Welcome to Gaia! ::

Taarum tried his hardest not to look like he was in any particular hurry as he shuffled into the house and made a beeline for his sister's room.

"Fiiadri?" he whispered, standing outside her door. "Can you c'mere for a second?"

"Hey." Taarum smiled, halfway between worry and giddy excitement. His sister's enthusiasm was always contagious. The smile soon faded, however, slipping back to wide-eyed caution. He considered a slow lead up to the problem at hand, but that would leave them less time to fix it.

"So, um, Ulgo broke the fence down the way? By Mister Madou's house? Could you help me fix it?" Their old Oban neighbor was away for a few days, and his chickens were probably trying to join him right now.

He was still anxious about fixing things before anyone noticed they were broken, but that didn't stop Taarum's first reaction—rolling his eyes as far back as they could go. Of course Fiiadri wouldn't help him for nothing. He should have expected this and was a little annoyed that he hadn't.

"Sooo busy." He stuck out his tongue and blew a brief raspberry, more a resigned sigh than any sort of evidence of exasperation. "What d'ya got in mind? I could help with a performance maybe? Like, be a sidekick?"

There was a part of him who had been sure she wouldn't agree because he was the one who had suggested it, so when Fiiadri looked so excited over his proposition, Taarum immediately wanted nothing to with it. If she was on board, there must have been something he missed, something that would make him look like an idiot. He shook his head, mouth taking the shape of a no, but then he heard Ulgo's name.

"Oh." She wanted the snapptrotter to do tricks? Well, that was easy! Besides being in front of an audience, this wasn't much of a payment at all. But she couldn't know that. He had to make it seem like this was a big deal. "We could do that. It'll take a lot of practice though." Unfortunately, Taarum didn't sound like he was being inconvenienced at all.

how dare

Taarum's toes curled against the ground and his eyes grew wide. Something he could handle?

"I..." He took a deep breath and folded his arms as well, matching her pose. "Fine! We'll do whatever you like. And quick, too." If she tried to get Ulgo to do what she wanted without him, he'd probably end up trampling more than a fence. Which reminded him...

"Will you help me now?"

He snorted softly as his sister urged him toward Ulgo's mess, his smile eventually returning as he shook his head. She might have been a bossy, loud, know-it-all, but she didn't let him down when he needed her. Even if he was going to have to get up in front of a bunch of people somewhere.

Taarum swallowed. It couldn't be that bad if Fiiadri did it.

"Don't push! If we hurry, we can get things fixed before anyone notices."

He picked up a little hammer and a couple of nails before he led her down the street, pointing at the broken fence once it came into view. The snapptrotter had pulled off another couple of planks and was chewing on a third, trying to break it loose as well. He had hoped that the repairs could be made more quickly with help, but now that they were here, he wondered if throwing in a little bit of training might be appropriate.

"You want a lesson in Ulgo? Look him in the eye and say potato. Like you mean it."

Ulgo looked as surprised as a giant lizard could at Fiiadri's first serious utterance of the command word, and Taarum was thankful that the animal didn't look to him for confirmation that he should obey. The snapptrotter did as he had been trained, dropping the plank he was holding and taking a slow seat in front of the girl. He held still, waiting to be directed further.

"Yeah! He should stay for a little while until he forgets. With both of us potatoing him, we can get this fixed in way less time." He picked up one of the broken pieces of wood, lining it up where he thought it might go on the fence.