Logs:Seeking Enlightenment
| |
|---|
| |
| RL Date: 26 March, 2015 |
| Who: Nala, Tess |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Tess seeks out Nala for help understanding what it's like to share a very close bond with one's dragon. |
| Where: Beach Lounge, Southern Weyr |
| When: Day 12, Month 5, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: E'dre/Mentions, Ebeny/Mentions |
 |
| Beach Lounge, Southern Weyr Not so much a building as a thatched roof balanced upon a series of poles, with an arrangement of wicker furniture spread out both in the shade and sunlight. The salty tang of a sea breee is free to move about, the view a lovely expanse of ocean in one direction, the verdant surrounds of the Weyr in the other. A rickety looking bar is set up at the 'back' of the establishment, with a long barbeque and grill blocking in one side. Early afternoon finds the main beach not so crowded, or at least the shaded lounge area at one end of it is not absolutely bustling with people, the few who are present seemingly asleep or in the midst of having quiet drinks in small groups. Near to one of the poles that forms the structure, a large blue lies with just his nose in the shade of the building, his form parked not so far from a sun lounger that supports a dark-haired, blue-knotted girl, a book and a glass of something amber coloured. Shoes, straps and other riding gear has been abandoned at the lounger's foot, Nala's focus on the text in her hand, though she props it on her collarbone as she takes a long drink from her glass. Tess' hat is a wide-brimmed thing of woven straw that flops a bit as it shades her fair-skinned face from the worst of the southern sun. Her dress, although certainly tailored to be a warm-weather affair is ill-suited to this level of pleasant heat. A Fortian likely could readily identify the dress and breezy, short-sleeved jacket as one of the typical height of summer ensembles for the Fort region (more Hold styled than Weyr, admittedly). Initially, the knotless foreigner moves to pass Nala and the blue at some distance, but before long, she's looping back around and making an approach, offering a cheery greeting of, "Afternoon, rider!" The first time, at that distance, Jynth appears to barely register Tess' presence, yet when she loops back, he lifts his head to observe her approach, right as Nala does likewise, lifting her gaze away from her reading material to watch her as she nears, her once-over rather obvious from the blatant drag of focus from head to toe. "Afternoon," she answers, not quite in kind, low and wary, an unvoiced question in the depths of her dark eyes. If she won't say more, Jynth does, of a sort, and rumbles a quiet, purring greeting of his own. There are times when Tess might orchestrate a pretense to make an approach, but here, now, she stops a few paces from the lounger, hands twisted casually together in front of her and asks quite directly, "Are you Nala and Jynth?" The young woman's glance is hopeful, though not overly so; this is a casual thing to her for all that she seems to be looking specifically for the blue pairing she named. Though he continues to focus pretty much solely on Tess and little else, Jynth is not made of the same tension that his rider presently is, and, mindful of the roof of the lounge and any potential bumping of his head, he stretches out, extending his nose towards her, curious. Meanwhile, Nala sits up a little, folding her legs beneath her, and closes her book. "Yes," she confirms, frown creasing her brow before she manages to school her features back into an easy blandness. "Who are you? We've done our duty for the day. Out at dawn." "I'm Tess," the blonde offers with a sunny smile. "I've come to ask you a favor that has very little to do with duty." She pauses only briefly before qualifying, "Unless you feel an intrinsic duty to dragonriders everywhere by grace of being one. Then I guess it has a lot to do with duty." She seems to realize she's getting ahead of herself and stops. "Would you be willing to talk with me a bit?" "I have an actual duty to very few people," Nala replies, twisting a little to swing her glass down and to the ground, to settle it in the sand beneath the lounger, narrowly missing Jynth's nose as he lies back down. "I think the number decreases by the month." And yet she gives a tiny jut of her chin towards the end of the aforementioned lounger and the space that she's made by sitting up. "I'm not sure that I am any good for favours, either. What is it that you want to talk about?" Tess drops gracefully onto the end of the lounger, positioning herself so that she's not crowding the bluerider. "I've just been posted to Fort Weyr," the blonde begins, reaching up to tilt her hat a bit. "It's my first posting, and to be honest, I know very, very little about dragons, and have never interacted closely, except in passing, with their riders either. I've done a lot of reading, but that doesn't substitute for practical experience, and that's sort of where I was hoping you could help me." She directs her even gaze to the rider, "I heard you have a very close relationship with your dragon and I was wondering if you could help me understand what that's like." Jynth's the giveaway: the twitch of his tail and sudden sharpness to his subtly curvy form an immediate difference in the blue. Then, there's the lick of yellow that swirls through his formerly green-blue gaze too. Nala is simply silent for longer than might be comfortable, until she utters, "I suppose the Weyrsecond still has not learned to keep his mouth shut and his opinions to himself," with an uncharitable dose of bitterness. "...What do you mean 'posted'? Where are you from?" she asks, knotting her hands together in her lap. Tess' eyes drift to the blue and back to his rider. "Actually, I haven't met the Weyrsecond personally. Or is he the weyrwoman?" The blonde looks as though she's mentally reviewing information for a moment before shaking her head, unsure. "Anyway. I'm a healer," she volunteers as answer. "I've been at the Hall since I walked tables two turns ago and am rapidly becoming interested in riders specifically," fortunate, for her, given her posting. "Although, I'm finding I think it's a little absurd to think that a healer can sufficiently understand a rider in order to offer them help without learning from riders themselves." She regards Nala with a sort of open vulnerability that will soon seem rare to find on her face. Whatever else might be assumed, it's obvious she means well. Nala blinks, a flicker of confusion tainting her gaze, though she shakes her head to cast off some unasked question and makes herself keep listening by keeping her focus on Tess without quite /staring/ at her continuously. "You would be better off Impressing someone yourself," she remarks, rather dryly. "Start with a firelizard, unless you already have one?" She glances down into her lap, at her knotted fingers, and twitches like she'd pull them apart, but she doesn't quite manage it. "Is it your intention to report back to my former colleagues?" If one can call riders of the same Weyr 'colleagues'. "Or your Hall?" "No, I haven't ever had the chance, but that's an excellent suggestion. At least the firelizard. A dragon seems somewhat more daunting and permanent, and not entirely my decision, but time will tell." Tess must make mental note to cultivate the opportunity for the former at least, for she doesn't linger on the topic just now. "My specialty is mindhealing," she laces her fingers together and lets them bridge over the top of one of her thighs. "I'm not often forthright about that because often people don't want to talk to me, or think that when I ask them how they are, I'm asking something deeper than I am." She takes a breath, "But I'm telling you because as a mindhealer, I can promise to keep anything we discuss confidential, with the usual disclaimers, imminent danger of harm of self or others, if that's what you'd prefer." Perhaps Nala is just buying time while she thinks when she says, "The sleep-wake cycles of young dragons and firelizards are similar... if the latter less demanding. It might be an insight of sorts, if only a vague window into weyrlinglinghood..." All this, while she watches Tess in the periphery of her vision now, and she doesn't let herself stay silent for long. "I see one of the mindhealers here," the bluerider blurts out, "so I'm not... unaccustomed to what you mean. I'm trying. To be better." Better as in /well/ or just /better/, she doesn't clarify. "I won't pretend to be... okay. Whether you would like or find useful anything I have to say... I cannot tell you." "I'm willing to take the chance, if you're willing to try." Tess answers the rider's last with a small smile. "You've already been invaluable, really. I wonder how the Weyrlingmaster would feel about letting me shadow the next lot of weyrlings..." This is probably more to herself than the bluerider for once again she's moving along. "Who knows, maybe in talking to me, we'll come across something that will help you and your regular healer." Surely at some point Tess will ask who that is, but that point is not now. "Tell me about Jynth?" It's a request. "If no-one at Fort is to be given a record." Whether to reiterate that point for herself, or for Tess, it's a little unnecessary, for Nala seems about to acquiesce anyway, a glance given the nearby blue, who looks to have relaxed somewhat, despite keeping that close. "He accepts me," is the first thing she says of her lifemate. "I think I must have expected a female dragon, if any, but I cannot think that it should have been any other but him, now. Some people... think I should keep him distant and separate. Why would you do that to someone who chose you like that?" She wrinkles her nose. "People... we're dispensable, to each other. He is not." The smile that spreads on Tess' lips at the rider's first words is restrained amusement quickly tempered to warm, understanding acceptance, reinforced by a slight nod of her head. Then her chin is tilting, and eyes narrowing just a little - in focus. She's actively listening to the other woman with an open expression that invites more. There's no judgement, just listening. "Why do you think you have a lack of support for being as close as you're inclined to be?" The question is asked gently, but with genuine curiosity. "Because they find it unsettling," Nala almost immediately declares, not at all hesitant about that statement of what must be, to her, fact. "We spend weyrlinghood being taught how to be separate from them. Being told we have to be separate. They believe being close is dangerous and will cause harm, to us or others." There's another flicker of something near to anger, before she suppresses it. "They expect us to make our dragons comply with what we want, all the time. You would not expect that of another human being who loved you as they do." "No, I wouldn't." Tess affirms that much aloud, though there's no trace in her expression that she thinks ill of anything else the bluerider has said. "So you've never seen proof that being more entwined as a partnering does any of the things that is currently believed?" "Am I proof?" Nala asks, only half a true question. "Grounded and injured more than once. Transferred away. Seeing a mindhealer." Her lips curl in what's more akin to a grimace than a smile, wry though it is. "Seeing two mindhealers. Speaking to a second, anyway." She finally manages to unknot her fingers and stares down at the crescent-shaped marks she's left along both her hands, some deep enough to linger long after. "They say I let too much of /him/ become me. There is no 'letting' about it. He chose me. He saved me. Why would I shut him out?" The bluerider gives a shake of her head and abruptly gets to her feet, like she /has/ to move. "...Can we... do this another day?" Tess's eyes follow Nala's movements - the small ones. She might catch the marks, but certainly catches the headshake and the larger rising. "Of course, Nala," a look toward the blue has the healer adding with a smile, "And Jynth. I appreciate you both giving your time and thoughts so far." This is genuine appreciation. "I'll send a note before I come again, to make sure it's a good time." A thoughtful pause has her adding, "And, while I know you have your own healer here, you're welcome to come see me anytime you wish." That she doesn't comment on what's said to her probably is an indication of respect for the bluerider's wishes to continue another time that isn't now. Nala nods and keeps nodding, perhaps not realising that she's not offered any verbal response in her haste to create distance. Into that silence, Jynth injects another low rumble of sound, yet this time there's an edge to it that wasn't there before, the purr gone and instead something abrasive lacing his contribution. "...Thank you." Nala at least manages manners, as she edges towards the Southern sunlight, only at the last minute remembering to reach back for her book. "I... appreciate that. Just... not Fort. I c-can't. Not yet." When she flees, so does her lifemate, his turn almost on the spot and surprisingly neat for one of his size, sand not cast everywhere. Shadowing her, he casts her in shadow too. |
Leave A Comment