WHO: Kiele, Valeska
WHERE: Half Moon Bay Weyr - Tunnel
WHAT: Kiele is playing hide and seek. Valeska finds her.
**Half Moon Bay Weyr - Tunnel **
This long tunnel is the entrance to Half Moon Bay Weyr. It is lit by a line of electric lights overhead. Sometimes you will see a young dragon and rider changing the bulbs, working together. Parts of the tunnel seem natural, but others look hand carved, with strong stone walls that give the feeling that it is safe and one not need fear it collapsing. Half Moon Bay weyr colors hang from tapestries along the walls.
Half Moon's banners flap from their places on the walls, welcoming anyone who comes through the carved entrance and into the Weyr's bowels. It's a busy day, as mid-mornings usually are, and a cacophony of sounds fills the large space - firelizards chittering excitedly overhead, draftbeasts snorting and stamping as they're led by their handlers, and an assorted of people, all bent on some direction. Kiele is tucked behind an errant stack of boxes, her blond hair braided away from her face. She peeks around the crates every few seconds, as if looking someone; looking as though she is hiding from a seeker, one which has not yet made their appearance in the overlarge archway.
There's a considerable amount of traffic and when there's a lot of traffic, there's always things going on. Some of it pleasant and some of it not and the not is sometimes entertaining so long as it doesn't require the presense of the guards. After spending hours at sea and in offices compiling reports, Valeska is going to make her way out to the tunnels and she won't be shy about it. The craftrider even brings her own chair, setting it up right in the thick of things against a wall, taking a seat. She doesn't notice the girl at first, occupied slicing off a piece of redfruit and popping it into her mouth while she people watches. There are apprentices she needs to pick up in any case. Though, the peeking is a big tell. "Did I miss anything exciting?" she mumbles with a full mouth.
Lanky twin weyrbrats rush through the crush of people, shouting as though charging into a fray, and disappear through an offshoot of tunnels. "No," Kiele says in a rush of breath, as the blond had been holding it when the adolescents ran through. "Only a common game of hide and seek. Do you want to play?" She turns on her heels, body angling towards the dragonrider enjoying her redfruit; her eyes are full of warmth and amusement. Hide and seek is fun for seventeen turns old, too! It would seem. "I hope they don't come back this way," she murmurs, fingers wrapping around the lip of one crate. "I'm Kiele," comes a rushed whisper.
Those weyrbrats go by and Valeska peers at them with some scrutiny but they don't resemble the ones she was supposed to be looking out for. With a shrug, she returns her attentions to the girl. "Kiele? I'm Valeska. Blue Mecahisth's. Journeyman Dolphineer. I'll pass on the game, the Dolphins play it often enough and I could use a break. You think they might come back here?" The woman leans forward, peering about to observe the crowds with a crooked smile.
A stableboy jogs by, startling the nanny enough to duck back down, fingers turning white from pressing so hard against the box. "Valeska," Kiele finally says, peering from behind the crate again, "is a very pretty name. Your mother must have loved you very, very much to give you such a lovely name." Her mouth eases into another bright smile, her hold on the container loosening, as she regards the bluerider. "I think they're looking everywhere, but they have to find some of the other kids too." Thoughtfully, "Can I ask you a question about your dragon?"
"Thanks," Valeska replies, remembering to cover her mouth with her hand this time, eyes following a suspicious looking young man but… wrong hair color. She shrugs, continuing into that red fruit. "From what I was told, she always wanted to use it but wasn't ready to be a mother at the time. My dad raised me, there was no bad blood or anything. Thankfully." Such is the way in flights. Finding other kids will definitely keep the littles busy! There's always alot going on in the tunnels. As for the dragon question, Valeska straightens up a little bit, raising a brow at Kiele. "Uh, sure? What did you want to know?" Mecahisth is an… interesting dragon.
In the distance, screams and squeals erupt, which fade farther into the distance - only a good sign, to the nanny, who visibly relaxes enough to stand up and stretch her cramped legs. "Oh," Kiele says, embarrassed by the interaction, "I'm sorry, but— a good father is almost better than a mother." It's an attempt, and then she's perching herself against the carved wall, fingers stroking the length of her silken braid. "How was it when you Impressed? Was it hard? Did you become a different person? I heard that could happen, but I don't know first hand."
Valeska does a quick inspection of her lap and jacket to make sure she didn't leave a mess behind with her fruit, then those brilliant blue eyes slowly pan over to Kiele. They seem to go out of focus into the unknown for a moment, then a smirk finds it's way on her face. She clears her throat, rubbing her hands together while she gathers her thoughts. "I heard that alot before I stood on the sands. That it changes you. I don't think it's an instantaneous thing that just happens in a blink of an eye, but you're definitely a different person because you're part of a bigger whole now. You have this whole other life a part of you, so you're never going to be the old you again. If that makes any sense? Wasn't hard, for me at least. It was indescribable."
The nanny is an eager student, fingers clasping as she awaits the bluerider's answer. "I was talking to someone about it, and she said she'd never stand, because she didn't like that she'd become someone else. I don't know that I wouldn't like it. I'd just be glad to have the company, to have the one thing I'd always love and always loves me?" Except Kiele is still looking at Valeska for assurance, since she is a dragonrider. "I think everyone should try."
People are strange. Dragons don't really change you, they just… fill in the gaps you didn't know you had. You just grow with another set of eyes and ears is all." One of the people passing through must have snagged a thread somewhere, their coat is becomming unraveled and mischevious residents are pointing it out rather than informing the poor person. Valeska snorts, though, taking in a breath. "Everyone should try, just understand that it's not a cure for lonliness. It's more like living life all over again."
And that eager student has questions, though it's not a hand being raised so much as a finger being lifted to indicate her hesitation. "You can see and hear everything they can hear?" Kiele asks, riveted. "That would be such a great tool to have. I hadn't thought about that, just that flying would be much easier than walking and riding a wagon places." She leans back against that wall and considers the string of the unraveling coat. "Living life all over again? How?"
"When you impress a dragon, they're just not a partner. Their mind and yours become this one… How do I put it. You're just one. There's no clear 'this is where you end and they begin'. If he or she is hungry, you feel it and vise versa. If one sick, tired, moody, or in pain? The other is gonna feel it. And yeah, the flyings the fun part." With no sign of her charges in sight, Valeska tilts her chair back a bit until it hits the wall, reclining while one leg is draped over another. If the weyr doesn't like her chair, they can provide benches! "Once you become a rider, your duties and roles often change. You're sharing a consciousness that has an opinion of it's own so it stops being you the individual and now you the dragonrider. So you have to live this new shared life. They're babies, so you have to navigate milestones all over, at least from their point of view."
"You're just one," Kiele repeats after the bluerider, fingers curling against her lips. "That sounds like it could be troublesome. What if they're sad and you're trying to have a fun time at a party?" Simple, simple ideals, really, but the nanny is chewing over all these new revelations. "Do you ever regret Standing and Impressing? Do you wish you could have been something else, or— was it all worth it? Even the hard parts?"
"They might not be interested in the party at all and might choose to take a nap instead or do their own thing. They are just as social after all. And when you're intuned to their emotions, you're more willing to meet them half way. It's easier to feel it and know than just rely on word of mouth. How many times have people told you they were fine when they clearly weren't? A dragon or you can only hide so much from one another because y'all will know eachother on a deeper level than two people alone could imagine having." Valeska merely shrugs. Sure, Mecahisth hides some of his moodiness sometimes, but it's easier to be open.
Clarity starts to seep in, causing a riot of emotion to show across the nanny's face, and her mouth forms a perfectly-shaped 'o'. "That makes a lot of sense, but it must be weird in the beginning to have someone else's thoughts infiltrating your own, right? Is that what weyrling training is for?" Kiele wants to know.
Valeska crosses her arms over her chest as she eyes another group of youths but no one she recognizes. Good thing she met the incoming troublemakers well in advance. Helps having a face to size up! She tilts her head back over to Kiele, pressing her lips into a fine line before slowly nodding her head. "Weyrlinghood covers everything you need to know. How to live with a dragon, how to care for them, how to handle the overshare and most important of all? How to work together. It's roughly two turns long but it's all covered." And there's gratuitous amounts of drama and other childhood nonsense being relived but that's all apart of life as well.
Troublemakers do not seem to be on the blond nanny's mind. Not now anyway, not even she's learning all sorts of new things. "I'm sure they would," Kiele murmurs, knuckles pressing against her lips, and then when her hands fall down to her sides, she exhales a sigh. "Thank you for sharing with me. I haven't been at the Weyr very long." As if that's not evident. "I'm still learning about everything, but with those eggs on the sands - it had me thinking."
"You can ask all the questions you like, but the dragons inside of those eggs will always find a way to turn things upside down." Valeska chuckles quietly a bit and sighs, tilting her head down the way. Mecahisth is sunning himself just outside of the weyr, napping now that he feels his shift is over. Where are these blasted kids?! Hopefully they didn't change their mind. When it comes to the Dolphineers, it's usually the parents with reservations.
And just like that, all of the understanding gleaned from this information session is dashed against the proverbial rocks at what Valeska says next. "They'll find a way to turn things upside down." Kiele blows out another breath, but she doesn't have time to ask anymore questions as the twins literally push through the crowd, angling at the blond. "YOU'RE OURS," they shout in unison, and the nanny shrieks as she scrambles towards the bowl, leaving indecision and farewells for another time.