Orbaru Breeding - done!

There were certain things important enough to warrant actually trying to be on time for them.

Like meeting up with a new client; she could only slack and show up fashionably late one she'd gotten a few orders from them. Then watch them try and find a new bowyer or leatherworker who could hold a candle to her work! Fact was, they never could, and were then tied to dealing with her bullshit if they wanted her. The tournaments. Those were important to be on time to. And. Um. There weren't entirely a lot of meetings she could ponder on that she would really, truly make an effort towards. She was probably late even when meeting her own mates.

Meeting someone more like a peer was reason to arrive early, a more sincerely dirty word to Lethalia than any uttered swear. Going and meeting other people for breeding orbaru was new, but it wasn't like she was meeting an utter stranger. This was someone who she knew was in her orbit, and creatures had changed hands between the two of them countless times. After seeing this individual's tastes aligned with her own in some ways, Lethalia already thought she might like them.

All the more reason to not let a potential someone of worth witness her bumble her way through written forms. No, that was the entire reason for wrestling Mavelle and a calico orbaru awake far too early, just so she could talk through her paperwork with the receptionist unseen.

Unfortunately it left all the time in the world for her to lean against Mavelle's side, waiting where the mare was tied just outside the breeding center. This little calico orbaru cradled in her arms was as good of entertainment as she could have hoped for, bold enough to reach for the equi's curious nose.

It was just the slight flicker of Mavelle's ear that brought Lethalia's focus back down to earth, rather than meandering in the clouds. The mare had finally learned how to keep the constant buzz of nervous static off of their shared frequency, but her twitchy attention was better paid attention to than ignored. They turned to watch a tall russet figure approaching, Lethalia reaching absentmindely to pat the mare's neck as if she still needed the reassurance at everything. Romy twisted in her owner's arms and booped, almost dramatically loudly as she reached towards the oncoming orbaru Leth had barely even seen tucked under the man's arm. That was promising.

"'lo! Y'found 'er," she drawled easily, drawing her posture out of a slouch and to her full height as she waved back. The satyr didn't appear distinctly uncomfortable, but the easy daydreaming smirk that'd been gracing her lips was replaced by a larger grin, still natural but more self-aware. Leth shoved off of Mavelle's side with a pat to her speckled neck, unconciously squaring up her shoulders and getting a better look at the masked man as he approached. "Renathan then, righ'?" she returned, eyes falling to the spotted orbaru tucked under the mammalian's arm. "Oh - an' hel-lo again, Mochi," Leth added to the orbaru, waving to him as well with a little giggle. Dots were connecting - there were a few people she borrowed orbaru from, but there was only one Mochi! Funny enough, she'd recognize the orbaru anywhere.

Mavelle's delicate nose twitched as the man came close, breathing out heavily and dismissing him just as quickly with a shake of her head. One of the mare's hooves rested lightly on the ground as she stood with one hip cocked and drooping relaxed ears, completely unconcerned about this new person. If he was okay in Mav's books, Leth was pretty sure she could trust Renathan to some degree. Still, the mild worry that was a constant tic in the back of her mind would keep her quietly cautious of him for some time. Especially when she couldn't see all of his face, even if the crinkling in the corners of his eyes spoke of a real smile under there. Her guard would drop eventually, ideally without letting them know it was ever up to begin with. She was good at that, usually.

Lethalia looked back down to the orbaru between them, lest she was looking too outright appraising. "Don' think I realized y'were Mochi's person. Guessin' that's normal fer how much th' critters run th show 'round here," she joked, shifting the small calico as she began to squirm in earnest. Why was she being kept away from the pretty boy over there?! Romy paused, long enough to let out a mournful boop to him - maybe someone would save her from the arms of her captor! And then her ineffective front paws went back to attempting to scrabble their way out of their prison. The woman couldn't help but laugh for how harmless these guys were compared to the normal faire around the city. "An' this drama queen is Romy."

Lethalia hummed a little, nodding towards the center door. "S'pose we coul' head in," she agreed. Though Romy was scarcely more than a handful, the satyr was beginning to doubt she could keep hold on the squirming calico parcel. Up until something more interesting came along, the orbaru had been just fine chilling out in her arms! But now that there was a pretty boy over there, her owner couldn't offer anything that would hold a candle to the male silky she was bawling at. Lethalia sighed at the little one, tied between calming her down and getting in sooner to appease her. "Papers 're done, so they're expectin' us sooner or later," she added, patting Mavelle's neck as she took a few steps towards the breeding center proper. Mav had done this hundereds of times at this point, half-dozing and set up for exactly how she'd look when her owner returned.

"Shame w'can't stay ou' here tho," she lamented, lingering in the sunlight. There was little that drove her to want to set hoof in a clinical white box. "Seems kinda' funny t'bring critters indoors t'do their business, don't it? Don't see 'em likin' the fake lights any more'n I do.." She snorted and staved off her meandering thoughts, left they continued just in a bid to remain outside longer. Lamenting the oddity in having to bring creatures into a unnaturally white, bright room just for the right to breed them didn't seem like it was a topic for polite conversation. Instead, she dismissed the thought it with a laugh an looked over her shoulder to see if Ren was prepared to head in with her, "Guess'n why I like th' sarane, y' can't much tell 'em where not t'do it!"

At first the satyr beamed and giggled along with him, happy to find someone else who abhored all of the paperwork required of living in the labs. Surely it was for different reasons than her aversion, but it was nice to find some kinship in it. In the next breath - a shop and apprentices, though? That sounded serious; the statement brought her to fretting. What was someone well-learned enough to have students be doing with the likes of her? Sobering a little at the statement, she was unsure how anything she did could match it. While her farm was getting too large to handle on her own, it was likely she'd drown in the workload before admitting it was big enough to need help.

Lethalia came back around with his next statement- hopefully he hadn't noticed the lapse. There were other places to go other than a sterile four-walled box?! Leth turned back to him with a more honest toothful grin, looking for all the world like she was a child just given permission to do something forbidden. Renathan did just offer up the opportunity to stay outside, and she'd take any excuse/reason in a heartbeat. "They got places y'can go out here? There's gotta one tha' can contain these lil' guys," she pressed with a hopeful lit, peering around the edge of the building where there could be such places hiding just out of sight. "Well, they can't complain if we're on the premises, right?" she laughed, already off the way the mammalian had indicated, spinning on her heel to look back at him and ensure he was coming along. It was his idea, after all!

Only after he laughed about the sarane did she realize it might've been a touch of a crass introduction for some people. Ah well - he did laugh at it, after all. Better than finding out later it was someone who tried to act delicately around the matter. Amazing how sensitive folks could be when taking their critters to a breeding center. Best get any offending she might do out of the way early! "Oh, Daughter!! I got a coupl'a her whelps at home, righ' lil' monsters," Lethalia realized, voice swelling with fondness over the two brown-white terrors. It was beginning to make sense who Renathan was around here - truth be told she never paid attention to the handler's names in the pit. There had been enough times she stood across someone tall and russet like him, she'd likely stared him down on multiple occasions and hadn't even realized it. "So that means... y'th one wit'tha flamin' red drakes, right?" It was harder to forget them.

Romy was having none of it at all, her 'boop's turning into sad wailing 'buuu's as she dangled her front paws off her owner's forearm. Her eyes tracked Mochi through her owner's flittering around, attempting to convey how much she was literally dying not being able to play with him.

"'nuff of 'em multiply on th'own, dinnin't ever think'a usin' those, either," she admitted, though the mention brought her to wondering about the fluke with Mavelle years ago. Maybe she found foals that looked remarkably like herself - Leth couldn't puzzle that one out. Besides the creatures who did so without assistance, the woman really didn't breed her creatures nearly at all. It was part of the glory of dealing with almost-sexless lab creatures, seemingly without the hormonal cycles to make every parties' lives more miserable. It made the idea of going back to dealing with 'normal' creatures sound hellish.

"Oh... not near as much experience wit' monsters as folk here tend'ta have," Lethalia admitted with a shrug, even if it stung a little to acknowledge there were more monstrous things out there than Vidarr, "jus' the sarane, mostly. Buggers 're keepin' me from worryin' bout much else righ' now." One day her menagerie would expand, and was already without much of her input. But for now, a tiny farm brimming with pseudo dragons was work enough.

Well - if he was down for a little exploration, she'd never turn the opportunity down! It was a little tame but anything was more of a venture than the same white walls that awaited her last time. She eagerly rounded the corner to take a look at the semi-natural path, feeling immediately more at ease on it than she would have with a roof overhead. This was going to be great! "Thas' a name I hadn' heard inna while, Phoenix!" Lethalia repeated, grinning anew at the memory conjured up from the image of that red. "Man, I though' tha crowd was gonna eat me alive when I sent Vidarr righ' for 'im! So much pearl clutchin' at the pit, of all places," she joked almost lightly, splaying the hand not holding long-suffering Romy against her collarbone, mockingly aghast at the remembrance. It was hard to look even jokingly remorseful when she couldn't wipe that stupid smile off of her face, following up with "was kinda' awesome."

Lethalia looked back over her shoulder with an almost apologetic look (he'd just said Phoenix was his baby, after all! her followup might've been a little rude), her hoof catching and scraping against a stone as his toothy grin was enough to make her heart skip a beat. Her balance was decent enough to not actually trip, but it was a near thing, correcting the stumble before it could be fussed over. Dropping her apprazig gaze that lasted a moment too long, she regained the breath that had been stolen from her after seeing a ghost. Sure enough some of it was her prey instincts wanting to make her panic at the maw of a potential predator (she wouldn't let it do that), but mostly.. Renathan looked strikingly similar to someone she knew before even coming to the lab city, even beneath his colorful mask facade. She shrugged off the odd thought best she could - Madhavi would've been a lot older, let alone a different fur color altogether. Still, the resemblance was uncanny... Instead, she skipped right over that thought and prompted "D'ya see tha' plot ahead? Migh' work..." she gestured towards a hopeful looking sectioned-off meadow. Perhaps that little fence was low enough to keep orbaru in!

"If only I coul' cut down insteada' gettin' more! They run m'life," she joked a little dryly, truth coming out in the jab at herself. If it hadn't been for the first three, her farm wouldn't have grown to nearly the size it had. Now dealing in them was practically her profession. "Somethin' 'bout 'em for sure! Wouldn' need half'a th' farm if they didn' eat so much.." Ah, it was pleasant to lament it with somebody else with the similar problem. "He's an oaf, but yeah, Vidarr's m'boy," Lethalia confirmed. He was brutish and stupid, but for some reason folk seemed to remember him as a better drake than even she thought he was. She could live with it, but there was something in Ren's voice that she couldn't quite place when her drake's name came up. Thinking back hard, a lot of those battles blurred together by Vidarr's rage and her anxiety - had there been any that could have grievously insulted anyone?

Thinking on it, Lethalia gingerly stepped over the low wall to get a good look at the miniscule paddock. "Looks good!" she beamed, after making sure there were no little corners for the orbaru to slip away through. She was quite ready to set this difficult parcel down instead of further grappling her. Romy was only too happy to wiggle out of her captor's hands when she was lowered to the ground, crying out for the cute boy she'd been conversing with. 

Though the little plot hadn't been particularly well hidden, it felt like some odd secret back here. Vaguely reminiscent of the bleach white walls, the grass too was a consistent height and the flowers imbedded looked too perfectly-randomly dispersed to be from nature's hand. Kept up perfectly just like the rest of the center, and while pretty, just as far removed from anything 'natural' as anything else from the labs. Still, a far cry better than going indoors again.