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Post by Silver on Jan 17, 2021 3:43:48 GMT -6
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Post by Linyü on Jan 18, 2021 2:32:47 GMT -6
The arrival of triplets at the guest house was an unexpected surprise, but then, everything was when it came to the guesthouse, Seveth supposed. It wasn't like he had experience doing any of this, except maybe the whole 'living with dragons' bit, and he had already learned that these dragons didn't think much of the variety that Ichaival was. But that was a topic best left alone, he felt. Maybe it was a bit much to call the three dragons 'triplets'; they were merely of a clutch, and didn't much resemble one another, aside from all having some shade of green on their persons. And they were all very large, of course, but Seveth was slowly growing used to that. One of them had even taken an interest in him, against the judgement of his two siblings. "Liyu," he said, which was about what he could manage of Linyü's name. "You come with me to see a friend?"
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Post by Noa on Jan 18, 2021 2:38:21 GMT -6
"How do I look?" said Rozanthe, turning to her brother. "Like you always do, sister dear," Izorin replied. He was absorbed in his sand table, sketching with quick messy strokes. Most of his attention was absorbed in it. Rozanthe, standing in front of the mirror, sighed. She supposed she shouldn't expect any better from him at this point, and yet hope sprang eternal. "You didn't even look," she said petulantly. "I'm trying a new scale polish. Do you think it's too much?" "It's fine," said Izorin. Only when Rozanthe made a whine of impatience did he finally glance up from his sand table, and then only to fix her with a flat look. "I don't see the difference, and he isn't going to care. Now will you please stop bothering me? I'm trying to work." "Father should have kept a different egg," Rozanthe said. "If I had a sister, she would take me seriously."
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Post by Linyü on Jan 18, 2021 2:41:42 GMT -6
Seveth perked up. Dragons taking a genuine interest in spending time with him was a rarity, sad to say. Oh, he invited himself along for plenty of things, but it was something else altogether to have a genuine invitation extended to him. "You're going out? To see a friend? Murray and Mirage aren't coming too, are they?" The trio of them all had names that started with M, or at least in Common they did. Mirage, with an air of distinct disdain, said that humans wouldn't be able to pronounce their Draconic names, and so they had to settle for having silly little Common names too. Seveth wasn't inclined to argue; for one, Mirage didn't seem like the sort of person, Draconic or otherwise, that you could argue with. And anyway he spoke not a lick of Draconic, so she was just as likely right about all of it as not.
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Post by Noa on Jan 18, 2021 2:46:39 GMT -6
"You do have a sister," said Izorin, rolling his eyes. "Ask Vellozia."
"Vellozia is only our half sister," Rozanthe said with a sniff. "And all she cares about is books."
"Well, all you care about is boys," Izorin returned.
"And all you care about are your stupid drawings."
"I'm going to ignore your insult to my craft on account of our kinship, but don't push your luck, sister dear." Izorin made a few more sharp strokes into the sand, then paused to inspect his handiwork, while Rozanthe glared at him sullenly. "If you're really fussed about it, why don't you ask Zelkova? He alone who is capable, among father's sons, of caring about other things, apparently."
Rozanthe stopped, and considered it. It was true; out of their entire family, Zelkova really was the most reasonable. Not as reclusive or single-minded as Izorin or Vellozia, nor as frivolous as Uncle Zinnian.
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Post by Linyü on Jan 18, 2021 2:50:27 GMT -6
"No, just me," said Minnow cheerfully. "This is only my friend."
"Only your friend, huh?" Seveth replied. "And here I was thinking the three of you did everything together." But then, he supposed it might not be so strange to go on a trip with your siblings. He wouldn't know, having never had any; and from what he could understand from the snippets and the heavy air around the topic, San's relationship with his own sister had been... complicated, even before she died.
Minnow laughed. "Will be fun," he said.
Seveth grinned back. "Well, who am I to say no? Lead the way!"
Of course, as friendly as Minnow was towards him, it was clear that he didn't have humans in his own household. Big Draconics walked fast, and tended to forget that little human legs couldn't keep up that same pace. Seveth was used to it, but that didn't mean he liked it.
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Post by Noa on Jan 18, 2021 2:55:15 GMT -6
Uncle Zethos was too stoic and taciturn; and Great-Uncle Lukenze was somehow too busy and too gloomy. Not to mention that Great-Uncle Lukenze didn't look like he got out much, so whatever opinion he had on Rozanthe's appearance wouldn't be much use anyway.
Not that asking Father would be any better. Father would have told her that she looked like an angel even if she had powdered her face orange and stuck grass in her mane. And forget about asking Great-Aunt Arianza; nothing good could come of bothering her of one's own volition, that much was for sure.
"Fine," said Rozanthe. "Since you're so useless, Izzy."
"You call me that one more time and I'll tell Minnow about the time you ate mud when we were hatchlings, Roze."
Rozanthe had the strong urge to retort, but nothing clever came to mind, and anyway she was a little worried about him making good on that threat.
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Post by Linyü on Jan 18, 2021 2:58:30 GMT -6
Just this once, Seveth would have liked to not have to jog to keep up with a Draconic who was walking somewhere with him. How nice it would have been to ride on their backs while they flew to their destinations! But alas, that was not to be, sadly.
Whoever named Minnow had a real strange sense of humor too. Seveth fancied that he had seen a lot of Draconics in his time here, and Minnow wasn't exactly the largest one he had ever seen - both his siblings were bigger, come to that. But he wasn't far behind himself, and a small fish was not at all what came to mind when Seveth had first laid eyes on him.
"Say," Seveth said, "were you by any chance an early hatchling?"
Minnow looked surprised at the question. "Oh! No, but very small," said Minnow. "What is the word... 'Runt'? Something like that."
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Post by Noa on Jan 18, 2021 3:01:48 GMT -6
Rozanthe was sure that Izorin was just as glad to be rid of her as she was to be rid of him after she left their shared chamber, but it didn't feel like a victory at all, since she only felt that way because he had gone out of his way to be aggravating. Her brother could be useful and intelligent, but he preferred to be sarcastic and self-absorbed. Even if he had good suggestions, they were so mired in barbs that she felt resentful of taking them, and mistrustful of their validity even after she did.
Zelkova was, fortunately, not hard to find. But then he wouldn't be, given that he wasn't in the habit of hiding himself. He greeted her with an amiable inclination of the head. "Roze," he said. "Have you done something to your scales?"
"Oh, you noticed!" said Rozanthe, delighted. "Well? What do you think?"
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Post by Linyü on Jan 18, 2021 3:08:11 GMT -6
... That... made sense, actually. "Oh," said Seveth. He peered at Minnow's face, scrutinizing it as best he could for any sign that Minnow was uncomfortable, but he seemed his general amiable self. Maybe it wasn't so sensitive a topic. "Is that how you got your name, then?"
"Ah, yes! Good guess," said Minnow. "Smallest, smallest hatchling. Like little bit of nothing, like small fish. Mother said, 'not even one mouthful'." Minnow laughed heartily at that, and Seveth smiled in reply, though he tried and failed to imagine his own father likening him to a meal. Maybe it was a cultural thing. "This friend too," Minnow went on, "born small. Same doctor."
"Oh, that's how you know each other, huh?"
"Yes. Roze's family... big, big cave. I think you will like it," said Minnow.
"I'm sure I will, but do you think it'll be a very long walk?" said Seveth, a little apprehensively.
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Post by Noa on Jan 18, 2021 3:13:18 GMT -6
"It's lovely," said Zelkova. "Subtle, but it really brings out the iridescence in your coloring. Why? Is there a special occasion?"
A part of Rozanthe really did resent that Izorin was right about Zelkova. It was, thankfully, mostly drowned out by her gratified vanity. It was also drowned out by her embarrassment, since she didn't exactly want to admit that she had gotten prettied up to see Minnow. A boy from an important family was a weighty occasion, but Minnow had known her since they were small - and in their cases they really had been very small, given their respective statuses as the runts of their clutches.
"Oh," said Rozanthe, deflecting as best she could. "I just, you know, felt like it. Sometimes I just want to change things up."
"It would be a shame to get prettied up like this and not go somewhere," Zelkova said. "I'm going shopping; did you want to come with?"
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Post by Linyü on Jan 20, 2021 1:58:52 GMT -6
As it turned out, it was a very long walk indeed. The Canyons were laid out in much more generous proportions than cities for humanoids. Seveth supposed they had to be, considering the size that the Draconic citizens could grow to, but there were Draconics closer to Seveth's own size. He wondered how they coped with these distances.
Probably through flight, damn them. At least San's exercise regimen meant that Seveth's body had the stamina to manage it, even if he didn't have the mental fortitude to tough out the exertion willingly.
"Here," said Minnow at last, stopping in front of a lavish looking cavern. Actually, Seveth had mostly been too tired to notice, but now that he was looking around, they were clearly in a rich neighborhood. For one, the next cavern over was pretty far down, even by Draconic standards, so the interior of this one must have been pretty big.
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Post by Noa on Jan 20, 2021 2:03:34 GMT -6
... So close, and yet, so far. Rozanthe tried not to make a face. "No," she said, and her own voice sounded awkward even to herself. "I'm, uh, waiting for a friend to come over."
That got a laugh out of Zelkova. "So there is a special occasion after all. Or maybe I should say a special someone?" Rozanthe flushed, but fortunately Zelkova wasn't an evil worm like Izorin, and didn't press any further. "Have fun, little sister. Did you want me to pick anything up for you?"
"No, that's alright," said Rozanthe. Zelkova inclined his head, and made for the door, where Ten was waiting for him. It unsettled her to see Ten there, skulking like a shadow, but he didn't terrify her the way he had when she and Izorin were hatchlings. The difference in size between them had been more substantial then, and she hadn't understood that he was simply taciturn and a little hard to read.
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Post by Linyü on Jan 25, 2021 15:16:20 GMT -6
"Wow," said Seveth. "Are they, you know, loaded?"
"Loaded?" said Minnow. The expression was apparently beyond his command of Common, which... wasn't that surprising now that Seveth thought about it.
"Yeah, um... Rich. Do they have a lot of money?"
At this question, Minnow stopped and inclined his head, thinking it over. "Roze's family... very old, very big. Maybe rich. Many... relationships? Many business." Here, Minnow seemed to struggle, attempting to convey a concept for which his vocabulary fell short. Seveth thought he might have had the gist of it, but maybe not; it was hard to figure out how much of the picture he was missing, just based piecemeal on what Minnow could tell him. And there was the possibility, as there always was, that there was some cultural difference that he didn't know about.
Either way, best to just put the poor fellow out of his misery, and drop the subject.
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Post by Noa on Jan 25, 2021 15:20:38 GMT -6
Even Zelkova had seemed a little intimidating at the time, though his generally friendly demeanor and the fact that he was kin had blunted the edge of that. But Ten...
... Well, it didn't matter.
Rozanthe watched as the two of them exited, wondering when Minnow was due to arrive. Her question was answered by a startled noise at the door, and then a peal of surprised laughter.
"Minnow!" said Zelkova. "Roze, look who's come to visit."
Mortification shot through Rozanthe like a cold shock to the spine. She hurried to the door, trying not to look flustered or out of sorts, and pointedly ignoring Zelkova's attempts to share a conspiratorial look with her. If he fancied that he knew her secrets, she wasn't going to give him any encouragement. Nice or not, brothers were not to be trusted in such matters.
"Minnow," she said smoothly. She was trying to come up with something else to say when she caught sight of the human at Minnow's side.
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