Difference between revisions of "Logs:Sort of Yellow"

Eastern Bowl, High Reaches Weyr Ringed by rough granite walls to all sides but one, this end of the huge bowl narrows from the even broader plain to the west, continuing the ever so slight downward slope toward the blue and green of the Weyr's lake and surrounding foliage. More open to sun and wind than the western bowl, but less frequented when there aren't weyrlings in residence, the bowl's grassy tufts keep the topsoil in place and thicken into a bloodstained meadow within the feeding pens that adjoin the lake.

At the base of the surrounding cliffs lie entrances to several caverns, including the dragon infirmary and the weyrling barracks: the former to the northwest near where the spires begin, the latter opposite to the southwest. Both archways are large and dark enough for any dragon to pass through, but it's the infirmary's that is haunted by faint smells of redwort and numbweed, as though over generations they have seeped into the very stone. To the southeast, between the weyrling area and the lake, there are a handful of structures built into the floor of the bowl, standing out amidst otherwise an empty space.

A spring flurry brings in a little late snowfall, though there is no accumulation as the flakes spiral to the ground on a dizzying breeze.

It's daytime, afternoon. While still cold out there's less bite to the air and the snow is merely flurries, not even able to coat the floor of the bowl. Regardless, Sabella is outside well bundled up in a cozy sweater, hood pulled over her head. She's not far from the door to the barracks, her back against the wall and seated on the damp ground. Ghislaith is outside as well, looking well oiled and plump from her most recent round of caretaking. Her wings are spread wide and she contemplates the flakes landing on them with a long, lengthy stare. Her lifemate looks on with faint amusement turning up the corners of her mouth. A mug of klah is cupped in her gloved hands and she seems rested today.

With Cailluneth walking close enough beside him to be practically melded to his leg, N'ky is finding it somewhat difficult to walk properly. Every step is haltingly cautious so as not to accidentally hurt her, though the green's eyes whirl with a happy blue to show that she's not quite as worried as he is. Cai makes a rumbling sound to Sabella when she sees her, a pleasant, if growly, sort of greeting. It causes N'ky's attention to shift, and he crouches down to physically nudge his lifemate off towards Ghislaith, no doubt with some mental persuasion involved. "H-hi, Sabs." He joins her in leaning against the wall, though he doesn't sit. The end of his scarf, wrapped loosely around his neck, hangs somewhere near the other weyrling's face; not that he notices. "I c-can't believe it's s-snowing, again."

Ghislaith regards the approaching Cailluneth with that as always, unsettling gaze. But she does not impede her progress, she's simply silently accepting of her company. Her wing are carefully folded against her sides once more. The steaming mug of klah is lifted to her mouth and Sabs glances up and over at N'ky as he approaches. Her smile is warm behind the drink and she tips it back to get quick sip in. "Hey. What, they don't have snow at Far Reach in the early spring?" She teases, one hand snaking up and tugging at the scarf that hangs much too near to her face.

"Yeah, but I'd been h-hoping it might've...e-eased up a bit?" N'ky shrugs, grinning down at Sabella when she tugs on his scarf. Is it really that long? He doesn't seem to realise. "Cai l-likes the snow, though. Sh-she's all... f-frosty, in her mind, when she th-thinks about it." Cailluneth wuffles warm breath to her clutchsister, then finds the deepest pile of snow to start scratch-digging through it, kicking it out between her hide legs. "Ghislaith's looking w-well," he says distractedly, sinking down the wall to sit beside his fellow greenrider. "Um... a-are you used to it, yet?"

"I don't think winter in the 'Reaches likes to ease up. At least these are flurries and not an outright snowstorm." Sabs suggests helpfully, keeping that warm mug of klah close to her chest. She smiles with a lifted eyebrow when he notices the length of the scarf. Yes, yes it is. Ghislaith has less of an interest in digging around in the snow, but again there's no scorn from her to Cailluneth for her own play in it. Merely more silent observation, always watching. "Thank you. So does yours." She shifts over and stretches her legs out, giving N'ky room to settle down comfortably himself. "Yet? No, I don't think so." That comes after a pause, but it sounds honest and simple. Curious and with a sidelong glance, "Are you?"

N'ky shakes his head, tucking his bare hands between his thighs to warm them up a bit. Cailluneth turns around to snort in their direction, then shakes snow off her slender muzzle and goes back to digging. "N-not yet. C-Cai's very, um... colourful. It's like I can see everything, even things you sh-shouldn't see, all swirling around i-in her head." He lifts his hand to whirl his finger by the side of his head, brow furrowing thoughtfully. "She doesn't talk, so much. She shows. Wh-what's Ghislaith like?"

"Does that get distracting?" The colors, the swirling would be what she's referring to. Sabs lifts the mug to her lips and takes a demure swallow from it. "Ghislaith doesn't talk much either." She's been more prone to these stretches of silence the last few days, though they've been evening out recently. "It's like... Not images. But sounds and emotions. She likes to know things. I know when she's asking me a question because I feel the question, not because she asks it outright. It's difficult to explain." And that makes her purse her lips thoughtfully.

"I, um, think I g-get it. It's k-kinda like that with Cailluneth, too." N'ky nods slowly, brushing his curls by up and under the rim of his woolly hat. Then he blows into them to warm them a little, before back they go between his thighs. "She... s-sorta digs through my memories. She has to know e-everything I've b-been doing, everyone I've, um, s-seen, and she can j-just... it's like she, um, s-sorta... prises? Prises everything open, so she c-can know it."

Sabella's expression goes from thoughtful to something close to troubled, but not exactly there. "Yeah. Ghislaith is like that too. She wants to know everywhere that I've been, things I've done and seen." She watches as N'ky warms his hands, her eyebrows drawn together in a little furrow. Sounding hesitant as if she's confiding something she wouldn't normally broach, "I don't know what I want her to know all of it. There are things I'd rather forget. Do you have... things like that?"

"Um..." N'ky looks skywards as he thinks that question over, head canted slightly to one side. "No, n-not really. Um... th-there are things I want to k-keep to myself, but, um, n-nothing I want to forget. She, um," he looks over to where Cailluneth is now rolled over on her side in the snow, watching Ghislaith calmly with one swirling eye, "was p-pulling up stuff from, um, j-just before the h-hatching that was, um..." He clears his throat, looking down into his lap while his cheeks blush bright red. "I-I was with Mave." Perhaps that'll explain it enough, as he doesn't seem willing to elaborate.

Sabella's sober and quiet, watching the two greens in the snow. Her own settles into the powdery stuff, stretching her neck out against the ground. Oblivious to the cold? It would seem so. "That's not the same, but it is. If you want to forget then you'd always want to keep it mostly to yourself too. I think I understand what you mean." His cheeks begin to blush red and she summons her smile back, teasing dimples developing in her cheeks. "You boys around here. You have very active personal lives, more than the girls. How is that?"

N'ky's got a dimple of his own in his cheek as he forces a crooked smile for Sabella, accompanied by a shrug of his shoulders. "W-we just like p-people, I guess?" The smile eases, and he looks more relaxed as his shoulders sink an inch or so lower. "Weyrlife is strange. I c-came here, and... there's s-so much, all right there. More than b-back home, anyway, and... I g-guess I kinda got dragged into it all. Um... i-it's the freedom. It's... h-heady." He eases his hat off his head and fluffs up his curls, just so he can knot his fingers into them. "How do you f-find it?"

"You lose most of your heat through the top of your head, you know." Sabs chides him gently when he removes his hat so that he can play with his hair. For that, she tugs the hood of her own sweater closer down around herself. "I've lived either at Crom or Greenfields and experieced different degrees of freedom." She smiles slowly for that and cants her head, thoughtful again. "But I admit that the Weyr is different. The people here feel more freely, I think. I enjoy that about them. I can see where you would get caught up in it if it was unexpected." She watches him consideringly and bumps her shoulder into his. "It won't be that many months before we can fly. Go between. Are you excited to be able to go places, different ones?"

The nonchalant shake of N'ky's head says nope, he's not that excited. "N-not really," he confirms, watching as his lifemate gets to her feet, makes an uneasy wuffle-growl sound to Ghislaith, then comes meandering over to join her lifemate. She's not shy about butting N'ky's knees flat so she half curls up in and half drapes over his lap, with her head resting on his chest. Her eyes close, but she doesn't sleep - not yet. "What was your l-life like b-before, 'Bella? I d-don't really know so much about you, um, j-just that you're f-from there."

"No?" Somehow she needs confirmation of that. There's something just a touch deflated around her shoulders and she blows some of her hair out of her face. "Well, damn. I guess I'm the only one that's looking forward to it." Sabella leans her back into the bowl wall that they sit against. "I like Sabs better." It's not so much correction, just perhaps, confirmation of a preference. Flashing a quick conspiratorial smile at him for the question. "It was boring and uneventful. I cut Lady Greenfield's hair and listened to high-born people's problems and wished my life could be as 'complicated' and 'exciting' as that." Quotation marks. Clearly she doesn't think their problems were largely that earth shattering.

"O-oh, s-sorry... um, 'B-Bella is pretty, though." But, N'ky's grin, and the gentle shoulder-bump he gives his clutchmate, say he'll stick with what she likes. "I always p-preferred Nicky to Nick. I th-think it was weyrwoman Azaylia who said she th-thought Nicky s-sounded, um, k-kinda young, but that's wh-what my mum named me. I like the 'ky'." Cailluneth stretches her wings, one 'tip close to brushing against Sabella. "You know, um, m-my folks d-didn't make it to the h-hatching. I've, um, n-not heard from them, since, th-though I'm sure they know. Did yours get here?"

"I think if I was a different kind of girl it would be more fitting." Sabella responds, her smile impish as she sighs and drinks back the rest of her mug of klah. "It sounds like Cailluneth gave you the name that you wanted or close it. You still haver your 'ky'. And we won't be kind of young forever." She glances down to the closeness of the little green's wingtip, not shifting out of the way just yet. "Were they planning on coming, were you able to get any word out to them with the news?" It's asked with genuine interest, her eyes drifting back up to him once more. "No, mine didn't get here either."

"They p-probably wouldn't h-have wanted to come," N'ky admits with a shrug - a gentle one, so as not to disturb the little green where she lies. Those outstretched wings are used for balance as he shifts beneath her, then the pair get comfortable once more and Cailluneth tucks them back into her sides. "They th-thought it was, um, irresponsible of me to, um, a-accept to stand." Another shrug, also gentle. "Um... they're n-not big on the Weyr. My u-uncle's here though, and h-he was happy for me!"

There's a shadow that flits very briefly across her face. "I'm sorry that they didn't come." That is sincere. Sabella tips her mug to make sure that she's gotten quite the last drop out of it before letting it fall into her lap. "At least your uncle was here and happy for you. It's important to have someone there looking out for you, supporting you." Ghislaith bores of laying out in the snow alone and eventually rouses herself from her relaxing state, coming near again and resting her head against her shoulder. Unconsciously she stretches a hand out and scratches those heavy eyeridges.

N'ky is a little bothered by it all, but he's trying hard to hide it. "I'm s-sorry yours didn't come, too. But you have G-Ghislaith now, right? And I have Cai - and w-we all have each other, too. We're, um, s-sorta like a f-family of our own, i-in a... strange sorta way, r-right?" He reaches across the space between them to gently pat Sabella's arm. "I th-think we can s-stick by each other better than f-family, anyway." There's something in the way he says it that suggests N'ky might not quite believe it.

What exactly bothers Sabella is hard to pin point but that's just a frustrating aspect of her, unfortunately. "I'm not sorry that they didn't come." And maybe there's defiance there. Maybe. "But I had some friends, it took the sting out some." Her smile for him is rueful and she leans in, dropping her head onto his shoulder. "You're sweet, N'ky. I don't know if that's completely true, but I appreciate that you're saying it at all." Ghislaith remains nearby, hovering as she's prone to do. The contact is brief and she straightens up, her smile a little lopsided. "I'll stick by you if you promise to go visitng somewhere else with me at least once."

The natural reaction to the head on his shoulder is for N'ky to rest his back atop Sabella's, for as long as she's there. Perhaps there might have been a friendly arm involved if he didn't have a dragonet to hold steady - a dragonet who stretches out her slim muzzle to snort soft breath at the weyrling girl, making a throaty sort of growl. Not an intentionally intimidating sound; it's far warmer than that. It makes N'ky chuckle, at any rate. "You're s-sort of yellow, Sabs." Cai rests her head back where it was, and he strokes over her headknobs soothingly. "Where w-would you like to go, when we can?"

The retrun of friendly affection doesn't seem to phase her, for their lack of really knowing another she seems comfortable. When that other young green breathes so warmly on her arm, Sabella laughs gently. Curious, she asks, "What do you mean, yellow? Are you calling me some kind of a coward?" One eyebrow lifts archly at him for that and she continues with that distracted scratching of the itch on Ghislaith. "Somewhere that doesn't see a lot of snow, like ever. I think that's going to be one of the first places that I visit."

"N-no, yellow's, um... your s-scent, um... no, l-like... like you as a colour - um, i-it's hard to explain, but like... l-like feelings and scent and everything, all... y-yellow?" N'ky scrunches up his nose and shakes his head. "It doesn't, um, s-sound so good when you can't see it. B-but it's not that you're a coward! I d-don't think you could be a coward." He pulls his woolly hat a little lower on his forehead, grinning down at Cai where she lies on him, completely peaceful. "Y'know, I d-don't think I've e-ever been anywhere without snow before. S-somewhere like... um... Ista?"

Sabella sits through that explanation, looking at times confused and then amused. And ultimately she just elbows him gently in the ribs and laughs. "Just tell me that yellow is something good and not a draconic insult and we'll be okay." At the mention of her not being able to be a coward, she smiles briefly and blows a bit of hair out of her face again. No comment. "I've never been. I hear Ista is beautiful. They have flowers that are this big." Her hands space out to demonstrate. "So I heard. Lots of colors too. I bet she'd like that." Her chin dips to indicate his green.

"It's something good," N'ky agreens, opting for the easier out provided to him. "That big, really? Did you hear that, Cai?" The little green opens one eye sleepily, then yawns. "She p-prefers the scents, and the... really, Cailluneth? No. /N-no/! No." Whatever she's said seems to both surprise and amuse him. Then she's yawning again, and he nods in understanding. "I-Ista sounds wonderful, b-but I have to get C-Cai to bed before she, um, f-falls asleep right here. He manages to scramble to his feet without dropping his lifemate, then hugs her to his chest. "S-see you tonight, Sabs?"

"Really.." Sabs answers, her smile returning as she watches the verbal exchange between N'ky and his green. She waves him off as he scrambles to his feet, remaining there on the ground in the snow. "Of course. I'll see you at dinner with everyone else." The teenager wiggles her fingers at him from her spot, letting out a long exhale once he's disappeared back inside with his lifemate.

"Really," N'ky responds - perhaps to Cai, perhaps to Sabs. The latter is given a toothy, warm grin. "D-dinner. Tonight. Not for you, Cailluneth. See you at dinner then, Sabs!" And in he goes.