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+--- Thread: [G] [C] 741.10.16 | A Gathering of Gifts (/showthread.php?tid=4684)
741.10.16 | A Gathering of Gifts - Sariel - 17.Oct.20
After arguing with Cirith on what was appropriate and not appropriate a gift to give Cazan, she'd settled on a pair of stupidly fat, cute, Hatchlings that looked rather like Malvayth and Cirith themselves. Cirith thought she was being conniving using the excuse to cuddle up to her golden sister (as if she needed an excuse to go see her at all, as bait to get Sariel to go see Cazan.
Something about being a terrible goldrider was somewhere in that mess but Sariel really wasn't paying Cirith any mind as she very carefully wrapped the two figurines and packed then in a lovely little box.
Do ask Malvayth if Cazan is agreeable to have a bit of company, Sariel said gently, completely breaking her dragon's train of thought like a soapsand bubble.
Sariel snagged a bottle of Benden red that had been tied with a colorful fabric bow and stowed them into her carryall with the two figurines.
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Cazan - 17.Oct.20
Cazan was organizing her new leather supplies that she'd purchased while out at the Gather when she heard Mal's voice, bubbly and excited.
At least she'd asked first. Cazan was admittedly a bit torn about the idea of Cirith visiting. As much as the gold sisters got along, they frequently ended up getting into some sort of mischief. But it had been a while since they'd gotten into any real trouble, maybe they'd just be too busy catching up to do anything too disruptive. And she supposed she was at a good point to take a break. Sure, that sounds fun.
Malvayth immediately reached back out to Cirith, delighted that she'd be able to have her sister over for a cuddle and some stories.
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Sariel - 17.Oct.20
Are you... Sariel's eyebrow rose.
Sweet Faranth, Sariel thought as she carefully and quickly tacked up her dragon and hop-jumped up to the young gold's saddle. Another quick moment to buckle in and to get Cirith to stop wiggling and they were off, gliding their way to Cazan's Weyr.
"Cazan," Sariel said with a laugh. "I have wine and a Gather present from Cirith because she felt she needed an excuse to come see Malvayth. The wine's Bendan vintage."
She carefully set the be-ribboned bottle and the neat little box down on a table and smiled almost lopsided. It had been a ridiculous sevenday and a bit but no one had had enough of it than Cazan, of that, she was sure.
"I hope you're doing well."
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Cazan - 17.Oct.20
Malvayth settled in to eagerly babble at her sister, both complimenting her new riding straps and unleashing a torrent of enthusiastic story telling about her grand game and how she won her brown daddy. And even Cazan played a bit too with G'nen! It was all grand and exciting to hear Mal tell it.
Cazan sighed as she watched the sisters, shaking her head before she turned to Sariel with a smile. "You didn't have to bring me anything, but thank you. I could grab a couple of glasses if you'd like to help me with the wine now." She went to grab the glasses just in case, setting them onto the table. Even if they didn't drink now she'd have the glasses available and ready for some other time.
"I'm doing well enough, much better than the immediate aftermath. A little worried about graduation but G'nen said we would just be making up the betweening lessons later on when it's safer." Cazan grinned, turning a shade pink as she added, "T'ryn stayed to check on me afterwards, it was sweet. Helyna came over the next day so we could talk as well and that helped. Really I just wish Mal had picked a more convenient time than while I was... already occupied."
She cleared her throat and turned to the gift to change the subject, carefully picking it up to open it. "You and Cirith really didn't have to get me anything." Once she had the box open though and laughed once she saw the little figurines. "These are adorable, though I think Mal's could have been a little..." don't say fat, "rounder. Still, these are great."
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Sariel - 17.Oct.20
"Yes, wine would be lovely," Sariel said with a soft laugh. "Faranth, I'm glad you're doing alright. I can't imagine how upsetting and confusing that must have been. You had good support and an understand boyfriend as well as an experienced ear, I'm so pleased to hear that."
Sariel worked the cork free and poured about a half glass for herself, the did the same for Cazan as she opened the box.
"Mm," she gestured at the figurines, "possibly a bit rounder, yes. I think Cirith was hoping you'd get a proper laugh out of it and I couldn't help but love the little wings. Such a silly thing, really. Those two really are ridiculous together even when they get up to raising havoc. Despite the chaos, I think Cirith is learning restraint and respect, which I'm doing my best to reinforce."
She shook her blonde head and sipped at the red wine. It was just the slightest bit spicy but also just fruity enough that it wasn't dry.
"I just hope it will stick."
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Cazan - 17.Oct.20
Cazan smiled, taking a small sip of her wine, enjoying the blend of spice and fruit. "They are ridiculous," she readily agreed. "And huge. I don't think I was quite prepared for how big Mal would get when I impressed... then again I don't think I was quite prepared for anything back then. She's gotten better about not shrieking as much, and she has been working on her patience a lot. I've been able to get more and more work done with only the occasional check in."
That was perhaps her proudest victory with Malvayth. She took another sip and grinned. "I think Cirith will turn out just fine. And who knows, maybe Mal will want to take after her restrained and respectful sister too instead of just playing games and pranks." Cazan sincerely doubted that would happen, but it was a nice thought.
After another sip of wine, and knowing how Mal was really hamming up the story of her big win at the grandest game, she decided to ask Sariel about the subject directly. "Do you think Cirith will try to surprise you with her first flight? Hopefully it doesn't happen so early for her too."
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Sariel - 18.Oct.20
"Malvayth certainly surprised us all," she said with a bright laugh. "And I know she'll continue to do so, perhaps in more pleasant ways. As for Cirith, oh I'm sure it'll be a surprise of some sort. First Flights usually are from what I can tell. Faranth help me if it's early. Can you imagine them sharing the Sands?"
Sariel took a long sip of wine before shaking her head. She could hear Cirith cooing and rumbling to Malvayth and generally making the fuss she knew her sister craved.
It was actually really quite sweet how much Cirith adored Malvayth. There were promises of lots of visits and she would so bring a nice juicy beast when Mal was egg heavy and all Sariel could think of was the clusterfuck they'd be on the Sands together. Cirith would do just about anything to make Mal a happy dragon, that was for sure.
"I take that back, I don't want to know what pandemonium that would be." She waved a little. "Oh, I don't think I was really prepared for their sheer size, either, or the amount of oil needed. Sharing a weyr with L'gan and a ledge with Semath is just a crazy comparison in size already and Cirith hasn't hit her maximum size yet. Not to mention the twins. It's a very, very busy weyr sometimes and Cirith takes up the majority of the ledge, now. She and Semath spoon. It's adorable."
Cirith was going on about eggs and babies in little precious coos. While she loved the idea of clutches and baby dragons, she was really only interested in Mal's, it seemed. Half the things that were passing between the two golds was gibberish and just straight up vocal mush.
"I do think Malvayth will probably be much larger than Cirith once she finishes growing."
She looked at Cazan over her wine glass with a bit of wonder.
"They're growing so fast, it's almost hard to keep track of, really. It seems like yesterday they cracked shell. Boy did I get a good raking that day. I actually thought Mal was going to manage to climb straight through the barriers."
And then there was the shrieking everyone could hear. Her eyes were a little unfocused for a moment at the memory before she shook herself out of it and her attention was on her fellow Weyrling.
"But really, Cazan, you've done such a good job with her. Not that I didn't think you would. You've a good head on your shoulders. You'll come out of this brilliantly, you both will."
There was a pause and then Sariel started laughing as she caught a few words from Cirith.
"...Brown Daddy?"
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Cazan - 19.Oct.20
"I'm worried enough about Mal having to share with Aradissicath. I'm probably going to end up just spending time there working on some projects to keep her too distracted for mischief at first until she settles down." Part of her was dreading the first moment Mal stepped onto the sands. Hopefully she didn't hassle her mother too much, or ideally at all.
She took another sip of her wine as she listened to Sariel and nodded. "Twins are fun. Or at least I have fun being a twin. Still, I don't think I could imagine handling all of that and Malvayth too. She's already enough of a handful just by herself." She chuckled, did a quick mental check on Mal to make sure she was distracted and lowered her voice as she said, "T'ryn sometimes compares it to having a toddler with how we have to carefully avoid certain topics to avoid upsetting or exciting her. But still, she is definitely getting better about it."
Cazan smiled at the bit of encouragement, and was about to make a comment on it when Sariel began to laugh and brought up the Brown Daddy. She sighed. "That one is my fault. It made sense in the moment. Yanth had caught her, and he's brown, and he's going to be the dad so... he's Mal's brown daddy now."
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Sariel - 19.Oct.20
"Working on projects sounds like a fair distraction. At least it'll be nice and warm in the cooling weather and with some luck, perhaps Mal will settle without too much, mm, fuss." One could hope. But this was Malvayth, they both knew she'd do things her own way.
"Honestly, though, if I can help with anything," she said gently, "you know I - we - will. No matter what it is, even if it seems silly."
If they could, yes, perhaps it would be wonderful. The explanation of Brown Daddy made her lips twitch into a ready smile.
"It still makes sense when you put it like that, it's just a strange turn of phrase coming from a dragon. But she's still young, they all are, even they're mostly grown. I'm sure it will be fine in time."
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Cazan - 21.Oct.20
Cazan smiled at the offer. "You are both very kind to offer to help. I'll let you know if there's anything we need. Hopefully everything goes smoothly though." She couldn't help but laugh softly as she added, "Who knows, maybe some sort of motherly instincts will kick in and she'll calm down."
There was the tiniest feeling of dread that things wouldn't actually be fine, but Cazan ignored it. Sariel was probably right, everything would surely turn out fine. She'd managed to survive everything else her dragon had thrown at her since the first day she'd screeched on the sands.
She eyed the little gold dragon figurines again and smiled. "I'll have to make you and Ciri a gift too, something that Mal helps me design." She could immediately feel Malvayth's excitement at the idea, momentarily distracted from spending time with her sister by the thought of actually getting to help her precious rider with her work.
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Sariel - 21.Oct.20
"One can hope," Sariel murmured. "You've lovely taste and wonderful craftsmanship. Whatever you make will be a treasure, Cazan. That's just plain fact."
No, you give someone something and then you have to wait for another occasion to give them a gift, Sariel said with a soft snort.
"The special comes from the rarity of presents, my love," Sariel began, trying her best to not laugh. "Not the quantity."
RE: [16.10.741] A Gathering of Gifts - Cazan - 22.Oct.20
Cazan grinned, enjoying the praise. It had always so nice to be recognized for her work, but it was so much better now that people could recognize that it really was hers and not her brother's. She would definitely be putting a bit of extra effort to make whatever gift Mal had in mind perfect.
She turned to Sariel as Mal went on a small tirade espousing the virtues of fire lizards as companions (mostly that they were cute), and shook her head. "At least they're cute." Caz refilled their glasses from the bottle of wine and settled in for more conversation as she enjoyed the company.