Waking Or Having Already Been Awake [Haelyn]

[Zaxal]

He had fed Sonora full to bursting, the little girl snatching bits of meat from his fingers until he swore that she'd eaten her own weight in scraps. She was close to slumbering now, and he could feel that, as tangible and real as the sticky goop that was starting to dry on his cheek and jaw and the scratches on his chest from where the firelizard had all but flung herself at him.

Carlton wasn't certain. He had been happily operating under the idea that this was all a farce, a joke, or a dream for the last several days after waking up in the desert. The general consensus, as far as his mind could figure out, was that he'd drunk himself into another dimension.

But for the first time, thanks to Sonora, he had found his foundation shaken. He was suddenly so sure that everything was real that it would take him days to recover -- and even in his certainty, there were so many questions he had about the people he had seen who didn't fit into the whole Pern scene. He didn't understand why or how or what would happen from here on out.

Which was, he supposed, the reason he was still sitting at one of the tables in the kitchens, a sleepy Sonora on his shoulder, her tail smoothed up and down the back of his neck, practically petting the short hairs there.

Carlton leaned forward and put his head in his hands, trying to find some sort of reality, but it all faded seamlessly into fiction. Shaking his head, he choked down a sigh before it could escape and contemplated silently what he should do from here.

[Pocket]

It had definitely been one interesting day, that was to say the very least. Every third-or-so step Haelyn would glance over to peek at the little sleeping blue firelizard coiled around her shoulder. It was an interesting position, coiled into a balaned 's'-shape that looped from the edge of her neck to spilling out around her shoulder. Rime slept soundly, looking etheral and non-animate as a glass carving of a fire lizard. But she could feel his warmth, hear his breath, feel his content and happiness he radiated in his sleep. She reached up, gently stroking his small head as she walked. It elicted a small purr, but otherwise he didn't stir. 

Once the hatching had come to a close, and Haelyn saw no further necessity of her requirement to be in the kitchens, she had taken a stroll out to the weyr bowl to let Riklith to meet Rime. It had been love at first sight, for both of them. Rime had spent a good deal of time scaling over Riklith's large head, curling up between her whirling eyes. It was a relief to the woman that they got on so fast. She could only hope that Rime and Chevron took to each other so fast. Chevron, she had no doubts over. Rime, she was minorly worried for. 

That bridge would be crossed once she got to it, however. For now, all she had in mind was making her way down to the kitchens, grabbing a mug of hot klah and geting back to her weyr. Riklith wasn't too fond of that plan -- she had been holing herself up a lot as of late, she will admit -- but there had been work to do, and there was still work to do. As she crossed into the kitchens, she gazed around the tables. They were primarily empty, except for a man sitting with himself, a small, fresh firelizard curled on his shoulder. 

Ah -- he was one of the lost ones she had picked up from the desert. Carlton was his name, if she remembered correctly. Judging by his posture and position -- head bowed, within his hands -- something was upsetting the man. 
Perhaps the klah could wait.

Haelyn walked closer to his table, watching his form before she came to stand across from him. Well, here goes... Lightly, she rapped her knuckles against the hard surface of the table, worry etching into her expression. "Are you okay?"    

[Zaxal]

Sonora gave a sleepy yawn, her voice catching in it enough for her to make a soft noise. Carlton chuckled a little helplessly. Even in his despair, he couldn't help but... adore her, he supposed was the best word for it. She sleepily thrummed, pulled her tail tight and settled. He knew when she fell asleep, the contentment becoming a simmering reminder as opposed to a pressing emotion.

He heard a knock and then a slightly familiar voice and looked up, dropping his hands to the table when he saw Haelyn. Carlton shook his head, "I don't know?" It was difficult, talking about emotions, especially when he was so unsure of what was fact and what was fiction.

"I have no idea what I'm doing here," he confessed. "None of it makes any sense at all, and I thought-" He took a deep breath, reaching out to find Sonora's contented sleepiness, holding onto it as a lifeline to keep himself from panicking. "It doesn't matter," he said, sounding stuck between amused at his joke of a life and helpless at his lack of direction.

His eyes wandered from her face to the pale blue sleeping on her shoulder. He sighed and leaned forward on his elbows again. Changing tactics from the big pressing questions that he couldn't expect anyone to have the answers for, he said, "Is it usually that nuts when these little guys come out of their shells?"

[Pocket]

Haelyn raised a hand to gently cover Rime as he kicked in his sleep, and the firelizard settled back into sleep with a small wuft of air. She watched the lost man closely, frowning slightly. He seemed on the border of his emotions, and she could hardly blame him; though she knew not of his life before coming to Pern, the sudden culture shock couldn’t be easy – on any of them.

Her gaze shifted as his did, straying to Rime as he slept quietly. The question made a smile flicker at her lips; a fondness with a touch of nostalgia. “Usually, yes. Unimpressed firelizards, whers, dragons – wild little things they can be.” She let the smile actually land on her face this time. “Now, imagine them about, oh,” Her hand came up, leveling to about the edge of her rib cage. “this big. Dragon hatchings can be quite an event, as well.”

She lowered herself to sit across from the detective, giving a sheepish smile. “Not, of course, that I regret standing for a few turns, and I never will.”

Taking a calming breath, Haelyn rested her hands on the shining surface of the table. “It does matter, you know.” She offered him a reassuring smile, pushing the fringe from her eyes. “I can’t begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now, and I wont imagine that I can. But it’s my duty as a councilmember to serve Igen Weyr and its inhabitants – and this does include you, and the other lost people, as well. Even if it’s just to sit and listen. We’re trying our best to figure out just what brought you here, and to try and find a way to send you home. But until then, we want to make sure your stay at Igen is as comfortable as possible.”

[Zaxal]

He winced slightly, imagining the havoc that could be wreaked by creatures that were that big and as chaotic as the baby firelizards had been. Carlton had slipped into the Hatching Stands one day when he had first been exploring. It was probably for the best that most of the crowd was to be kept away from the dragons.

That was. Unless they could fly right out of the egg. Sonora had tried with some margin of success. He shuddered to think if something bigger could manage it with that destructive impulse that the other firelizards seemed to have.

"Sounds... interesting," Carlton admitted generously. In truth, it sounded terrifying. But like he'd ever be able to avoid it if the day came -- curiosity would inevitably win out.

Remembering the yellow dragon that had picked them up, the corner of his mouth twitched up into a faint smile. "Worth it?"

The mention of going home made his stomach twist. He needed to, of course. He still had his duty to the people of Santa Barbara even though he had apparently fallen into something... different. He still didn't believe it. It wasn't real. Couldn't be. Carlton tried to smile, but it came off as more hopeless and desperate than anything positive. "You think we can go home? Because I..." He frowned, "I don't know." It seemed impossible, and that was frightening. He was adrift in this scary world with nothing to anchor himself to. No family, no friends. He chuckled helplessly at himself. Maybe it wasn't so different here.

At least, if he was stuck here forever, he hadn't left much behind. He closed his eyes, eyebrows lowered as he tried to push that despairing thought down as best he could.

[Pocket]

She bit her lip to stifle the slight smile that threatened to crawl onto her lips. Even if he weren’t one of the Lost, it wasn’t the first time seeing thinly veiled horror on someone’s face that had not been raised in a Weyr concerning a dragon hatching. Her own reaction to her first Hatching hadn’t exactly been too valiant.

“Truthfully? I was terrified my first standing.” She leaned in a bit, in an almost conspiring manner. “I’m not a Weyrbrat – that is, born and raised in a Weyr,” She amended with a sheepish smile. “So the whole experience was something entirely new to me. The closest I’d ever been to a hatching prior to coming to Igen was seeing a fresh firelizard the day after he’d hatched. My siblings did the best they could to prepare me, but words will only get you so far.” With a one-shouldered shrug, Haelyn reached up to gently scratch Rime’s chin. The firelizard snorted in his sleep, but leaned into her touch.

A gentle smile lit on her face, as she thought back to the hatching she’d Impressed at. “Yes – Riklith helped balance me out where I thought I needed none. She.. completes me, for lack of better phrasing. She’s also always there; when I know I need her, or she needs me.” The goldrider paused, before offering a meek smile, flushing gently. “I’m sorry. My rambling cannot be too exciting for you.”

His smile had her worrying. It wasn’t her intention to falsely raise any hope of returning the lost to their homes. She paused, frowning lightly before choosing her words carefully. “Generally, if there’s one way to get somewhere, there’s a way to return.” She wanted to ask if he even wanted to return – he was giving off some mixed signals about the matter.

However, he looked increasingly upset as they brooded on the topic. She pursed her lips, before letting herself smile, tapping the table once more. “How about I go fetch us a couple mugs of klah? It’s a wonder to soothe the mind.”

[Zaxal]

Carlton had forgotten that there would be more to this place than Igen. He hadn't spoken to many people who weren't like him, dropped out of place and into a new world that barely followed the rules. He was tempted to ask where she was from, what it was like there. What places there were because he suddenly needed to know, the crisis of having his internal map wiped completely clean save for the desert and the Weyr worrying him beyond what anything else had managed to do so far.

He couldn't help but smile at the way Haelyn described Riklith. He could relate, his mind inevitably wandering back down the people he'd left behind at home. "No," he said instantly when she began to back down, "it's fine. I... understand. Sort of." He relaxed and leaned forward on the table, looking down at the tabletop and wondering how best to explain himself. "Back home, there was this woman I worked with. She was- she is my partner. When we were first assigned to work together, I didn't think we'd ever get along, but she's-" Talking about his emotions had never been his strong suit, and it suddenly hurt to think that he might be separated from her (and the others) forever without them having an inkling of how grateful he was for their friendship. "We protect each other, and we make a good team." It was the best he could do.

He had avoided trying klah, honestly, knowing it wouldn't be coffee which he missed sorely (his caffeine headaches had finally subsided but he still got cravings). However, perhaps thanks to Sonora, he was willing to try something he hadn't yet. He nodded as Haelyn offered and pondered in her absence. Going home? He had to. Staying? Unquestionable.

But getting his hopes up? Impossible. Though he couldn't deny that part of him kept hoping he'd wake up from this dream/nightmare and find himself awake and at home. That hope was rapidly diminishing, fading as he slowly succumbed to the idea that this was the reality he was stuck with.

[Pocket]

Shifting slightly, Haelyn leaned forward onto her elbows as she listened to him speak and found herself unable to keep herself from smiling. Her interest was peaked -- she'd found a secret enjoyment in learning about most of these new worlds, barring the unpleasant things she learned about each of them. But this partnership he spoke of, with a fond tone in his voice, made her smile none the less. She'd like to enquire about this partner of his, if anything to just learn more about the man and his life from his home. However, she refrained, with nothing more than a polite smile. Perhaps another time. 

With a beam, Haelyn stood from the table and made her way towards the back of the cavern towards the flaming hearths that continually kept kettles of klah warm. A mug each would hopefully soothe them both, and she hopped would set some of Carlton's worries at ease. If needed, she was sure she could find some tea for the detective. She poured two mugs out, careful not to spill before replacing the lid.  

Perhaps it was a gift of the first gold, but she made her strides back towards the table she'd left the man at were easy and even. Gently, Haelyn set the mug down across the table, turning the handle towards him. "It should be just cool enough to drink. I do hope you like it. If not, not a worry -- I'm sure I could find you something more fitting in the back kitchens." With a friendly smile, Haelyn settled back down at the bench.

Tenatively, she sipped at her own mug, allowing her shoulders to give a relaxed roll. That felt better, at least. Shifting her grip on the mug to allow the ceramic to warm her palms, Haelyn gave the detective a friendly smile. "Is there anything I can hopefully help you with? Any questions I can hopefully answer?" It occured to her, belatedly, he may just wish to be alone. But she had to at least try.    

[Zaxal]

Carlton accepted the mug of klah gratefully, frowning at the contents before he finally gave in and tasted it. It was bitter, but a different kind of bitter than what he was used to. Trying new things wasn't his favorite, but given his current situation, he figured he should try getting used to it.

He scowled down and took another drink, considering her offer. "How about everything?"

He sighed, "Sorry. I'm just. Sort of lost. I don't know anything about anything. Dragons and whatever that- the wher. Firelizards, right," he reached up and rubbed at Sonora's head. She thrummed gently in her sleep. "None of this makes any sense, and, to be honest, I have no idea where to start."

After a moment of considering, Carlton's expression firmed up, and he met Haelyn's eyes. "Why don't you tell me what you think I need to know, and I'll ask what I need to fill in the blanks?"

It wasn't fair to turn her generous offer around on her, but he genuinely had no idea of where to start. Hopefully she would.