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Post by Badrani on Oct 13, 2021 9:49:00 GMT -6
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Post by Badrani on Oct 13, 2021 10:21:34 GMT -6
The Mesa were fairly easy to get around to for most denizens. Badrani had been watching for some time (nearly as soon as she had gotten 'situated' in the Labs City she visited the Canyon; searching for the source of The Draw). The flying denizens had the least difficult time selecting a specific Mesa for their own. Badrani had watched the great beings, wheeling about on majestic wings, from far beneath them. The swimming draconics had the second easiest time, though the climb afterwards was often quite difficult on those that didn't move with the most dexterity. As for Badrani; she had to take on the trek by foot; and that was difficult all on it's own.
This time, however, Badrani makes her way to the Mesa alongside a slight Draconic. The twin of her soul; and she still felt a bit of weary concern that the youngster might not like her after she got to know her!
[1]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 13, 2021 11:19:05 GMT -6
The Mesa that Badrani had chosen at least for this trip was relatively nearby her own Tents. She had selected a space that was sparsely populated and difficult to get to not because she didn't want to be around the community; but mostly to keep them from being found. Out of the two of them, Badrani had to admit that she was the weak link. Draconics were stronger of body than anyone of her ilk; and she was the one dragging baggage into this.
Still, whenever she glanced down at Shahrazad, she felt safe. It was paradoxical; Badrani was so much taller at this point than the hatchling. To Shahrazad, the world seemed both new and old. Badrani could tell that sometimes she glanced at a rock or a blade of the sparse grass that sometimes grew between the rocky crags, and she would look at it as if she was experiencing deja vu as opposed to a new experience.
[2]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 18, 2021 19:09:12 GMT -6
There was a great expanse of sawgrass upon the mesa that Badrani had selected; and it was soft enough that it should not affect either of their scales (even upon an unlucky stroke of side-blade directly upon the scales themselves). The expanse was not as impressive as that of the City; and the lands beyond the City itself, but it was good enough for their purposes. Badrani sits down in the middle of the small field, and then lays back on her back. Shahrazad stretches, nearly catlike and far more regal than anyone had any business being that young (a princess, born to be a queen it would seem) and then she straightened up, plopping right down on the other side of the Ssashirk.
"The sun goes down around seven here." Badrani explains in their shared language; though she is very unused to the tinny way it felt in her mouth and behind her teeth. "Then we can see the stars."
[3]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 18, 2021 19:17:08 GMT -6
Shahrazad tilts her head sideways. It is a peculiar movement, and only just so on the far side of uncanny. Badrani was getting used to the foreign sensation that was nearly like looking at oneself in a mirror- save for it was an entirely different body, with entirely different thoughts, and an entirely different worldview... A distortion- but in a good way. It was pleasant and unsettling all at once. The young draconic finds herself a spot tucked beneath the dark-scaled Ssashirk's arm and against her softly scaled side. "We should go swimming, sometime." She invites, her voice promising to be rich and full of life as an adult- scarcely a delicate thing in the air currently; a little on the velvety side.
Badrani cracks a grin at that. "We can do that today. If you want." Her own voice cracks a little. Her old bones weren't too pleased to be laying on the ground again.
[4]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 18, 2021 19:40:22 GMT -6
Many years ago, Badrani could remember taking a few mats out with the other whelps in her birth clan, practically her siblings, and laying on the sand to watch the sun go down. The desert was far too hot in the day, and far too cold at night to enjoy looking at the sky for long, but those moments between night and morning were decent enough most of the year to be able to catch the sight. At that relatively carefree age, she didn't have to worry much about anything.
She sighs, feeling like she can finally breathe for once. Like she hadn't taken a clear breath since she'd been apprenticed. Perhaps she hadn't truly lived in that long. For a little while, the pair of them enjoy one another's presence, but Badrani felt something brewing on the horizon; something like rain. She turns her head to look at Shahrazad's face and catches sight of her pale eyes that held unmistakably within their depths; A Question.
[5]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 18, 2021 20:08:14 GMT -6
Badrani leans her head back slightly, until her horns graze the grass. She closes her own pale blue-violet eyes and then breathes out quietly, enjoying the serenity for a moment more. She marvels at the patience of the youngster, but she knows more than anyone the value of time; it is not entirely common that Ssashirk from her home clan live to this age. "Speak. Has the pest taken your tongue?" She clicks her tongue once in mock annoyance; as one would to a hatchling.
Shahrazad seems pleased; and it's a faint sensation; not one that Badrani is used to.
"You treat me like... Like a Hatchling. Did you ever have a hatchling?" The kid asks.
Had Badrani been drinking anything, she'd have spat it out through her nose. Alas, youngsters pulled no punches, did they? She hadn't forgotten that. She sits up, the calm moment gone, and she tears a piece of the grass out to play with it between two claws.
[6]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 18, 2021 20:15:28 GMT -6
Shahrazad watches the dark Ssashirk's face as Badrani's eyes are trained entirely on the blade of grass. She took in everything about it, the colors, the health, the water content, everything she could. Of course it was quite obvious that it rained here fairly often, but the 'dry season' was just starting. It hadn't quite bled through to the foliage yet. One of her earliest lessons had been how to find and how to avoid Maanah based on the health of what little foliage could be found. It was difficult to believe that there was water; right there- for the taking. This made her realize, oddly enough in that moment- that perhaps something Else had been true as well. Far beyond the desert; a great body of water; rancid- not for drinking. That sounded so... Incorrect. There was bitter water to be found, sure, but a whole... Desert of it?
She smiles softly, and then looks back at Shahrazad's face. "Da."
[7]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 18, 2021 20:22:46 GMT -6
Shahrazad looks questioningly into their eyes, and Badrani knew that she was expected to go on. She slices the blade of grass in two with a single claw, and then allows the two pieces to fall to the grass. Then she looks up at the sky. The weather was so mild here, it was nearly always a tad too cold for her. She was accustomed to the heat; and perhaps she would always miss the Sands in that way; though not the difficulty of life there. She would never admit it aloud- but her skin had grown so soft (metaphorically) over the years. It was difficult to think on things kindly from that time, especially now since she'd mostly wanted to get away from it.
However, she trusts Shahrazad implicitly. "Her name was Dogo." She adds, perhaps vastly unhelpfully. Her jaw tightens for a moment, and she focuses on the tiny wispy clouds that moved so fast above them.
[8]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 18, 2021 20:32:53 GMT -6
Shahrazad nudges the soft underside of the crook of Badrani's arm with the softish tip of her nose. "What is she like?" She asks, so smart and yet so very innocent. Badrani's knee-jerk reaction was to snap, to harshly drag it out of the youngster until she was hard enough to take the Sands. Instead; she reigns in the emotion carefully, and wrings it out. "Dogo was..." She sets her face a little, squinting. "I only knew her up until her tenth sun." She explains, her common a bit broken there. Ironically it is Shahrazad that helps her through it, though the process annoys her a tad. Afterwards, she scarcely wishes to answer the question. It was somewhat funny to her; how long she'd longed for this moment, and yet she could already feel the frayed nerves that occurred whenever she struggled at anything.
"Dogo was... Trained? Traded. A good trade, an apprentice of the Herding Trade. Peaceable." It was obvious that Badrani herself had not been. "Better for Dogo overall, that way."
[9]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 18, 2021 20:40:34 GMT -6
Shahrazad looked at Badrani for a long moment of quiet. A little breeze rolled over the grass and made the most pleasant of noises. Then, the young draconic nestled further into Badrani's arm crook. "I see, did you hear about her ever?" She asks, her voice very tentative- like a flower opening to the first strands of moonlight. "Dogo, I mean." She specifies. Badrani is obviously having a little bit of difficulty dealing with pronouns over names. Badrani sighs, and runs a claw beneath and itchy spot on her jaw, and then she presses the relatively soft pad of her hand over the scales of her face. She sighs a bit, exasperated. She'd not talked about anything like this in years. Though she understood faintly why it mattered.
"Yes, letters were often swapped between our own... Clans." It took her a moment to find the word again. "Until... Well, until it didn't." She didn't intend on explaining further than that. "Dogo... I received word that Dogo had ahhh... hatchling. Aahh, Recently?"
[10]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 21, 2021 12:55:47 GMT -6
That was that, as far as Badrani was concerned. There were other aspects to her past, ones that she didn't ever talk about and perhaps never would; but she did not see the harm in telling Shahrazad about Dogo. Badrani could remember decently enough what it had been like; those first few years. Dogo had been conceived in a trade meet-up, as was at least somewhat common to her clan at least. She had been born so small; and that had been the name that Badrani had chosen for her- small. She wasn't entirely certain that Dogo would survive, and then she was entirely certain (as Dogo grew) that she would not do well in her clan.
She wanted something better for Dogo; and against the wishes of her own Clan; Dogo was apprenticed to another clan entirely; beast tamers.
It had been difficult to lose contact with her; but such was life in the Desert.
Her expression must have changed, because Shahrazad watched her with keener interest than before (she flicks her eyes over to look at the young draconic for the slightest of seconds).
[11]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 21, 2021 13:03:22 GMT -6
"She's doing better than she... would have been." Badrani answers, breaking the silence to answer a question that had not been really asked. "My Clan was not..." She squints for a moment, her tongue stilling in her open mouth. Then, she closed it, half-snarling at the tiny whelp (who was not afraid of her in the slightest) when she caught Shahrazad giving her a piteous gaze. Shahrazad instead wisely, knowingly, gave a sort of half-side-eye and then pounced on the softest part of her belly.
Badrani curls in on the smallish whelp, curling about her and patting her head with a smooth hand before depositing her only semi-roughly on the grass after a short tussle. The stressful moment was broken with that, and the two went back to sitting on the grass and watching the wispy clouds float swiftly by.
After a few moments of silence, Badrani acquiesces, a bit. "I'd be excited, back then, to see clouds like those. Fast movers. Good for bouts of rain."
[12]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 21, 2021 14:03:58 GMT -6
Shahrazad seemed to have been formed with some sort of innate knowledge. Badrani had no idea how deep it ran, or if it did at all. She knew very little about the draconic folk in all practicality. Her people claimed to be descended from the great draconic clans. There were tales of course, of a great golden queen and her distraught mate, tales that would never be uttered from Badrani's mouths again, tales she hoped to never hear again- just the thought of them made her shudder. However, she had spent some time getting information (a task surprisingly easily completed) from the Labs City in order to figure out any sort of edge she might have when searching in response to That call. She wondered if Shahrazad knew about her own people- or if they would both have to figure out how to live among the canyon crags Together; equally cluelessly.
[13]
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Post by Badrani on Oct 21, 2021 14:34:29 GMT -6
Badrani wasn't sure how to ask what she meant to ask. Would it be rude? She knew little of Draconic culture, save for some heavily mythicized mess that was already proving quite wrong, and what little she had been able to glean by watching as she walked to the Canyon to begin with. She decides to come out with it plainly, since Shahrazad had done so with her earlier. "Do you know much about your..." What was that word? It was on the tip of her tongue!
"Culture?" Shahrazad asks, her head tilted slightly, to look at Badrani over her own curved muzzle.
"Yes, that word." Badrani nods. Her eyes are squarely on the clouds after that. She found it hard to look over Shahrazad for any length of time; as if she were embarassed.
Shahrazad thinks, for a moment. "No. I'll need time." She states, as if trying to figure out the depths of a pool of water that seemed to go on infinitely.
[14]
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