Breath of Fresh Air

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"I appreciate it," Mr. Jenkins said quietly. He smiled and gently ruffled Jasper's hair. "Yer always such a hard worker, lad. Very kind of ya. Tell ya what - how about I get you water, you can go get yer tools, and when yer done workin' you an' Noah can help me eat some ice cream I found in the freezer?"

Noah's eyes sparkled, and he gasped, wiping tears from his eyes. "You have ice cream?!"

Mr. Jenkins chuckled softly. "Yer just like yer mother. Ah sure do. Want to look at the photo album fer a bit while I get you both drinks?"

"Yeah," Noah said happily, taking the book. "Thanks! Jasper, want to come see some pictures?"
 
Jasper only smiled a little when Mr. Jenkins missed up his hair, shaking it off like a dog afterwards. "Ice cream sounds great," he agreed with Noah, though with less enthusiasm. He was more focused on how to help Mr. Jenkins, and how to get the work done right.

"All right, I'm coming," he said when he had his water, wandering over to hover near Noah and looked at Pumpkin. "I still don't trust you." He said with a playful little glare. "You might look cute and innocent to everyone else, but I'm on to your spoiled games." He knew all about that, as evidenced by the two dragons that came scurrying over to stand on his feet for attention. "Ugh. All right, I'm coming. I'll look at pictures after I let them out."
 
Pumpkin chirred happily. He hopped up onto the couch and rolled over onto his back, flapping his tiny wings and inciting whoever was nearby to pet him.

Noah did, of course. He had been looking at the album already, though, and thought the playful jab was meant for him. He blinked and glanced up in surprise. "Wh - what games?" he asked. "I really do like it here. And I really do love the dragons, and want to be your friend, and - " he stammered, looking a combination of confused and worried. Did Jasper still not trust him at all?
 
Jasper glanced back at Noah as he opened the front door for Naga and Nobu to run out, and gave him an almost worried look as he closed it, even through the faint smile on his face. "Relax, Noah," he soothed as he walked back over, a hand held up as if soothing a frightened animal. "I was talking to 'the baby'."

He gave Pumpkin a pointed look where the little dragon was hamming it up on the couch. "He's probably older than you and he's walking around crying for love and attention like a hatchling." He sighed and ran a hand back through his hair. "Besides, you don't have a dishonest bone in your body." There was no way he wouldn't believe everything Noah did was honest, after spending more than ten minutes with the younger man. 'Earnest' was probably the best way to describe Noah. Despite the location of his upbringing, he was an extremely straightforward person.
 
"Ohhh," Noah said softly. He relaxed at once, smiling a little sheepishly, and he patted Pumpkin's belly. ". . . I guess that does make more sense. I was just worried there for a second." He glanced briefly at the dragon, and then shrugged and glanced back at Jasper. "I can't blame him too much, though. He did lose his human. And if he was staying with Chaital, he probably misses humans in general. I'm happy to give him some extra cuddles."

Noah patted the couch on the other side of Pumpkin and nodded. "Do you want to look at some photos? I bet there's some of Grandpa Jenkins in here! You know him!"
 
Jasper heaved a sigh, as if betrayed by their mutual conspiracy to make Pumpkin look more like a baby, but did finally sink down onto the couch with his glass of water. "Yeah, who knows where he's been since he left. Maybe he tried to find somebody else and couldn't." Chaital hadn't been gone that long. He just hoped Pumpkin hadn't gone off and gotten himself abused for being so small.

"All right, let's see 'em." He said with a little shake of his head, gesturing for Noah to flip through the photos and giving him a little smirk. "Does he smile in photos or just frown like normal?"
 
Pumpkin reached up to give both Jasper and Noah's cheeks a lick, each in turn, and then settled against Noah with a soft chirr. He was more than happy to be as pampered and spoiled as Nobu had been - and happy to share, too, whenever the other dragon felt a little jealous.

Noah chuckled softly at Jasper's joke and held open the photo album. Surprisingly enough, there were actually quite a few photos of Grandpa Jenkins smiling. A few of him frowning too, of course. He'd always had a serious streak. But he seemed especially happy in any pictures where there was someone with him.

He'd gotten more cantankerous once his daughter went missing and he'd slowly but surely began to shut himself off from others. Though with Noah staying and Jasper being inclined to visit more, Jasper might notice the man's smile had started to return.
 
Jasper gave an amused little huff when Pumpkin licked him and just let it drop, settling in to look over the photos. It was good, seeing both the happy photos and the less happy, progressing through the years. As the man had gotten older, and his daughter had stopped visiting, there were less and less smiles, and also less and less photos. It wasn't something that was beyond Jasper's notice, but he tried his best not to focus on it. However slow he was at accepting people as friends, Jasper knew that Noah would be good for the old man, and he would try to visit more regularly himself.

"Oh, that's Gramps." He said once they'd found a couple of old photos that had both his grandfather and Mr. Jenkins in it. They hadn't been best friends or anything, but his grandfather had spent enough time at the Dragonry doing work to be familiar with most of the people there, and much like Jasper had always been around to help out - just maybe with a more friendly attitude. "I don't remember that day, exactly, but he probably made me hit the shutter for them. There's probably one of me from a couple years back in here. Lily insisted on throwing Boulder a birthday party."

He remembered that after she'd learned what day it was she couldn't be stopped. She'd brought Boulder a big treat, given him lots of love, and insisted on a picture to 'commemorate the occasion'. She'd even managed to get Nobu and Naga to sit on the old dragon's back and hold numbers she'd made out of paper. After convincing Mr. Jenkins to join in on the photo with big smiles and even bigger puppy eyes, she'd promised she would bring him a copy. Jasper was sure he must have kept it.
 
Noah smiled when he found the set of pictures Jasper had described. "Aww! That's such a great idea. I'll have to ask around and find out when all the dragons' birthdays are." He giggled and pointed to a somewhat blurry picture of Jasper. "There's you!"

Mr. Jenkins, not wanting Jasper to feel left out, had attempted to use the camera to get a picture of him. It was at least recognizable, but it was clear he didn't have any photography experience.

"Oh, I remember that party!" Mr. Jenkins said, strolling into the room with a tray of drinks. "What a lot of hullabaloo it were. Boulder got so damn spoiled he refused to work fer a week after," he added, laughing and holding out the drinks to the boys.
 
Jasper couldn't help a small smile at the blurry picture of himself. He'd been quieter and more solitary when he was younger, working with his grandfather but not as personable as the old man. He could generally be found hovering towards the outside of any social gathering, until he'd been in his mid-teens and Lily had spotted him and never let go. It was nice, he thought, imagining that Mr. Jenkins had been thinking of him even back then.

"That's Lily for you," he said with a shake of his head, smiling a bit still as he took the offered drink. "Happy to spoil anyone, dragon and person alike, and good luck stopping her once she's made up her mind." Boulder was big and rough and didn't really fly, and had immediately garnered all of her sympathy when she'd decided his appearance and his tough scales meant people wouldn't be giving him enough affection. She'd treated him like he looked like Pumpkin ever since.
 
Mr. Jenkins chuckled and patted both Jasper and Noah's shoulders. "Eyup. And y'know, speaking of spoilin' . . . how'd you two like to help make some extra desserts? Ah was thinkin' brownies. Which means brownie batter samples, of course."

Noah's eyes glittered. "Oooh. Yes, please!" He gently set Pumpkin on the couch and stood up, and the dragon squeaked lightly in protest. Noah ruffled his head scales and smiled. "How about you go play with Chaital?" he offered.

Pumpkin blinked up at him, but finally decided that was a good enough plan and hopped off the couch to amble towards the partially open door.

"Oh! Hey, Jasper, want to help me find a saddle for Chaital after? Or make one?" Noah asked hopefully.
 
Jasper laughed softly at Noah's enthusiasm and just got to his feet, giving a little stretch and quickly knocking back most of his drink. "I'll leave that to you two, if you don't need my help for anything. I should get to work on repairing the shelter before Naga gets interested and starts chewing on the broken bits."

He shrugged when Noah asked if he wanted to help look for a saddle. "I suppose? I wouldn't have time to make one any time soon - but can't you get one from your old man? You've probably got better tools at home anyway." He'd learned from his grandfather, and since he'd started very young he had a lot of experience, but he wasn't so proud he would say anything he made would be better than what Harn could make. They had better materials, better tools, and better facilities. And Noah could get things for free from his father.
 
"Of course I can! I was wondering if maybe you'd like to come with me?" Noah offered Jasper at once. "You and Lily and everyone else have been so welcoming here, and - I thought maybe I could introduce you to one of the few welcoming people in Upper Floaten I know. And show you around the city! What do you think?"

Mr. Jenkins scoffed and shook his head, heading for the kitchen. "Good luck convincin' Jasper to git up there. I'll go get the ingredients fer brownies out - you can meet me in the kitchen when you two are done talkin'."

Noah nodded and smiled. "Sure! I'll be right there, Mr. Jenkins."

"Grandpa Jenkins, kiddo."

Noah smiled wider. "Okay, Grandpa!"

". . . Close enough," the man replied with a laugh, already out of view.
 
Jasper made a distasteful face immediately, but with the image of Lily shouting at him and the that of Noah's fragile emotions, he held back from immediately going on a tirade about all the reasons he would not be going to Upper Floaten.

"Look," he said after a short breath for calm, holding a hand up between them as if to forestall any other arguments, "I know we don't know each other that well, and you don't know any better, but I'm never stepping foot in Upper Floaten again unless I know I'm going to die a painful, agonizing death if I don't." He let that hang in the air between them for a moment, then just waved off the request and started to move slowly towards the door. "Ask Lily all you'd like when she gets back, but she can't take Infernus anywhere but the sky docks, and she won't leave him in their care if she doesn't have to, so you'll have to call a ride."

He would just go put nails in some wood until the urge to declare every person and thing topside a waste of the clean air they breathed. Given Noah lived there, and his father was still there, even Jasper knew it wasn't the right thing to say. He had his reasons for never going there again, and they would stay with him.
 
Noah blinked in surprise at first. But from what little he knew of Jasper's past, and what much he did know about Upper Floaten, he wasn't exceptionally surprised. He smiled and shrugged. "That's okay, Jasper. I don't need to know. But I don't need a ride. I think I still have my space cruiser in your hangar somewhere, right? I can just use that!"

Chaital peered around the corner as Jasper approached the doorway. She sniffed him a few times, as though checking for a certain scent, and then huffed in approval and gently licked his hair.

Noah giggled. "Aww! I wonder if Chaital knows you got adopted. She can already tell you're part of the family!" he added proudly.
 
"If that little thing can handle both of you, that's probably for the best." Jasper said, rather than let himself focus on Upper Floaten and how furious it made him. He stopped when Chaital blocked his way at the door, and just sighed when she licked at his hair.

"Do I have your approval now?" He asked dryly, but he was smiling just a little again and gave her a couple affectionate pats on the side of her neck. "Come on, Foundling. Maybe you can help me fix what Lily broke." She would probably be easier to convince than Boulder, and wouldn't accidentally crush him in the process.
 
". . . What?" Noah asked, bursting out laughing. "No, Chaital's not coming up! It's not safe for her. She can wait here while I go up. She'll be okay for a short while."

On seeing her in the doorway, his heart melted, and he wandered over to give her a few scratches under the chin. "Of course she approves of you, Jasper. Who wouldn't?"

Chaital gave a chuffing sound and bobbed her head, mostly in response to Jasper's question about helping him fix the damage. Having been away from people for so long, she was eager to drink in any kind of positive attention she could.

"Good girl, Chaital. I'll see you in a bit, okay?" Noah asked. The dragon gave a soft whine and nuzzled his shoulder, and he quickly folded. ". . . Aww, okay. Five more minutes," he said, already sitting down beside her.
 
"Who said anything about Chaital?" Jasper asked with a raised brow as he squeezed past her to get outside. "I was asking if your cruiser would hold two people." He left alone the idea of who wouldn't approve of him, because he could think of plenty of people and didn't want to inspire Noah to start waxing poetic about him being a good person or some other nonsense.

"He's got baking to do," Jasper said idly as he walked over to inspect the damage, used to talking to dragons as he worked, "So don't hog his time too much. I'm sure you can watch him through the window, so you know he's not going anywhere." He was relatively certain Chaital could press the pieces back into place, but he didn't like how easily it had buckled, and didn't want it to do so easier later on just because it had done it once. Nobu and Naga were nowhere to be seen, but they would come back soon enough, and it would be fine for them to wander the Dragonry until he came back with the right materials. He would give a whistle before he left so he could let them know he was going.
 
Noah tilted his head. ". . . Who else were you talking about? You and Grandpa Jenkins aren't going. Lily's busy. And I can't bring any of the dragons. Who else is there?" he asked.

Chaital gave a soft rumble and seemed satisfied with Jasper's reply. She picked Noah up gingerly by his shirt, setting him down at the front door and earning a surprised chuckle from the boy. Then she ambled off after Jasper, lowering her head to carefully inspect the damage along with him - mostly to mirror his actions. She already knew what had caused the damage.

Noah hung in the doorway for a few moments, smiling. "Oh! You want me to save you some brownie batter, Jasper?"
 
"Were you planning on going right this second?" Jasper asked with some surprise filtering into his tone, but he was mostly distracted by problem solving already. He hadn't thought Noah wanted someone to come to Upper Floaten with him immediately. Couldn't it wait until Lily was done working? "I like my baked goods baked, thanks." He called over his shoulder when Noah shouted from inside, and a thoughtful hand to his chin.

"What are y' thinkin'?" He murmured idly to Chaital even as he stretched up on his toes to push on the damage a bit with his fingers, just to see how firmly it was still holding. "Think some corner brackets'll do the trick? It just needs a little help, hm? I'll have to measure, then go get the right ones. Think you can make sure nobody gets squashed while I'm gone?" It wasn't dangerous, he thought, but he was too used to having a running monologue at Nobu while he worked to say nothing. It wouldn't take long to go get the pieces, and when he came back Chaital could help him push the thing back together so he could reinforce it.
 
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