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+---- Thread: Baby Blues [Valerian Solo] (/showthread.php?tid=1035)
Baby Blues [Valerian Solo] - V'ler - 14.Nov.12
Valerian! Wake up!
Valerian groaned in answer to what he thought about that idea. What time is it? He really didn’t want to know. Sleep was the only thing he wanted right then.
Veeth looked up at the sky, eyeing the location of the sun just barely peeking above the horizon and returned to peering through the living room window that Valerian hadn’t bothered to get coverings for yet. Um, early. But you want to get up, trust me! It would be a shame to miss this. Valerian grumbled again but rolled over to face the wall with a window covered in a curtain. One green eye peeked open and his blurry vision showed it was still rather dark, confirming the guess that it was early. When the sun was high enough, even with the curtain closed tight, his room took on some of the light.
Fine. Even his mind voice sounded groggy! Valerian rolled out of bed, taking enough time to put on pants before stumbling his way into the main portion of his hut. He had no idea what Veeth found and needed to show off at such an hour but he’d go entertain the dragon before possibly being able to sneak in a little more sleep before the day truly started. He was almost to the door to go outside when Veeth put a stop to that. No! Over here. Where else would the excitement be? Valerian, you should really try to wake up a bit quicker. Valerian scowled at the head he could see in the window and changed the direction of his stumbling.
He tried to follow Veeth’s gaze since the dragon was being vague and not offering any true indication but couldn’t figure out what was so exciting. At least, he didn’t until he heard something cracking near his feet and Valerian looked down to see both of his eggs started to move with one missing a small piece of shell. If that wasn’t enough to snap Valerian wide awake, the little snout that tried to push through the even smaller hole was.
Valerian had left the eggs near the small fire pit he maintained in his hut for heat and the sparse cooking he did to help keep them warm. He had no intentions of constantly carrying around in the hopes his body heat was enough to keep alive the inhabitants. After the firelizards had been found a few days earlier, it was hard to believe his eggs contained anything else. At one point he considered giving one or both eggs away but after seeing the beautiful creatures and how happy Talian was with his, Valerian gave into his other childhood dream of having his own firelizard and kept both eggs. Maybe he’d be lucky and one would hatch and he’d Impress whatever colour was within.
He was about to find out!
Even without the help of the first clutch Impressing, Valerian knew what he had to do from reading too much at Harper Hall and overhearing adults and older kids talk about them when he was young. He went into the sad excuse of a kitchen and stared at the empty cupboards. He really had to stop relying on the Dining Hall and people that actually knew what they were doing. Luckily, he still had half of a sandwich he didn’t finish that night, some fruit, and a plate of meatrolls he had swiped from lunch but never ended up having the desire to eat them. Throwing off the cloth that covered the plate to help keep them somewhat fresh, Valerian grabbed it and returned to his eggs, sitting down in front of them and watching.
It must have only been several minutes of sitting and watching though it felt so much longer given the anticipation and how much he wanted to crawl back into bed. Still, he watched intently as more of the shells broke away until finally one was free and creeling for food or attention; maybe both. “Hi,” Valerian whispered, awestruck at having just witnessed the hatching of a firelizard. The little blue, which the dim lighting soon revealed it to be, nearly attacked the Harper’s hand when a meatroll was set out before it. It was rather impressive with the speed in which it devoured it. When swirling eyes looked up at him and another adorable sound was given, Valerian cracked a smile and gave it another piece.
By that time, the other egg had finally broken away enough to release its inhabitant which ended up being another blue. Valerian was okay with that. Since meeting Ilveriath and then Impressing Veeth, he had to admit he had a soft spot for the blues. Of course green was special as well since Larrikith was just as important to him as Veeth was himself. “And hello to you, as well.” Repeating the process, Valerian gave the new arrival his own meatroll before a fight broke out over what was left of the current piece on the floor and again, he gave the second blue a second piece.
When both seemed full, something Valerian realised he could sense within like he had when Veeth was freshly hatched and starving, human and firelizards all sat where they were staring at each other. What now? He felt like he had Impressed both but what else was he supposed to do now? On a hunch, Valerian laid both palms on the floor, face up, and the flitters both jumped onto them. Slowly he brought them up to the opposite shoulder. They both quickly jumped to their new and higher perch and settled in, tails lazily wrapping around Valerian’s neck.
I want to see them as well! Please, Valerian! Valerian could feel Veeth’s excitement and didn’t have to look at the dragon to know he was lightly hopping from foot to foot. Within moments, the weyrling was outside and presenting the firelizards to their big brother of sorts. They’re mini-mes! Valerian laughed at the exclamation but watched in silence as Veeth carefully extended his nose to sniff and nuzzle each one. They seemed to pass his test and while one of the flitters was a bit hesitant to return the affectionate greeting, Veeth was accepted as well.
A few hours later and Valerian was sitting at his desk, ready to write down the experience of Impressing firelizards and his take on the creatures. He knew the reputation they had and didn’t doubt that they had caught the plague first and spread it to the dragons but Valerian also felt that since they were still alive now, like the dragons, that some either avoided the plague, like the dragons, or they developed an immunity which he had to wonder the likelihood of the dragons doing as well.
The paper was set out but intentions were put on hold as one of the flitters landed on the desk and looked between Valerian and the paper, clearly curious and interested in what he was doing. He chirped and nudged at the quill near him. Smiling, Valerian nodded and picked it up and readied himself to start writing about the eggs cracking but stopped to stare at the blue firelizard. “Quill,” Valerian said quietly and the firelizard tilted his head to the side as if he understood the word and thought it was directed at him. “Would you like to be named that?” A happy trill was the answer received and Valerian chalked that up to one successful naming.
He’d have to get around to naming the other guy as well. That was going to be a bit tricky though. He seemed grumpy or maybe just shy. When they were all outside earlier, a couple of people stopped to see his flitters up close since they were new and exciting – to most – and only a few had been brought back into the weyr. Quill basked in the attention but the other one kept moving away from everyone else and only seemed to calm down when he was near or on Valerian. It was slightly vexing! Oh, now that was a thought. Valerian had started to think Dodger would work given the way the blue moved out of the way of people trying to touch him but Vex seemed to be perfect. The firelizard left people vexed over his disposition and Valerian wasn’t above admitting he liked the sound of the word as well.
As an experiment, Valerian tried calling the other one that had curled up by the fire to nap. “Vex? Are you happy there or would you like to sleep on my shoulder?” For a moment it didn’t look like the firelizard would stir, taking no interest in the name, but he was soon stretching and chirping in slight annoyance at being woken before settling down again and falling back asleep. “I’m taking that as a ‘I’m fine here and if that’s what you want to call me, then knock yourself out.’” Valerian received no emotions that leaned towards upset and decided that was good enough for him.
Vex and Quill. And Veeth! Veeth chimed in on Valerian’s thoughts as he started thinking about his little makeshift family. “Vex, Quill, and Veeth. I imagine my life will never be dull or quiet ever again with you lot.”
Sleep was probably a thing of the past.