fandomhighdorms | In Front of the Dorms

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In Front of the Dorms - Sunday Afternoon

A month here, and Menolly still wasn't completely used to the idea of no Thread at all. Going outside without checking for the flag or watching the clouds still seemed completely foreign.

Today though, she wasn't thinking about that at all as she watched her fire lizards play in the snow outside the dorms. The sun was shining and the snow blanketed the grass smoothly until Rocky had pushed Diver into the thick white stuff. There was a squeak of alarm and then all nine brightly-colored creatures were tumbling through it, burrowing to make little caves and erupting again through the powder.

Menolly was laughing as she stood to the side, but it was only a matter of time before she joined in.

[OOC: Open! I am bored and have no snow. :( ]

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"Dude," Hurley said, all bundled up as he stepped out the front of the dorms. He hurried over to watch the fire lizards.

"These guys are so awesome," he said, smiling. "Hey Menolly."

"Hi," Menolly smiled over at him. "They're having fun. We don't get snow at home."

"Yeah, we don't get it much at home, either," Hurley said. "Then again, they're having more fun with it than I do."

"They could drag you in to have fun too," Menolly proposed innocently.

"...Dude, you can order the lizards like that?" Hurley said, surprised. "But, uhhh, no thanks. I don't wanna get mobbed by lizards. As fun as it sounds."

"I wouldn't order them," she said quickly. "They're my friends. But they won't mob you unles s you're a threat." Menolly smiled quickly to make sure he knew she wasn't talking about him.

"But they can understand you?" Hurley said, smiling back, then looking over at them. "I mean, they're like... magic lizards, right? Sorry, I'm asking a ton of questions. I'm just curious."

"I dunno how much they understand sometimes," Menolly explained, totally not minding talking about her favourite thing in the world other than music. "But - yeah, they usually get what I'm thinking if I think it hard enough. It's not magic. I Impressed them when they first hatched so there's a bond."

"Whoa, cool," Hurley said, tentatively reaching out a hand and then pausing. "Is it safe to pet them? I mean, if you're okay with me doing that, and stuff. I know they're not exactly puppies and stuff."

"Puppies are the little rolly things?" she checked. "You've my permission if they're okay with it."

Menolly focused for a moment and coaxed a lolling-in-the-snow Lazy to perk up and flap over. "That brown one's Lazy. He likes anyone who'll pet him."

Hurley bent down to pet Lazy, a huge smile on his face. "They have awesome names," he said. "I haven't had a pet since Buster. He was a good dog, if a little bit of a troublemaker."

Menolly watched with a grin as Lazy flopped over to enjoy more pets.

"Thanks," she said softly. "It's hard to name things all at once sometimes. The blues missed out cause they're Uncle 1 and Uncle 2."

"What, do they look like your uncle or something?" Hurley joked, enjoying petting Lazy.

Dinah was heading out for a walk to clear her head, when she stopped, watching the shimmering lizards playing in the snow. "Oh, cool."

She laughed. "We call all the old men at home 'uncle,'" she explained, smiling as Beauty swooped in to land on her shoulder. "But no, I called 'em that because they get scolded by Auntie-" she pointed to the smallest green "- all the time. She badgers them about like an Old Auntie will."

Her comment attracted the attention of one of the brown lizards first who hopped up closer to Dinah and stared up at her with curiosity before getting sneak attacked through the snow.

Menolly smiled apologetically. "They're playing. Usually they do this in the ocean."

Dinah had stared back at the brown lizard, enchanted, then shook herself when it got sneak-attacked, and laughed. She turned to Menolly and grinned, bright and big. "They're awesome. I guess it's too cold for the ocean now? Although they're doing fine in all the snow... I'm Dinah, by the way. Hi!"

"They don't mind the cold," Menolly said. "They go between anyway. Snow is just new to them." She smiled back. "I'm Menolly."

"Between what?" Dinah asked, curious, then distracted by more draconic acrobatics. "And how many are there? I can't keep track, as fast as they are." She laughed again as one rolled around in the snow, then shot upward.

"And Aunties are like... all the old women?" Hurley said, trying on some deduction. He wasn't about to stop playing with Lazy, not yet.

"Nine," she said, smiling. Because seriously. Anyone who liked the fire lizards was good by Menolly. "All from the same hatching. And between - ah, it's how they travel. They go between and a few seconds later, they're somewhere else."

"Oh, teleporting?" Dinah paused, and said, "Which, I've run into people who could do that 'poof' and be somewhere else, but I've never heard of it called going between." She tried to put the emphasis on it that Menolly did, and shook her head. "Are they smart like people? Or are they pets?"

"Teleporting," Menolly repeated, savoring the new word. "It's not just 'poof'. You go into complete darkness and can't feel anything. It's terribly cold. Is that what you mean?"

She reached up to pet Beauty who was nesting on her shoulder and overseeing her clutchmates. "Somewhere in between?" She grinned at the word coming up again. "They're smarter than a runner beast, but not like a person. Maybe a very young one."

"Yes," she agreed, smiling brightly at him.

Lazy was living up to his name as he enjoying the petting.

"So what's a dog?"

Dinah was about to say no to the question, then stopped, considering. "One person no, one person... kinda? She goes to somewhere else, and it's dark, she's said. But I never asked about cold." She couldn't help smiling at the shiny gold dragon on Menolly's shoulder, and said, "I don't know what a runner beast is, unless it's a beast who runs? Like a horse or deer?" She grinned. "Maybe you've seen those around here by now..." She kind of got the impression the little dragons were smart like monkeys, or dolphins, or maybe trained dogs could be, or maybe a bit smarter. But way cuter!

"People can't do it at home. Unless they're riding dragons," she said. "It's - ~~freaking terrifying~~ pretty scary the first time."

Beauty chirped a greeting in response to Dinah's smile, and Menolly chuckled. "This is Beauty. She's the queen of the bunch. And I think I've seen horses on television-" the word came carefully but easily off the Harper-trained tongue "-people ride in them, right?"

"It's what puppies grow up into," Hurley said. "I've got some pictures of Buster, back in my dorm. But your best bet is to find Liir and Makejoy."

Dinah looked at the little dragon on Menolly's shoulder, and said, "She's going to get big enough to ride?" She blinked, then said, "She's gorgeous. Hello, Beauty." She grinned at the chirp. "Oh, wow, she's definitely smart... and wait. Ride in horses? Nooo, not so much," she said hesitantly. "Animals, with four legs? Hooves, about so tall?"

"No, no, no," Menolly said quickly. "I'm sorry. These are fire lizards. They're - um, the cousins of dragons? The oldest stories say that dragons were bred from them. They're not going to get much bigger than this."

"Ohhhhh," Menolly took a moment. "Those sound like runner beasts. What are the metal things that have wheels and race?"

"I think I've met Liir," Menolly said thoughtfully. "I will ask about Makejoy."

"Ohh, like cats and tigers. Related but not the same. Gotcha." Dinah grinned, relieved. "The metal thing is a car. Or an automobile, but it's the same thing, just a different word for it. A couple people have cars parked out next to the Causeway, since the streets here aren't wide enough for them."

"Makejoy is awesome," Hurley said. "Totally great dog."

He finally stopped petting Lazy and stood back up. "But I better get going. I was on my way to go get some stuff from the store. See you around, Menolly."

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In Front of the Dorms - Sunday Afternoon

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