[PRP] Hello You Before You Go (Dehka + Soui)

[Tsunake]

The Touching had been every bit of exciting as everyone told him it might be... and though the energy was still humming in his veins, the boy's thoughts continued to stray to the two girls he'd met at the very end. As much as he wanted to dwell in the feelings of happiness and anticipation... he couldn't shake the memory of their teary faces. Though touching the other eggs had gone without a hitch, he was still worried... and that was why he sought them out now, wanting to make sure they were okay.

It was the small wisp of a girl he found first--Soui, he remembered. "H-Hey!" He raised his voice, not hesitating to dart after her so he could try to catch up. He knew the Western candidates wouldn't stay long, and since he hadn't seen her around much, he knew she must be from there.

"Do you have a minute? To talk? I mean, if you want to." Dehka said a touch breathlessly, his teeth sinking into his lower lip. Hopefully she didn't think he was weird. Or a creep. He wasn't being weird or creepy, was he? Mentally, he raced through everything he'd said and done, swallowing a little uncomfortably. Hhh...

houllow

 

[houllow]

Soui looked up as she heard someone call to her, and the candidate paused in her steps to see Dehka approaching. He was the one who'd been with her at the end of the touching, the one who kept her going mostly, and so of course she had time for him. A smile moved over her lips as she turned, looking up towards the High Reaches candidate. "I'm in no hurry." She really wasn't, and to show so she shifted so her weight was balanced better and her hands were clasped in front of her stomach.

Her eyes were puffy against scarred, tear-stained cheeks, but still she managed to smile and show some eagerness in having a conversation. "Th...thanks again, for what you did for me out there. I know I behaved really poorly on the sands and I wouldn't have been surprised were people to avoid me." For a moment Soui allowed her eyes to flicker down and her features to color with shame, but just as quickly she pressed back to proper manners. Polite, thankful. Tired. "You...you said your name was Dehka?"

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

Honestly, he hadn't paid much attention to the scars on her face the first time he'd seen her, and that didn't change much on this go around. The tears were enough to make his heart clench unhappily, and he could feel flutters of anxiety threatening to well up in his chest. "N-No, you didn't!" He stuttered. "I mean it--you didn't upset any of the parents, and even if a baby got stressed... it wasn't because you were mean to it, you know?" Ah, he paused for a moment, but nodded quickly. "Yes! It's nice to meet you, Soui."

His own Touching experience had been clouded with drama of a more personal sort... but, that was neither here nor there. "I just... hope it helped you feel better." Even just a little.

houllow

 

[houllow]

Dehka remembering her name brought a small wave of pleasure and the teen brushed a few strands of loose hair behind her ear in an unconscious motion. It felt nice to have someone talk to her like this, it really did, and it was certainly helping calm down the pounding that was still going on in her chest. "It's nice of you to say so, but I did upset and egg and I started to cry afterward. It was....really embarrassing." There wasn't much she could have done at the time to remedy the situation other than sob and accept the nuzzle from the Queen. Perhaps when she got back she'd write a letter, apologizing and explaining how thankful she was for such a show of kindness.

"And...you stepping in really did help. This was my first touching and to make such a show of myself, I'm really glad my parents weren't here to see it." The words popped like a cork, and as though to prevent anything more from spilling out she slapped a hand over her lips. A very heavy silence descended down on the pair and for a moment it looked as though Soui's whole body trembled at the thoughts that came with those words. "Um, that is....please don't mind what I said." That was going to be impossible, she thought, and somewhere in her heart she begged for a distraction.

It came in the form of an audible pop overhead the pair, and the tumbling down of several in process of being eaten bits of meat roll. Doing his best to hold his treasures was a very small bronze firelizard, his eyes whirling rapidly between yellow and purple at seeing Soui and seeing his ill-gotten gains on the ground. "Remedy!"

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

That was enough to make him look thoughtful, chewing his lower lip. "I think if you'd upset it really badly though... well, Rhianth wouldn't have been so forgiving. But that's just my thought." His smile was awkward: Rhianth was one mother who wouldn't take any sort of slight towards her eggs, and he was glad that he didn't have to experience her issuing justice firsthand.

The mention of her parents was enough to make him blink, especially with the look of--he couldn't tell if it was horror or shock on her face--and Dehka wisely chose to drop the conversation, as she suggested. He bowed his head in acknowledgement, and for a moment, he debated bringing up the horrible, awkward situation he'd caused within his family...

Dehka gave a wild start as food suddenly rained from above, and he stared with surprise at the tiny bronze firelizard suddenly appeared. Soui clearly knew him, he reasoned, and the boy stared with wide eyes. "Oh..." He didn't have nearly as much experience with firelizards, so to see one so close... well, his eyes were very round indeed.

houllow

 

[houllow]

Soui had seen the look on Dehka's face, the subtle change in his expression - a healer was trained to watch these things, after all. Not every patient was willing to be open and communicate about their pain or anything else and so it was very important to learn to read faces as easily as one would read a scroll. Soui was by no means a master, in fact she had difficulty doing so thanks in part to her over serious nature, but she could at least grasp some basics. Was there something he was hiding?

Whatever it was would have to wait as she dealt with her bronze thief, and the little candidate gave a loud and exasperated sigh over him. "Where did you get all those? Did Tsuyat give them to you, or are you thinking because we're not at Western it's okay to steal?" Her tone was loving but chiding, the way a parent would speak to their child, and even if she was trying to be stern her face was soft and free from the worry she'd carried only sentences before. Remedy tried to answer in the firelizard equivalent of denial, probably, but his actions only came to him spilling his entire load of ill-gotten gains atop the head of the boy and the girl, before he swooped down and settled atop the taller head.

Clearly he thought being out of her reach would save him and would allow him to get a good view, even if it meant perching on a stranger who all the likely was not expecting it nor too appreciative of sudden firelizard nesting. "Remedy." This time Soui sounded exasperated as she said his name, and the bronze did nothing but chirp in response. "I'm so sorry, I think he's...going through his rebellious phase? But please don't worry, he's mine and is usually so well behaved."

Remedy responded by trying to eat a piece of roll that had gotten stuck in Dehka's hair.

Tsunake