Alaina sat on one of the flat, sunbaked outcroppings far, far into the desert outside Driolo and sulked. She really didn't have any reason to be sulking-- not good ones-- but she still felt very much like sulking. Frux, her grandfather-- she called him "G-Dad" since he wasn't old enough to be anybody's grandfather, and he was the one who raised her, anyway-- was up on the space station again, without her, taking care of that girl he'd found and knocked up. Or maybe taking care of the girl Uncle Brio had found and knocked up. He was all excited at the prospect of newborns and newhatched, as if he didn't already have two grandchildren who weren't grown up yet. 

Not that Alaina would admit to not being grown up where anyone could hear her, or even anywhere except her own head, and that was rare. She prided herself on being very grown up, knowledgeable, and responsible for her age. Even if she did sulk now and then. 

Because that didn't mean she didn't wish her grandfather and guardian hadn't forgotten about her and her cousin Vesarus in his excitement at having more kids around. Poor Vesarus practically idolized Frux, after all, and thought family was the most important thing in the world, particularly his family. Being neglected made him droop, though of course he'd never say anything. Alaina might have, of course, if she actually managed to catch Frux when there was time to lay into him! 

So, since she couldn't lay into Frux, and she had failed at cheering Vesarus up, she'd gone out to soak up the sun and sulk. It was too hot-- the middle of summer on a world characterized by desert and jungle, and too far south to be part of the jungle-- to really do much more than lie there, and she wasn't in any mood to do practice her magic, so... sulking it was. 

The desert was a good place to sulk. Well, Alaina tended to think it was a good place for just about anything; she'd grown up here, after all, on the edge of the city where cooling charms were an uphill battle and the sun faded fur and weathered skin when you stayed out in it too long. It had a kind of spare, dangerous, dusty beauty that Alaina couldn't imagine anything else measuring up to. The muggy jungles of the Avengaean Nidus which was her other home certainly didn't. There, all she felt was sweaty and stuffy. Here, she could at least enjoy the sun without feeling like she needed a towel. 

The sound of leathery wings in the hot air caught her attention briefly, and she looked up in the hopes that maybe Frux had decided to come say hello, see how she was, maybe apologize for being so busy. Well, probably not apologize, but maybe make it up to her, anyway. She knew he wasn't a terribly friendly person-- especially with other grown ups; it was kind of fun watching him with them and seeing how people reacted to his disinterest and sometimes rudeness-- but he'd always been good to her and her cousin. He was their G-Dad, as much a father as either of his sons were, who sired them and then gave them up. 

But it wasn't him. It was just Uncle Ontellonji, one of Frux's first adoptions. Normally, Alaina liked him: he liked to rough-house, liked sports, and was a minorly famous athlete. She liked both of his daughters, Corara and Ramana, who were only a little bit older than she was. He was her favorite uncle, even better than her aunt Pebai, who was pretty cool, herself. Right then, though, because he wasn't Frux, she didn't want to talk to him. She put her head back down on her paws with a huff and shut her eyes. 

Ignoring her obvious "go away" body language, Ontellonji circled over head a couple times, descending slowly on the thermals above the barren crags. He landed a little above her, curling his tail down to tickle her nose with the tuft on the end. "Hey," he said. 

"Mph," Alaina grumbled back. 

"Ramana was right." 

Opening one eye, Alaina glared up at him. "About what?" 

"You are in a rotten mood." 

"Oh, shut up." 

He reached down and cuffed the side of her head, making her yelp and scoot aside, out of his reach. He'd gotten his punishment in for her being rude, though, so he didn't protest. "Wanna talk about it?" 

"No," she told him, annoyed. When he didn't go away, though, she burst out, just to explain, "He's just gone all the time!" 

"Who?" Ontellonji asked, cocking his head. 

"You know," she grumped. "Gran-dad. Frux. He's always up on the station, these days, with that woman." 

"Which one?" Ontellonji asked with a grin. "His, or Brio's?" 

"Either one!" Alaina growled. "He ought to be at home, not off... having flings, or whatever." 

"Home looking after you, right?" 

"And Vesarus," she added quickly. "Vesarus needs him around. He loves him more then anybody else." 

"So you're out here sulking and being rude to your uncle on Vesarus's behalf," Ontellonji said, doing that "I don't believe you at all" thing he did with his tone when he said it. 

"All right, so I wish he were here, too," Alaina admitted. "For me as much as for Vesarus. I mean, he's my gran-dad. And now he's going off and getting more kids." 

"I know, kid," Ontellonji agreed, sliding down to join her on her own sun-heated outcropping rather than perching up above her. He tried giving her fur a ruffle, but she twitched away irritably and he just settled beside her, instead. "How's about this. I'm taking Ramana and Corara off-world for a bit of a show at this dragonry place. Thinkin' about picking up a bond. Figure it's been long enough, might as well look into it. Maybe you can look into it, with me. Get your mind off things. Give you somethin' else to think about." 

The idea of a bond both intrigued Alaina and made her wary. Her grand-dad didn't have a bond, and neither did her cousin. Ontellonji hadn't, though apparently he was thinking about it. Brio certainly didn't-- but no one really wanted to be like Brio. It seemed like an awfully big thing, bonding, but also a nice thing. Bonds didn't go off and find women to have flings with, or have other children to replace the ones they already had. 

Even if she wasn't... exactly... his. She was still family, dammit. 

"I'll go," she said. "I don't promise I'll do any of this bonding shit--" 

"Alaina, watch the language," Ontellonji warned her. 

"Oh, come on, you say worse all the time!" 

"I am not two years old and still looked after by my grandfather. Once you're self-sufficient, you can swear, too." 

"I thought Frux said you were rebellious," Alaina grumbled. 

Her uncle grinned widely. "When he was around to annoy, sure. But he's not. So I say, watch the language." 

So Alaina stuck her tongue out at him, instead. He just laughed at her.