[PRP] To Itch or Not to Itch (Mhinadi, Oreune and dragons)

[Samuel Carlin]

Mhin sat on her cot -- in the Weyrling barracks now! -- cross-legged, with a bowl of morning oats in her lap. Half asleep and oddly sore in places she wasn't sure should be sore, really, she absently lifted the spoon to her mouth and scratched at her thigh, without really thinking about it or why she had an itch.

I can tell you why,Scandiacuth told her helpfully, and stretched out a leg, turning her head to nose at her own itchy spot.

"I know. I'll get the oil. I will. I just want to eat this first." She blew out a breath. "I have my very own itch detector."

houllow

 

[houllow]

"If you're up," A muffled voice came from the nearby bunk, a figure facedown in the pillows speaking, "could you grab some for me too? I'm currently unable to move."

Unwilling.

"Unable." Oreune groaned at her dragon's unhelpful stabbing of words, and she rolled her head over to look at the green that was peering over the edge of the bunk. Praedaeth's eyes were a merry blue-green, though flakes of yellow lingered at the edges. She did have an itch after all, and slight hunger, but nothing too troublesome at the moment. The young woman reached over and placed a hand atop the head, her thumb moving to rub at an eyeridge. "Mornings aren't my thing, unlike they seem to be for you."

We'll see. Scandiacuth, my sister - please let yours know she really doesn't need to bring anything. Mine will eventually get up and stop wasting the day.

Oreune only replied by groaning more into her pillow.

Samuel Carlin

 

[Samuel Carlin]

Mhinadi didn't really look up from her bowl or over. She didn't turn her head, at least, though her eyes did shift toward the other girl's bunk. The sound she made in answer wasn't quite a snort, because there was food in her mouth, but it came close. Instead, she finished chewing and swallowed. "If you'd seen me waddle myself over to get this bowl, you wouldn't ask. It was embarrassing."

Not embarrassing, exactly, Scandiacuth allowed. It was ... it just looked harder than it needed to be. That was the best way to describe Mhinadi's stiff-kneed trek for breakfast.

That's not better.

"I'm not sure I want to be a morning person," Mhinadi answered. "I think I probably should have slept in, but someone..."

Scandiacuth made a sound almost like a sneeze and flipped her tail tips as she turned to face Praedaeth. If we stay asleep all morning, we'll miss things. Important things, probably. Nobody wants to miss things, right? Good morning, Praedaeth. I hope you had a good sleep.  

[houllow]

Good morning. Praedaeth yawned mentally, followed by an actual snap of her jaws that was loud enough and close to cause Oreune to flinch. The green's eyes instantly whirled red and white, mixing to a soft pink, before returning back to a calm green. From where Mhinadi was sitting she likely could not see the way Oreune's fists had clenched hard her sheets, but Praedaeth had and nosed away at the white knuckles.

Slowly a finger untwined and patted the snout, then another, until Oreune's had was flat on her dragon's face. Looks like you're awake now. Her tone was amused but a tiny bit apologetic, if only at the fringes. Are you going to get up and get oil for me, or will you force your poor friend to walk with her bad knees?

Oreune grunted into the pillow. "I'll have you know I'm older than she is. Right? Aren't I older than you, Mhin?" How old was Mhin? For that matter, how old even was Oreune? She'd spent so much time down and out over the last Turn or so she'd forgotten....a little. "If anyone has bad knees or back it's me and you should have pity on me. You're not even itching that much."

I could be. Almost as if on cue an itch did appear, then another, as well as a hunger pang. It was very easy to be honest with your feelings as a newly hatched dragonet and Praedaeth leaned into that with pleasure. Now please, get up. I'll even let you eat breakfast in bed, although we're not supposed to. The green peeked over at her sister with a glimmer in her eye, hoping that somehow she'd play along. Scandiacuth had a way with stories after all, perhaps she could be of help?

Samuel Carlin

 

[Samuel Carlin]

Mhinadi had another spoonful of breakfast before she shook her head, but answered with the mouthful tucked into her cheek and a hand in front of her mouth in case it tried to slip back out again, "I don't know if you're older. I'm nineteen, but I stood up just as much as you did. My knees are allowed to be tied too." And they were, Faranth knew.

Oh, were they playing now? Fine. She could play along. Oh yes. If we eat where we aren't supposed to eat, then they make Ours feed us in tiny, tiny mouthfuls and it takes twice as long for us to eat. We will be so hungry. So we have to be very quiet.

So saying, Scandiacuth let out a very plaintive honk and lowered herself to the floor, making herself look as weak as she could.

Which made Mhinadi stop eating entirely. "What are you... stop that!"

houllow

 

[houllow]

"I'm...twen..twenty-one? Twenty-two??" Shards and shells, either way!! "Either way I'm older and you should be kinder to your elders! For shaaaame!" Oreune wasn't willing to move no matter what Mhinadi said; it wasn't time for lessons yet as far as she could tell, and Praedaeth was simply being dramatic.

Or she at least hoped the dragonet was being dramatic. It would be horrible to call her so with their bond so very, very new and yet? It really did feel like the little green was hamming it up for no reason other than the desire to do so. Oreune could understand and even respect it, really.

But not when she was in bed and tired as everything.

It was only when she noticed Scandiacuth go down with a honk that she raised her head up a bit more, even going so far as to prop herself up with her elbows. "....is she okay? What's going on?"

Following her sister's lead, Praedaeth moved to lay down as well. Suddenly I feel....so weak....Scandiacuth....are you.....fairing well....

Seriously, what was going on??

Samuel Carlin

 

[Samuel Carlin]

"You don't know how old you are? How does that happen?" Oh. Wait. Oreune had been badly hurt. That probably explained it. "Oh. Sorry," she ameded. "You must have lost track of time when you were hurt." Which was odd, but it was more of a nuisance for Oreune than it ever would be for Mhinadi. "But you're not that much older, so you can't claim to be falling apart, so there."

She'd scraped up another mouthful before Scandiacuth dove into her brief acting stint, but she spit it back into bowl so she could take care of her dragon if she needed to.

"Scandiacuth."

The green did not lift her head.

And Mhinadi actuallystarted to get a little worried. "I don't know what they're doing," she told Oreune, sliding off the edge of her cot. [i[Scandiacuth, you're scaring e....

The tingle of genuine fear trickling into Mhinadi's thoughts put an end to the game as Scandiacuth lifted her head. Oh. Oh, no, Mine. Please don't worry. I was playing a game, that's all. I'm fine. I promise I'm fine. Swirls of yellow spun through her eyes.

houllow

 

[houllow]

Praedaeth popped up as well as soon as her sister did. Her eyes may not have held the same yellow as she wasn't panicking (neither was Oreune, not nearly as much anyway), but she did show some concern at least over Mhinadi's reaction. We're fine, really. Her voice carried to all four in the room, as it had been before. If she was talking, why not make sure everyone could hear it? The whole keeping it to yourself thing seemed a bit of a waste, really. It was my idea, so don't blame Scandiacuth for it.

Oreune narrowed her eyes at the absolute cheek of her dragonet to do something so.....painful. It was so early on that these little jokes could hardly be taken as jokes, and their bond wasn't strong enough for the rider to simple roll her eyes and pass it off as a dramatic green moment. "Do..don't ever do that again." Her own heart was pounding now, but not with anxiety or fear - or, maybe it was? It was hard to tell, but it did seem enough to cow down her dragon's attitude as a tiny bit of regret seeped into those otherwise blue eyes. "At least, not this early in. I don't want to lose you, not when you've promised me to be with me forever. And I certainly don't want anything to happen to your siblings either."

She was more up now, at least to the point of sitting, and she pulled her dragon up onto her lap as much as she could. "Sorry Mhin, it looks like this was somehow all Praedaeth's idea to try and get me out of bed. Scandiacuth just got wrapped into it."

It wasn't entirely the fault of her dragon and she made sure her dear hearts knew that, because upsetting a dragon with a scolding could be just as bad as anything else. All of this was so new and such a delicate balancing game that Oreune really was flying by the seat of her skirt. So to speak.

Samuel Carlin

 

[Samuel Carlin]

here was clear relief on Mhinadi's face the instant Scandiacuth got up, and more in the moments that followed. She gathered her green up as well, burying her face against the green hide for a long few moments as her heartbeat slowed down. "I thought I did something wrong," she said aloud. "I thought I made a mistake!"

She leaned back enough to give Scandiacuth a stern look then, and wagged a finger directly in the dragon's face. "No more of of that." She wasn't yelling, just very serious, and she looked over to Oreune and Praedaeth as well. "Not from either of you." Oreune got an eyebrow lift and a huge sigh.

"It might have been her idea, but Scandi didn't have to go along with it. Hmph." Hmph indeed. Still: "I guess it worked, though. You're awake now, right?"

Scandiacuth did look as contrite as a dragon could, at the scolding, but there was also still somehow a hint of amusement in her, as she asked Praedaeth, Did you see their faces?[

houllow

 

[houllow]

Praedaeth sent a little wink towards her sister, completely acknowleding the fun they had made despite the reactions it had gotten. Oreune didn't seem terribly upset and if anything was just irritated at being ushered out of bed, so all-in-all she considered it a rousing success. Even if, of course, her rider would make sure to communicate her displeasure at being unable to get just a tiny bit more sleep. "You're not even itching or hungry or suffering - you're just being insufferable."

With that, Oreune flopped back onto the bed, except this time she wasn't on her stomach and could tilt her head back enough to spot her friend on her own cot. Why couldn't this have ended with Mhinadi going to get oil as requested? "Yanno, if you'd just....gotten a bucket for me...to start...." The words were laced with teasing and truth in equal measure, though her dragon was starting to itch a bit more intensely as if to make sure she wasn't a complete liar.

Oreune still wanted to pop her on the nose for all the theatrics.

Samuel Carlin

 

[Samuel Carlin]

"Ya know," Mhinadi echoed, very deliberately copying Oreune's tone, even if she didn't go so far as to flop over dramatically and mirror her pose as well. ""It's not my job to get both you and me out of bed or up and moving. Or to feed you," she teased back. "I mean, if you haven't figured out where the lower caverns are by now, I'm pretty sure there's no help for you. Not even if I was your best friend on all of Pern."

She scratched idly at a shoulder, and cast a narrow-eyed glance at her dragon. "You can stop that, by the way. You have to stop itching sometime. I already oiled you. We're going to have to work on this tolerance thing."

Scandiacuth grumbled a little, but seemed to relax where she sat. So bossy, she opined fondly toward Mhinadi before declaring to Praedaeth, We made good choices, Praedaeth.

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