Logs:Quality Time with the Girls
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| RL Date: 22 August, 2014 |
| Who: H'vier, Tahvra, Yvalia |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Havi takes the girls to see the eggs. |
| Where: Hatching Galleries, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 7, Month 8, Turn 35 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Aishani/Mentions, K'del/Mentions, Tayte/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Back-dated. Tahvra/Yvalia by Tayte. I haven't been around seven and a half year olds in a while. Please forgive any gross inadequacies. |
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| Between his wing duties, Reisoth's clutch on the sands and the other things that take up his time, H'vier has been busy. That's probably good as far as him staying out of trouble goes. But it's kept him from seeing Tahvra as much as he'd ideally prefer. Today he's set aside his rest day to spend more quality time with his daughter. But it's not just Tahvra that he takes when he goes to pick her up. Today he asked to take Yvalia, too. So it's with both girls that he treks to the galleries to look at the eggs and check in on Reisoth while it's still cool enough outside to make the heat within more pleasant. "Do you want to Stand when you get older?" he asks Yvalia as he leads them to the center of the very front row. Being the Unfavored Daughter, at least by this father, Yvalia was surprised by the invitation from her "Uncle" H'vier, but ever one who wants to be liked like her mother before her, she was eager, if a touch wary, to accept his invitation. Tayte was probably too internally glad to see him back only days after his shock to question, and Vali wanted to go. So they went, leaving Tayte to steal some Zs. Vali was quiet on the walk over, save to answer Tavi's excited babbles to "Sissy," a nickname she'd only accepted because the other option was "Ali" since Tavi still didn't have her Vs and the older girl felt awkward being nicknamed her not-quite-step-mother's name, even if it was only temporary. In answer to the man's question, her brow knits in genuine consideration. "Maybe," she finally answers, looking at the eggs. "I thought I wanted to be a Harper, but..." She bites her lower lip and looks uncertainly to the bronzerider. Reisoth was settled in the sand at some point between the galleries and the eggs, not blocking them entirely but sort of in the way depending on where one is sitting. By the time the trio sits, probably at his rider's request, the bronze has moved entirely out of the way and turned his attention on the girls. Once H'vier is settled and Tahvra has been shifted into a comfortable position on his lap, he glances over at Yvalia, nodding. "But?" He doesn't watch her the whole time. He's not trying to make her uncomfortable. Instead he points at the eggs for Tahvra's sake with a standard, easily interruptible, "Do you see the eggs, Tavi? Those are Reisoth and Iesaryth's." Tavi has enthusiastic giggles for anything presented in that tone of voice, and extra for Reisoth's name. Reisoth is, after all, an awfully enticing target for the mouth that wants to taste everything. All the giggles and squeals are a sharp contrast to the seriousness with which she addresses the topic. "But," and a heavy sigh. "Mama gave up her knot. And that sort of means a craft alone isn't good enough, doesn't it? And I guess it would be sort of the same thing if I went to the Hall and then came back to Stand and Impressed instead. She reaches up and tugs on one of her pigtail braids, so like Tayte's bedtime ones. "So maybe if I think I'd like to Stand, I should just not apprentice." She stops there, obviously thinking hard. It's difficult to be too serious while Tavi is so excited, but H'vier still manages. "Your mother didn't give up her knot because her craft wasn't enough. If you want to be a harper, you should be a harper. And if you want to Stand, you should do that, too. You don't have to do one or the other. Not during an Interval." To Tahvra, his voice pitches a little higher and he says, "You can be whatever you want, can't you, Tavi." "She gave it up because of the baby. And because it was stressful. Because she was working too much and the healer said she oughtn't." Vali intones in a way that suggests she's repeating what she's overheard. Another sigh. "But if she gave it up for a baby, doesn't that mean that her craft and we aren't enough?" And perhaps it's really the latter that's bothering the little girl, who's looking to the littler girl she's already had to adjust to sharing her mother with. Though her eyes are roundest with worry when she looks to the big bronzerider, her voice hushed as she asks, "And what if something happens?" Like that time when she was turns younger in Southern. The bronzerider considers what she says for a few moments without looking at her, bouncing Tahvra on his knee. When H'vier does look at Yvalia, it's with a sigh that's more for what he's about to say than because of what she's said. "Did you want K'del to be your father because your mother wasn't enough?" He'll just assume that the answer is no. He moves one hand just long enough to give the older girl a gentle pat on the shoulder. "We'll make sure nothing happens, hmm?" Which doesn't segue very nicely into his next question, but oh well. "Did you meet the man?" She answers anyway as children tend to do. "I wanted him to be my dad because I didn't have one and Dee got one and was really excited about it and I didn't have one and he was fun. He played dolls with me." Probably other stuff too. But dolls are clearly important. "But I still love Mama." Vali seems only then to consider what H'vier probably intended to be the point. "The nighttimes are the scariest because no one's there. But at least I know the people that live around us." Unlike at Southern. And she's older now. The last has her frowning, brows pulled deeply down. It's confusion. "What man?" H'vier can't be enjoying talking about K'del but it doesn't show in his face and there's no indication of it in his voice. "He wasn't a bad choice. He's a good man." Mostly. But he leaves that off. "I love her, too," he admits about Tayte, quiet for a few moments while he shifts Tahvra on his leg. "Your mother said she was seeing someone. The father to this baby. You never met him?" Fortunately for H'vier, this matter of new fatherhood eclipses the old. It's with still puzzled brows that Yvalia looks up at the bronzerider. "I thought it's your baby, Uncle Havi." It's guileless. It would take a special seven and a half turn old to pull off that kind of guile in any case. "What?" is H'vier's first response, looking over at Yvalia with his own puzzled brows. "No." Pause. "No, your mother said it wasn't." And he'll apparently just take her at her word for once. "Why would you think that?" Valli looks out at the eggs, then down at her knees. "Because you and Mama love each other." Which isn't a prerequisite for a baby, of course. Well, that's a more in depth concept than he'd planned on her bringing up, but it still makes H'vier smile for a moment. "I wish it worked like that, darling. I really do. The world would be a much nicer place." He presses a kiss to Tahvra's head as he glances out toward the sands, and Reisoth starts to move closer to the galleries a few moments later. Summoned, perhaps. "So what sorts of things do you like these days?" Clearly he's trying to change the subject. "Mama's been teaching me how to knit," Vali answers after her long rather despondent silence as she stares at the eggs. "Only she doesn't have as much time now to show me. Because she has to knit for the weavers. She says it's good because it keeps her busy, but I wish she wasn't so busy. She says it's a trade off for being able to work from bed or the loveseat." The girl scratches at a little string coming loose on a small repair done on the knee of her trousers. "I like practicing my scripts. Mama says I'm getting better." She looks curiously up at H'vier, "What sorts of things do you like these days? You don't come around anymore." Surely that much has been explained to her. "Important things," says H'vier like he means it. The returned question gives him pause, though. He lets Reisoth's closer proximity, the bronzer stretching his neck out toward the trio, distract him while he considers and makes sure Tahvra's squirming to try going to the dragon doesn't actually end up with her, you know, falling. "Not very much, actually." Certainly nothing that would be appropriate to tell a child; drinking, hitting things, etc. "I like visiting. Like this. We could go somewhere more fun sometime, if you wanted. Maybe a beach. Do you like to swim?" But he's right there! Tavi's squirming gets decidedly purposeful and she'll even go so far as to turn her head and say as imperiously as a girl of 19 months can, "Down," to her father in her chirpy soprano. It provides again that contrast because Yvalia's quiet, "I like it too," is rather heartfelt. "I like seeing Reisoth's eggs." It's to the dragon that she directs somewhat shyly, "They're very handsome." She looks then to the rider to say, "But I do like swimming and I haven't been many places..." She's thoughtful a moment, "Would you take me to Harper Hall? Without Mama or Dad knowing? So I could see if I liked it at all?" "Fine," relents H'vier as he sets Tahvra down. Reisoth tilts his head so he's within reach of the girl, making a sound in his throat that's somewhat less unsettling than his usual rumble. Without taking his attention completely off of Tavi, even if Reisoth is probably more observant than his rider, H'vier says to Yvalia. "Sure. I'll take you anywhere you like." Tavi falls on the short way to Reisoth, of course, but it's not a long fall, and these things are hardly uncommon in the many months she's been toddling. In point of fact, the little girl doesn't bother to even get back on her feet but rather crawls the rest of the way before using Reisoth's maw to haul herself back up. Fortunately, she weighs almost nothing as the estimations of Great Big Bronzes go. Probably more uncomfortable is just where she's chosen to grip. Yvalia watches her sister a moment before looking to the man again, "Thank you, Uncle Havi." She looks back and chews her lip a moment before blurting a question, "Are you and Mama going to get back together soon?" Reisoth breathes out a hot, heavy sigh over Tavi. But he's patient enough not to move away from her when she's using his great big head for support. H'vier doesn't seem overly concerned about the dragon and his daughter but his attention is still split between both girls. Until Yvalia asks that question. Then he's looking at her, something somewhat pained in his expression. "I don't think so, no. Why do you ask, darling?" Surely it can't be because she misses him. She doesn't say that, no. Though it might be construed from the way her expression falls and she bites her lower lip in the same way that Tayte does when something's bothering her. "It's just... weird. And sometimes I wonder if Mama will be happy again. She pretends a lot, but..." She's not fooling her oldest daughter who probably knows her better in some ways than anyone else. Vali rubs her hands across her thighs. "All this stuff is a lot harder than 'happily ever after,'" she quotes the cliche Harper tales and shakes her head. She leans a little toward H'vier conspiratorially. "She pretends the shirts aren't yours when I see her wearing them, but I've seen you wear them." Did he know he was missing a handful of shirts that Tayte liked? As for Reisoth, predictably, once on her feet, Tahvra is trying to suck on the side of his jaw. Yum, dragon! "She will," says H'vier with all the confidence of a bronzerider. "It's just hard at first. But you make her happy. And Tavi makes her happy. The new baby will make her happy, too." So long as she doesn't, you know, lose it. As for his shirts, H'vier does seem a little surprised by Yvalia's perception. "It felt like I was missing a few things. For some reason it didn't occur to me that she might have taken them. Maybe we should just not let her know that we know, hmm?" Reisoth is clearly resisting the urge to pull away from the mouth of his rider's spawn, but he only complains in a quiet rumble without actually moving. So with the gumming, of course, comes the drool. Nice big globs of it on Reisoth's jaw... that drip. "I donno." Yvalia seems skeptical, not even her sister's antics managing to coax a smile from her. "She--" She looks at H'vier, quiet, then somehow quieter despite the fact that she's making words with her mouth now, "Did you know Mama told me you might be my real dad?" No doubt H'vier is getting an earful about this. A headful? Let's just say he's a little distracted before shoving the bronze's voice away. Yvalia is more important right now. Sorry, dude. "Did she?" H'vier seems slightly dubious. But if she hadn't, obviously, the girl wouldn't be saying that now. "What do you think of that?" The little girl's hands push across her thighs again. She's not looking at H'vier now, but seeming to consider her hands. "Yes." It's easy enough to confirm. "I wanted to know why you don't like me sometimes." Or why she feels like he doesn't. Vali reaches up and tugs on one of her braids, still not looking at the bronzerider. "I thought maybe it would be nice if you were. Because then I could have two dads. And because then it would be like we were all a real family." Not that Weyr families with their many, many relations and complications aren't real, but... "But I guess that's not really going to happen now." Now she looks at him, "Is it?" It's only half a question. That tugs even at H'vier's heartstrings. He frowns at the girl who isn't looking at him for a few moments before offering, "It's not you I don't like, Yvalia. It's never been you. I love you. But I know I haven't been good about showing it. I'd like to change that." He glances at Tahvra. Reisoth has closed his eyes and he's apparently just going to suck it up for the time being. "I want to be your real dad," admits H'vier. "But it's not something we can know." The bronzerider looks at her again with that last sort of question. "Probably not." "Really?" Yvalia can't help but ask when he says the L-word in application to her. Her blue eyes, so like her mother's blink up at him with a mixture of surprise, uncertainty and hope. Then quietly, "I'd like that to change." He probably won't see it coming, but after sucking in a deep breath, the girl reaches out and grabs his hand with her much smaller one. Fortunately for Reisoth, Tahvra's attention is limited, so once she's spotted a small piece of something she's surely not supposed to put in her mouth under one of the benches, she drops away from his jaw in favor of crawling toward her new target. "Really," assures H'vier with a smile that's genuine, if a little uncertain where Yvalia is concerned. He glances down at her hand and turns his so he can hold it more properly. But then Tahvra is on the move and, without really thinking about it, the bronzerider's hand slips away so he can pick up the mobile baby. And once she's in his arms and not chewing on things she shouldn't be, he offers, "Shall we go get something for lunch and plan our trip to Harper?" Yvalia must be used to having her parents' attentions taken away abruptly by one younger sibling or another by now, and yet, the timing could almost certainly be better. But if there's disappointment, there's no sign of her by the time that H'vier is looking back at the older girl. She only nods. "I'm hungry." Simple. And so they go to fix a simple problem and discuss plans for the future. |
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