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What: Aivey, attempting an early morning visit to her father, is waylaid when she runs into him and other island natives
Who: Derek, T'gar, Shanti and Aivey
Where: Beach
Note: This is a back-dated scene of sorts, set to before Cassiel arrives and on the day when Aivey's lunch with her father and Nera.
Early morning hour finds Aivey walking along the beach, the course of her path one that would, if unstopped, take her directly to the Alley. A walking stick aides her in her progress, leaving behind little gouges and dips in the sand, the occasional squiggly or slash. The tail of her hair is braided with a square cloth wrapped around the remainder to keep shorter bits free from her face. She's smiling, however softly, as she goes and though her attention isn't fixed on her path, she is as always aware of her surroundings as she passes by them.
Derek is not, exactly, bent on interrupting her progress; but he's got this small bundle of fabric, wet and muddy-hued, under one arm and he's certainly bent on departing the rocky slope that descends before the cave mouth of the Alley and making time toward the sandy part of the beach. So in time, his course past the cliff-face and down the slope to the sand brings him to a view of the dark-haired young woman with her stick and her squiggles; and perhaps because this is an opportunity well-lent, Derek tucks the bundle a little tighter under his arm and approaches her, barefoot steps quiet in the sand.
Aivey will, one of these days, affix a bell to Derek because the approach on sand is something she has as of yet to /remember/ to pay attention to. And so she blindly continues forward, ears tuned to her surrounding, sight not so tuned until she's all but the last few feet from him. The smile fades, her pace slows and her attention turns first to the man's face, then to the whole of him. The package under his arm is eyed, briefly, then Aivey dips her head in acknowledgment and greeting, along with a semi-quiet, "Morning."
The bulk of a dragon is not an easy thing to miss, but his rider doesn't seem all that interested in who else is on the beach when the pair of them land in the sand. Echeloth has his straps hanging off of him, carrying them more than wearing them. When the dragon is settled, T'gar hauls them off of the brown and situates them in the sand in a way that probably means something to him but likely nothing to anyone else. He casts an absent gaze toward the pair a short distance away, watching perhaps a moment longer than is polite, then goes about his business with his straps.
"Morning." That's all Aivey gets; Derek's stopped as soon as she greets him, and half-turned to watch the brown descend and land. His steely gaze is unforgiving, as if he has judged the dragon - or all of his kind - and found them wanting. "Drawing?" Aivey's expected to understand without further explication; T'gar, expected to understand from a raised hand that he's been sighted in his momentary stare. Then the island leader turns fully back to regard the woman, mouth grim. "Already?"
Drawn by Derek's alertness, Aivey turns to spy the brown and his rider, then steps aside and back, attempting to keep him in view while not obstructing Derek's view either. "Visiting," she says to his first and to his second a slow nod of her head and another smile, "Disappointed?" One word wonders.
The brown turns his head to regard Aivey and Derek, then tilts it back to T'gar while the rider mumbles something about leather and salt. The man glances up at the dragon and shakes his head in reply to something shared only between the two of them and eventually his gaze returns to the pair, perhaps trying to figure out what they're doing.
From the clearing set aside for the exile weyrlings, Shanti and Toth energetically sprint down the path. There is a smile on the rider's face that is a mirror of the happiness swirling in the dragonet's eyes. As they reach the sand their breakneck speed slows, Shanti taking deep breaths as she stops on the sand. A glance around finds the others, and Shanti offers Aivey a warm smile and a wave, "Hey there!"
"Came to see you," Aivey replies before she's distracted by the shake of the shirt, the stain of red and then its concealment. Though her attention remains on the folded article, she answers Derek all the same, if only slightly uncertain, "Nothing. Nothing important." A quick beat, "Are we still on or should I-" Another quick pause in which Derek is turned away from Shanti toward, "Shanti."
Echeloth's attention turns to the young green when she and her weyrling come into view. T'gar has since settled himself down beside his straps and is now running the various lengths through his hands, paying special attention to joints and longer lengths and no attention to anything but the leathers themselves.
"We're on. I just have housekeeping to do." Derek's stare sticks on Aivey a moment, even after she's turned away to greet the new greenrider; a beat after, Derek turns to greet her as well with a silent regard.
Shanti ands Toth have changed their destination and are moving towards Aivey. Derek gets a polite smile as they approach, and a wave is sent to the brownrider. "Aivey," She says, in a voice laced with amusement, "Toth would like to know if she is allowed to approach you today, or if that would make you angry again? I'm surprised she remembers that, really. How're you doing?" If she's interrupting anything, well, she doesn't seem to care.
At Shanti's approach, Aivey gives Derek a quick look, mildly apologetic in nature. A single question is asked, in what space she has to do so, "Blood?" Then, to Shanti, a slight shake of her head, "I think Toth has another admirer," A lift of Aivey's walking stick indicates T'gar and his brown, "You might want to point her in that direction and I'm well. Enjoying the morning, as it stands. You?"
Toth is as curious about the brown as he is about her, and easily distracted from Aivey to boot. She looks up at him with a curious chirp, taking in the relatively huge size of him slowly. Shanti watches for a moment and then turns back towards Derek and Aivey; the old man's question getting a curious look from her as she considers the other woman. "Been a pretty good morning all around. Toth enjoyed a rare breakfast of rabbit, and red meat always makes us both decidedly more cheerful about the day, even if only she gets it. I think one of these days, I might try to catch one alive and see what she does with it; small as they are, she should be able to 'hunt' it."
"Yours?" Aivey, again, with a concerned look she doesn't quite bother to hide. Needless too, for all that he's alive and well, a fact Aivey seems to catch upon only after she's asked. "Friend? Not especially, no. Shanti? Maybe," said weyrling is given a tight smile that still manages to be somewhat friendly even through all of Shanti's reply. "While she's still that small, it's a possibility," Aivey says at last, to Shanti's notion of rabbit hunting, "Can't say I'll be placing bets on the rabbit."
T'gar looks over his shoulder eventually, eying Shanti, before he returns to his work. Echeloth rumbles a deep sound to the young green, lowering himself down in the sand to perhaps make himself less large by comparison. His eyes whirl a calm and inviting shade, ignoring the people still in favor of the dragon. People, of course, aren't really that interesting and he has one of his own.
"Don't think so," Derek replies, as if it could be possible, and he doesn't quite care, then transfers his gaze again from Aivey to Shanti. "Wouldn't she... squish it?"
Toth meets the dragon's gaze, crooning at him pleasantly as he crouches down. Stretching a wing out, she is clearly showing off the delicate appendage for the brown's perusal, a teasing note entering the croon. Shanti shakes her head, grinning. "Oh, I don't doubt she'll catch it. But a dragon should be able to catch it's meals, and rabbits at her size are the best we'll see until J'lor has us in the air and searching out more meaty sea-meals." She looks to Derek, and smiles proudly, "And I don't think she'd squish it, so much as... Crunch it, maybe, after it's in her mouth. It'll be interesting to see. I bet I could get the others in, we could compete to see which dragon catches the fastest..."
"Oh." With one last look toward her father, Aivey leaves her questioning there and focuses more squarely on T'gar off in the distance. Staying just slightly apart from Shanti and Derek's current conversation until the tail end, where she adds, "One can only wonder what the prize at the end is."
"Of course." Shanti replies to the suggestion of asking J'lor's permission. "It'd be fun, something that is, well, often lacking around here. And with the new kids, we need more things to bring them in, closer to the group and more part of the team. No, it definitely has potential..." A bright grin, "And never underestimate the usefulness of bragging rights! A bit of competition will do more to hone skills than anything." Toth looks at the larger wing and gives a slightly indignant snort; showoff. Still, she lets her amusement be felt by the brown, a rolling image of her darting away from him in the sky, with him too large to turn to follow.
"Lucky winner, then," Aivey says before pulling the end of her stick out of the sand and resting it against her shoulder. She waits, again, to hear Shanti's response while still watching T'gar and not so much Echeloth or Toth. After a slight pause on her end, she shifts her focus back to Derek and Shanti, turning ever so slightly to pull T'gar from view, "Mainlanders might not have such an easy go with things, but I suppose that'll work itself out in the end."
"If it's the dragons competing," Derek muses, "will it make so much difference? They're island-born. Island-hatched." The correction comes with a certain intonation of derision. "Shanti." Like Aivey he turns away from the dragons and the brownrider; his brows furrow as he does. "There have been no major squabbles?"
Echeloth lifts himself up out of the sand, glancing back at his rider then returning his gaze to the green as his wing settles tightly against his back. He croons a low good-bye and turns around to move back toward his rider, who's now back on his feet and lifting up one part of the leathers and waiting for the dragon to get close enough for him to put them on him properly.
Aivey's lips tighten at the ridicule and she looks away, briefly, before planting the end of her stick back in the ground and leaning against it. Derek's questioning earns further silence on her end, though her attention remains fixed on Shanti as she listens.
"Ain't anyone there who sees the dragon that chose them as anything less than their own. None of us sees them as island, mainland. They're just... Ours. Us." Shanti shrugs a bit. "Most, they're adjusting. We work on them, we help them, they'll be ok." A smirk. "No squabbles that I am aware of. Anything that comes up... Well, we deal with it." Toth watches the brown go, but nod sadly as now she can turn back towards Aivey, moving up to her with a curious squawk.
"Not Nenuith's." There's a question implicit, and not rhetorical, in Derek's reply. His regard is strictly with Shanti, now. "Just yours."
T'gar checks all of the brown's straps before he mounts, shifts his weight around a little bit - probably more out of habit that a real need to - and the dragon walks a little further down the beach before spreading his wings and jumping into the air. They look to be heading toward the cliffs, but who really cares where they're going.
Aivey's attention tips down toward Toth and remains on the green though she makes no move to otherwise greet the creature. Whether it's because she's still listening to Derek and Shanti or because it's a dragon is purely up for grabs.
Shanti looks to Derek. "Nenuith is a gold. I don't think any dragon on this island, or precious few, could resist her will. Dragons are, after all, dragons. But she would have to impose that, and she would have to fight us if she did." She inclines her head a bit. "/We/ choose who we listen to, other than if she decides to force it. And I can't imagine she ever would, really."
"So knowledgeable, so young," replies Derek in a thoughtful tone, eyes narrowed, as if he actually means what he's saying; sarcasm is not his gift, or else not one he chooses to employ just now. "J'lor must be doing all right with you." A glance sidelong to Aivey. "You'll have to excuse me. I've got a few more hours in pick-up to do and afternoon rounds to make. Aivey." Back to the greenrider. "Shanti." Toth gets a nod, as an afterthought. But she gets -something.- After that Derek turns toward the sea, shaking out the shirt again as he goes.
"Of course." Aivey to Derek, who is again awarded full attention until he's gone. Then, it's Toth and Shanti, to whom Aivey says, "You don't care for him much, do you?" An inclination of her head toward Derek's path is all Shanti gets by way of help toward figuring out who 'him' is.
Shanti blinks, looking after him for a moment, then back to Aivey. "Why do you think that?" She asks, her voice more curious than anything. Toth continues her inspection of the girl, though today she is keeping a few feet away as she does so.
"The way you speak of J'lor. How you speak to him," Aivey says as she eases down into a crouch before the green, meeting her on a more even level, "If I'm wrong, though, feel free to correct me. I'm not opposed to that."
Toth reaches her neck out, then, taking the crouching as an invitation, eyes whirling a short way from Aivey. She gives a soft snort, blowing hot air over the girl. Shanti moves over that way and stops next to Aivey. "Dunno him well enough to like or not like him." She says. "But I know it's better not to be seen by him, than to be noticed." She tilts her head, "J'lor, I know better. He's looked out for us, for me. I don't see how liking J'lor, though, precludes respecting Derek?"
Aivey presses her hand out to Toth, not touching, but offering a flat palm out for inspection, "Know from experience or rumor? About not being seen?" A quick look to Shanti has Aivey offering a smile and clarification, "Didn't mean anything like that, either, just that... the way you speak of J'lor, seem to look to him doesn't seem to be the same for Derek. I'm just curious, is all."
Toth looks at the palm offered, and moves her head underneath to push the top of her head against the bottom of Aivey's hand. Shanti rolls her eyes a bit. "She says your hand is upside down." Aivey's words cause Shanti to purse her lips a bit. "Rumor." She admits. "Like I said, I don't know him well, and I... Don't much know how to approach him, or if I should. Whereas I've been tormenting J'lor since I was a little girl, when we first got here. He's... Well, he's like an uncle, I guess. It's not any judgment on one or the other, just someone I know better. And mother, I admit, respects J'lor very much, so it's rubbed off on me." She tilts her head, "Why's it matter to you?" It's not defensive, or hostile, but simple curiosity.
"J'lor is a good man. Kind, always wants to do right... he's a good man and there's nothing wrong with respecting him. As for Derek, I suppose I'm curious, is all, like I said." Aivey says to Shanti as she pulls her hand away from Toth and stands, "Is she always so curious or is it just me she's curious about?" Asked neutrally, though with stiffness, as though Aivey weren't so certain about where Toth stands in her own eyes.
Shanti smiles a bit. "She's usually curious, abuot most everything. Doubly so, with things or people that interest me." She watches as Aivey stands, and reaches over to replace Aivey's hand with her own. "She's a very caring dragon. A good friend, to anyone who wants to take advantage of it." She looks to Aivey. "I don't judge people, Aivey, rumor or not. Everyone gets a chance."
"So I interest you?" Aivey, tilting her head to consider Shanti, favors her with a kinder smile, "You're welcome to ask questions, Shanti. You'd be among the first who did." Comments on Toth are accepted silently, not outwardly acknowledged, nor is the last of Shanti's comments.
Shanti returns the smile warmly, "You do, and I don't have many to ask, and I promise when I do, I will. You're a newcomer, and that doesn't happen without a story. But that's for others to worry about. Me, I figure, you come here, you got a second chance, a fresh start. So, I don't ask many questions, and try not to think them."
"The offer is open, Shanti. Always. Though I'll leave you with this. I'm not here for a fresh start. A second chance, maybe, depending on how things go... but that'd be another discussion entirely." Aivey looks back to Toth, finally acknowledging the other woman's words, "I prefer friends of the human variety... it's nothing personal, not against her, but she's a dragon. As far as they go, though, I suppose she's alright."
A crooked grin. "We'll take that as a compliment, then, Aivey." And Toth gives a bright chirp of agreement, settling back on her haunches with her wings spread a bit, looking over Aivey with amusement. "A second chance, but not a fresh start? I'll bite, can you explain that to me, then, Aivey? Would seem that one implies the other, to me."
"I like my life, as it's been, so far. A fresh start isn't what I need... there's nothing I've done in my past that I'm ashamed of or want to hide from... so there's no need for me to start fresh." Aivey smiles again, and this time there's pride behind it, "A second chance will let me do what I couldn't the first time around. And I must admit I like the company I'm in."
Shanti grins, and gives a small curtsy. "Glad you do, quite. You're a nice woman, and I'm happy to have met you." The sound that comes from Toth, at that moment, is one that is far less pleasant, and is combined with a whirling of red. "Argh. And, I am being informed, Toth's wing has just developed a rather bad itch. Will you excuse us, Aivey? I hate to abandon you, but while they are growing the oiling is near-constant, I am afraid."
Aivey's smile dims ever so slightly, but she cants her head in Shanti's direction, "We'll see one another again, I'm sure. Take care, Shanti." Like Derek, Aivey offers only a nod to Toth before she sets back across the beach and away from her original destination.
Who: Derek, T'gar, Shanti and Aivey
Where: Beach
Note: This is a back-dated scene of sorts, set to before Cassiel arrives and on the day when Aivey's lunch with her father and Nera.
Early morning hour finds Aivey walking along the beach, the course of her path one that would, if unstopped, take her directly to the Alley. A walking stick aides her in her progress, leaving behind little gouges and dips in the sand, the occasional squiggly or slash. The tail of her hair is braided with a square cloth wrapped around the remainder to keep shorter bits free from her face. She's smiling, however softly, as she goes and though her attention isn't fixed on her path, she is as always aware of her surroundings as she passes by them.
Derek is not, exactly, bent on interrupting her progress; but he's got this small bundle of fabric, wet and muddy-hued, under one arm and he's certainly bent on departing the rocky slope that descends before the cave mouth of the Alley and making time toward the sandy part of the beach. So in time, his course past the cliff-face and down the slope to the sand brings him to a view of the dark-haired young woman with her stick and her squiggles; and perhaps because this is an opportunity well-lent, Derek tucks the bundle a little tighter under his arm and approaches her, barefoot steps quiet in the sand.
Aivey will, one of these days, affix a bell to Derek because the approach on sand is something she has as of yet to /remember/ to pay attention to. And so she blindly continues forward, ears tuned to her surrounding, sight not so tuned until she's all but the last few feet from him. The smile fades, her pace slows and her attention turns first to the man's face, then to the whole of him. The package under his arm is eyed, briefly, then Aivey dips her head in acknowledgment and greeting, along with a semi-quiet, "Morning."
The bulk of a dragon is not an easy thing to miss, but his rider doesn't seem all that interested in who else is on the beach when the pair of them land in the sand. Echeloth has his straps hanging off of him, carrying them more than wearing them. When the dragon is settled, T'gar hauls them off of the brown and situates them in the sand in a way that probably means something to him but likely nothing to anyone else. He casts an absent gaze toward the pair a short distance away, watching perhaps a moment longer than is polite, then goes about his business with his straps.
"Morning." That's all Aivey gets; Derek's stopped as soon as she greets him, and half-turned to watch the brown descend and land. His steely gaze is unforgiving, as if he has judged the dragon - or all of his kind - and found them wanting. "Drawing?" Aivey's expected to understand without further explication; T'gar, expected to understand from a raised hand that he's been sighted in his momentary stare. Then the island leader turns fully back to regard the woman, mouth grim. "Already?"
Drawn by Derek's alertness, Aivey turns to spy the brown and his rider, then steps aside and back, attempting to keep him in view while not obstructing Derek's view either. "Visiting," she says to his first and to his second a slow nod of her head and another smile, "Disappointed?" One word wonders.
The brown turns his head to regard Aivey and Derek, then tilts it back to T'gar while the rider mumbles something about leather and salt. The man glances up at the dragon and shakes his head in reply to something shared only between the two of them and eventually his gaze returns to the pair, perhaps trying to figure out what they're doing.
From the clearing set aside for the exile weyrlings, Shanti and Toth energetically sprint down the path. There is a smile on the rider's face that is a mirror of the happiness swirling in the dragonet's eyes. As they reach the sand their breakneck speed slows, Shanti taking deep breaths as she stops on the sand. A glance around finds the others, and Shanti offers Aivey a warm smile and a wave, "Hey there!"
"Came to see you," Aivey replies before she's distracted by the shake of the shirt, the stain of red and then its concealment. Though her attention remains on the folded article, she answers Derek all the same, if only slightly uncertain, "Nothing. Nothing important." A quick beat, "Are we still on or should I-" Another quick pause in which Derek is turned away from Shanti toward, "Shanti."
Echeloth's attention turns to the young green when she and her weyrling come into view. T'gar has since settled himself down beside his straps and is now running the various lengths through his hands, paying special attention to joints and longer lengths and no attention to anything but the leathers themselves.
"We're on. I just have housekeeping to do." Derek's stare sticks on Aivey a moment, even after she's turned away to greet the new greenrider; a beat after, Derek turns to greet her as well with a silent regard.
Shanti ands Toth have changed their destination and are moving towards Aivey. Derek gets a polite smile as they approach, and a wave is sent to the brownrider. "Aivey," She says, in a voice laced with amusement, "Toth would like to know if she is allowed to approach you today, or if that would make you angry again? I'm surprised she remembers that, really. How're you doing?" If she's interrupting anything, well, she doesn't seem to care.
At Shanti's approach, Aivey gives Derek a quick look, mildly apologetic in nature. A single question is asked, in what space she has to do so, "Blood?" Then, to Shanti, a slight shake of her head, "I think Toth has another admirer," A lift of Aivey's walking stick indicates T'gar and his brown, "You might want to point her in that direction and I'm well. Enjoying the morning, as it stands. You?"
Toth is as curious about the brown as he is about her, and easily distracted from Aivey to boot. She looks up at him with a curious chirp, taking in the relatively huge size of him slowly. Shanti watches for a moment and then turns back towards Derek and Aivey; the old man's question getting a curious look from her as she considers the other woman. "Been a pretty good morning all around. Toth enjoyed a rare breakfast of rabbit, and red meat always makes us both decidedly more cheerful about the day, even if only she gets it. I think one of these days, I might try to catch one alive and see what she does with it; small as they are, she should be able to 'hunt' it."
"Yours?" Aivey, again, with a concerned look she doesn't quite bother to hide. Needless too, for all that he's alive and well, a fact Aivey seems to catch upon only after she's asked. "Friend? Not especially, no. Shanti? Maybe," said weyrling is given a tight smile that still manages to be somewhat friendly even through all of Shanti's reply. "While she's still that small, it's a possibility," Aivey says at last, to Shanti's notion of rabbit hunting, "Can't say I'll be placing bets on the rabbit."
T'gar looks over his shoulder eventually, eying Shanti, before he returns to his work. Echeloth rumbles a deep sound to the young green, lowering himself down in the sand to perhaps make himself less large by comparison. His eyes whirl a calm and inviting shade, ignoring the people still in favor of the dragon. People, of course, aren't really that interesting and he has one of his own.
"Don't think so," Derek replies, as if it could be possible, and he doesn't quite care, then transfers his gaze again from Aivey to Shanti. "Wouldn't she... squish it?"
Toth meets the dragon's gaze, crooning at him pleasantly as he crouches down. Stretching a wing out, she is clearly showing off the delicate appendage for the brown's perusal, a teasing note entering the croon. Shanti shakes her head, grinning. "Oh, I don't doubt she'll catch it. But a dragon should be able to catch it's meals, and rabbits at her size are the best we'll see until J'lor has us in the air and searching out more meaty sea-meals." She looks to Derek, and smiles proudly, "And I don't think she'd squish it, so much as... Crunch it, maybe, after it's in her mouth. It'll be interesting to see. I bet I could get the others in, we could compete to see which dragon catches the fastest..."
"Oh." With one last look toward her father, Aivey leaves her questioning there and focuses more squarely on T'gar off in the distance. Staying just slightly apart from Shanti and Derek's current conversation until the tail end, where she adds, "One can only wonder what the prize at the end is."
"Of course." Shanti replies to the suggestion of asking J'lor's permission. "It'd be fun, something that is, well, often lacking around here. And with the new kids, we need more things to bring them in, closer to the group and more part of the team. No, it definitely has potential..." A bright grin, "And never underestimate the usefulness of bragging rights! A bit of competition will do more to hone skills than anything." Toth looks at the larger wing and gives a slightly indignant snort; showoff. Still, she lets her amusement be felt by the brown, a rolling image of her darting away from him in the sky, with him too large to turn to follow.
"Lucky winner, then," Aivey says before pulling the end of her stick out of the sand and resting it against her shoulder. She waits, again, to hear Shanti's response while still watching T'gar and not so much Echeloth or Toth. After a slight pause on her end, she shifts her focus back to Derek and Shanti, turning ever so slightly to pull T'gar from view, "Mainlanders might not have such an easy go with things, but I suppose that'll work itself out in the end."
"If it's the dragons competing," Derek muses, "will it make so much difference? They're island-born. Island-hatched." The correction comes with a certain intonation of derision. "Shanti." Like Aivey he turns away from the dragons and the brownrider; his brows furrow as he does. "There have been no major squabbles?"
Echeloth lifts himself up out of the sand, glancing back at his rider then returning his gaze to the green as his wing settles tightly against his back. He croons a low good-bye and turns around to move back toward his rider, who's now back on his feet and lifting up one part of the leathers and waiting for the dragon to get close enough for him to put them on him properly.
Aivey's lips tighten at the ridicule and she looks away, briefly, before planting the end of her stick back in the ground and leaning against it. Derek's questioning earns further silence on her end, though her attention remains fixed on Shanti as she listens.
"Ain't anyone there who sees the dragon that chose them as anything less than their own. None of us sees them as island, mainland. They're just... Ours. Us." Shanti shrugs a bit. "Most, they're adjusting. We work on them, we help them, they'll be ok." A smirk. "No squabbles that I am aware of. Anything that comes up... Well, we deal with it." Toth watches the brown go, but nod sadly as now she can turn back towards Aivey, moving up to her with a curious squawk.
"Not Nenuith's." There's a question implicit, and not rhetorical, in Derek's reply. His regard is strictly with Shanti, now. "Just yours."
T'gar checks all of the brown's straps before he mounts, shifts his weight around a little bit - probably more out of habit that a real need to - and the dragon walks a little further down the beach before spreading his wings and jumping into the air. They look to be heading toward the cliffs, but who really cares where they're going.
Aivey's attention tips down toward Toth and remains on the green though she makes no move to otherwise greet the creature. Whether it's because she's still listening to Derek and Shanti or because it's a dragon is purely up for grabs.
Shanti looks to Derek. "Nenuith is a gold. I don't think any dragon on this island, or precious few, could resist her will. Dragons are, after all, dragons. But she would have to impose that, and she would have to fight us if she did." She inclines her head a bit. "/We/ choose who we listen to, other than if she decides to force it. And I can't imagine she ever would, really."
"So knowledgeable, so young," replies Derek in a thoughtful tone, eyes narrowed, as if he actually means what he's saying; sarcasm is not his gift, or else not one he chooses to employ just now. "J'lor must be doing all right with you." A glance sidelong to Aivey. "You'll have to excuse me. I've got a few more hours in pick-up to do and afternoon rounds to make. Aivey." Back to the greenrider. "Shanti." Toth gets a nod, as an afterthought. But she gets -something.- After that Derek turns toward the sea, shaking out the shirt again as he goes.
"Of course." Aivey to Derek, who is again awarded full attention until he's gone. Then, it's Toth and Shanti, to whom Aivey says, "You don't care for him much, do you?" An inclination of her head toward Derek's path is all Shanti gets by way of help toward figuring out who 'him' is.
Shanti blinks, looking after him for a moment, then back to Aivey. "Why do you think that?" She asks, her voice more curious than anything. Toth continues her inspection of the girl, though today she is keeping a few feet away as she does so.
"The way you speak of J'lor. How you speak to him," Aivey says as she eases down into a crouch before the green, meeting her on a more even level, "If I'm wrong, though, feel free to correct me. I'm not opposed to that."
Toth reaches her neck out, then, taking the crouching as an invitation, eyes whirling a short way from Aivey. She gives a soft snort, blowing hot air over the girl. Shanti moves over that way and stops next to Aivey. "Dunno him well enough to like or not like him." She says. "But I know it's better not to be seen by him, than to be noticed." She tilts her head, "J'lor, I know better. He's looked out for us, for me. I don't see how liking J'lor, though, precludes respecting Derek?"
Aivey presses her hand out to Toth, not touching, but offering a flat palm out for inspection, "Know from experience or rumor? About not being seen?" A quick look to Shanti has Aivey offering a smile and clarification, "Didn't mean anything like that, either, just that... the way you speak of J'lor, seem to look to him doesn't seem to be the same for Derek. I'm just curious, is all."
Toth looks at the palm offered, and moves her head underneath to push the top of her head against the bottom of Aivey's hand. Shanti rolls her eyes a bit. "She says your hand is upside down." Aivey's words cause Shanti to purse her lips a bit. "Rumor." She admits. "Like I said, I don't know him well, and I... Don't much know how to approach him, or if I should. Whereas I've been tormenting J'lor since I was a little girl, when we first got here. He's... Well, he's like an uncle, I guess. It's not any judgment on one or the other, just someone I know better. And mother, I admit, respects J'lor very much, so it's rubbed off on me." She tilts her head, "Why's it matter to you?" It's not defensive, or hostile, but simple curiosity.
"J'lor is a good man. Kind, always wants to do right... he's a good man and there's nothing wrong with respecting him. As for Derek, I suppose I'm curious, is all, like I said." Aivey says to Shanti as she pulls her hand away from Toth and stands, "Is she always so curious or is it just me she's curious about?" Asked neutrally, though with stiffness, as though Aivey weren't so certain about where Toth stands in her own eyes.
Shanti smiles a bit. "She's usually curious, abuot most everything. Doubly so, with things or people that interest me." She watches as Aivey stands, and reaches over to replace Aivey's hand with her own. "She's a very caring dragon. A good friend, to anyone who wants to take advantage of it." She looks to Aivey. "I don't judge people, Aivey, rumor or not. Everyone gets a chance."
"So I interest you?" Aivey, tilting her head to consider Shanti, favors her with a kinder smile, "You're welcome to ask questions, Shanti. You'd be among the first who did." Comments on Toth are accepted silently, not outwardly acknowledged, nor is the last of Shanti's comments.
Shanti returns the smile warmly, "You do, and I don't have many to ask, and I promise when I do, I will. You're a newcomer, and that doesn't happen without a story. But that's for others to worry about. Me, I figure, you come here, you got a second chance, a fresh start. So, I don't ask many questions, and try not to think them."
"The offer is open, Shanti. Always. Though I'll leave you with this. I'm not here for a fresh start. A second chance, maybe, depending on how things go... but that'd be another discussion entirely." Aivey looks back to Toth, finally acknowledging the other woman's words, "I prefer friends of the human variety... it's nothing personal, not against her, but she's a dragon. As far as they go, though, I suppose she's alright."
A crooked grin. "We'll take that as a compliment, then, Aivey." And Toth gives a bright chirp of agreement, settling back on her haunches with her wings spread a bit, looking over Aivey with amusement. "A second chance, but not a fresh start? I'll bite, can you explain that to me, then, Aivey? Would seem that one implies the other, to me."
"I like my life, as it's been, so far. A fresh start isn't what I need... there's nothing I've done in my past that I'm ashamed of or want to hide from... so there's no need for me to start fresh." Aivey smiles again, and this time there's pride behind it, "A second chance will let me do what I couldn't the first time around. And I must admit I like the company I'm in."
Shanti grins, and gives a small curtsy. "Glad you do, quite. You're a nice woman, and I'm happy to have met you." The sound that comes from Toth, at that moment, is one that is far less pleasant, and is combined with a whirling of red. "Argh. And, I am being informed, Toth's wing has just developed a rather bad itch. Will you excuse us, Aivey? I hate to abandon you, but while they are growing the oiling is near-constant, I am afraid."
Aivey's smile dims ever so slightly, but she cants her head in Shanti's direction, "We'll see one another again, I'm sure. Take care, Shanti." Like Derek, Aivey offers only a nod to Toth before she sets back across the beach and away from her original destination.