[PRP] Makeshift Family (Elibrie/Juhvek)

[Meepfur]

Elibrie couldn't quite say that she felt at home in the Weyr yet, or even that she liked it. Though she'd been at High Reaches for half a Turn now, she still wasn't entirely certain what to think of it all. It was just so completely different from everything she'd ever known, and promised the possibility of a life so unlike anything she'd ever imagined, that she'd yet to fully process it. It was easiest not to think on it overmuch and to just live day by day, chore by chore and lesson by lesson, and wait for things to make sense.

She had her sister to lean on at least, and her Aunt Nadry of course, but that was. Well. Her aunt's situation was every bit as confusing to her as everything else, although her little cousins were precious, and she enjoyed what snippets of time she had with them. Taking care of babies was familiar, at least. Speaking of which, she had a new one of her own: a tiny, freshly-hatched blue flit cradled in her lap, feasting on bits of wherry. Paler blue Lord Chomps sat off to the side, snaking his head in to snatch every third piece away , while dark Lullaby was perfectly content to watch from his perch on her shoulder.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"I imagine moving is a very planned affair now," Juhvek said, as though having appeared out of nowhere to watch the scene of the young woman with her trio of firelizards about her. It was easy to imagine Elibrie would all but actually get up before her little flock was upon her to beg for attention. Having never owned one of the little beasts himself, however, it was mostly speculation on his part.

Still, he sat across from her in a familiar way - as she was familiar enough to him for Juhvek to even have cared enough to take in the scene and make commentary upon it. "Are they trouble?"

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

"It would need to be, yes," Elibrie agreed, looking up with a small but friendly smile. Juhvek had been nothing but kind to her and her sister, and he was always a welcome sight. Lord Chomps was considerably less pleased to see him, though, and left off his food-stealing to hiss a warning at the young man. That was close enough!! This was his person, and his food, and-

The territorial flit squonked as Elibrie pinched his muzzle. Hey! Not fair!! Once she released her (gentle) hold, he wilted into a sulk. "He is, obviously, but my aunt did warn me he would be. Lullaby is easy. This one?" She looked back down at the new blue and shrugged. "I guess we'll see."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

The warning hiss made Juhvek raise his brows slightly, reaching out a hand to either be bitten or sniffed at or whatever Lord Chomps would have enjoyed of it. But it seemed Elibrie had better ideas for how to handle the territorial little blue. He quirked a half smile at it.

"He just seems like he's trouble for anybody not you," he noted, withdrawing his hand once it seemed the young woman actually had him in line. "Are they trained?" Juhvek knew some people did such, but he didn't imagine every firelizard was as on top of things about it.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

"Fair enough," she conceded with a nod. Lord Chomps did mostly behave himself with her, unless he was really in a tizzy and forgot himself for a moment. "I would rather he be a little more sociable, if only to spare other people's fingers, but he hasn't gotten us into trouble yet."

"Not nearly as well-trained as some, I'm sure, but I try." A Candidate was expected to be properly responsible for their pets, after all, and Elibrie was devout when it came to rules. Meanwhile, the hours-old blue in her lap was intrigued by the reached and then retracted hand, and bumbled forward over her legs for a better look at the young man, peeping all the while.

Chomps took this opportunity to seize and inhale the last bits of wherry.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Ah, a little blue friend. Juhvek again offered the hand to the young firelizard, expression mostly unchanged. But he was simply like that, tied up in the machinations in the back of his head while not expressing many of them quickly. He held out his index finger in the same way one would to offer a small feline a sniff for them to perhaps rub their face against if they approved.

Would a similar idea work here?

"You try, though, and that matters. I'm sure personality comes through. As long as you can keep them from latching to faces with vicious screaming it should be fine," he offered encouragingly. It wasn't as though Elibrie had a small herd of firelizards trying to snatch everybody's meals right now.

Though watching Chomps, he wondered if it was at least a considered notion.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

The tiny blue craned his neck out to sniff the offered finger, then gently nibbled, then reeeached with his forefeet to grasp onto Juhvek's hand and pull himself closer. Apparently this flit was of the naturally friendly variety, because he was quite pleased to make the acquaintance of this large new person.

"That would be awful." Elibrie was clearly mortified by the very thought of such an ill-behaved pet. That would certainly not go over well with the other Candidates (or anyone other poor soul such a flit happened to encounter), let alone the Candidatemaster. "I'm surprised you don't have any flits, they seem very common here." Indeed, in a matter of months she was up to three, and it wasn't as though it had been a goal.

Lullaby had been a gift, Chomps she had admittedly asked for in spite of being warned the parents weren't the most pleasant of flits, and this one...okay, this one had been a bit of an indulgence, if she was being honest. But they made her feel a little less lonely.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"My finger isn't food, y'know," Juhvek said with a small huff that could have possibly been laughter. He kept his hand flat as the little blue investigated it, keeping his arm steady in case any climbing became desired.

His attention, however, was more attentively on Elibrie as she spoke. "Why is it so surprising? I hardly know anybody personally who owns one, and I've not been inclined to go out of my way to purchase an egg. They're not precisely cheap when not gifts," it was a very practical reason to not own a firelizard, if he said so himself.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

The curious nibbling continued, but it was all soft and harmless, and he did indeed decide to clamber up onto Juhvek's arm...up up up, wobbling his way all the way up to the Candidate's shoulder. So high!! He cheeped proudly, quite pleased with himself.

"Are they really?" Elibrie's eyes widened at the revelation, and she looked almost guilty. "I thought- I know they are in Holds, but I thought here it was different. They seem like they're everywhere, and someone's always got a basket of eggs..." She looked at her collection of little blue friends with the barest hint of distress. Had her uncle bought her Lullaby's egg? Could her aunt have sold Chomps' instead? Should she have accepted when she asked if she wanted another? How expensive were they actually?

demon_pachabel

cue O NO moment

 

[demon_pachabel]

Juhvek steadied his shoulder so the young blue would have a better perch for all of his curiosity.

Elibrie's sudden concern brought a frown to Juhvek's face as she looked over her little coterie. Ah. She'd not known that. On the other hand, however, "Firelizards are more common in Weyrs - I'd say because their eggs usually don't leave them and people are far more willing to trade and gift them because of the proximity....and the growing population. Don't feel guilty for having a few. I've just never been in the position to have one. That's all."

He'd never thought about owning one.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

Chortling to himself under his breath, the young blue did his best to mimic the pose that Lullaby had adopted on Elibrie's shoulder...for a few moments, at least, before he noticed that Juhvek's ear was conveniently close, and proceeded to whuffle at it.

Ah, but now Elibrie couldn't help but look at her pets in a new light, or to worry over it. Uncommon as they were outside of the Weyr, she'd rather thought that having at least one was the norm here; even two or three didn't seem all that rare. She'd stopped viewing them as exotic or a luxury soon after she'd arrived, as they seemed so ubiquitous. Sensing her concern, Lullaby nuzzled her cheek, and even Chomps rested her head on his leg to peep up at her...and then fixed Juhvek with a suspicious look. Did he have something to do with why his person felt upset all of a sudden? Did he? He rumbled a little flit-sized rumble.

"Chomps, hush. It's fine." She stroked a finger along his snout until he quieted. "They were already the nicest things I've ever had, I just...didn't realize quite how nice." Finding out that, contrary to what she'd assumed, they were still essentially luxury items, was giving her a miniature identity crisis. "Do you want a flit?"

If such a thing were at all possible, she'd have offered him her new one on the spot, but it didn't work that way, and he was already very much hers.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

For the first time, Juhvek struggled to keep a straight face as the little blue sniffed about inside of his ear. More than that, he nearly wrenched up the shoulder said little blue was on with a sharp inhale before falling into a stream of barely contained laughter.

It tickled, to say the least.

"I've never re-" salsdfjak "really consi-" fffffff "considered it," he managed to wheeze out.

Meepfur

As if you expected anything else ajdlkf

 

[Meepfur]

Oh! Oh no! Swinging fast from introspective and guilty to panicked fretting, Elibrie practically lunged forward to grab for the ear-tickling baby flit. "No, no, you're not supposed to do that!" The little blue warbled confusion as he was seized from his perch, and wriggled in her grasp, straining to get back to Juhvek. "I'm so sorry! He doesn't know any better yet."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Juhvek's cheeks hurt from trying to not break out in laughter, and he rubbed his ear once there wasn't a little face sniffling about in it with a half smile. "It wasn't all that bad - just unexpected," he replied, offering his other hand out to the still wiggling firelizard. "You were just making sure nothing fun was hidden in there, right?"

Only his brain. But that was hardly fun.

Meepfur

 

[Meepfur]

"You're sure it's alright?" Even if it clearly hadn't been anything that hurt, and Juhvek seemed amused rather than upset, she couldn't banish the concern. It was her flit, after all, even if it was brand new, and she was ultimately responsible for how it behaved. She'd have been in for quite the lecture had she been home, and Juhvek anything like her family.

The little troublemaker peeped back in answer, and finally succeeded in wriggling out of Elibrie's grasp and back to Juhvek, clambering onto his hand. Chomps slipped into her lap to offer himself for soothing pets, and to better keep a wary eye on the boy.

demon_pachabel