Logs:Puppy Onslaught
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| RL Date: 20 November, 2014 |
| Who: H'kon, Raija |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Raija has something to show her father. Somethings. |
| Where: Stables, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 1, Month 5, Turn 36 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: K'del/Mentions, Juli/Mentions, Nammy/Mentions, Simeon/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Leova/ST. Also, although the dogs in the log are more herding dogs and less weiner dogs... Puppy onslaught! http://www.wimp.com/dachshundpuppies/ |
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| Today's sweeps were very early, crack of dawn sweeps. This is why Dilan had been dissuaded from bunking with Arekoth, and why H'kon's gear had been all systematically laid out before bedtime. This is also why he's home fairly early, with cheeks ruddy from the winter air, where the makeshift scarf could not cover so well as that balaclava (carefully laid out, only to have mysteriously vanished in the night) should have done. Arekoth, too, felt the cold, doing his best now to shake the chill from his wings as he enters off that low ledge. It's not that Raija rises that early, though dawn isn't quite as late as it used to be. Perhaps the balaclava crawled away of its own accord and she found it, which would explain why she's peeking out of it as she runs to greet her father. To skid to an almost-stop before him. To, when he reaches down, grab one arm and clutch it with both of hers if she can. Only after he's turned that arm - and the girl, with it - in a twirl does H'kon, with one of those smiles that only tend to be seen in-weyr, say, "Ahah." Arekoth rustles his wings a second time, offering up a soft croon to the littlest one, even while craning his neck, and cold snout, forward. It's more a threat than a contact (this time), but the brown seems amused enough nonetheless, tail and wings twitching faintly. In the same even, almost dry, tone as he'd used at first, "How fortunate that you've found it." Twirl. Raija doesn't like spinning to disorientation, they've proved that, but this is good. Standing on his foot when at last they come to rest is good too. When Arekoth's nose approaches, it's good to let go with a squeak and scuttle back behind her father, 'hiding' from the 'very scary' snout. From that vantage, she says, "You lose yours." Her tone has less to do with past forgetfulness, or 'forgetfulness,' and more of prognostication. With Arekoth's entrance, then, this is not a time to walk her around on his feet. The brown angles his head so one eye is more on the girl, his girl, his rider's girl, and waits. "Frequently," agrees H'kon, still dry, though there's a muscle twitching at the corner of his mouth. And then that big neck stretches, and that head sways, to peek around. H'kon is not a big man; Arekoth's belly never has to leave the ground. She's hiding. She's hiding. She's hiding. And then, from the shelter of H'kon's legs, Raija jumps out with her high-raised fingers curved into claws like she's going to attack. No, like she's attacking, with an inarticulate shout that ends with a giggle and might as well be a 'Boo!' Gasp! Arekoth tucks his head back, flicks his wings, closes his eyes. Terrified. Until he can't resist but to open an eye again, and stretch that cold muzzle forward again. H'kon, he waits in that same place, taking the distraction as opportunity to remove some of his riding and winter gear (that isn't on Raija). 'Terrified!' It lights up Raija's little face into her characteristic almost-grin, eyes bright and cheeks lifted with her mouth tucked close. Playing with Arekoth means she gets to run in circles around her father while he's occupied, but either she's keeping an eye on H'kon or she just knows, because when he's done... "Come see," she says with a tug to his sleeve. Arekoth keeps Raija busy quite happily, and just as happily settles when she turns her attention back to H'kon. Go on kid, you're exhausting. "See," repeats the brownrider, with a final adjustment to the jacket that was threatening to slide from its hook. But he stoops and is led; the usual notations and hidework can wait. A short while. Raija is short. It will take a while. Once they get out into the open, she holds her father's hand instead of his sleeve, and stays close. She doesn't say anything needless, but she is definite about her direction: to the rooms where she's cared for with the other children during the day. She might have forgotten something, though it's a rare day when even such a little girl does. Perhaps she wants him to talk, say it isn't so, to someone there. Only, she doesn't make it all the way there. She stops where the larger tunnel meets its hallway, and she turns around, reorienting... before it's onward once more. Will H'kon have had enough before she can bring him to the stables at last? Will H'kon ever not be right there with Raija, when asked? He doesn't speak for the sake of speaking, either; it's the foundation of their relationship, and it's a comfortable one, the silence, the observation, the wordless games. The wordless leading and reassurances. He marks the places they go with looks to landmarks, aware of any riders they may pass, more than the residents, but certainly not shaken from the importance of... whatever it is he is to see. In the stables. Where he looks to his daughter, with full attention (and perhaps some admiration for the tenacity of those short little legs) and waits. This word is important: "Come." Where Raija alone might be shooed away, in her father's company... she looks into one stall, and that's not it. The next one, and that's not it. There are beasts here even this time of Turn, but fewer. Across the aisle, she finds it: a bitch with pups, and she looks over her shoulder at H'kon. Does he see? H'kon goes, more beside than in tow, though he makes no move to remove his fingers from Raija's grasp. When they stop, he looks. When the little girl has turned to him, he squats down, something in his knees snapping, audibly if apparently not painfully. H'kon looks. And sees. It's a noise Raija is used to, that she takes for granted. She doesn't touch, but she does look. Not at the biggest, a dog pup with floppy, silky ears. Not at the runt, thank Faranth. But of the five, there are two that draw her attention, one a bit more than the other, brindled and still fuzzy with babyhood. H'kon still has hold of Raija's hand, and still keeps hold of it. He leans a bit to one side, to peer at the girl's face, to try and follow her gaze, though his own inspection of the puppies is interspersed with glances to the mother, for any sign of discomfort with his presence, or the little girl's. "Hmm," he says at last. Hers is intent, back and forth between the puppies; perhaps their yellow-eyed, prick-eared dam is less concerned since the girl isn't reaching out or moving forward, only slowly sinking her weight down as though she'd sit right there on the hardly pristine floor. Not that she lets go of her father's hand. And as that almost prompt does little to encourage anything verbal from the girl, H'kon, too, settles in, ready to wait for howsoever long it takes. For Raija to speak, for Raija to be done, for the bitch to give warning that their welcome has been overstayed. Raija's gaze roams the whole litter now and again, and the dam, and then the pups again; she leans her cheek against her father. After a little while she murmurs, "She wants to stay with me." Quickly, "Us." The pups have had enough of nursing, the runt finally getting his turn while the rest head wobble-legged off to explore. The bitch whines, and paws one back into place. H'kon's head tilts to one side, to watch the pups wander, to answer Raija's lean. "How," he wonders, after a moment, "did she tell you this?" "She just did," Raija tells him patiently. She extends her fingertips, beckoning, hopeful. "All of us came but Juli and Nammy and Simeon got bored." H'kon is watching those puppies now, and the space before Raija's fingers, quite intently, maybe even so much as Raija herself must, surely, be watching. "Ah. And did any of the puppies tell any of the other children that they wanted to go home with them?" "Maybe," but Raija has a turn of her shoulder that she must have learned from one of her older siblings; that's not important. One of the puppies is heading straight for her; another has its ears tilted toward her even as it sniffs along the edge of the low-sided box and wanders... not quite in their direction. It's a little too circuitous for that. H'kon's mouth pulls into a smile, a bit dry, for that response. It might be those premonitions of an Older Raija that have him settling his free hand on her shoulder, giving one, gentle squeeze. He's watching that puppy who's coming nearer though - that puppy, and its mother. He watches for a few moments before asking, "Do you know who owns the mother?" She smiles at the squeeze, though she's still looking so focused. "She lives here," Raija says like that could be an answer, but her voice has gone very soft by the last word: puppy's coming. The other one's continuing in its semi-circle, and once yips to its mother and is answered. So far, all seems well. "Kiddel?" "K'del," repeats H'kon, thoughtful, one of those rare moments when a portion of his thought actually reaches his mouth for no apparent reason - but that he's in the company of his daughter. That pup's slightly awkward progress is considered. He doesn't dare speak more, now, with it so close. H'kon waits. This time, though Raija mumbles the name, it's a little clearer. She holds out her fingers, slowly, and gets them sniffed and then licked and then it looks like she might even get them gnawed on, which is sure to be squeak-inducing. Meanwhile, the second puppy is circling back around H'kon's boot. "Close your fingers." H'kon's voice is abrupt, the man himself seeming almost startled, waking from whatever reverie watching those puppies had settled him into. "Like this," and the hand comes off Raija's shoulder and reaches to demonstrate, a loose fist made. He's watching his hand, now, and hers. Her fingers twitch, and Raija even gets distracted from puppy to look up at her father. "No hitting," she protests, her voice changed in unconscious mimicry of some adult's, but she closes her fingers anyway. "No hitting," says H'kon, by way of confirmation, calm. "Just so that your fingers don't get-" and milk teeth go exploring. There's the promised squeak, and Raija winces, but not worse. She squirms, trying to not make the puppy go away but, but, but. This, while the second puppy starts seeing whether H'kon's boot leather really is as tasty as it smells. The squeak, naturally, has the mother pricking up her ears. And has H'kon looking directly to her. The puppy has dropped back onto its haunches, but curiosity soon has it coming forward again, looking for a second gnawing. "Raija," quietly, "now may be a time to say goodbye." He doesn't feel the dog at his heel. "Don't want to say g'bye." Raija is very sincere in this, to the point that yes, she's holding out her closed hand again. Also, looking for a place to pet the puppy if she gets a chance. This, while second puppy has clambered up to its hindpaws to try and get H'kon's boot lace. 'Raija's' puppy isn't averse to being petted, exactly... but that hand is so interesting that its head follows it, and it's liable to become a fully-on puppy donut. Perhaps even one that falls over. "But we have to," says H'kon, gently, but. "We can," at which point he interrupts himself to turn and peer at the little teeth that are doing their best to untie his laces. This requires releasing Raija's hand, to try scoot that little dog back up toward the front of him. No, really, puppy, scoot please. "Come back." Scoot. "To visit with someone whom the mother trusts." Great, now 'his' puppy is gnawing at his finger. Evidently even Raija is not at all immune to cute. This time it's less a squeak than a giggle, and that encouragement. It's a wonder she listens to her father at all, especially now that she has both hands free for petting. "Today," she 'agrees,' decisively. "Soon," H'kon repeats. Finally, that little puppy gets scooted far enough that he collides with his littermate. Rar! He's trying for that silky ear. The littermate is still gnawing on Raija. "But for now, we ought to head back." Because there are other puppies coming, and H'kon is either concerned about their onslaught, or the mother's reaction to it. Raija sighs such a sigh, it's practically larger than she is. It's hard, so hard for her to give up puppies. Still, eventually her father will be able to coax her away, even if she will still keep looking back just as often as she possibly can... and promising the puppies that she'll be back. Soon. |
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