Logs:The New Normal
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| RL Date: 13 March, 2015 |
| Who: H'kon, Madilla, Raija |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr, Healer Hall, Honshu Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Life settles down. |
| Where: H'kon and Madilla's Weyr, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 1, Month 4, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Dilan/Mentions, Lilabet/Mentions, Lujayn/Mentions, M'shal/Mentions |
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| Madilla's promotion and subsequent change of duties had an unsurprisingly large impact on the patterns of life for this little family; she's gone more often, either to the Hall or to other Weyrs around Pern, and timezones can make those patterns all the more unpredictable. Still, after all these months, life has settled back into a new normal. Tonight, Dilan is having a sleepover with a friend (his tenth turnday is mere days away; they have plans to make), but Madilla's home from the Hall in time to collect Raija, who skips ahead of her up the steps, singing gleefully. Arekoth is home, is the first to greet their arrival, a quick thrum to go along with the puppy song, and a sharp-eyed blink at the healer. H'kon is to the back of the dragon, hands slick from oil, still working it into the brown's hide, along the back of his hind leg. That leg, of course, is stretched out languidly. "Are they still lonely?" It's asked in speech, not song, though the temptation is tugging at the edges of his words. A quick check to his dragon's leg, and the brownrider doesn't wipe his hands on his apron yet. Not done. "The loneliest." Madilla is amused by their daughter's lament, though there's an edge of exhaustion there, too, that is surely exacerbated by Raija's apparently boundless enthusiasm. The girl launches herself at Arekoth, high-pitched soprano pitched higher still as she does so; these puppies? They're not just lonely, they're also sad. The saddest, loneliest puppies in the whole of Pern. "Lilabet," with whom Madilla had lunch thanks to the proximity of the healer and harper halls, "threatened to find a puppy to bring home for her." Arekoth turns his pointy snout so there's nothing pointy for the girl to bounce into, should she fail to stop, and thrums deeper. Because he can. Because, perhaps, his eardrums are rattling just a little with that pitch. "Those poor puppies," H'kon intones sympathetically, eyes shifting up to Madilla, the corner of his mouth drawing up, a bit. "I would wonder if Lilabet has considered that actually getting one might staunch her... musical creativity." His legs shift beneath him, ready to get him up and send him toward the healer... but still not done. He's hurrying, now. Madilla steps around Arekoth so that she can press one hand to H'kon's shoulder - not an encouragement for him to finish; just a hello. "I believe Lilabet has visions of a musical cycle: the ballad of the lonely puppies, followed by the aria of perfect glee and probably the duet of a girl and her dog." Raija appears to have taken Arekoth's thrum as encouragement, staring up at him with those wide, amber eyes, singing her heart out. Whether she's listening to her parents at the same time is another story. Madilla's travelling has surely offered many opportunities for growth to H'kon, one of which has been to learn to cope with singing. Most times, he even enjoys it. Now, it's being tuned out, his focus on his weyrmate - even though he's had to look back to what it is he's doing, just now. "Do you think she would teach a dog to sing with her?" The chuff that follows is likely in response to his dragon, who can thrum and think things at the same time. "Yes." Oh yes. There's a note of wry humour in Madilla's voice as she answers, as if she's already imagining the baying of a dog in concert with a certain five-turn-old girl. Her gaze slides up to Arekoth, and then to Raija, who skips, now, closer to her mother and father, sung unabated (if a little breathless from the skipping). "I believe our neighbours might..." take issue, perhaps. "There would certainly be complaint," H'kon finishes. H'kon also finishes, and finally takes a step back, and gets to wiping his hands on that apron. Arekoth stretches that leg out, as if to test the renewed elasticity of his hide, or simply to show off his rider's handiwork. H'kon, meanwhile, rubs a thumb along the inside of his hand, where fingers meet palm, where the calluses sit. "Soft, now," is shared with Madilla, eyebrow lifting faintly - though as Raija approaches, his focus changes, and it's to her he extends his arm. "Soft hands, the curse of all dragonriders," teases (but not teases) Madilla, amused, with another glance towards Arekoth and that leg, then back to H'kon and his daughter. The healer clasps her own hands behind her back, watching as Raija reaches to take H'kon's hand, song finally trailing off into a quieter conclusion. Part of being more involved in the hometime routines of Raija means learning not to pick her up so much, since she's becoming a big girl. H'kon contents himself in giving her arm the slightest swing to celebrate the end of that song. "We bear what we must for our lifemates," is a bit after the fact, with a look more to the dragon there than to Madilla. But it's short-lived. "Was it a good trip?" is asked of the woman thereafter, advantage taken of Raija's quiet. Raija positively beams, though she's quick, after that, to abandon her father, pulling away so that she can skip her way indoors. "It was... a productive trip," says Madilla, on a tired exhale. "I'm to go to Honshu next seven, but I think I can work from here until then." For which she sounds relieved. "How was your day?" H'kon leaves Raija to get into whatever it is she's planning to. "Forward movement, then?" His interest, at least, hasn't waned. Those soft hands soon find themselves busy with untying that apron from behind his back, and folding it neatly, strings and all, once that has been done. "The green pair are adjusting to the wing, at least." A beat, but this is his home, his family, and so he allows, "Slowly. Dragonriders in interval," comes as curt explanation. "How long, in Honshu?" "Dragonriders in interval," agrees Madilla, with the hint of a sigh. "Slow progress is better than none, I suppose. Honshu... hopefully only two days. They have several former Healers who wish to assist, which should be useful, I hope, but their Weyrhealer is..." She makes a face, the kind it is safe to make, here, in the relative privacy of home. "Mm," is all H'kon is willing to say on the topic of other Weyrhealers. "Do the weyrleaders support him?" The apron folded, H'kon bends for the jar of oil, and gestures toward the weyr proper, giving a gentlemanly hesitation, that Madilla might go first, before he moves inside himself to stow these things with the rest of his and Arekoth's gear. "Or are you expecting movement?" The brown circles for a better view as well - not that it's easily blocked, in this weyr. Unbuttoning her coat as she steps inside, Madilla says, "Mmm. They support him. The pushback is towards an outsider - me - stepping in at all; as if it implies he's not capable of his own accord. I'll just need to tread carefully." Her coat gets hung up, boots stepped out of. Raija sits on the ground, drawing puppies on a slate with chalk. Or, well... they're probably puppies, anyway. That or dragons with no wings; who can tell. Having finished stowing things, H'kon walks out, pausing his step and his part of the conversation for long enough to take in Raija's drawings. "I'll need find her another old hide, soon," is an aside. Another old hide, scraped to the point of losing use, that might join the one he was able to procure a few months ago, that now decorates Arekoth's couch. Or is it Dilan's nook? "You are not an outsider. You're there as representative of the hall, are you not?" A beat. "How long has he been at Honshu, now?" No doubt the nomenclature of that particular part of the weyr depends upon who is referring to it... and when. Madilla's smile brightens; "She'd like that, I'm sure," is a happier topic to speak on, above and beyond the issues of work. She steps around Raija, moving for the couch and the sewing she's left there: idle hands, just no. "I am, and that is why he'll allow me. It doesn't mean he wants me there. I believe he's been in the position five turns or more, but he's not weyrbred, and worked in holds, prior." "Crafters in interval," comments H'kon with a hint of dry humour in his voice. Once that sewing is seen, he takes it as license to squat down next to Raija (some tissue somewhere in his knee makes a cracking sort of noise) and watch her work. "But Lujayn and M'shal will surely welcome you." A low chuckle escapes the healer: crafters in interval, indeed. Her gaze lifts from the sewing to watch father and daughter, quietly fond. "They will, I'm sure. Communications have been positive, thus far, and it will be nice to see Lujayn again." Her tone, now, is content. "I'm sure it will be fine." There's something about Raija's focus that manages to push a smile onto H'kon's face. Satisfied, he gets to his feet again, and now does join Madilla on the couch. "Good." Eyes flit up to his brown. "And if there is a problem," grudging, "Arekoth offers himself to come and break down any doors you may need." Leaning back, "Even though he would most certainly get himself stuck in the process." Madilla's laugh is quieter, now, as Madilla adjusts her position to lean partially against H'kon, contented comfortable with their closeness. "Thank you, Arekoth," she says. "My heroes, both of you." Her gaze slides from Raija, to the brown, to her sewing, and then, side-long, to her weyrmate. "It's good to be home." "It is," agrees H'kon, with a depth to the comment that he'll leave Madilla to understand, as so often she does. He, too, shifts to offer some clearer substance of support in response to her lean. "A whole seven days as well." Madilla's acknowledgement, for that comment, is in the way she draws one hand away from her sewing to squeeze H'kon's knee. "Just like old times, almost," she laughs. "Thank you." H'kon offers her a bit of a smile, and more importantly, a longer look, green eyes to green eyes. "Almost." There's a moment to be taken in the presence of family, before he goes to the hidework that has been waiting while he's been shouldering more of the parental responsibility. And that hidework surely won't be allowed to hold his attention for too long once Raija's off to sleep. |
Comments
Alida (21:49, 14 March 2015 (EDT)) said...
You know... I think I've come to see these two/the 'unit' of H'kon/Madilla as a rare point of normalcy and security in an otherwise insane Weyr. ;)
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