[PRP] Scrub-scrub (Marty/Ana + Eliaza)

[demon_pachabel]

Marty would have rather a warmer day for a dragon bath. But she'd been told what to expect from the now mother-to-be and the idea of having weeks of letting it sit undone had expedited the task. She'd asked for a few extra hands from the candidates to assist (and she was sure there were those who were entirely eager to do so) and then gotten started while waiting for them.

Anakumath, for her part, was laid out halfway in the water. It's chill didn't much bother the gold, who hummed as Marty stood on her back, diligently scrubbing at her spines. While she was always a fairly agreeable dragon, she'd been in a particularly good mood as of late for reasons that were currently the gossip around the Weyr.

"How are you feeling today, love?" Marty asked, not looking away from her task. Beneath her, Anakumath thrummed. Much the same. Lots to feel and ponder. but she was clearly enjoying it.  

[Samuel Carlin]

"Oh."

The word was as much surprise and admiration as recognition of the task at hand and, more to the point, Eliaza hadn't even really meant to make a sound at all. It had just sort of popped out of her when she got a good look at Anakumath.

Now that she'd announced her presence with that embarrassing sound, Eliaza blushed, hard, but did her best to cling to at least a shred of dignity. She took a very visible breath and explained, "I, er , that is, we were told you might need a little help bathing your dragon?" Which Anakumath obviously was and since Martirae was standing on her she must be paired with the glorious gold and. Well. Get your foot out of your mouth, Eliaza, and stop gasping.

Giving herself another obvious shake, she held up both a bucket and a brush in sort of a shrug and asked, "Where should I start?"

demon_pachabel

o.o

 

[demon_pachabel]

Oh!

Anakumath leaned forward to nose at the young woman who had approach, thrumming softly in greeting. Marty barely had to brace herself for the motion, however, though she did look up from her scrubbing to see who her dragon had reacted to. Every candidate would likely be dosed with fondness over the next few weeks, just as she'd likely be just as interesting to them.

While she didn't stand, she sat up a little straighter to make something resembling eye contact. "Yes - she's not small to begin with," except by Gold standards, but she'd always been a fairly chubby thing as well, "and she's just getting bigger by the day." And Martirae, despite her best attempts, couldn't scrub her down by herself even if she spent all day. She made a show of patting her dragon's side at her last comment and Anakumath turned her head back to look at her.

As for her question, Marty easily pointed Eliaza towards the front end of her dragon. "The lake is cold so stick to the end not in the water. Front feet, legs, chest," she instructed as a good place to start.

Another rumble from the gold and Anakumath squared herself up.

Samuel Carlin

 

[Samuel Carlin]

As the gold leaned closer, Eliaza did her best not to hold her breath. Her heart kicked into fast forward and her eyes got wider, but she kept breathing. Giving herself hiccups would be too embarrassing. She didn't try to touch Anakumath, either, but she did smile, slowly and widely. She did breathe a "Hi," before Marty's words registered.

"Right. Front end, first." She set the bucket down and dunked the brush, starting with Anakumath's toes. "That's a good thing, right? Getting nice and round? I'd think the rounder the better. Oh! I'm Eliaza, by the way."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Martirae and Anakumath - in case there were no introductions made on my behalf," Marty introduced in turn. If she had a reputation for being a sharp woman, which she likely did, it was easily juxtaposed by the softness of the gold who watched Eliaza with intent interest. She even flexed her toes as the young woman set to work on them.

Martirae had felt like every other gravid gold she'd ever watched had fallen away from her memory and become visions of only her own dragon. She couldn't even properly picture most of them before they'd clutched anymore. "I'm sure we're all hoping for a healthy-sized clutch," of course, with Thread's return clutches had gotten bigger and bigger. But given Anakumath's own sire and now the sire of the eggs that grew inside of her there had been some speculation that those who made it tried to keep from her ears.

A practice in futility, of course, but Marty now had hopes for the clutch to spite such speculation.

"I'm sure you have high hopes?"

Samuel Carlin

 

[Samuel Carlin]

Oh, she'd been told who she was going to help. Very clearly and repeatedly and been warned to be on her best behavior, given all the circumstances. She said, "It's nice to meet you. Both," she amended. Both of them got a very bright smile, and when Anakumath flexed her toes, the young woman asked, amusement in her voice, "Oh no, am I tickling you? I'm sorry."

If there were rumors or grumbling about the queen and her clutch-to-be, Eliaza had missed them. Maybe successfully ignored them, but there were certainly no doubts front and center in her mind. There would be dragonets, and that was the whole of her fascination.

Eliaza looked up again, smile a little wider, and she nodded quickly. "Oh yes! I don't rhink I really thought much about a dragon of my own, honestly. Not before we went to Western and stood for the first time. Now?" Color touched her cheeks again. "Now it's almost all I can think about." She hesitated, then asked, "That's silly, isn't it?"

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Eliaza's apology was answered with a soft thrum from Anakumath as she nosed at the young woman's hair gingerly. She was painfully aware if her size, after all.

While she listened to the candidate talk, Martirae's focus was intently upon the task of scrubbing, which she'd jumped back in to attentively. She'd helped wash many dragons in her own time, but none of them had been with as much devotion as she did her own. So if she ended up doing another once over of those toes later... .

"No, it's not silly. I can't say I ever dreamed about any of the eggs after I left them, though. I wasn't about to let any of them break my heart for hoping," she confessed. But such stubborn defenses were one of the first things that her bond had torn down. "What did you think of Western Weyr?"

Samuel Carlin

 

[Samuel Carlin]

It was probably too much to be so touched by the dragon's gesture, and yet. Eliaza ducked her head a bit against the whoosh of breath, grinning as wisps of hair fluttered against her face in response. "All right. No tickling. Clean toes for you, then." She got back to work.Toes and claws, forelegs and on up toward her shoulders. .

Marty had a good point. "I don't know if an egg could break my heart. I suppose it could, if I felt like I'd really made a connection and then the dragon chose someone else. I." She stopped scrubbing for a moment to think, then started up again. "No, I don't think it could. It's just such a happy day, you know? How could someone feel broken-hearted in the middle of all that excitement and hope and joy and ..everything?"

Oh, Western. "Western was ... interesting. I liked it, I think. I mean, I don't really have anything to complain about." She glanced up at Marty and confessed, "I think I was expecting somethng else out of it, from all I've heard. You know, people fighting in the middle of the bowl and things all cluttered up, like no one cared. It wasn't like that at all."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Martirae's brows raised slightly at Eliaza's description of her expectations of Western Weyr. "Sounds like home has changed wildly in the last two turns, then," she dared joke, despite her serious demeanor. As though she herself hadn't been at Western in the last few months for the exact same reason - hatchings.

The joke at least amused Anakumath, who watched Eliaza hard at work with a continuing hum of delight.

"Many people do get their hopes up, even before a shell has broken," though Zezollath had swept in to sooth the hearts of a boy who loved but could never have the gold she dutifully scrubbed away at. "And joy doesn't always soothe sorrow. But it is a good mindset you have - better to keep positive."

Samuel Carlin

 

[Samuel Carlin]

Oh dear. She'd stepped in it, hadn't she? Though Eliaza's cheeks didn't actually loose color, she felt like they must have gone white in the dread of misspeaking. "Were...are you from Western?" She'd called it home. Of course she was. "I'd go back again, if I was invited or allowed," she offered. "I really don't have anything against it or anyone there. It's just. Rumors get stuck in my head sometimes, you know?"

Right. Put your head down, Eliaza, and do what you're here to do: the other set of front toes!

She glanced up again. "Until someone's told they can't Stand any more, though, for whatever reason, they can keep trying, though, can't they? Keep hoping that next time, there'll be a dragon waiting for them? I think I'd be afraid to give up. What if you do, and you should have tried one more time?"

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Born and raised - though you not need worry you offended me. I am fully aware that Western's way of doing things has a reputation of its own," because why wouldn't people who hadn't been there not have an image of what happened when something was done in a fashion that seemed inexplicable. That the poor riders and candidates there were being subjected to fishing exploits only drew more questions.

And that bronzerider.... Martirae briefly felt herself getting heated in double offense before Anakumath soothed the nerve that had been brushed up.

"Very few people choose to stop standing," though she'd heard a few stories of people who had chosen this or that in its stead, "though I can't say we know what goes on in the heads of every person who does. Being Weyrborn, I went into candidacy having seen my fair share of maulings, maimings, and...." she briefly thought of the young man from the hatching the fall before she'd been chosen by Anakumath and his brother holding him in the sand. And of course, Aureliath's at the teeth of Caderath. "Some people aren't prepared for the sheer potential of death or dismemberment solely by baby dragons. Just because it is spoken of doesn't mean it is easier to face.

Samuel Carlin