Okay, so the 'do looks just a little better in the morning...
Scene: Penny visits Ginella at her (T'ral's) weyr after she is found and has been through the infirmary. Given that the whole thing happened over way longer than it might look, this ends up being mid-morning the next day. So this actually comes after the log above. LJ will not let me fix it.
Players: Penny, Ginella and (Vej!)
Darageth's Ledge
Wider than it is long, this weathered ledge is inset in the wall's face in such a way that it falls almost entirely in shadow. While that positioning does protect it from the wind, it's small consolation in the depth of a mountain winter. The surface of the ledge has been deeply scored by the passage of countless dragons over the turns.
Playful summer winds ruffle the landscape, turning calm waters into choppy whitecaps and smooth ground into a dusty obstacle course.
Contents:
Aneleth(#387Qaes$)
Obvious Exits:
Sky
Mid-morning, and Ginella is sitting on the edge of her (alright, T'ral's) bed. There are clothes in neatly folded piles next to her, and a bag in front of her. She's not /doing/ anything, really, just staring at the piles dumbly. There's only Aneleth on the ledge just now, so T'ral must be out, but the gold is plenty big and angry enough to scare whatever transport brings Penny. Just in case. "Ane?" Ginny's voice comes from inside, and she turns her eyes quickly to the entrance, eyes flickering around for... something. "Who is it? Is Tiv back?"
Penny slides off the blue transport dragon's back wearily, landing heavily and giving a little gasp of pain as she wrenches a sprained wrist. Some kind healer made an attempt to even out her hair a little. It still needs work, but with the blood from the scrapes and scratches on her face all wiped away and her wrists neatly bandaged, the smith actually looks presentable. Almost. Wearily, she calls out, "Gin? Ginny?" As the transport leaves again, the wind from its wings stirring Penny's now tomboyishly short hair, the smith just stands there, uncertain. What does one say, after all? Aside from 'Hey, it's me, not a psychotic murderer come to finish the job...'
Ginella is waiting, tensely, by the hearth, where pokers and the like are within easy reach. Luckily, Penny calls out before entering, and waits long enough to Aneleth to subside, passing her image on to Ginella, who freezes, and then freaks a bit: "Ane! Don't pl-- are you sure? Penny!?" The goldrider jogs (ow) out to the ledge, stopping short. "Oh my g-- You're alive? How did-- what-- Jays, Pen, I thought you were dead! I thought-- /Jays/ I'm glad to see you!"
Don't think Penny's not eyeing that dragon warily, though honestly after the previous night's adventure one gold is hardly enough to make Penny all that nervous. Her eyes shift from Aneleth to her rider as she comes out onto the ledge. "Ginny." She sounds a little relieved when she finds her friend in decent shape, at least in the sense of not about to keel over dead. Penny looks tired, but that's not really all that surprising. She just looks a little bewildered -- now that she's up here, now what? Is she supposed to hug her? She just stands there, manages a lopsided sort of smile. There's a certain tension in it until she says mildly, "Er. Yeah. Sorry about that." Surpriiise! Not dead.
Ginella answers that question, ducking around Aneleth to try to give Penny a hug. She pulls back quickly, wincing, realizing that this might be painful: "Are you okay? How did you-- Jensen found you? I was /late/, Pen, I didn't make it, I didn't get to him... I was sure she'd--" She leans back and takes a breath, shaking her head a bit to ward off the tears and the shaking that's threatening to make a reappearance. A long breath, and she nods. "You /are/ okay, though. I'm so glad, you-- you should come in, I'm sorry. Tiv's out getting breakfast."
"Yeah, I'm fine," replies Penny, nodding. "I keep -telling- everyone that." Her arms move to respond to the hug, almost automatically if a little slowly, as she listens to the goldrider's babbling, and then all at once her arms tighten and she ducks her head a little. She's favoring the one wrist that's a little bigger than the other, more tightly wrapped against a sprain, but other than that she doesn't seem to find the hug painful. "Oh, Gin-- I'm so sorry," she says in a thick voice. It -was- her idea to go wandering around outside the Weyr at night, after all. But that doesn't really seem to encompass Penny's apology.
"Well, everyone wasn't there with that /psycho/," Ginella mumbles. Ie: She gets to ask again, and expects an honest answer. She hugs Penny a bit tighter, and shakes her head, "It's not your fault, you didn't /ask/ for that to happen. I'm just... well, I /was/ sorry I didn't get back in time. I'm so glad she didn't kill you. I really thought I'd killed you." A quick sniffle, and the goldrider breaths again. She doesn't seem to've noticed Penny's wrist. Her own aren't bandaged anymore, but are still scraped red and raw, and lightly scabbed. The bump on her head has gone down some, but it's a lovely shade of purpley blue, as is the bruise on her cheek, and she's scratched just like Penny, even if none of this was mentioned before when it should have been. "Come in," she insists, "Please. You don't have to stay for breakfast, but I'm leaving for Benden later."
Penny's sniffling too, her eyes rimmed in red as Ginella pulls away. "I can't believe you made it back at all. Blindfolded and tied up and-- I freaked out, when Jen found me, tried to make him go back and get you too. It took me a whole minute to understand that he was telling me you were already home." She's still hanging onto Ginella as if for dear life, keeping hold of her arm. "-Psycho-," Penny agrees, turning the potential sob-fest into a nervous laugh. She clears her throat, lifting her unswollen hand to wipe across her face. "I can't stay long anyway," she says softly, glancing over her shoulder to where Vej waits patiently, pretending like he's not watching the touching little scene. "I'm not sure Jensen's ever going to let me venture farther from arm's reach again." Pause. "You're going to Benden?" she asks, quietly, turning to follow Ginella inside. "For-- how long?"
"Just a few days," Ginella replies, glossing over the reminder of how hard it was to get back to the weyr. "Partly for T'ral, he wanted me to go a while ago, and I wouldn't. Partly because I think a few days would be good," she admits. "You're welcome to come. I've plenty of room, and I think you and Mari'd get along real well. It'll be quiet, too." She knows the offer will be politely refused, but she makes it anyways, shrugging at the deferral and pouring some tea that's been warming at the hearth, handing a cup to Penny and sitting back down on the couch until they both seem in danger of falling asleep at any moment, sending the smith home with her guard.