Hello, old friend. (symly)

[Tashe]

"Down!" Trying to hold a squirming child while making one's way through a crowd of people was harder than it looked. "No Kai. Honey you can't get down." Kaegan sighed as she hiked her son higher up on her body. "Noo! Wahn dooown!" Her cheek twitched as one of the toddler's flailing arms made contact. "You can have a toy, or you can get down. Not both." They were heading to the toy stall to by some Turnday presents, Kai had turned one a month ago but the Weyrwoman had been unable to get him presents that he would actually appreciate. Clothing and supplies didn't count in the mind of a small child. At the mention of a new toy, Kai's squirming dwindled down to a mild wiggling. "Toy!" This was the best she was going to get and the Weyrwoman knew it, maybe when he was a little older he'd get better about sitting still.

"Now... how do I get up there?" Climb! "I can't climb with Kai, Dash. Azzie will you find me another way?" The large Bronze who had been hovering above her peeled away to circle the stall once. Trilling as he approached Kaegan, Azaran led her to the stair unit. "Azazaz! Az here!" Kai waved his hands in the air attempting to catch the Firelizard as he flitted by. Stairs, beautifulmine use stairs for climbing. Smiling, the goldrider rolled her eyes at the obvious statement given by her Salamandyr. The hem of her purple dress danced around her knees as she climbed the wooden steps, the hot weather had driven Kaegan to wearing more and more dresses. Not that she minded much, but she missed wearing breaches and slacks. Look beautifulmine. Look many toys. Hatchling will like many toys.

"Okay Kai, lets look for some toys." Offering the stall owner(s) a friendly wave in return for their own, Kaegan moved around the children who ran about her. It had felt like such a long time since Kai had been born, yet it had only been a year. How would she feel when he was five or ten? It was hard to imagine him any older than he was now even though she had already seen him grow. Shifting Kai's weight the Weyrwoman crouched down so she could kneel on the floor, she balanced Kai on one of her legs so he could look at the toys on the nearest table. "Fiss! Fiss toy wahn." "Which one? Can you say what color?" Kai patted the table before reaching toward one of the medium sized dolls. "Kai what color is this?" She moved the fish closer. "Onge " "Orange, good! And whats this color?" She pointed at the streaks of yellow. "Yullo!" "Yellow. Very good!" Giving him full control of the stuffed animal, Kaegan held him steady on her leg as he played with the fish.

[glamourie]

“Pretties, daddy, pretties?”

“Well, I don’t know. Your mama said you weren’t being that good this week…”

“Na-uuuuh. Mama didna say~”

Riaren crinkled his nose up at his face in a look that resembled R’wign so strongly as to be painful. The expression was the very same one that he wore when he was displeased – playful or otherwise. The little boy lifted one hand to touch R’wign’s cheek, keeping the very dissatisfied look on his face. His daddy was silly, saying that his mama said he wasn’t good. He’d been very, very good. He always was. His only problem was that he missed his daddy during the daytime when he didn’t see him and in his opinion, he didn’t see his daddy and Checky nearly enough – so maybe he did get a little excited when he saw him and maybe he did flail a little too much but he knew his mama would never said he wasn’t good because his mama loved him and knew he was trying very hard to always be good. When he was good, his daddy and his mommy gave him pretties and that made him happy – why wouldn’t he be good?

“Was good, was,” Riaren insisted, laying his face against R’wign’s shoulder. “Please, daddy? Please?”

“You promise you were good?” R’wign inquired, looking down at Riaren quite seriously. It was a testament to how young Riaren was that he did not realize immediately that R’wign was leading him toward the toy stall of the Gather. Then again, the toddler was probably distracted by his father’s oh-so-serious expression. “If I ask mommy whether you were good or not, she’s going to say, ‘Riaren was perfect’ right? She’s not going to accuse me of rewarding bad behavior? If you get me in trouble, mama won’t let me come see you much anymore, so you have to be good so that we can play. You promise you were good?”

“Pwoooomise.”

“Good,” R’wign said seriously before turning and pointing in front of him at the entrance to the toy stall. “Look, Riaren. Pretties. You get to pick out one – your favorite – so remember that when we go in. Only one. Okay?” At the toddler’s excited nod, R’wign stepped into the stall and circled around one of the tables. Riaren was suspiciously quiet, but his dark green eyes (a mirror image of R’wign’s – it could be said that Riaren resembled whichever parent was holding him at the moment, but the eyes were all his father’s) were wide in wonder at the wide assortment of toys. It was obvious he was trying to decide the absolute best one to get because he couldn’t stand picking the wrong one (although he loved his firelizard toy and he especially loved his star that his daddy got him too – it’d be hard to top those). Must plot it out well so that he had the right one, right, right?

Shifting so that Riaren was resting more comfortably at his side, R’wign leaned over to look at a large case of puzzle pieces. On his other shoulder, Vex preened and licked her claws lightly. The green salamandyr liked Riaren even if she expressed it oddly – she typically came around when R’wign was with the baby. But her fondness couldn’t compare to Ellie’s and the gold was perched on the side with Riaren, her tail wound around his wrist carefully as though to claim him. Her hatchling. The blue trio had departed their separate ways (Grumpy likely in irritation at the heat, while Stumpy was undoubtedly with Meira and Grouch with M’ta). R’wign and Riaren had female companions only – for better or worse. But they were both quiet and for the most part, being very well behaved (not that Ellie ever wasn’t). Nothing to be sad about there.

The word ‘Yullo’ reached them and R’wign turned with Riaren toward the sound before the little boy squeaked happily and waved, obviously in delight. R’wign blanched, but Riaren called out, “Kaaaiiiiiiii! Lello Kaaaiiiiii!”

He hadn’t spoken to Kaegan in well over a Turn. The idea of talking to her now was petrifying, but Riaren sounded so happy to see Kai that he couldn’t even leave. How much time did Meira spend with Kaegan? He supposed they must have known each other for queen lessons or something like that – but he hadn’t realized that Riaren made friends with the Weyrwoman’s son. Incredibly awkward. Cute, but awkward. He was glad that Riaren had friends (Teri insisted on calling him icky – bad M’ta) but… why Kaegan? He didn’t even know what to say so he settled for turning toward Riaren, waving toward Kai and whispering, “Do you want to have Kai help you pick out your new pretty, Riaren? I bet he has good taste in pretties, don’t you think?”

[Tashe]

"Riren! Riren!" Kai squealed happily, wobbling as he swung around on Kaegan's legs to see where his friend had called from. As he searched for Riaren he bounced almost throwing the Weyrwoman's balance off in the process. Where was his friend? He could not see him on the ground! Looking up where the grown-ups were the younger toddler finally picked out Riaren from everyone else, but the tall guy was unfamiliar. "Riren! Toys!" Patting, rather thumping his fish on the table, Kai pretended to make the stuffed animal swim in some water. Kaegan on the other hand had turned her head to offer Meira a greeting though she almost immediately noticed that it was not the Mommy who had Riaren, but the Daddy. It had been quite some time since she had talked with R'wign and she couldn't help but think that this was perfect timing. She had gotten restless with the silence between them, agitated by the fact she seemed to have lost contact with one of her personal friends. A close friend even. The Goldrider had had every intention about sending an invitation for tea (or something; she hadn't quite decided yet) later on that week fully intending to try and repair what ever had happened between them. Seemed like fate was finally on her side.

In all truth... this was actually rather awkward. Kai kept switching back and forth between playing with the fish toy and frantically waving at his friend and she was trying her best to keep balanced. Looking back at her son, she shifted her position and slipped a finger through one of his little belt loops so that she could control him if he fell off of her legs. Once she had him secure Kaegan turned back to the pair behind her. "Hello old friend, its nice to see you again." She paused before wiggling her free fingers at R'wign's son. "Hello there Riaren! Are you with your Daddy today? Kai has been wanting to see you." She tickled Kai and made him giggle. "Isn't that right Kai honey?" "Riren an' Kai play 'gether! Rirenriren look at Fiss! It Yullo an' orwnge." He held it up as high as he could so that Riaren could see the toy.

Azaran, as soon as he had spied Ellie, had swooped down and perched on the table nearest to R'wign. Chirping in greeting, the Bronze fluttered his wings and crooned. He was happy to see her. She was by far his favorite Queen, Ellie was always so nice. Unlike Rose who insisted on bothering him and being very loud, although he had to admit she was tolerable some of the time. Twitching his tail he looked up at the Queen and ignored Vex, though he would plead that he had just merely not seen her if something came up. Dash on the other hand had begun bouncing up and down on Kaegan's shoulders, often falling into her mass of curls and reappearing a few moments later. Hello little hatchling friend of Kaihatchling's! Nice baby, pretty baby. Seeing you is good! Pausing in his hopping to strike the meerkat pose, Dash used his paw to balance on Kaegan's collar. Was that Vex? Hello prettyvex greenling!

[glamourie]

“Kaaaiiii!” Riaren happily chanted, looking up at his father before nodding solemnly. “Bes’ pretty, yes. Daddy? Can we see Kai?” His arms tightened around his father’s neck and he grinned ear-to-ear. He liked the idea of playing with Kai and maybe Kai could help him pick a gift, though really he wanted his daddy’s opinion most of all. Daddy got him the star, and the star was a really great toy, so why wouldn’t he be good at picking out another one? What he really wanted was to play with Kai, but he was torn – he didn’t see Kai very often but he had his daddy, and he really wanted his daddy’s attention. Most of the time when he was with his daddy, Teri was there, and he liked her well enough but he liked his daddy best of all and he didn’t like always sharing. Riaren settled for waving at his friend and clinging to his daddy. Maybe he could keep his daddy, Kai could keep his mommy, and they could play together. That would be nice.

Being a baby, Riaren did not notice the slight paling of his father’s skin or the way that he tensed in response to Kaegan’s words. He also didn’t notice that he didn’t quite meet the goldrider’s eyes. All Riaren noticed was that he was in his daddy’s arms and that Kai had a very pretty fish. He clapped his hands in delight.

“Fiss! Fiss! Kai has lello fiss!” he chanted happily before looking at the toys. “Daddy’s gibbing me a pretty too.” He nodded emphatically, black curls bobbling around his face. “Lello’s pretty. Ellie’s lello.”

“She’s gold, actually,” R’wign replied before pressing a gentle kiss to the top of Riaren’s head. Then he turned toward Kaegan and offered her as friendly of a smile as he could muster while feeling incredibly awkward. “Hi, Kaegan. I see Meira’s introduced you to Riaren. Hello, Kai – I don’t think I’ve met you yet.” Riaren giggled and leaned back against him and R’wign smiled, tightening his arms around the little boy just yet. “We were trying to pick out the perfect toy for Riaren, and since you have quite obviously extraordinary taste, I think you would be excellent to go to for advice.” He nodded emphatically as Riaren wiggled.

“Daddy day.” Riaren nodded back to Kaegan before looking up at his father. “Kai help?” He wiggled his feet and giggled. “Kai ‘ikes lello. I like browns, like Checky.” He didn’t really understand that it was possible to like colors other than dragon colors yet – but he knew he liked Mimic, Behruth and Checkoth, while only Jingth and Ellie were yellow, so obviously he liked brown more right? He liked Jingth a lot but she didn’t talk to him like Checky did. Checky always talked to him, and he liked that a lot. One day he would get his own Checkoth. His head turned toward Dash and he smiled widely before waving – but he didn’t remember the not-Mimic’s name anymore. Yes, mommy saw him a lot, but he wasn’t Mimic or Vex and there were so many that sometimes he forgot. Sometimes. “‘Ello, ‘ello.”

Shifting his weight, R’wign turned and nodded toward Azaran before eying Dash curiously. Vex licked her claws and looked at him before broadcasting pleasantly, Hello, Dash. Hello, Hatchling not-Vex’s. Hello, Gold flyer’s slave. Appropriate descriptions were her ‘specialty.’ Her head swiveled around and she eyed the bronze flitter curiously before speaking to him, Suck up to Elliegold, bronzeling does. Like the big, so are the smaller. Amusing. Her words earned her a mild look from Ellie, who turned and fluted sweetly to Azaran. She didn’t think that he was ‘sucking up.’ Vex was just bitter that Azaran wasn’t flirting with her, as far as Ellie was concerned. Tch.
“What do you think?” R’wign asked Kai and Riaren conspiratorially. “What kind of pretty should Riaren get, hmm?”

[Tashe]

"Yes. It so happens that most of the time when I saw Meira, she had Riaren with her. These two little ones became friends pretty quickly I should say." Holding onto her son as he shifted around, Kaegan knelt with one of her knees to balance better. "Kai this is R'wign. He is Riaren's daddy." "Rwin. 'Ello Rwin! 'Ello Riren daddy 'ello." Kai waved eagerly at the man. If he was Riaren's daddy then he had to be a good daddy, and since he was a good daddy he didn't have to be shy of R'wign. Riaren had both a mommy and a daddy, but he was happy to have just one parent. For now at least. He loved his mommy and he spent almost all the day with her, unless he went to daycare where he could play with all of his friends when Kaegan was really busy with grownup stuff and couldn't play with him.

"Pick toy! Pick pretty, pretty yes. Help Riren pick out toy! Mommy, mommy." He tugged on Kaegan's neckline. "I help Riren pick toy?" "I don't see why not." "Yaaay! Riren I help! You like Fiss? Much Fiss!" He pointed at the fish toys on the table. "Like lello 'n' orwnge fiss." Kai then waved the fish he had picked out around in the air, making Kaegan nervous about the toy flying out of her son's hand and over into the netting round the stall. "Much othah toys too! Maybeh bown toy somewear?" Wiggling down off of Kaegan's leg, Kai woddled over to R'wign and looked upward at his friend who was so high up. "'mon Riren! Mommy and you Daddy come too."

The Weyrwoman rubbed her knees before standing up, brushing out the folds in her dress so that it didn't hold the creases she leaned gently against the low table. "So how have you been R'wign? We haven't spoken since... well, in a long while. I've missed being able to talk with you." Dividing her attention between the Brownrider and her son, Kaegan occationally glanced between them. She didn't mind Kai being by himself next to R'wign, he could walk well enough and she still trusted R'wign. Especially since he had a child of his own.

Azaran merely ficked a wing in the Salamandyr's direction, ignoring her claims of being Ellie's 'slave' or 'sucking up' to her. Yes he served the Golds the best he could, but in all truth he liked a particular Green better than either Ellie or Rose. Flicking his tail, he chirped. How had Ellie been? He had not run into her in a while, so he was curious. Dash crooned at the hatchling as he responded to him. Wasn't he such a pretty hatchling? Flicking his frill up and down happily, the Brown licked his eyelid before yawning. He didn't know Vexgreenling very well, and he couldn't think of anything to say other than hello. He would ask her if she helped the Pinkbrownone in the place of fixing, but Dash thought that would be too intruding.

[glamourie]

Ah. She must have talked to Meira a fair amount, for Kai to be that familiar with Riaren. Not that he was terribly put off by it – no, in fact, R’wign was quite pleased to know that Riaren had friends. Kai seemed nice enough, though R’wign did not really see that strong of a resemblance between him and Kaegan. Perhaps it would come as he got older, or maybe he took after his father? The resemblance between Riaren and his parents was exceptionally strong – depending on which parent he was around. He’d been told that, when he and Meira were together, Riaren resembled him more strongly (though it was very obvious Meira was his mother), but separate, it was difficult to tell. He suspected that most people thought Riaren took after him more because of the eyes, though. Riaren had his dark green eyes… for better or worse. For a long time that had bothered him, but he’d since let it go. Kai… didn’t… he didn’t see a resemblance at all. Maybe his mind was superimposing.

“Fiss,” Riaren agreed, squirming in his daddy’s arms with a wide smile. He liked the idea of a pretty brown fish – maybe he could get one and show it to Checky? Although he also really liked the one that Kai had, because it was bright and pretty. He liked bright colors, mostly because they reminded him of his daddy (whose living place was all bright colors most of the time). So hard to decide! He had to pick the best pretty, because even though he was sure his daddy would buy him any he asked for (and undoubtedly, as many as he asked for), he didn’t want his daddy to have to. Had to pick the best one first to spare him that, yes yes. Tilting his head, Riaren looked down at his friend, crinkling his nose, before turning back to his father. “Can I...?”

Looking down at Riaren, R’wign nodded and then crouched to set the small boy down. He received a light kiss on his cheek for his trouble and then Riaren took Kai’s hand and waddled after him, awkward on his own feet. He could stumble around some, but he really wasn’t as good at it as some other babies. Better than his sister, though!

R’wign’s gaze followed the children as they scurried over to another table. Watching Riaren was a convenient distraction from having to look at Kai’s mother. He didn’t really know what to say to Kaegan. He’d been avoiding her for that reason – it was weird. “Kai is cute,” he said casually – trying to dissuade her from asking about him. How was he? Peachy. Excellent, even. He just never liked talking about himself. How had he been? Oh, just got tortured by Fort, nothing major. That was odd to bring up and the thought made him instinctively bring one hand up toward his mouth to stroke the scarred lip piercing – from where one of them was ripped out, and then stubbornly repierced. It still hurt very badly. “He’s more outgoing than you, though. You should try taking after him some – parental reversal and all. It could be good for you.”

Ellie crooned to Azaran, her tail curling around her body before she flashed an image of Sneak. She’d been fine – just trying to take care of her browns (numerous, more than one in this instance applying to the brown firelizards she so favored as well as R’wign and M’ta). How had Azaran been? She flared her wings prettily as Vex ignored the firelizards (not worth acknowledging in her opinion). R’wign ignored all of the creatures, his head cocking to the side. “He’s over a turn old now, isn’t he?”

[Tashe]

"Wouldn't he like that story when he gets older. 'Kai, did you know that I wanted to be like you?'" She laughed at herself. It was funny to her though she didn't know if R'wign would join in on her chuckling. "You're right though. I could learn a few things from him." Parental reversal. Kai had a way about him that would certainly benefit Kaegan if she could adopt some of his mannerisms. Or at least modified those pure emotional states children his age experienced. "Yes. A bout a month or so younger than your son." That felt weird to say. R'wign's son. It almost seemed comical to her, not that she thought the Brownrider would have been a bad father, just that he didn't seem like the type to particularly want one. Crossing her arms, the Weyrwoman watched Kai as he woddled over to a table that caught his eye. "How is Checkoth doing? I bet he loves having Riaren around... judging by how he acted when Ellie hatched." Yes she remembered that day, when the Brown was still a Weyrling. They had been at another Gather, much like this one but at a different Hold.

"Look wah bout here? See toy you like?" Patting the table top with one hand, Kai made sure his fishie was tucked tight under neath his arm. He didn't want it to swim away after all! A small pressure on his shoulder made him look to the side, he smiled at the little creature when it crooned at him. Mommy told him over and over that he couldn't touch Dashie unless he was gentle, so Kai did his best not to. Instead he was happy to let the little Brown pet crawl or sit on him. He liked talking with Dashie, he was always nice to him. Dashie never got mad at him. The little boy giggled when the Salamandyr licked his cheek but his attention shifted back onto his friend right after. "Think we cahn play aftur? So many shellies outside." He liked shells. His home was decorated with them, and if he promised to be nice to them, his mommy would let him hold them. Or let him play with them and make little houses for his toys.

[glamourie]

“Of course he would. That’s bragging rights right there – ‘Hey guys, did you know my mama used to want to be like me? S’right, I’ve been grown up since I was little. Bet your momma and papa never told you that!’ – what little kid wouldn’t love something like that to tell all their friends? It’s true though – he doesn’t seem to have any problem saying what he means and approaching anyone he wants to talk to.” R’wign crinkled his nose. The ‘quote’ was said in a mock little-kid voice – something he was good at; R’wign faked voices a lot. It was part of how he entertained people – by acting over dramatic, silly and putting on voices. Kaegan was no doubt familiar with that trait of his, though he put a little emphasis in making his mock-Kai voice sound sweeter for her benefit. He meant what he said though, joking aside. She needed something to pry her out of her shell and if she took a leaf out of Kai’s book, she might end up with more friends, more people to talk to. Then again what did he know? Maybe in the past turn or so, Kaegan had gathered a wide plethora of friends. He’d been all but avoiding anything to do with her for so long that he didn’t even know.

Kai was only a month younger than Riaren? That meant they were probably conceived around the same time. Unless Kai was also premature – it occurred to him that he didn’t know. R’wign deigned to not ask. It wasn’t really his business and... he found he was uncomfortable with knowing. Uncomfortable with the whole idea of Kaegan having babies period, actually.

“Every one of my mindmates loves Riaren. Checkoth adores him and I think the feeling’s mutual; he calls Checkoth ‘Checky’ and is always trying to talk to him,” R’wign admitted with a wry smile. “Vex has claimed him. Him and Teri – dunno if you knew, but M’ta and I ended up adopting T’rid and Raylin’s daughter so that she didn’t end up in the creche with no one who knew her parents.” R’wign didn’t know either of them but M’ta knew Raylin and apparently that was good enough. “They get along pretty well. How’s Millieth feel about not being the first and foremost entity in your mind? Why do I imagine a certain gold taking that quite badly? I think Jingth was irritated at first too, if I remember correctly. Then again, Check’s terrified of Jingth so his interpretations may be wrong.”

“Can play,” Riaren agreed with Kai as he approached one of the tables and stood on the tips of his toes critically. He almost toppled over as a result, but managed to secure himself by grabbing one of the table legs. “Canna see, Kai. Can you?” He wanted to get a look at some of the toys on the top of the table, but it was much too high for him. His head turned, green eyes narrowing shrewdly, and he wobbled backwards. His hand went up to his mouth and he crinkled his nose before waddling over to the other end of the table. There was a small chest there and Riaren, being clever, pushed it open and almost fell inside before frantically flailing. “Pretties. So many pretties. Kai, look.” He pointed at the hidden cache of toys, but did not touch – his focus was on a particularly pretty purple-and-green octopus toy. “So many...”