ollie isn't afforded a proper quip back or any assurances for melody, as freya arrives (surprisingly) about ten minutes before she's meant to. 

she is, for the most part and at a brief glance, put together. but there are worried holes in one of the cuffs of her sweater. she grips her coffee like her life depends on it and her braids are loose, somewhat frazzled, as though they hadn't been undone and redone in several days.

still, there is a light in her eyes and a soft smile on her face. she's been looking forward to this. 

"hey, you two. sorry to keep you waiting."

but only crow has left her waiting (because IC freya came early).

Melody Miro ollie morales

☉

"head ranger morales," she says with as equal an exuberant grin as she can manage right now (which is to say, not much). "yeah, it wasn't so bad." she'll be six feet under before she ever complains about taking a joy ride on dragonback. 

"it does look plenty wild from above. we've got our work cut out for us here, don't we?" she says, raising her coffee cup to her lips. but she pauses, amused, at melody's remarks. and thinks idly of how many meals she's had in the past few days. 

not many. 

"you can have some of mine," she says and offers her half-drunk cup to ollie somewhat awkwardly. 

Melody Miro ollie morales

☉

and the cup ends up right back in her hands. most of the time, she barely remembers about the powdered cream. she doesn't drink coffee for the taste. not anymore. not by a long shot. she simply shrugs her shoulders and lifts the rim back up to her own lips. 

"so when you said an untouched, wild island, you really meant it," she comments. she'd taken that tidbit with a grain of salt and thought surely they wouldn't start from the ground up, but...

"you've put your mudsdale in front of the cart then. we can take a look at the morningstar estate's floorplan as a starting point and scale some of the training and nursing areas down." given that they more than likely won't be hoarding triple-digit gargantuan beasts.

"any rehab plans should be put on hold until we can get construction going out here. you can't work them in an unsafe environment."

Melody Miro ollie morales

☉

she nods along to ollie as he assures her they'll have all the manpower they need. how much of it, though, is a gross overestimation? crisis after crisis has raised the flag for the call and there are many hoennians who answer in the name of protecting their home, but others are tired. tired of the league. tired of the fighting. 

just tired of it all. 

though this might be a good chance to pull some of their overworked employees off the front lines. there's something to be said for working a program like this too and seeing your efforts rewarded in real-time. she tilts her head. 

"ollie, what would you think of incorporating this into the amnesty program? we could combine budgets and fold volunteer hours into the standard procedure."

melody talks. she talks a lot. and through her caffeine headache, freya struggles to listen to most of it, cutting away the superfluous and to the meat of it all. 

"yes, i'll help," she says. "then we'll start by clearing some land away from where the main construction will be and moving all current residents there. i can do it myself tomorrow with a few dragons."

Melody Miro ollie morales

☉

freya offers a thin smile to ollie. the last time she'd seen annalise henderson, they'd left on uncertain ground. she had thrown her lot in with matias after demanding answers. a small part of her had always wondered, ever since she pieced together that fernando must have thrown away matias' testimony, if she would corroborate his story. 

though as it stands, she has a feeling most of her peers wouldn't bat an eye at freya having engaged with him in combat. 

still, she says, "sure, yeah. we should get in touch with her about enlisting some of the folks who helped with the dragons under her orders."

melody is the most exuberant of them all. it gives her some faith that the project will actually get a move on. she'll have to see if Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki wants to help. which reminds her -

"i've talked about it to a couple of people already. there's a ranger cadet - Gwendolyn Conway - who said we could contact her when we're up and running."

Melody Miro ollie morales

☉