astuteattendant

[astuteattendant]

~It’s alright, Izzy.~

She glances back at the seadwellers with the disdain only a jade can afford to openly muster.

~The only fights the break out here are the ones in the arena.~

~Let’s sit, it’s about to start.~~Would hardly do to miss the beginning of a fight.~

Dhazzy sits down primly on the bench, hands in her lap, and focuses on the ring. There’s a cheer as two contenders enter the pit, from doors on either side. One’s an olive, maybe six and relatively unblemished, and the other’s a brown with scarring that makes them appear older than their sweeps.

She leans over to Izzy and points at the children in turn, first the olive and then the brown.

~The oliveblood is Babble, and the bronze is Beetle.~~Beetle’s seen more combat than Babble, but Babble’s stronger.~

~Who do you think will win?~

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

~I’m not sure how you would be.~~It’s not as if lusii are prone to expounding upon our origins.~

~Mine wasn’t, at least.~~Too busy repurposing eggs for her own benefit.~

He’s twitchy again. Why is he twitchy? What’d she do this time? Dhazzy’s met chameleons with sturdier constitutions. 

~If they don’t mind me they won’t mind you, I don’t believe.~~Just try to look like you belong here.~~There’s no better armor than a good attitude.~

She smiles at him and leads him to their seats, the choicest in the stands. There are some rumbles of displeasure from a nearby group of seadwellers but Dhazzy pays them no mind.

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

bold what applies to your muse: strengths vs. weaknesses!

&& [[ BONUS: put a STRIKE THROUGH each trait that they USED to have, but have unlearned due to character development, trauma, etc. - feel free to add more! ]]

s t r e n g t h s :

caring | merciful | brave | determined | forward | flexible | cheerful | wise | clever | humorous | spirited | lighthearted | mature | strong | sentient | generous | loving | calm | calculative | rational | unselfish | controlled | tactful | nurturing | protective | independent

w e a k n e s s e s :

panicky | cowardly | unthoughtful | rash | stubborn | intransigent | negative | temperamental | scatterbrained | grim | dull | unwise | unstable | weak | irrational | awkward | greedy | over-protective | over-sensitive | rude | selfish | explosive | tactless | clingy

[astuteattendant]

~Well, making sure the general populace doesn’t meet a limeblood is sort of a jade attendant’s job, isn’t it?~~I hope that you’re from another creche or were purposefully let go, I do have some pride in our ability to sort the wheat from the chaff.~

~And this is one of the better fighting rings to be found on planet.~

~I’m glad it’s feeling better.~

She ushers him through a doorway and into the noise and crush of the stands. There’s a fair mix of castes sitting on the benches waiting for the fights to begin, but the crowd is predominantly coolblooded, especially in the choicer seats.

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

~Limes are more common than tyrians, just barely.~

She smiles, pleased.

~It’s not unreasonable for you to have assumed that they were as...outlandish as anything you could find in these kennels.~~Our benefactress prides herself on offering only the most exclusive entertainment.~ 

~How is your leg?~

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

Dhazzy stops to fix her shirt, suddenly stiff.

~There was an issue in the grub pens.~~They tend to worry at one’s clothes.~

~I appreciate you telling me.~

She takes a breath and starts walking again.

~We’re going to the stands.~~There is an employee door around the bend that will allow us access.~

~And I’m glad that it behaved.~~Bea has it well-trained, of course, but one always wonders.~

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

The longer Dhazzy watches Bea and Izzy interact, the tenser she gets. Bea’s showing off, and she isn’t being nice about it, and there are a thousand different ways she could be handling this and she’s certain that Beamer’s just as aware of that as she is and what is she, jea-

Oh.

Oh.

She reaches forward and taps Bea’s arm sharply, jerks her head to indicate going outside.

~Can I speak with you for a moment?~

Dhazzy’s pusher is racing with the thrill of standing up to Bea. She’s going to have to make this up to Bea somehow, she just knows it, maybe she’ll find a way to slip away this week and make up for the time they missed because of Izzy a few dropoffs ago. But that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is Bea is trying to make the only non-Bea person Dhazzy has a chance at socializing with fuck off, and Dhazzy isn’t about to let her ruin things for her just because she’s afraid of being anything less than the center of Dhazzy’s world. Bea’s pretty mature for her age, at least in Dhazzy’s opinion, but sometimes the fact that she’s nine to Dhazzy’s twelve is all too apparent. 

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

~They gave me a bottle of pain medication while you were getting down.~~I put it in your satchel.~~I can get it out for you if you so wish.~

She rustles through the pockets again, leaning against the side of the hive. 

~I have water.~~Unless you’d rather dry swallow?~ 

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

~Hello, again.~ 

Dhazzy looks more amused than anything, a smile playing across her thin face. She holds the door open for him politely.

~Do you want the pills now or later?~~I believe we have a few moments before Beamer starts looking.~

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

You jerk to look back at the docterrorist, unnerved by the kid who will not stop staring at you - he’s injured, why can’t he have something more interesting to do? - and stare at the hand offered to you for a moment.

You don’t want to touch anyone right now, but you should, and the docterrorist will be looking at your leg in a moment anyways, so you let them help you up on the table.

Great. Now you’re really on display. There’s a miniature spotlight to help the docterrorist see, and everything.

“It’s, um,” you start, glance at the kid again on accident, then proceed to stare down at your leg in lieu of anything else. “I got - shot. It’s, it was a little while back, and, and it’s just - a graze.”

[astuteattendant]

They undo the bandages on Izzy’s leg and make a face at the stitching. 

YYour? WWork?

They settle down to tend to the wound in silence, cleaning and bandaging and doing all manner of important woundly things that I’m too tired to google without once acknowledging the person that the leg they’re working on belongs to. It’s supremely awkward.

The kid is still staring, too, because Izzy can’t catch a fucking break. 

When Atalan’s done they still don’t acknowledge him, opting instead to clean up, wash their hands, and go to check on Staring Kid’s nastily broken arm. It’s as good a dismissal as any, and the ‘gtfo of my medhive’ vibe is only compounded by them handing a bottle of pain pills off to Dhazzy and glaring meaningfully at the door. 

Dhazzy reshoulders the pack of yummy yummy dead babies, slipping the pills into a sidepocket, and waits for Izzy to ease himself down off of the table.

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

“Oh, I - thank you -”

That’s as far as you get before you’re steered towards a - is that an operating table? - smack dab in the middle of the block. You’re more than a little bit on display, from what you can tell, and you try not to stare at the kid that’s taken up residence in a cot further to your left.

Dhazzy, at least, you’re getting used to watching you, for all that you really wish you could tell what she thinks when she’s scrutinizing you - or, more specifically, if you’re up to scratch.

You’re not entirely sure what to do as you wait, so you yank the leg of your pants up to your knee, revealing the bandaging. It’s marked with lime in a few spots, but it’s been a little bit since the wound actively bled and it’s mostly just secretion and plasma.

Kind of gross, and probably in need of better stitching than you managed on your own and leaning sideways over your leg, but at least you’re not septic.

[astuteattendant]

The kid, who’s maybe six, stares back at Izzy with his good eye, shifting gingerly on the cot. The entire right side of his face is lumpy and twisted with scar tissue, courtesy of a truly righteous clawing a couple sweeps back, and the rest of him hasn’t fared much better. It’s odd to see anyone this old who isn’t staff back here, and manners generally aren’t something that the handlers stress, so he watches openly.

Atalan tells him to sit and offers a hand to help him scramble onto the table, betraying no surprise at the spots of lime dotting the bandages. 

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

You hurry to catch up to - Atalan? Atalan - which happens surprisingly soon. They don’t walk nearly as quickly as Beamer, thankfully, and you nearly shudder when Dhazzy speaks up behind you before you actually realize what she’s saying.

“Oh, um - I, are you - sure? I’ve, I seem to have - put my walkfrond in my facegash as of, as of a few minutes ago,” you ask, nervous.

[astuteattendant]

She sighs tiredly. People are as exhausting as they are interesting.

~That was not aimed at you.~~Not entirely.~

~I’m not angry.~ 

~And they aren’t either, despite how they act.~ 

Atalan opens the door to the hive and ushers the pair of them inside, sparing a glance for a child on a cot in the corner of the room. Dhazzy sets Izzy’s pack down by the door and leans against the wall, out of the way, as they motion him forward again, towards a table in the middle of the hiveblock. 

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

You limp forward a step when Dhazzy nudges you forward, and - oh, wow, you probably should have greeted the docterrorist. You’re not entirely sure if the troll approaching you intends to perform the ‘medic’ or the ‘culler’ part of their job, but you hurry up and bow quickly just in case.

Dhazzy hasn’t said or done anything aside from being an acute presence at your back, ushering you forward (and blocking your escape route), and you’re not sure how this went from a somewhat friendly meeting to two fairly influential people looking like you’ve managed to singlehandedly ruin their nights before you even opened your mouth.

Speaking of opening your mouth:

“Um - I - hello, I’m here for my-” you twitch and nearly glance back at Dhazzy for help before remembering that you’ve irritated her, “-my walkfrond?”

[astuteattendant]

The blueblood grunts and turns around, motioning for them to follow them to a surprisingly sleek looking medhive. Despite their gruffness, Atalan makes sure to walk slow enough to keep from causing Izzy undue pain. Dhazzy lowers her voice to speak to Izzy as they walk, still a step behind him.

~You’re fine.~~Atalan is just...particular.~ 

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

Dhazzy swallows her fear and unpins her ears, mentally berating herself for the reaction. What’s gotten into her lately? 

She gets behind Izzy, finally taking her eyes off of Bea, who’s already halfway across the complex, and tries to gently nudge him towards the mediculler, who already looks pissed. Atalan’s always pissed, but Izzy doesn’t know that. If he freaks at a jade pinning her ears back, what’ll he do with a blue looking down his nose at him as if he’s dried shit on his boot, or a bug that he’d like very much to squash? 

(Atalan’s not a bad sort, not really- he just doesn’t like anything he considers an interruption, which this undoubtedly counts as.

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

Dhazzy pins her ears back when he mentions familiarity. It could be exceptionally bad if he came to the right wrong conclusion.

~She’s the head handler.~~Generally picks up the grubs I supply personally, to look through them and find what she likes.~

~Every handler is trained in basic first aid, but Atalan’s the primary mediculler.~~We’ll presumably go to them, provided there’s no one more urgently in need of their attentions.~ 

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

She looks doubtful but doesn’t protest. She’s not his lusus, he can do as he likes.

~If you say so.~

~And that would be Beamer Vigris.~

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

[astuteattendant]

There’s no outward reaction when Beamer calls Izzy her mate, but she’s privately pleased. Not that there’s much that Bea can do that won’t please her, but. Bea doesn’t offer her a hand like she did Izzy and Dhazzy nods, tries to get herself back under control. Today’s been, as Bea would say, an absolute bastard when it comes to keeping her composure. 

She glances nervously over at Izzy when Bea yells for them to speed up. Wouldn’t do for him to fall, or something.

~Would you like a hand?~

> Izzy: Live out a daymare.

“Yeah, that’d be - oh!”

You fight yourself not to retreat at the way the cerulean newcomer pops up in your face, and instead get tangled up in trying to shake her hand and bow at the same time. You end up sort of half-ducking while leaning on your staff with one arm so you can use the other for a handshake.

(If anyone asks why you’re practically hugging the thing to yourself, it’s definitely for stability. Is letting your leg heal really worth it if you get to use that as an excuse?)

“Hello,” you try, because Dhazzy’s practically the Dhazzy equivalent of lit up with joy, “Nice to meet you. I’m, ah - Iz-izzy.”

Do you count as ‘a mate’? You kind of want to, at least eventually, and you watch Dhazzy out of the corner of your eye to see how she reacts.