For today, we'll wander and enjoy (X'rx)

[Avu]

“You are handsome, and I do love you. Jen likes you, too; you should be nicer to her, you know. She’s nice to you all the time and you barely even give her anything to work with, poor thing…”

Not that Jen seemed to mind, really; Sydney’s firelizard was nothing if not a sweetheart. But still, it was hilariously awkward watching Azazel fluff his feathers at the firelizard in blank confusion and shyness. Especially since the baby bird was starting to have his full flight feathers grow in, and he just looked a jumble of uncoordinated with patches of sleeker gray feathers dotting the baby down that he had yet to molt. Fortunately for all concerned, probably, Azazel had yet to undertake the dubious adventure of flight, preferring to cling to Sena at all times and peer in half-fear and half-resignation at the world from her shoulder or her arms. (He seemed not to realize that by clinging to Sena at all times, it meant he ran into Jen a lot more often than if he did his own thing, but in any case he didn’t seem to really resent the firelizard.)

She was plopped on the ground in the shade of a tree, sitting with her legs sprawled wide in cheerful defiance of the fact that she was wearing a skirt—fortunately a skirt of knee-length, with Azazel weighing down the middle in a sad, quiet little puff of feathers—and her hands propping up her weight behind her, head lolling lazily onto one shoulder. Sena had wrapped up chores surprisingly early, and although there was a really adorable boy working in the kitchens she wouldn’t have minded spending a little longer with, her desire to cheer Azazel up—an ongoing project with no real end in sight—had overridden that, and the answer to making Azazel happy was usually just to get away from everyone else. Antisocial avians would be antisocial.

“See? Pretty.” She smoothed one finger down Azazel’s back, and brought it back in front of him to tap his beak affectionately. “I bet you’d be a real killer with the lady birds if you tried, y’know, maybe after all these fluffy feathers turn into adult feathers, huh? Gray’s a real dignified color.” Sena kissed her finger, bopped it against Azazel’s beak again and earned a shy click from the Razorclaw. “It suits you, now you’ve outgrown the inhalation of food every two hours phase. That was just sort of adorable, but not, y’know, dignified.” She curled her palm around him warmly to take the sting out of the words—knowing Azazel he understood every word perfectly but not the teasing behind them—and added meditatively, “Iski probably got real sick of me being sleep-deprived all the time, come to think of it, although at least now I’m like, master of catnaps.”

Not that Azazel would understand that; Sena had already come to realize the bird only seemed to comprehend some of what she said and of that, took compliment even more rarely, even when there was really nothing she intended to be an insult at all. She just verbal-spewed at Azazel a lot; he was a good listener at least. “Oh, and Eikask is glowing, if you believe the rumors…wonder if Syd’s gonna go for whers, I bet she’ll Impress…”

[Requiem]

Eveyth's Flight was definitely over. How could one tell? X'rx, despite wearing the usual feathers and stones in his hair and adorned with splashes of color to appease his new baby razorclaw, was no longer sashaying around like a woman of the night. His entire demeanor and expression was different. Back to the demure, peacefully happy expression of a man who saw the world tinted with rose and was more than content with his current life. (Even if that wasn't wholly true, he tried not to think of his mother and sister too much, and mostly succeeded.)

It was while he was strolling casually along (and snatching at a Griffin who kept on thinking he could fly when he still clearly couldn't every time the razorclaw caught sight of something that looked particularly yummy) that he saw the familiar-looking girl. X'rx paused to cant his head slightly to one side, as if the angle would somehow jog his memory better. Whoooo...? Oh! Iski's little...niece? Right. What was her name again?

"Sena!" he called, changing direction to stride right up to her tree. The way she was sprawled on the ground right then reminded him of Ximera for a briefly painful moment. She would have sat that way in a skirt, too, chattering animatedly to whatever pet or inanimate object was dominating her imagination for the moment. He had to make another grab for Griffin, fumbling for a moment when he almost didn't get the razorclaw in time. Silly thing. The bird squawked in annoyance and almost pecked at X'rx's hand. But that would make his mommy not quite so spectacular, and spectacular razorclaws had to have spectacular mommies. Bugger.

X'rx smiled slightly in amusement at the baby bird, then turned that smile on Sena, crouching beside where she was seated. "Hey, how are you? Adjusting to the Weyr? Iskierka never mentioned anything to me about a niece before...not that she really tells me a lot or anything." He frowned slightly. Actually, he wasn't sure where he stood with the woman at all anymore. It almost seemed like she was upset with him for wanting to mess around in the furs a little...X'rx wasn't used to people being so ambivalent about it? Most were either yes, or no, she was more of an 'if you want' and had been distant ever since.

Somehow, though, X'rx figured that would probably be an inappropriate topic to bring up with Sena.

[Avu]

She was wrapped up enough in her thoughts—and Azazel—that she didn’t notice the person until he said her name, and then Sena about jumped out of her skin; she made a startled, distinctly unfeminine sort of sound as she jerked her head up to look. Azazel made a decidedly cranky, confused sound too, a hatchling chirp hiccupping into a more adult sound of sad resignation. Sena automatically whispered a “Shh, you’re okay” at him, and then tilted her head to squint at the greenrider; he was, rather inconveniently, turned into a silhouette by the sun, and it took her a moment to recognize him. When she did, her immediate response was a bemused, “Oh, hi…oh, you got a baby too…”

Not that his baby looked too terribly friendly, but then Azazel wasn’t all about making friends either, so Sena wasn’t really judging.

Except that she kind of was trying to; she wasn’t sure how to feel about the greenrider (whose name was escaping her). It wasn’t even that she was very possessive of Iskierka; the way he’d been acting at the Razorclaw hatching hadn’t eluded her yet and she was just…not quite comfortable with that. Although in all fairness he was decidedly not like that right now. Which was…good. If confusing. Should’ve gotten clarification from Iskierka probably but Azazel had really been such a distraction and then it didn’t seem very important after that. Azazel, on cue, offered a sound of sad complaint, squirming against Sena’s hand and burrowing into her fingers to peer shyly at his brother and the new person.

Sena blinked, obligingly holding her hand steady for him, and then smiled at X’rx for his question. “Great, yeah, it’s definitely…a change,” which was not exactly a world-changing observation, “Um, I don’t remember your name? I’m real sorry,” which she was. “I just remember it was sorta confusing and…something about the last bit of the alphabet? Sorry. I suck at names.” A flash of an apologetic smile, and she added, “I like your hair, though. I don’t think I said that before, but yeah.” Because, right: Compliments would make up for forgetting someone’s name. Perfect. Although, in all fairness, it was true enough; the decorations were nice and shedid like them, with a quiet acceptance that her hair would never be so accommodating.

She was also, maybe, deliberately trying to avoid saying anything about Iskierka that could possibly be…out of line, or something; Sena couldn’t quite figure out where X’rx stood with her aunt (or vice versa). She’d gotten weyrling as an introduction but she didn’t think it was typical for ex-weyrlings to be quite so…touchy with their Weyrlingmasters, unless there was a really big cultural difference going on. And the way he’d spoken just now…“Um,” she eventually came up with, “so as it turns out I’m really bad at subtlety…are you and Auntie friends or…something? Because I’m not really surprised she didn’t mention; she’s not family by blood and I haven’t seen her since she…came here. South, I mean.”

[Requiem]

"Yes," X'rx agreed cheerfully. "This is Griffin." The razorclaw certainly recognized his name, the avian immediately puffing up and displaying all his pretty feathers (all the ones that had come in so far, anyway) as if to say Here I am. Worship me. It even allowed X'rx to lower his hand a little, since Griffin was more interested in making a good impression on these Others than attempting to divebomb various tasty morsels currently.

X'rx blinked, then smiled a little sheepishly and rubbed at the back of his head. "Honestly? I don't know that I even told you, so no need to apologize. It's X'rx. Xerxes is my given name, and Eve just cut off the end. See? Not that hard." He knew that even amongst dragonriders who in general tended to have some pretty unusual names, his was one of the more unusual ones. It really wasn't that hard, though.

Her compliment, rather than sounding petty as she might have thought, simply caused X'rx to grin broadly. Almost as if the words themselves moved his arm, he played with some of the longer ends. Griffin, though, had by this point grown tired of the conversation, so it was good that X'rx's hand was already in a good position to snatch at the little fellow...and even then he almost missed, grabbing Griffin a bit too hard and earning a squawk of protest from the male. That's when X'rx decided that cuddling the little fluffball probably would be the better way to go.

"Oh." He blinked at the cute girl who reminded him so much of his sister. How could she be from the north? All the northerners were so...grouchy. "You're from Benden, then? Okay. I suppose that's okay. I mean, if you're okay?" Yeah, that wasn't exactly the most tactful response X'rx could have given. (He didn't hate Bendenites, but even the nice greenrider couldn't really bring himself to like them all that much after all the trouble they'd caused his home. Not as a whole, anyway. Individuals he could like immensely. I.e. Iskierka.)

Oh. Right. Question. Perhaps he'd been so late to answer it due to the fact that he wasn't really sure of the answer himself. "I...don't really know, actually. She's been over for dinner once and we talk sometimes and I think that she kind of likes talking to me? But...well...I may have offended her or something recently. What you saw at the hatching was just..." He colored slightly here. "Eveyth was going to Fly soon and, well, I act kind of like a feline in heat when she does." Had he been paler, his cheeks would have been blazing at this point.

[Avu]

Griffin. A nice name, Sena thought, offering the bird a smile and a soft “Hi, sweetie,” because name or not, she still defaulted to sweetie for pet names. Even though Griffin did not seem very sweet. Actually, he seemed quite proud, which was strange just because Azazel absolutely wasn’t. The gray hatchling actually shivered at his brother’s display and blinked sadly at Azazel, embarrassed by his own inadequacy. Always, of course, but especially in such stark contrast with his brother. All the same, he offered a meek chirp for Griffin, a compliment despite the fact that he was sure it would mean so very little coming from him. Sena popped her finger lightly up against the bottom of his beak reprovingly, absentmindedly.

“X’rx,” she repeated, and nodded; yeah, that sounded familiar in a very vague sort of way. “You might have to remind me a few more times,” with an apologetic lopsided grin. “I suck a lot.” Her gaze flicked, startled, to Griffin’s abrupt movement and X’rx’s even more abrupt reclaiming of the Razorclaw, Sena’s mouth quirking up at the corners in a bemused surprise and amusement; she would’ve asked if X’rx hadn’t continued straight on as if that was absolutely normal and Sena was still not quite familiar enough to interrupt with her question, but she made a mental note to remember it anyway. Such a strange little…ritual. Scene. Something.

The…awkward verbal spew about Benden had her smile faltering for a moment before Sena shrugged, offering, “Originally, yeah, I am? Um.” A blink, less offended and more just bewildered. Was she okay with it? Okay with being from Benden? “Yeah? I guess? I mean…yes. Yeah, I’m okay? Is that okay?” Because one moment of utterly awkward deserved another, obviously. Sena went pink as she crinkled her nose, and then said, with a little more confidence, a touch defensively—because come on, that was not a good reaction and it wasn’t like she could imagine growing up anywhere else, “I’m okay, and anyway it’s been years since Benden. Is Benden…I mean, my coming from there, is that okay, then?”

Faint jealousy at X’rx’s explanation, even as piecemeal as it was. She didn’t envy him friendship, or the apparent confusion involved; that would be awfully cruel, just…envied that he’d had access to Iskierka, she supposed. “Oh.” At least she knew, now. Sena’s eyes went wide as he continued, though, and after she blinked, startled, and then said, drawing out the word, “Ohh. Yeah, I just—I didn’t figure that was like, a typical thing, but it was sorta weird? Yeah. I thought you and Auntie might be like…together, would that be weird age-wise? You don’t look her age.” She’d stopped filtering, mostly; X’rx hadn’t been offended by her question and Sena took that as implicit permission. And it was true, wasn’t it. “I’m sure she likes you fine,” she added, “I guess I probably don’t know enough to say or anything but I mean, I don’t think Auntie’d do dinner if she didn’t like you just fine.”

[Requiem]

Yes, well, it might mean more coming from someone else, but Griffin still appreciated it? (The razorclaw hadn't suddenly developed a nice streak, but anyone willing to accept the obvious truth that Griffin was a splend, if not the most splendid, specimen of razorclawkind would not be treated harshly.) At any rate, the bird - who was attempting to ignore the indignity of being cradled against X'rx's chest - found Azazel's behavior curious. Why was he cowering? Griffin inquired of him in a curious chirp.

Um. Inappropriate segway much? Rather than responding to her comment about sucking (with names, but the way she'd said it was just awkward even for someone with a cleaner mind that the greenrider's) he just stood there looking a touch uncomfortable as he shifted from foot to foot. The awkwardness didn't get any better after their exchange of okay, okay? statements that frankly had X'rx lost by the end.

"I just meant...if you didn't like Benden or something I could see why you might not? If you're okay with it I am. I mean...you know. Not your fault the leaders there are not terribly nice or anything, right? You were just born there." He attempted a friendly smile to hopefully bring them out of this strange turn to the conversation. "I was born into a Weyr with leaders who are all kind of...incompetent. I'd hope you wouldn't hold that against me, either."

Oh bother. He was just getting redder. "I don't know. I suppose it might be." Some people thought his obvious relationship with Darya was weird, but he attributed at least half of that to her having been his Weyrlingmaster at one point. Which Iskierka was, too. "She's an attractive woman? I wouldn't say no...I hope that's not weird for you. But I really don't see that happening. She was my Weyrlingmaster, you know, and...well, she doesn't seem interested."

Sena's assessment of Iskierka in regards to him drew out a relieved smile though. "You think so?" That was good. Much as he'd like to cuddle with her and do...other things...what he wanted most was just to keep the easy relationship they'd seemed to have before. X'rx liked his friends. He understood that didn't always include intimacy even though he personally was always willing to sleep with a friend. "Is that why you came here, then? To be with Iski?" he questioned of the girl curiously.

[Avu]

Well, and if birds could’ve sighed Azazel would’ve, settling more comfortably into Sena’s palm as he blinked anxiously at Griffin, he didn’t expect people would want to see him, he wasn’t very pretty to look at…so he might as well make it easier on them. Didn’t that make sense? He thought it made perfect sense, but then, Azazel didn’t think he was probably very smart either, so maybe not. The Razorclaw shifted, abruptly uncomfortable with his position in Sena’s hand but completely confused as to how to make it right, and settled for blinking awkwardly at Griffin for guidance. Because, come on—he was all half-down and half-flight feathers, so he wasn’t even baby cute or adult dignified (it didn’t occur to Azazel that Griffin was in exactly the same stage—as far as he was concerned the negative applied solely to him).

“Oooh.” Comprehension. Sena went faintly pink, and she squirmed slightly before she screwed up her nose in an apologetic smile. “Yeaahhh, um. I was okay with it. It was…I mean, I didn’t think it wasn’t good, you know?” She’d had a mother, after all, which was more than lots of kids did in any weyr. And an Iskierka. A flash of a brighter grin at his addition, “Nah, s’all good, incompetence isn’t catching yet that I know of.”

She went a deeper shade of pink as X’rx continued, though, and ended up absently running her fingers through Azazel’s feathers where he was still fluffy with down, catching her lower lip between her teeth in concentration. “I don’t mind,” she decided at last, “I mean, it’s a little bit weird or whatever, but it’s not like a bad weird.” Sena flashed a genuine smile at X’rx, adding, “I always thought she was pretty, anyway, so.” Not conventionally pretty; Sena recognized that too, but she’d adored Iskierka so much that thinking of her as anything but pretty just wasn’t an option. “Anyway I guess it’s a moot point. Ain’t like I could order Auntie not to…do whatever, even if I wanted, y’know?”

None of her business. Or it shouldn’t be. Even if Sena was sort of making it her business by reassuring X’rx at all, but she thought it was only fair. Iski wasn’t mean, she wouldn’t want X’rx to think she didn’t like him, right? She shook her head at the greenrider’s question, although, “I’d hoped Auntie’d be down here? But I mostly came down ‘cause of Search. From the Glasscraft Hall,” added in explanation, “The Benden Hatchings didn’t really do much for me, obviously, so.” A pause, as she considered X’rx. Then, “Wait, so, you’ve been at Selenitas for like…ever? I mean, not including the shifts in locale and whatever since it’s been the entire Weyr makin’ ‘em. You don’t get bored or anything?”

[Requiem]

Well, no, Griffin still didn't think it made that much sense? He cocked his head to one side, spreading his wings slowly so as not to make his mommy twitch and confine him still more, stretching them before folding them back into his sides. They were hatched at the same time, weren't they? That made Azazel, by default, one of the most handsome razorclaws about. (Not as handsome as Griffin, of course, but one must not expect miracles.)

Well, yes, Sena was making a good deal of sense. Still, the girl had some attachment to Iskierka, psuedo-familial or otherwise, and X'rx really didn't want to upset her or anyone else that the bluerider valued just by being...him. "Weird I can handle, I think," he commented teasingly, though from the slight shifting of his weight someone might gather that the ease he was trying to put into the conversation wasn't entirely felt.

"Search." X'rx wasn't really sure what she was talking about now. Oh, he knew what Search was, but the rest of her explanation was confusing. Had she come with the Wastelanders, then, one of the candidates they brought with them? No...maybe. He didn't think so? Hm. Left Benden for the south and then was Searched? The greenrider didn't suppose it mattered so much that he had to grill her on it, so simply nodded.

Cocking his head to one side, he blinked at her. "Why would I get bored?" He flashed a smile then. "There are always new people coming into Selenitas, and the hunting...at least around the old location...was excellent. The jungles were always changing, out there to explore." Glancing around at their surroundings, then, he shrugged a shoulder. "I suppose it's much the same here. No, I don't remember getting bored."

[Avu]

Now how exactly was he supposed to get out of this one? Bewildered, Azazel chirped uncertainly at Griffin, and scrunched himself further down into his oblivious owner’s palm, despairing; now there was no possible way to explain to Griffin that he really wasn’t any good without also insulting his brother by mistake and just…so difficult. Azazel, resigned, tilted his head to one side in acutely miserable acceptance of Griffin’s…compliment by proxy, he supposed. It was nice, being mistaken for handsome, at least (as rarely as it happened, Sena excluded; Azazel figured that His was just sort of blind or something, but it was okay; he accepted that).

Attempting to divert his brother’s attention from his handsomeness, or lack thereof, Azazel tipped his head to the other side, scrunching his neck forward, and chirped; his flight feathers seemed to be coming in quite nice, yes?

Sena patted one finger down Azazel’s head, and then quirked a grin at X’rx; yeah, weird was definitely okay. As long as Iski was okay with X’rx Sena was too, at least by default, and even if the age gap there was a little strange to her, it wasn’t so much taboo so much as just sort of bewildering. (It wasn’t like she’d ever been attracted to someone much older than her…let alone younger, but given that she still considered herself a kid half the time that wasn’t a surprise either…but whatever. She didn’t really mind other people doing whatever they pleased.)

“So…people,” she echoed, and felt unaccountably disappointed, like Selenitas ought to have something more thrilling all the time. “And exploring. And your dragon—Eveyth?” echoed from his comment before. And yeah, it wasn’t like anyone could go anywhere after Impressing, really, and Sena supposed if she Impressed she wouldn’t want to go, but still. Wanderlust. She crinkled her nose thoughtfully, added, “They don’t get mad at us if we go off in the jungle or whatever, do they? I mean, after chores and stuff. Is there a buddy system or anything? Aren’t they worried we’ll all get eaten alive by wild felines or die ‘cause of bein’ stupid or…just, y’know, end up dead mysteriously?”

Probably questions she should’ve asked M’kai, but Sena hadn’t actually been struck by the possibility of going into the jungle yet. Follow the river a little, sure, but that didn’t really count since only somebody very stupid could get lost and die like that. And sort of unrelated, too, but going off on tangents had never particularly bothered Sena before.

[Requiem]

Well that was strange. Why did his clutchbrother seem sad about his handsomeness being acknowledged? Such a queer clutchbrother Griffin had. Before he might inquire as to the source of this odd response, Azazel had changed the subject and Griffin was suitably distracted. Oh yes, he agreed in a soft chirring sound. His flight feathers were coming in really nice, indeed, and soon Azazel's would, too. The human mother insisted they weren't in enough to fly yet, but Griffin was not so sure, the young razorclaw confided to his sibling.

At any rate, they should take to the skies together as soon as they were able, shouldn't they? he questioned, plowing on as if he already knew the answer to that question. He spread his wings and flapped them in illustration. They could fly high in the skies and snap up tasty morsels rather than being forced to swallow down that nasty raw stuff that the mothers liked to give them. Who wanted anything when it had been dead forever?

X'rx found himself blinking rather dumbly at Sena's questions. We? Oh. Candidates. Right. That made sense. He'd more or less forgotten he was talking to a candidate. How curious. "Honestly, I'm not sure what the rules are here? Even if it's not a rule, though, it would probably be a good idea to go with someone else. Better still if they know the area and have a flit or dragon in case you two got into any trouble and needed help."

X'rx wasn't really sure what else they had to talk about. Sena was interesting enough, of course, but she was a candidate and kind of off-limits. Kinda sort of. At least, the greenrider didn't typically make a habit of hitting on candidates, especially candidates with Iskierkas as protectresses. He was pretty sure that if he made Sena uncomfortable the bluerider would make him eat his foot. Or fist. Or other less appealing parts of his anatomy.

So if flirting was out..."Have any hobbies? I used to bake and I still hunt, but I keep on finding myself with too much time on my hands." Used to bake wasn't entirely accurate. He still did at times. It tended to make him a little sad, though, so he didn't do it that much anymore. "Could use any ideas that you might have." He flashed her a smile. It was clear that the greenrider was relaxing now that they'd gotten off the topic of Iskierka and his behavior during the razorclaw hatching that had earned them Azael and Griffin.

[Avu]

Azazel fluffed his feathers and clicked his beak amiably at Griffin—beyond relieved that his brother had taken the opening he had offered. It wasn’t quite away from the topic of beauty, but it was more than good enough for Azazel, who’d only half-hoped it would work at all. The Razorclaw tentatively extended his own wings as Griffin did so, embarrassed by the patchwork of baby down and almost-flight feathers. Well yes, a little more reserved than his brother, he supposed flying would be nice, and getting fresh food would be lovely (provided Azazel could even catch it…he hadn’t the faith in himself his brother clearly did)…but didn’t his brother like his mother though? They couldn’t fly with them, could they. And what if they fell trying? Their mothers would not always be around to catch them.

“Buddy system.” Summed up nicely, then. Which was okay. It was definitely okay since she actually had a buddy to buddy system with, and Sena sincerely doubted Syd would ever complain about explorations or anything, but that still was sort of restrictive. She shrugged it off with an easy lopsided grin, “I guess they don’t have faith in us then…” She wasn’t blaming them either; Sena had a passive, baseless dislike for some of the other Candidates that manifested in a droll doubt as to their abilities at life in general. Also she suspected that she wouldn’t last terribly long faced with a pack of felines either; healthy respect for them.

Or whatever.

“Hmm.” She blinked thoughtfully, and then slanted a curious glance at him. “I’d trade you Glasscrafting lessons for baking, if that’s not like, completely past tense for you,” she offered, after a moment. “I never tried to bake and I’d probably manage to set fire to stone, soooo,” drawling out the last syllable hopefully, “I mean, ain’t found anywhere to try ‘n do anything with glasscrafting yet but I figure there’s gotta be somewhere and if you wanna do that…? Other’n that…” Hum. What did she do? Mess around with Sydney and get grass stains all over the knees of her pants. Catch fireflies and worms and frogs. “Iunno. Figure some hobbies’re probably in order for me too. I seem to waste an awful lot of time doin’ nothing…not counting chores, I guess, and lessons.”

Which was quite sad. And she was starting to get a little fidgety with it—liked to be doing something. Baking would be nice, and it had the additional bonus of producing food. “Don’t know if I should be tryin’ anything involving fire ‘till Azzy doesn’t cling all the time, y’know?”

[Requiem]

Awkward conversation was becoming even more awkward. He didn't really want to actually teach anyone any baking, though fortunately she retracted her comment on account of Azazel and being near fire. Then again...well, the only comments she'd left him with were baking and glasscrafting which both involved fire so now they were firmly back at square one. What was he supposed to do with that? Hunting clearly hadn't interested her or she would have mentioned something. Hm.

"Erilena I suppose would know about the glasscrafting thing when you're ready for that." Fidget, fidget. When X'rx realized that he was tugging at his clothes again he promptly stopped and settled for smoothing them instead, switching Griffin off from arm to arm and generally annoying the razorclaw in the process. Which of course meant he stopped that, too, relatively quickly.

"Well...it was nice to meet you and everything? Yeah." Getting up, which earned him a squawk of protest from Griffin who was still very much interested in conversing with his rather shy clutchbrother, X'rx wandered off again, muttering to himself at a level that would be undecipherable to any but someone right next to his mouth. That was quite a bit awkward and he usually did fine with awkward!