tushanshu_logs | It's Christmas!

[Mark gives a quick word of apology to his crew, making sure everything would still function in his absence before taking off toward Temeraire's suite. He's there a second later, a gust of wind the only indication he didn't just materialize into the room.]

Did I miss anything? [Then, realizing that he hasn't mentioned his dual identity to Temraire yet, adds:] I'm a superhero... that's why I... okay shutting up now, turtle hatching.

Thanks. [Climbing onto the huge dragon, Korra situates herself near Temeraire’s shoulder and is sitting, leaning forward to look at the top of the egg when Mark comes in. Even she can’t keep a smirk from Mark’s abrupt honesty.]

No, nothing big’s happened yet. [The small breaks in the egg weren’t much to peek into just yet, but the radiant egg jostled as the turtle within it stirred. A brief reminder from her discussion with Robin, one of them, flashes across her mind. Of how they could be a trick placed by Malicant, but she pushes it away. This is the baby her, Temeraire, and Mark had looked after; so it couldn’t be.]

[Temeraire starts, a little, at the sudden sound of Mark's voice, but he relaxes after a moment, and offers a pleased rumble in response.] There are a great many of you here, are there not? You shall have to tell me about it, sometime.

[Even if the thought about the turtles being a trap had crossed his mind, he would have denied it outright, as much out of brooding instinct as anything else. The shell cracks further, and Temeraire makes a soft, excited sound as one large, bright eye comes into view before a sudden thought strikes him.]

What sorts of things does a turtle eat, do you suppose?

There... really is. And to be honest, I don't know any of them. Well, from back home anyway. Everyone else seems to know each other, though...

[Mark forces himself to shut up. His mouth is running worse than usual due to his mind racing. About his conversation with the Emperor about the baby turtles in particular. In the short time he had been caring for it, there had been no signs it was from Never-Speak-His-Name, in fact it reminded him of all the times he'd go and visit Asti's head. But... if they were real... where did they come from?

Then he saw an eye and he lost his train of thought all together.]

Uh, leaves and stuff, I think. ...If they're like Earth turtles, anyway.

Edited 2014-01-01 18:18 (UTC)

[Mark’s told her, as Invincible, about the superhero scene and she tunes out for the most part on it. Mostly, she’s focused on the egg and staying on top of Temeraire.]

…pizza.

[It’s all Korra offers on the topic, her head moving back and forth until she can see the eye of the turtle. Giving a smile she only reserves for the air kids back home, Korra gave it a small wave of her hand; which apparently prompts it to rear its head back and try to headbutt through the shell.]

I am afraid I have no leaves at present, but pizza? What is--

[He swivels his head at the unfamiliar word--just for a moment, his blue eyes registering confusion, before he turns his attention back down to the hatchling. That headbutt has cracked the shell considerably: already the turtle's head is almost out of the shell, and movement underneath the shell suggests it is trying to work a flipper free, as well.

And with that burst of movement comes foreign thoughts, pressing gently at his mind but stopping just short of insisting: warm, pleasant sensations, a little inquisitive, a little hopeful.]

Oh, [he says softly, after a moment, a little startled.]

[At Korra's suggestion, he whips his head in her direction, eyebrow raised.] Uuuuh I really don't think you can feed turtles pizza.

[Opens his mouth to say more, but then he feels the turtle's thoughts, and closes his train of thought. He reaches his hand out to touch the turtle's head, smiling a bit as he did so. It was really a turtle, and not a trojan horse after all. He wouldn't have to kill them like Eshai had asked him to... thank god.]

Congratulations guys, it's a mini Asti.

[Those thoughts weren’t unlike speaking with one of her past lives, but it did get Korra’s attention immediately. Mark’s remark finally shuts away that small gnawing fear that she’s had since reading Robin’s theory on the network.

It’s a turtle, just like the one they were on. The one she had grown attached to ever since sharing a dream with him. And all that care-taking feels so much more worth it than before.

Hopping down off Temeraire, Korra made her way over so she could look up at it.]

What should we call it? [Mini-Asti just doesn’t sound right to her, sorry Mark.]

[He leans down, ever so carefully, to nudge the now rapidly-cracking shell with his nose, and the baby turtle responds with a considerably more enthusiastic headbutt.

He reels back, more out of surprise than any injury done.] Well, I had thought it might be most proper if the turtle were to name itself--at least, that is what I told it, in the shell.

[He looked over at the dragon.] Is that how your people--er, dragons?--do it, Temeraire? [He thought of the Thraxans, and how that was their custom as well. Oliver would have chosen his own name too, if his mom had waited a few days for him to learn to speak.]

How long would that take? [He wasn't up on the aging process of turtles.]

[Hopping down from Temeraire’s shoulder onto the floor, Korra goes over to look at the baby turtle up close. She can’t help it, it was adorable to her and feeling it think is amazing to her.

After the months of care, Korra feels a right to have a say in its name. The way Tenzin and Pema named Rohan. It takes a few seconds, one in which she looks into the one of the turtle’s eyes.]

I want to name it- her.

[Selfish, but it feels important.]

After Eshai. [She has no idea how Mark or Temeraire felt about the late Emperor, so she says it tentatively as she looks between them.]

[Temeraire opens his mouth to protest--a token protest, to be perfectly honest, about the turtle's right to choose its own name--but he is utterly forestalled by Korra's suggestion. His jaws freeze, for a moment, his whiskers twitching in surprise.]

Well, that is--it is different, depending on where one comes from; in China and England the dragons are given their names-- [and it is not as if the turtle is talking, he had all but asked for his own name--so it is not as if there is no precedence--

After a long moment, he ventures, in a considerably quieter voice:]

I think that seems very proper, if she is not opposed to the name.

[As he had been the last one the turtle had called, eh felt he was the least qualified to have a say in her name, but he really liked the suggestion, and Temeraire seemed to also like it, so...]

I... I think Eshai could work. [He pulls off a piece of shell barely hanging on to the rest.]

[Delighted that she didn’t step on anyone’s toes from bringing up the late Emperor, Korra grabs Mark’s arm and draws him over to where she is by Temeraire so she can hug both of them.]

Great! I think she’ll like it.

[Temeraire lowers his head to bump theirs gently with the soft tip of his nose, a little startled but not at all displeased by the sudden display of affection. ~~Chalk it up to being raised by an Englishman.~~]

Eshai, then: that is, if you have no objections?

[This to the turtle, who only responds with a brief, warm burst of emotion before deciding the nearest wall-hanging looks edible, and latching onto it with hungry enthusiasm.]

[Once he gets over the initial surprise, Mark hugs back, careful to not hurt anyone.]

I think we have a winner--no, don't do that! [Instigates a game of tug-of-war with Eshai over the wall-hanging.... something that Eshai decides is a fun game and one it wants to win.]

It's Christmas!

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