Now in Dreams, We Run (M'kai)

[Zephyr]

Dia always felt awkward on land. Even as a child. She had always been tall, lanky, awkward. Her long red hair, freckled face and unusually pale skin didn't help matters. She didn't fit into the normal standard of beauty that most women fit into. She never quite knew how to interact with people, but that didn't stop her from trying. If one doesn't know how to act around another human, being exceedingly sweet and unfailingly kind seems to be a good bet. And it worked for her, in most cases. The truth is, most of the human population are good at heart. Mostly they just want to be accepted. There is that rare individual who doesn't seem to care what they want though, and these are the type of people that she found herself dreading the most.

But, at the moment, Diamonique wasn't dreading much. She was sitting in the grass, toes submerged in water. Lanky knees were pulled to her chest, and she was watching a restlessness in the water like a hawk. She wasn't really on duty today. This day, she was just chilling in her shorts and swimsuit, watching Kiakime play in the surf. The dolphin wasn't a baby anymore, but as she rose from the water, to watch the girl sideways, she could clearly see that she was still young. All dolphins seemed young at heart though. They were all like children, wanting to play, endlessly wanting to please. It was refreshing, and a good excuse not to have to deal with the outside world.

And the thoughts that threatened to hammer away at the back of her mind.

Fact is, she had it good here. She was treated well by the other dolphineers, and while she wasn't exactly close with any of them, she had Kia...and the dolphin would never, ever let her forget that she was enough to make anyone happy. The dolphin squealed, swimming straight for the bank. At the last second, she slapped the water with her tail, wheeling away sideways, spraying the girl with water. Dia laughed, not even trying to shield herself. It's not like she was ever really dry. Any illusions she had to ever being completely dry were shattered long ago.

" You little brat." She giggled as the dolphin seemed to laugh at her, clapping her fins together. People might disagree with her, but she knew that dolphins could feel humor, and could laugh, which was what Kia was doing right now as she disappeared back into the water. Standing up, Dia stripped off her wet shorts, dropped them into the grass and waded into the water. Kia was thrilled she had finally gotten her way and clicked happily, rubbing her body all along her girl's underwater. Dia stroked the dolphin's head, her fin...what could she do? This was her life, and it probably always would be. She couldn't leave Kia...wouldn't.

Kia thought that was a good idea too and promptly pulled the redhead underwater.

[Ruby]

There was something wrong. M'kai had counted the months, and... well, Isori's baby should have come by now. There was no other way to say it. M'kai was getting nervous, but it was far too late in her pregnancy for her to go Between, or even mount up on a dragon, even one as steady as Futh. He needed a dolphin to check on her, but the dolphins were at Blossom. Couldn't bring Isori to the dolphins, but he sure as hell could bring the dolphins to Isori. (To say that M'kai had become protective of his not-quite-weyrmate was an understatement: as much as he was not interested in being a father, he was very, very interested in Isori getting out of this alive and whole, and it seemed like that would mean the baby had to get out alive and whole, too. Isori was convinced it was a girl. M'kai already wanted to kill his daughter's future boyfriends).

He'd left early in the morning, before drills, before anyone could ask him where he was headed. Of course, he'd spent the better part of the day arguing with the Masterdolphineer, trying to convince him to let one of his charges visit the Weyr. The master had finally decided to allow M'kai to borrow a Journeyman... provided he could convince said journeyman to make the two-day crossing to New Selenitas. So far, every dolphineer had said essentially the same thing: babies were late all the time, there was nothing to worry about, likely the dolphin wouldn't be able to tell him anything more than that the baby was still alive, something that was obvious from the periodic writhing from inside Isori. M'kai hadn't given up yet, though.

The last dolphineer had pointed him this way, saying some of the other journeyman tended to hang out on that stretch of lakeshore at this time of day. A scuffle and splashes caught his attention, so hands in pockets, the tall Bluerider strolled down the beach, waiting on the sand until the dolphineer surfaced and noticed him. Once her head was above the water and her dolphin seemed less likely to douse her again, he called out, "Hey," squinting at the back of the dolphineer's head. Looked like red hair, just like his sister's, but he could tell from behind, her all wet. Huh. Wouldn't that be a coincidence. Just in case, M'kai took a step back, ready to run if it was Dia. She was pretty likely to try and kill him, after all.

[Zephyr]

The redhead hadn't been aware of the dragonrider's presence. At the moment, she was content with playing with her dolphin in the surf, splashing the creamy white dolphin as she surfaced to chortle at the girl. They were having a pretty good time...that was, until he made himself known. The 'hey' thrown at her caused the girl to jump a good two feet in the air, whirling about in the frothy waters. This caused her to lose her footing and she went tumbling backwards, behind first on the ground.

"Owwwww." She whined, rubbing a spot on her hip where she'd fallen. Kiakime came up, concerned for the girl and began to nudge her lightly. The dolphin couldn't do too much to help since they were in shallower water. It took her a second to realize that someone had been the cause of her fall. Eyes widening, she looked up, searching the bank for the person who had called to her while getting up and wading back onto shore. Kia called to her from the water, but Dia was in full blown search mode.

" Yeah?" She asked, finally laying eyes on who it was who had called her. Those long legs. Her eyes widened. That red hair...firey red like her own. A plethora of emotions boiled up inside her...and all that came out was a strangled, "MIKAIL!" There was relief, excitement, joy and anger all wrapped up in a single word. Fists clenched at her sides, and she ran towards him. For once, her terribly awkward frame not betraying her and sending her crashing to the ground. She didn't know what she was going to do to her brother when she got ahold of him. But she'd think of something.

They left her. They just left her.