Tiny Troubles [Cait/Dalonia]

[Shoki]

3077.06.01
Lower caverns
Evening

“I’m heading to the Weyr. I’ll see you on my next shift.” Shri pulled her shirt down to keep it looking wrinkle free, which was something of a lost cause once her fair landed on her clothing. Oh well. She was about to leave when she was called back and given some papers.

“If you don’t mind taking them to the Sr. Wherhandler? It’s nothing urgent, just a couple of reports on training injuries.” Shri frowned, but not about having to do the work. They just didn’t need this right now. Training injuries that is. She nodded though, and accepted the papers. With a little wave she headed off, two missions in mind.

The first one was an appointment at the Weyr. Another merchant she was loosely connected with, by way of her training. They had something to talk to her about. That didn’t interest her that much. More interesting was discussing it over desert. Curse her sweet tooth. As expected, when she got there, she wasn’t interested in what he wanted help with, as it would require her to be more mobile then she desired. But she got her sweets. Once it was done, it was late, which was good, she didn’t want to bother any Wherhandler before the sun went down. With a bubbly pie still in hand, she headed to the lower caverns.

There was a sort of tenseness in the air that Shri seemed oblivious to. She dimly thought that perhaps something had happened recently. Maybe instead someone was in a bad mood. She didn’t know. All she did know is that Dea was feeling…mischievous. Shri could sense it, even though for now, the Copper merely watched from her perch on the woman’s sash. Here was hoping for a calm night. Shri found the office she sought and gave a brief knock.

“Reports from the Aerie.” Shri stated her intention right out, as business like as could be. Her eye did drift to Dea, as did Analis. Hopefully Selt could be trusted for the moment.

[Cait]

(omg I totally forgot about this, I'm sorry!)

Dalonia always seemed to be in a bad mood, but the tenseness that permeated the wher caverns had more to do with the fact that war had officially been declared. That and the fact that when the Senior Wherhandler was stressed, her guards tended to avoid making undue noise or trouble. They'd learned quickly enough that it was not in their best interest to tempt fate or the woman's ire when she had bigger things to worry about. Making sure that the guards and whers were prepared for any eventuality in the upcoming war, well that would classify as something bigger to worry about. For once the woman was almost glad to delegate some of the more trivial (in comparison) tasks to Tellard and the man almost had enough grace not to gloat. Almost.

Dalonia was in her office pouring over detailed personell files as well as drawing up various scenarios that she planned to drill in future training sessions. Dalosk was in his corner, gnawing on the long bone of a herdbeast leg. In order to keep her out of the way and because for whatever reason Dalosk didn't mind the little thing's company, Misk had taken up a similar pose to the crimson and was emulating her sire by gnawing on a leather wrapped bone that had been specially made to accomodate her desire to gnaw as well as her lack of teeth. Her pale little belly was fat, signaling she'd already eaten and she was more or less content for the moment. The poor thing had been rejected--shards, was it two turns past now?--at her hatching and hastily bonded to an incompotent drudge that was good for little more than mucking out dens, and so her care had fallen to the wherhandlers of Rainbow Mist en masse. Though her care was provided by handlers and candidates, she spent much of her time with the Senior Wherhandler and out from under feet as it was unwise to leave her unattended with her tendency to try and eat just about anything she could fit in her mouth.

The door to the Senior Wherhandler's office was open but there was a knock and the woman looked up from her task, fingers twitching towards the knife that lay within reach on her desk top. In the door was a girl and from his perch on a shelf behind her, Thief watched the girl and her firelizard intently. Pest, who had momentarily managed to snag a perch on the woman's shoulder was shooed away now that she wasn't so focused and with a mournful sound, took a spot clinging to the edge of her desk and watching the copper as well. "Bring them here." The hand that had twitched towards the knife was lifted and beckoned the girl forward. Dalosk paused in his gnawing on his bone and watched the girl with slowly whirling eyes.

[Shoki]

Shri noticed the firelizards more than anything else. She had admitted to not knowing the particulars of Whers, even as there were two in the room who could be thought of as interesting. For the firelizards, there were two, a Brown and a Moonlight. Dea watched them, for now behaving. Analis creeped up onto Shri’s shoulder, and observes as well. Shri’s eyes slightly narrowed. At least Selt was still perched on her pouch on her back. If there was anything more troubling then Dea and Analis aiming for a fight, it was Dea and Analis trying to flirt with male firelizards. Shri kept her guard up. But as Dalonia spoke, she moved forward, even knowing that it brought her trio closer to the potential targets of distraction. She hadn’t handled them for so little time that a little challenge wouldn’t be attempted.

“Ma’am.” Despite the fact there was a bubbly pie in her hand, despite the fact that she was not quite covered in firelizards, Shri presented the papers with a distinct formality. She seemed focused on Dalonia, but when a wandering Flame nose poked out from her back, quite close to her treat, she moved it, not looking down. Selt scooted back to his previous perch, grumbling quietly.

“If you require a return correspondence, I would be happy to take it.” Said in a completely serious tone. Shri wasn’t exactly quick to smile, even when she was trying to make a sale, she tapped out at small and polite smiles.

[Cait]

As she took the papers and took a moment to actually look at the girl, Dalonia narrowed her eyes slightly as she realized that the girl was covered in firelizards. She'd never understood why anyone would let more than one hang on them, regardless of how small some of them could be. Pest was insistent but for the most part only Thief was allowed a perch and it served a very useful purpose; to watch her back. Pest's only reason for clinging to the woman was for love and affection which, though rare, was given from time to time. Both creatures had come to accept their handler's gruff ways and as they were cared for in all other respects had resigned themselves to the fact that Dalonia would never be the sort to coddle or cuddle. But as two of the firelizards on the girl were female, both brown and moonlight took notice, though Thief seemed just as disagreeable as ever.

"You going to eat that, girl?" Dalonia grunted as she noted the little flame colored nose poked out near it. If the girl didn't eat it the firelizard would certainly try it would seem. With another growled bit of verbalization, she jerked the rolled up reports and gestured at a chair. She wasn't sure if she needed to send a response back, but until then it would be better if the girl sat. It would make her seem less of a threat to Thief and Dalosk. The fact that the girl wasn't overly smiley or bubbly helped as such people tended to instantly irritate the woman. "Sit, now."

Unrolling the reports over the other various projects she had going on, Dalonia sifted through the reports. Training injuries were a fact of life. When she'd first begun they had nearly doubled as she wasn't exactly an easy taskmaster. However as she continued working with the wherlings and other wherhandlers and even the guards, the training injuries had gradually begun to drop. Of course any time there was a new batch of wherlings the numbers jumped again but Tellask wasn't due to drop a clutch for a while yet according to her obnoxious handler. Bone breaks were minimal which was a good thing, mostly just a finger here or there, one broken arm...her finger skimmed across to find the name and the cause and rolled her eyes. Some idiot had been tackled by their own wher. Fractured ribs...her finger dragged across the sheet again and she growled as the cause was listed as "fall". More often than not that meant that the injury was actually due to a fight between handlers. Looks like she was going to have to have a chat with a couple of her handlers...really people would think that after one such encounter, a person would learn.

[Shoki]

“Manners dictate that if I am to eat it here I must offer you some. Would you like half?” Shri neatly broke the things in two, somehow managing to keep it neat. The woman didn’t really want to share. Didn’t matter. Dalonia was the head wherhandler and Shri made sure to keep in mind that even if she was Aerie, dragons and Whers were to be respected. As for the seat, well…

Shri didn’t particularly hesitate, but the reaction was immediate. Analis, as the one on her shoulder, scooted slightly to hang on the woman’s sash, getting uncomfortably close to Dea, who hissed quietly. Selt, meanwhile, skittered from her back, to the front of her pant leg, just above her knee. What resulted was that Shri sat, and none of her firelizards were squished. Analis crawled back up onto Shri’s shoulder, letting her tail fall over the back of the chair. Selt was content enough to be on Shri’s lap, but Dea seemed testy at having the male in her space. Shri didn’t seem to notice, her firelizards were always watched, but she was so used to their configuration that ordinary activities were done almost without her having to do anything.

However, once they were settled, Analis crooned at the Brown firelizard, earning herself a more pronounced hiss from Dea. Why did the Gold get the first move, she should find her own group of males to flirt with. The Gold was unimpressed, flicking her tail imperiously. Get in line brat, I am a Queen.

Shri clicked her tongue once. Analis looked at her human and let out a breath, as if sighing. Dea looked royally angry but turned her head away from Analis. Shri never stopped looking at Dalonia.

[Cait]

"No, I don't. Don't make a mess." Dalonia didn't even look up from her papers, clearly she wasn't big on manners and even less enthusiastic about dictates unless they were her own. Though as the woman moved to sit, Dalonia watched discretely as her firelizards all shifted about in well rehearsed movement so that none were squished. She imagined that T'kar's swarm was similarly trained. As the copper crooned at Thief, the brown meerly peered at the little female though the color in his eyes was a bit softer. As the gold hissed, however, his tail twitched and he lowered his head slightly though his eyes never left the group.

Also observant, Dalonia watched the interaction, not at all concerned by the little semi-fit the two females had. So long as the girl kept them under control...and she did. With a little click of her tongue, the two females disengaged rather speedily and the corner of Dalonia's mouth twitched. Rather tidy, that. If she didn't think so little of firelizards the woman might actually be inclined to be impressed. As it was she found herself amused at the very least. Not usually one for small talk, she also didn't much care for silent staring unless she was the one doing it. So, she broke the silence. "You a candidate for one of them...birds, then?" She'd managed not to say freakish or ugly which was about as close to the woman got to manners. Not that she cared what the girl thought about her opinions. It was more that her turns at the weyr had "gentled" her demeanor a bit. Some would find it laughable but it was true.

[Shoki]

“Of course.” Shri wasn’t about to waste her precious sweets. She took a bite of on half, neatly finishing on half off in no time. Mmm, bubbly pie. She was quite happy to eat, but she hardly showed it. Perhaps she was a bit more relaxed than before, but again, she wasn’t given to smiles so much. She considered the second half of the pie, whether to eat it straight away or not, before Dalonia spoke again. Shri took a moment to properly phrase her answer. A tricky subject, at least if it was her family talking. As it was not family…

“No. Just because one’s family name is related to the creatures does not make you fit for a Lifewing.” There was a small pause. She was tempted to say something controversial. Might as well say it. “They probably knew I always sympathized more with Rougewings then anything else. I most likely had it in me to impress something with black feathers. It doesn’t really matter to me.” The upshot was that she would never be a lifewing rider. And that was okay with her. “I send and receive messages for the Aerie.” Shri wasn’t about to make a grand statement about her work one way or the other. That was her job, and she was good at it because of her firelizards. She was proud enough to do it, but she wasn’t about to brag.

She put her hand on Selt’s head, who was looking enviously at the remaining bubbly pie. The Flame was generally good, but he tended to be sneaky about his attempts at misbehaving. The nice thing about her female firelizards is they were considerably more direct.

[Cait]

Dalonia knew a thing or two about family names. Particularly what it meant to be associated with people you had no desire to emulate. She wasn't about to comment on it though to some odd duck from the Aerie who delivered messages. However, when she mentioned having sympathies towards rougewings, the handler lifted her pale gaze from her papers and the notes she was taking on who was going to be getting visits from their commander to study the girl a bit more closely. A statement like that spoken in the wrong company could certainly get a person in trouble, especially with tensions so high. Hopefully she hadn't made any such declarations when the Abyss had been hatched. Tensions had almost been higher then than they were now.

"Black's a good color." Dalonia said, not really deciding one way or another how she felt about the girl's declaration. It was interesting, of course, but didn't concern her. If they ended up with deathwings at some point in the future, they could be factored in to battle plans and maneuvers, but until it was an actual issue, saying you sympathized with creatures that no longer existed had no bearing on current events. "Ever thought about whers?"

She wasn't all that sturdy in build but they would need candidates to start training for Tellask and her first Rainbow Mist clutch. Dalonia wasn't above swooping her candidates from other fields. Besides, if she could control firelizards with tempers perhaps she had half a chance with one of the larger whers. It was just a thought.

[Shoki]

Shri merely shrugged about black being a nice color. Deathwings, Lifewings, they were two sides of the same coin. Though Rougewings seemed to have died out, she felt they were most flexible. Healing, fighting, it was better to be able to apply either as needed. Deathwings had no way to heal their allies, Lifewings no effective means of attack. She wondered if there was possibly a way for a complete ‘wing to exist, but such things were rather beyond her pay grade to consider. As much as it might be a thing the Aerie would look down on, they cared very little about saying she preferred the songless variety to either those that healed and those that killed. Besides, she did her job well. Shri took another bite of her pie.

Dalonia spoke again and Shri raised an eyebrow before swallowing. Her opinion on Whers? Easily given.

“Commendable for their abilities. I can’t speak to anything else, not much personal experience on which to draw.” She spared a glance for the two Whers that were in Dalonia’s office. They were chewing on something. This was probably as close as she had been to a Wher in a while. The Crimson and Citrine were not imposing, but she didn’t doubt for a moment they weren’t aware. She turned her eyes back to the Head Wherhandler, giving Dea a pet as she did so. After all, her trio might have their own web of things they paid attention to, but at the end of the day, they would warn her if something was amiss. Dea let Shri’s pet occur, only subtly leaning into it. Anyone who thought putting their fingers near any Copper creature had clearly never had one. Being afraid of them just got you into more trouble.