Emotional outburst times two.
Who: Ella, Miniyal, Peloth, Reth
Where: Weyrling training cavern
When: Just before dinner on day 6, month 8, turn 3 of the 7th Pass.
What: Miniyal is still feeding a picky Peloth when she has a run in with Ella. Miniyal is impassioned about something. Worried about something else. Reth earns the First to Piss Off the Queen award.
4/14/2007 & 4/15/2007
At High Reaches Weyr, it is dinner on day 6, month 8, turn 3 of the 7th Pass.
It's before dinnertime, barely. Just after the dragon's feeding and before the weyrlings are released to go to the living cavern to hurry up and eat their own meal. That means the room is still partially filled with dragonets and weyrlings. Some have finished up and are moving to the barracks to settle dragons down for naps. Others are finishing up feeding, cleaning up, oiling and any other things that need doing before they are free. Free! Miniyal is still about feeding Peloth, one of the few still eating. She's been so picky lately and even though once she does eat she does so hungrily it takes some time to coerce Peloth /into/ eating.
Little green Reth has no particular problems with gobbling down the food that's handed to her, and now Ella is wiping her own hands off and then taking a few swipes at the green's muzzle with a damp cloth. "Don' thin' y'had t'shake it. Wuz a'ready pretty dead," she notes, grumping faintly. Whatever Reth's reply, Ella snorts softly, baps the green gently on the muzzle and moves to chuck the towel in the hamper waiting for such things. To do so has Ella moving past Miniyal and her persnickity queen. "Weyrw'man," she offers with a nod.
If only the larger dragon were not so picky. Miniyal has to coax and cajole and sometimes beg, if only to the queen, to get her to eat. All without knowing exactly /why/ this problem has arisen. Peloth continues to wolf down her food now if only because her rider has begged so well and made it clear that if she cannot feed her dragon she cannot feed herself. All goes well enough until another weyrling appears. She manages not to duck or flinch at the sound of Ella's voice, but whatever she thinks or feels is not so hidden from her dragon whose head turns as she chews to watch Ella. "Ella," is said quietly, very politely.
"Yeh," she agrees, since, well, she is indeed Ella. But her own attention has settled on the little gold eating rather belatedly. "Sh'a'right?" the greenling queries as Reth makes her careful and meticulous way over to Ella to turn her own gaze towards the young queen.
"She's fine. She's just. . .I don't know." Miniyal hates to admit that and it comes through loud and clear in her tone. That she has to admit it to Ella is only worse, but that can only be guessed at and inferred as she's got her attention on another piece of meat the gold insists on having rightnowthankyouverymuch. Since she can busy herself feeding she does that. It makes it easier to let the conversation come in fits and starts. Even though she's busy eating it doesn't stop Peloth from watching the green approach. Or sending out, by way of hello, a warning. << If she cries again because of yours there will be trouble. >>
"A'right. Sumthin's wrong, y'should tell th'Weyrlin'master, mebbe." Ella's so helpful. Isn't she helpful? She's still watching Peloth eat even as Reth calmly seats herself and curls her tail around so the tip of it brushes against the knuckles of her front feet. The little green blinks, her thoughts creeping around Peloth's, a wild creature keeping to corners and shadows. << Ella made her cry? How? >>
It is likely that Miniyal has worried about something being wrong. Fretted over it until calmed by assurances from the cause of the worry that she is fine. "There's nothing wrong. She's fine." And Peloth has not learned yet how to calm her rider completely so there's worry still in her tone. "It's nothing to bother anyone over. She's just being a brat about the meat for some reason. Who knows why?" Well, someone knows why and she's keeping it to herself. Other than her cohort in crime. He might have guessed. << By talking to her. Yours says the wrong things. >>
"Sh'prolly knows," Ella offers with a shrug, one foot idly scuffing against the ground. "Til sh'f'gets. Mebbe sh'll eat like normal, sh'does." Reth lifts her wings slightly, but only to resettle them again. << What should Ella say instead? She is not upset because of her -now-. >> But there is, amid the rustle of those thoughts murmured into the corners of Peloth's mind, an additional implication. That Miniyal is, in fact, upset.
More food disappears into the mouth of the queen who chews it rapidly and then demands more with a bump of her head to her rider's midsection. Miniyal might stumble back a bit, but she's used to it enough by now that she is prepared for head butting. "Quit it, brat," to the queen who settles down only when fed again. "It's been going on for some time now." Annoyed, worried, even more annoyed. Miniyal can't decide how to feel about it right now. Peloth's gaze steadies on the green now, barely keeping an eye on her rider. << She should say less. >> Offered as suggestion only, the words always coming regardless of how she feels in the same calm tone. Calm, but so very much there. Like if she will bother to talk she will be sure she is heard.
Somewhat divergent in their mental communications, then, the two clutchmates. Reth cannot much be heard unless one does not focus on listening, and Peloth cannot be set aside or ignored. << Sometimes, >> is the green's ghost of an agreement, << She should. Why is she upset, now? >> Unaware of the chatter happening between gold and green, Ella asks only, "Sh'en't tellin'?"
"She doesn't. Always." More grudging admission. Miniyal shakes her head and reaches into her bucket for the last chucks of meat. "She keeps secrets. I don't think she is supposed to." Now she glares at the queen she is sure is doing something she should not be doing by not divulging everything to her rider. For her troubles, she just gets a hot exhale of meaty breath on her. << There is often too much talking. I tell her that to be quiet is good. You should tell yours that as well. >>
<< As you say, >> is the quiet and gentle reply. Appropriately deferential tone for a queen, even if the words are less promising than they might at first seem. "Dunno. Not s'sure there's a s'pposed't. An 'f there is, dunno that th'dragons read th'hide on't.
Frustration leaks into the weyrling weyrwoman's tone as she speaks. "There is always a way things are done. And there is documentation to support such a thing. So, there should be documentation to support anomalies as well." Documentation should, in a perfect world, exist on /everything/ Well, at least in Miniyal's perfect world. In her perfect world she is also not standing with her hands covered in blood from having just finished feeding a picky dragon. Peloth is a neat enough eater that she requires no cleaning up, but Miniyal steps over to a bucket for just such needs to wash her hands. << Yours dislikes her. >> A statement of fact as presented and not a question.
"Oh," says Ella in that tone one uses when they hear and understand the meaning of words without really getting the point behind them. "Don' think most'a'th'rules 're written down, m'self. So you, uh, gonna make a hide? 'bout wha' she's doin'? F'ref'rence?" The little green stretches her neck and then curves it around, tucking her nose beneath one folded wing. << No. >> Also not a question.
"I'm making notes. I make notes on everything." Miniyal has her hands washed clean and she wipes them off to dry on her pants without thinking. Everyone's manners slip sometimes after all. "It's important. Or things get lost and then later someone needs to know something and it is not there." Without the feeding process to busy her hands with she seems somewhat at a loss. She settles, after a head bump of encouragement, with absently petting that same head. << I am not sure that is correct. She makes her cry. How does one do that if they do not dislike someone? >> Peloth, other than the movement of her head to get it into petting range, moves not. She sits, when there are others around, in some 'proper' fashion in an effort to impose a majesty that she tries so hard for and fails at exactly because she tries.
"Um," offers Ella, one hand lifting to ruffle already-mussed hair, "What d'y'do 'bout th'folks what don' read?" Nudging her head a bit further beneath her wing, Reth asks, the thought particularly peripheral, << You do not like your rider? >>
The question causes the petting hand to still until some internal nudge gets it going again. "You teach them." See? Simple. "Most people should have a basic knowledge of reading from their harper lessons. Any child raised in a hold or a weyr will receive such. It is the duty of those who have any knowledge to pass it on. To share it either by teaching others the skills related to gaining the knowledge or sharing the knowledge with them verbally." There is a moment where Peloth must attend to the return of petting and so for that moment the green gets no answer. It is not just because she must puzzle out the question and find an answer. There is, certainly, no hint it could have been that in the cool silvery tone that provides an answer. << I do not think that is the right thing to say. It is insulting. How could I not like her? >>
The lanky woman smirks faintly. "Hate t'tell y' but, grew up inna hold. Readin' weren't real high on th'list a'thin's me'r most folks I met needed t'know. S'for blooded folks." There is a faint flicker of a smile and a small nod. "An' weyrwomen." Reth is not the nudgy sort. Or the demanding sort. Her meddling comes about it other ways. << You make her sad. You said you could not do that, if you did not dislike someone. >> Which is, certainly, presicely what Peloth said. To the letter.
"No. That is not. . .no." Miniyal's got so very many things she is passionate about and usually when one is touched on she tends to lose it a little. This? This would be one of those times. While she continues the petting, comfort for her more than her dragon and Peloth knows this, it's now got an absent quality to it. She's so very focused on what she says. "Everyone should know how to read! Everyone. It's how you learn. It's how you become aware of the world and what's been left behind by others and what's. . .there. How can you /not/ think it is important for everyone? How can you not understand that without being educated people stand no chance of truly bettering themselves and making-" Oh. She babbles. But that realization comes and she stops to suddenly, and silently, find the floor so very interesting. << I do not make her sad. >> Indignant in tone, the queen's eyes whirl faster and she focuses entirely now on the green. << You speak falsely. I do not do that. >> And more quietly, that calm breaking for the first time into anger. << How dare you! >>
The weyrwoman is allowed to ramble and go on, and Ella listens, quiet and calm, until Miniyal stops. "Didn'," she says after all of that, "read f'most'a m'life. En't s'smart, but en't s'dumb, either. Y'sayin' I can't learn? Spent m'whole life not knowin' nuthin an' not bein' anthin'? Cuz I didn' look real close at any books?" The little green remains coiled and 'hidden'. She cannot be seen and she cannot see. Which makes her safe from queenly ire. << I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. She is not sad. She is more...worried. >>
"What? No! That's not what I said." So easily flustered, especially by other women. Miniyal's head came up and now it goes back down. Floor. She probably could describe the floor of every room she's ever been in perfectly. "You can't learn everything you need to know without being able to read. That's just the way it is. It's a skill that everyone should possess. /Everyone/ who can learn to do so should. That's just. . .I'm going to make sure everyone can. Everyone, someday. I may have to start here, but I don't have to stop what I do here. Everyone has a right to be able to learn and to see what goes on outside their life." More projects! If Peloth is aware, and how could she not be, of this newly inspired idea she gives no indication as she continues to observe the other dragon. Mollified somewhat by posture and words she settles back down. << Of course she is worried. >> As if she could not be anything but. Well, she knows that much about her rider. Worry is a natural state. << But I do not encourage her to stop that entirely. It is right. She worries for everyone. It is her responsibility to look after them all just as it is mine to look after her. >>
That next waterfall of words is considered by the ex-Tillekian, arms crossing loosely in front of her. "Y'ever lived anywhere b'sides th'weyr, Min'yal?" she asks, calm and curious. The green lifts her wing enough to peep out from behind it, blue eyes whirling calm and slow. << So, you make her worry on purpose so that you can look after her? >>
The question stops any other words being formed and laid out to be said. "No. I was born here. My father's family has been at the weyr almost as long as there has been a weyr." A source of some pride for Miniyal. A native, after all. << That is not what I said. >> The calm is back entirely. Now there is no anger, no annoyance, just calm. Unlike her rider, she can learn when to suppress things. Until she forgets. << I said I do not discourage her worrying entirely. She must worry. It is her responsibility to worry. She just does not need to do it so much. >>
Ella nods, her cherry lips hitching upwards into a faint smile. "Yeh," she agrees. "It shows." And then there's a small shrug. "En't m'place t'say, y'wanna get folks all readin' scolls an' books. Worse things t'want. G'luck with't." Reth relaxes enough to finally bring her head around again, tailtip flicking once against her front paws. << Why do you add to it, then? >>
"See? But that's it! I mean, it's not. It's just. . .There should be no difference. It's not like-" Miniyal stops and shakes her head. "It's not like I wasn't still weird around here. For wanting to work in records and for reading all the time. Nevermind." Lack of enthusiasm is hard to deal with. << I do not add to it! I- oh, bother. >> Peloth's head swivels away from the green so she can bring all of her attention on her rider. Whatever private conversation they have that interrupts the other two going on it ends with a head already too large for doing so butting against a rider who is still not always prepared for it.
"There's a dif'rence, y'wan't 'r not. S'there. Gotta know't, b'fore y'kin do anythin' w'it." Ella sniffs and shrugs. "Think't works a'right, m'self. Lived jus' fine. Learned jus' fine. Got friends'n'family what did th'same. No books." But then she falls quiet so that Miniyal can get headbutted, her own arms uncrossing and falling to her sides. Reth noses her head up underneath her rider's palm and exhales slowly. Ella glances down and arches an eyebrow. "Y'slimy lil sneak," she informs her lifemate fondly.
Her head shakes and Miniyal takes a half-step backwards. "You didn't know any different. Didn't have a choice. Didn't. . .no one explained it could be different. If you don't want to do something because you choose not to it's different. If you /can't/ do something because no one tells you it's even available? That's wrong. It's wrong to deny people a chance." Peloth croons after this, it almost sounds like an agreement. Or maybe it's just to warn there's another head butting coming. "I have to go." Need it be said why? For her part, Peloth just whips her tail out once in a sweeping gesture of annoyance that doesn't need to hit anything, and so doesn't, to make her point. Hmph.
"En't 'nough time in th'world th'tell ever'one, ever'thin'. But. S'nice, y'worryin' bout th'rest've us. Yeh. A'right. See y'." Because Miniyal has to go. Ella's blunt fingers strench wide and then droop over Reth's muzzle. "I, uh, I don', y'know. Dislike y'." She gives another sharp sniff before turning away to get her own meal while the gettin's good.
The last part? It causes a stumble in her steps. But Miniyal doesn't stop. She just heads into the barracks with Peloth after her. She gives another whip of her tail as she disappears.
Where: Weyrling training cavern
When: Just before dinner on day 6, month 8, turn 3 of the 7th Pass.
What: Miniyal is still feeding a picky Peloth when she has a run in with Ella. Miniyal is impassioned about something. Worried about something else. Reth earns the First to Piss Off the Queen award.
4/14/2007 & 4/15/2007
At High Reaches Weyr, it is dinner on day 6, month 8, turn 3 of the 7th Pass.
It's before dinnertime, barely. Just after the dragon's feeding and before the weyrlings are released to go to the living cavern to hurry up and eat their own meal. That means the room is still partially filled with dragonets and weyrlings. Some have finished up and are moving to the barracks to settle dragons down for naps. Others are finishing up feeding, cleaning up, oiling and any other things that need doing before they are free. Free! Miniyal is still about feeding Peloth, one of the few still eating. She's been so picky lately and even though once she does eat she does so hungrily it takes some time to coerce Peloth /into/ eating.
Little green Reth has no particular problems with gobbling down the food that's handed to her, and now Ella is wiping her own hands off and then taking a few swipes at the green's muzzle with a damp cloth. "Don' thin' y'had t'shake it. Wuz a'ready pretty dead," she notes, grumping faintly. Whatever Reth's reply, Ella snorts softly, baps the green gently on the muzzle and moves to chuck the towel in the hamper waiting for such things. To do so has Ella moving past Miniyal and her persnickity queen. "Weyrw'man," she offers with a nod.
If only the larger dragon were not so picky. Miniyal has to coax and cajole and sometimes beg, if only to the queen, to get her to eat. All without knowing exactly /why/ this problem has arisen. Peloth continues to wolf down her food now if only because her rider has begged so well and made it clear that if she cannot feed her dragon she cannot feed herself. All goes well enough until another weyrling appears. She manages not to duck or flinch at the sound of Ella's voice, but whatever she thinks or feels is not so hidden from her dragon whose head turns as she chews to watch Ella. "Ella," is said quietly, very politely.
"Yeh," she agrees, since, well, she is indeed Ella. But her own attention has settled on the little gold eating rather belatedly. "Sh'a'right?" the greenling queries as Reth makes her careful and meticulous way over to Ella to turn her own gaze towards the young queen.
"She's fine. She's just. . .I don't know." Miniyal hates to admit that and it comes through loud and clear in her tone. That she has to admit it to Ella is only worse, but that can only be guessed at and inferred as she's got her attention on another piece of meat the gold insists on having rightnowthankyouverymuch. Since she can busy herself feeding she does that. It makes it easier to let the conversation come in fits and starts. Even though she's busy eating it doesn't stop Peloth from watching the green approach. Or sending out, by way of hello, a warning. << If she cries again because of yours there will be trouble. >>
"A'right. Sumthin's wrong, y'should tell th'Weyrlin'master, mebbe." Ella's so helpful. Isn't she helpful? She's still watching Peloth eat even as Reth calmly seats herself and curls her tail around so the tip of it brushes against the knuckles of her front feet. The little green blinks, her thoughts creeping around Peloth's, a wild creature keeping to corners and shadows. << Ella made her cry? How? >>
It is likely that Miniyal has worried about something being wrong. Fretted over it until calmed by assurances from the cause of the worry that she is fine. "There's nothing wrong. She's fine." And Peloth has not learned yet how to calm her rider completely so there's worry still in her tone. "It's nothing to bother anyone over. She's just being a brat about the meat for some reason. Who knows why?" Well, someone knows why and she's keeping it to herself. Other than her cohort in crime. He might have guessed. << By talking to her. Yours says the wrong things. >>
"Sh'prolly knows," Ella offers with a shrug, one foot idly scuffing against the ground. "Til sh'f'gets. Mebbe sh'll eat like normal, sh'does." Reth lifts her wings slightly, but only to resettle them again. << What should Ella say instead? She is not upset because of her -now-. >> But there is, amid the rustle of those thoughts murmured into the corners of Peloth's mind, an additional implication. That Miniyal is, in fact, upset.
More food disappears into the mouth of the queen who chews it rapidly and then demands more with a bump of her head to her rider's midsection. Miniyal might stumble back a bit, but she's used to it enough by now that she is prepared for head butting. "Quit it, brat," to the queen who settles down only when fed again. "It's been going on for some time now." Annoyed, worried, even more annoyed. Miniyal can't decide how to feel about it right now. Peloth's gaze steadies on the green now, barely keeping an eye on her rider. << She should say less. >> Offered as suggestion only, the words always coming regardless of how she feels in the same calm tone. Calm, but so very much there. Like if she will bother to talk she will be sure she is heard.
Somewhat divergent in their mental communications, then, the two clutchmates. Reth cannot much be heard unless one does not focus on listening, and Peloth cannot be set aside or ignored. << Sometimes, >> is the green's ghost of an agreement, << She should. Why is she upset, now? >> Unaware of the chatter happening between gold and green, Ella asks only, "Sh'en't tellin'?"
"She doesn't. Always." More grudging admission. Miniyal shakes her head and reaches into her bucket for the last chucks of meat. "She keeps secrets. I don't think she is supposed to." Now she glares at the queen she is sure is doing something she should not be doing by not divulging everything to her rider. For her troubles, she just gets a hot exhale of meaty breath on her. << There is often too much talking. I tell her that to be quiet is good. You should tell yours that as well. >>
<< As you say, >> is the quiet and gentle reply. Appropriately deferential tone for a queen, even if the words are less promising than they might at first seem. "Dunno. Not s'sure there's a s'pposed't. An 'f there is, dunno that th'dragons read th'hide on't.
Frustration leaks into the weyrling weyrwoman's tone as she speaks. "There is always a way things are done. And there is documentation to support such a thing. So, there should be documentation to support anomalies as well." Documentation should, in a perfect world, exist on /everything/ Well, at least in Miniyal's perfect world. In her perfect world she is also not standing with her hands covered in blood from having just finished feeding a picky dragon. Peloth is a neat enough eater that she requires no cleaning up, but Miniyal steps over to a bucket for just such needs to wash her hands. << Yours dislikes her. >> A statement of fact as presented and not a question.
"Oh," says Ella in that tone one uses when they hear and understand the meaning of words without really getting the point behind them. "Don' think most'a'th'rules 're written down, m'self. So you, uh, gonna make a hide? 'bout wha' she's doin'? F'ref'rence?" The little green stretches her neck and then curves it around, tucking her nose beneath one folded wing. << No. >> Also not a question.
"I'm making notes. I make notes on everything." Miniyal has her hands washed clean and she wipes them off to dry on her pants without thinking. Everyone's manners slip sometimes after all. "It's important. Or things get lost and then later someone needs to know something and it is not there." Without the feeding process to busy her hands with she seems somewhat at a loss. She settles, after a head bump of encouragement, with absently petting that same head. << I am not sure that is correct. She makes her cry. How does one do that if they do not dislike someone? >> Peloth, other than the movement of her head to get it into petting range, moves not. She sits, when there are others around, in some 'proper' fashion in an effort to impose a majesty that she tries so hard for and fails at exactly because she tries.
"Um," offers Ella, one hand lifting to ruffle already-mussed hair, "What d'y'do 'bout th'folks what don' read?" Nudging her head a bit further beneath her wing, Reth asks, the thought particularly peripheral, << You do not like your rider? >>
The question causes the petting hand to still until some internal nudge gets it going again. "You teach them." See? Simple. "Most people should have a basic knowledge of reading from their harper lessons. Any child raised in a hold or a weyr will receive such. It is the duty of those who have any knowledge to pass it on. To share it either by teaching others the skills related to gaining the knowledge or sharing the knowledge with them verbally." There is a moment where Peloth must attend to the return of petting and so for that moment the green gets no answer. It is not just because she must puzzle out the question and find an answer. There is, certainly, no hint it could have been that in the cool silvery tone that provides an answer. << I do not think that is the right thing to say. It is insulting. How could I not like her? >>
The lanky woman smirks faintly. "Hate t'tell y' but, grew up inna hold. Readin' weren't real high on th'list a'thin's me'r most folks I met needed t'know. S'for blooded folks." There is a faint flicker of a smile and a small nod. "An' weyrwomen." Reth is not the nudgy sort. Or the demanding sort. Her meddling comes about it other ways. << You make her sad. You said you could not do that, if you did not dislike someone. >> Which is, certainly, presicely what Peloth said. To the letter.
"No. That is not. . .no." Miniyal's got so very many things she is passionate about and usually when one is touched on she tends to lose it a little. This? This would be one of those times. While she continues the petting, comfort for her more than her dragon and Peloth knows this, it's now got an absent quality to it. She's so very focused on what she says. "Everyone should know how to read! Everyone. It's how you learn. It's how you become aware of the world and what's been left behind by others and what's. . .there. How can you /not/ think it is important for everyone? How can you not understand that without being educated people stand no chance of truly bettering themselves and making-" Oh. She babbles. But that realization comes and she stops to suddenly, and silently, find the floor so very interesting. << I do not make her sad. >> Indignant in tone, the queen's eyes whirl faster and she focuses entirely now on the green. << You speak falsely. I do not do that. >> And more quietly, that calm breaking for the first time into anger. << How dare you! >>
The weyrwoman is allowed to ramble and go on, and Ella listens, quiet and calm, until Miniyal stops. "Didn'," she says after all of that, "read f'most'a m'life. En't s'smart, but en't s'dumb, either. Y'sayin' I can't learn? Spent m'whole life not knowin' nuthin an' not bein' anthin'? Cuz I didn' look real close at any books?" The little green remains coiled and 'hidden'. She cannot be seen and she cannot see. Which makes her safe from queenly ire. << I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. She is not sad. She is more...worried. >>
"What? No! That's not what I said." So easily flustered, especially by other women. Miniyal's head came up and now it goes back down. Floor. She probably could describe the floor of every room she's ever been in perfectly. "You can't learn everything you need to know without being able to read. That's just the way it is. It's a skill that everyone should possess. /Everyone/ who can learn to do so should. That's just. . .I'm going to make sure everyone can. Everyone, someday. I may have to start here, but I don't have to stop what I do here. Everyone has a right to be able to learn and to see what goes on outside their life." More projects! If Peloth is aware, and how could she not be, of this newly inspired idea she gives no indication as she continues to observe the other dragon. Mollified somewhat by posture and words she settles back down. << Of course she is worried. >> As if she could not be anything but. Well, she knows that much about her rider. Worry is a natural state. << But I do not encourage her to stop that entirely. It is right. She worries for everyone. It is her responsibility to look after them all just as it is mine to look after her. >>
That next waterfall of words is considered by the ex-Tillekian, arms crossing loosely in front of her. "Y'ever lived anywhere b'sides th'weyr, Min'yal?" she asks, calm and curious. The green lifts her wing enough to peep out from behind it, blue eyes whirling calm and slow. << So, you make her worry on purpose so that you can look after her? >>
The question stops any other words being formed and laid out to be said. "No. I was born here. My father's family has been at the weyr almost as long as there has been a weyr." A source of some pride for Miniyal. A native, after all. << That is not what I said. >> The calm is back entirely. Now there is no anger, no annoyance, just calm. Unlike her rider, she can learn when to suppress things. Until she forgets. << I said I do not discourage her worrying entirely. She must worry. It is her responsibility to worry. She just does not need to do it so much. >>
Ella nods, her cherry lips hitching upwards into a faint smile. "Yeh," she agrees. "It shows." And then there's a small shrug. "En't m'place t'say, y'wanna get folks all readin' scolls an' books. Worse things t'want. G'luck with't." Reth relaxes enough to finally bring her head around again, tailtip flicking once against her front paws. << Why do you add to it, then? >>
"See? But that's it! I mean, it's not. It's just. . .There should be no difference. It's not like-" Miniyal stops and shakes her head. "It's not like I wasn't still weird around here. For wanting to work in records and for reading all the time. Nevermind." Lack of enthusiasm is hard to deal with. << I do not add to it! I- oh, bother. >> Peloth's head swivels away from the green so she can bring all of her attention on her rider. Whatever private conversation they have that interrupts the other two going on it ends with a head already too large for doing so butting against a rider who is still not always prepared for it.
"There's a dif'rence, y'wan't 'r not. S'there. Gotta know't, b'fore y'kin do anythin' w'it." Ella sniffs and shrugs. "Think't works a'right, m'self. Lived jus' fine. Learned jus' fine. Got friends'n'family what did th'same. No books." But then she falls quiet so that Miniyal can get headbutted, her own arms uncrossing and falling to her sides. Reth noses her head up underneath her rider's palm and exhales slowly. Ella glances down and arches an eyebrow. "Y'slimy lil sneak," she informs her lifemate fondly.
Her head shakes and Miniyal takes a half-step backwards. "You didn't know any different. Didn't have a choice. Didn't. . .no one explained it could be different. If you don't want to do something because you choose not to it's different. If you /can't/ do something because no one tells you it's even available? That's wrong. It's wrong to deny people a chance." Peloth croons after this, it almost sounds like an agreement. Or maybe it's just to warn there's another head butting coming. "I have to go." Need it be said why? For her part, Peloth just whips her tail out once in a sweeping gesture of annoyance that doesn't need to hit anything, and so doesn't, to make her point. Hmph.
"En't 'nough time in th'world th'tell ever'one, ever'thin'. But. S'nice, y'worryin' bout th'rest've us. Yeh. A'right. See y'." Because Miniyal has to go. Ella's blunt fingers strench wide and then droop over Reth's muzzle. "I, uh, I don', y'know. Dislike y'." She gives another sharp sniff before turning away to get her own meal while the gettin's good.
The last part? It causes a stumble in her steps. But Miniyal doesn't stop. She just heads into the barracks with Peloth after her. She gives another whip of her tail as she disappears.