notes on the template hide. But amber eyes lift. "Glad she's more respectful than some." She doesn't look at Vrianth, but there's that tone in her smoky voice. "She understands it... all? Or is it that she can know, but doesn't always. Yet." Fizz tends to tickle if it hits one's nose at just the right angle, so the little dragon's happiness continues to emit as she swims, not unlike a steadily issued stream of bubbles. They merrily ping in the green's direction, leaving behind pleasant curiosity once they dissipate. Jocelyn's lips purse thoughtfully in the wake of Leova's question, eyes more blue than gray as she watches her lifemate at play. "She understands a lot, " and the redhead's attempt to not sound too surprised isn't half-bad. "The things that are too complicated, too layered - they do require some explanation. I know they won't always. She's terribly bright." That last, at least, is openly pleased. "Not surprised." Leova's watching them too, when she's not regarding Jocelyn: the slow waves Vrianth sends the orangey-gold's way, nigh low enough to be currents. Vrianth is not... illuminative. "Learned anything from her, yet?" Jocelyn hesitates, even as Aidavanth pauses a moment in her efforts to stick her nose into every little wave that's pushed in her direction. "We share some discomforts, " the weyrling admits at last, reluctantly. "Not of the physical, health-related variety. There are similarities between us that please me, and differences that are, well, different. She makes friends with ease. I'm not sure how much of that is her charm as a little one, or more just how she is. But she's, well, " and a hand gestures briefly toward the pool, sentence dissolving into a shrug. That makes for many little waves, in rhythm upon rhythm. Leova doesn't attempt to complete that sentence with a word, with a phrase. Only, "Do you wish you did?" that smoky voice calm enough to be asking about spring over fall. Rhythm upon rhythm, until there's one that's not. Shoulders hunching inward the tiniest bit, the younger redhead looks very much as if she'd rather not answer, jaw and temples drawing taut before she exhales a held, "Sometimes." In the water, Aidavanth sighs, too, a gusty breath that ripples across the space between her and Vrianth. "People are respectful." It's not the usual sort of thing that someone might complain about, and yet. "If they were before, I could at least feel that I had earned it through my work. She - " a glance to the dragons, back to Leova, " - we know that it's inevitable. It just doesn't sit well." Vrianth's vivid gaze is that much more quick-whirling now, intent; stretching, she recurves that long neck of hers and likewise blows, not against the gust but at an angle that urges it on. Her rider has a wry curve to her mouth. "No 'I earned all the gilded glories' for you, then. Or rings on every finger and toe." She glances at the younger woman's footwear, with more of that wryness, even so. "Still get some of that, myself, visiting my cousins' family. If you do get on with others more easily... hope you'll still feel like yourself." Jocelyn's feet wiggle slightly in response to that glance, housed in well-worn shoes that have seen several scuffs too many. "Someone would make sure I pitched headfirst into the lake if I put on airs." Leova? Aidavanth? Both? She matches the other's wryness, mouth twitching into a small smile of her own. "I don't know that I will, " or can, "get on more easily." Saying 'thank you' more often isn't a bad beginning, however. Still, she lapses into a sober silence, adding at some length: "You wished me luck, before. I don't know if it did anything to make a difference, but - I'm glad I didn't turn my knot in." It's a quiet admission. Another pause, a fraction of a beat in Aidavanth's exhalations. And then there's a small, surprised sneeze as she leans down a little too close to stare at the ripples from their combined efforts. Leova certainly looks at Aidavanth on cue, but there's a bit of a pleased crinkle about her eyes, even before that amber gaze returns to Jocelyn herself. She listens without hurry, but also with a gradual, deepening smile. "I'm glad. And," surely more would come, laconic yet meaningful, but there's that sneeze and she's looking, laughing, Vrianth's own laughing rumble so low as to be near subliminal. "Darling." "She is, " and Jocelyn makes no effort to hide the warmth that spills into her expression and tone. The pair's shared amusement brightens her face while Aidavanth gives a brisk shake of her head on her way out of the pool, burnished hide dripping. "I - " Whatever was meant to fill that gap turns into an even, " - think your next patient is here." And there's another pair entering the dragon infirmary, a rather lurid, little green who exchanges greetings with her orange-gold sibling - and her lad, whose clothing is still stained from a recent feeding. Vrianth lifts her her wings, the smaller sails still furled until they're high enough to flicker just her fingersails, the minutest of weyrling-sized shakes. "Ah," says her rider, turning to regard the arrivals as well. "If patients are a virtue, this will be a fine day indeed. Until next time, hm?" Leova has a quick smile for Jocelyn and her lifemate, then heads to welcome the new pair... and get her shins butted, as it turns out, by that poky green nose. |
Comments
Squishy (19:00, 29 October 2015 (PDT)) said...
Too cute. If only they stayed babies forever.
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