Behind Closed Doors [Red's Run]

[Ruby]

It was that time again.

Red hardly ever ran - it took her, oh, six turns to run the first time, and it had been nearly three since then. Piden's other green, Three, had run countless times, picking Puddleglum for a mate each time, but Red had been apparently happy enough with Auran... except for the tiny detail that Auran was big enough to scare her if she wasn't paying attention. If the Blue had hoped for a permanent mate, he was about to be disappointed. The urge was undeniable, and it was time to run. (At least Red recognized what the feeling meant this time, instead of assuming she was just terrified of something she didn't see quite yet - it made the days leading up to the run infinitely less worrisome for Piden).

Still, the Bronzehandler had appeared distinctly stressed for the last few days, far more so than usual. With a whole passel of new Wherlings for Pidesk to check up on, Piden had attributed it to paternal instinct, but then he noticed that tell-tale glow (not that Red ever REALLY did much in the way of glowing, but still). Run time. Fabulous. "Are you sure, hon?" he asked the Green, who was snuggled up tight in his collar while Piden read on his bed. His only reply was a pulse of emotion. It had been that way ever since the plague, and it was so different than Pidesk's way of expressing himself that Piden hadn't quite sorted out how to understand Red yet. Like speaking a new language.

Well, whatever the pulse of emotion meant, it seemed like she was ready to go. Carefully de-tangling herself, Red scurried off the bed, under the door, and up the corridor without another sound, verbal or otherwise. She had to run. There was something chasing her and she had to run away because it was scary. Piden automatically looked around for pursuers - no, Shells, he was looking for Shells - but the Bronze was nowhere to be found. Three hissed, slipping off presumably to find Puddleglum and hold him down by force, and Piden got up, locked his door, and slunk back to his bed, hiding under his blanket. There. Now no one could find him. Pidesk lifted his head to give his handler a significant look, but ended up going back to bed. It was early, yet.

Red had scooted off up the tunnels leading out of the apartments at top speed, but not before her confused mental projections likely alerted every salamandyr and flit bonded to a Wherhandler that she was on the run. The emotional storm following the tiny green mandyr was endlessly confused - she was afraid, she needed to run, something was chasing her, but she wanted the thing that was chasing her to catch her, didn't she? - and was scary enough even to Red to have her frilling madly as she ran, flashing the speckled membranes at anything and everything in her path. Her eyes, however, were violet.

((Just FYI, this run takes place before Darmosk's death in the plot, and it is approximately 5pm. Wooo!))

[Sheari]

There was the great potential for chaos for confused emotions could always lead to such a beautiful catastrophe. Asshat wasn’t quite aware of what, exactly, he was doing but do it he was. Out of R’men’s weyr he moved, close to the ground and toward the direction of Red. It would be quite the distance from Rider weyrs to the apartments, but the brown felt more than able to get to the green and chase and catch her. The confidence ran through him and fueled him on. There was discord to coordinate!

Asshat’s bronze-riding bonded, however, was most displeased. Runlust was not something familiar to him, however it didn’t feel as strong as Flightlust. “More than resistable,” R’men commented, returning his attention to his dinner. He was not in his weyr, and had left the brown behind. More or less it was more Asshat left him behind, for the Salamandyr often left his non-chaos-loving bonded behind.

Weith stirred a bit and watched Asshat leave. Oh look Mine, our little brown is chasing for the first time![/I] The bronze was almost motherly in his words. Why the dragon loved the pest so was beyond R’men and Weith bit Asshat good luck in his pursuit. The ‘mandyr cared not at the moment, for he had a green to catch!

[Kisha-Ra]

Hate you. The mental whisper was sharp and spiteful but the target of the small salamandyr’s hatred was sleeping off her latest stolen meal. So Denial slept onward, curled around her distended belly (whoever had left food in their rooms would soon find it missing), and totally unaware of The Devil and her hate. With a tiny sniffing sound for ignorant piggy firelizards The Devil scampered toward the door, flipping her frill up in an open declaration of defiance. Something was happening that her human certainly wouldn’t want her to get involved in, therefore she would be involved. Besides, she liked Red. Sort of. As much as The Devil truly liked anyone.

Folding her frill back down again The Devil slipped under the door and darted off down the corridor after the other green. Wait! Red, she all Red. Red waiting, all waiting red, red Red. The pronouncement was typically nonsensical due to The Devil’s limited vocabulary but it was enough to prove she was here, and here for Red, and that was enough for her currently.


Monster cocked his head to one side curiously, unsure of what the emotional broadcast around him meant. After a brief moment however he decided it didn’t really matter. The projection came from a female, and therefore he, Monster, best of all the males, had better go and greet her so she knew what a real male looked like. Begone Monster. He told the sleeping human as he climbed down from his perch on the end of the bed, though it was unclear if he meant that he was going or if he was simply dismissing the room now he was done with it.

With unusual focus the brown ran across the shared rooms, moving out of Vivano’s bedroom, across the shared room of the apartment, past the wher couch, and out into the corridor, all without getting in the slightest distracted. However once he was was out there he forgot why he’d even wanted to be there. Oh. Yes. Females, wonderful and delightful, so he was to them, yes indeed. Monster ran after the green salamandyrs he saw retreating down the corridor. Greetings, most pretty. Have come, will- Monster paused in sentace and running to snatch up a discarded scrap of paper in his jaws and run with it fluttering on his right side. Have gifts for loves. he called enticingly after the greens (Sure Red was glowing but The Devil was still female, no sense in not hedging his bets, right?).

[Ruby]

Eek! Red squeaked out a sound that was half terror, half coy invitation as Asshat appeared. Was he the one that she needed to be afraid of? He was big, sure, but not as big as Shells. Twisting back to flash her frill at him just in case, she leaped on to the wall, using it as the ground instead. There were plenty of cracks and handholds for someone as tiny as she was, although anything larger might have a bit of trouble. Aiming her trajectory sideways up the wall, she transferred up to the ceiling after a sharp corner, running upside down in the rough, unfinished corridor with a bit of help from her wings.

Only once she was fully inverted did she glance back again. Oh look, more salamandyrs to be scared of/escape from. She'd heard The Devil and Monster, of course, but without a voice to respond, she'd basically ignored them (Monster also got a warning frill, and an image of the paper he carried, although Red made no attempt to accept the gift). Now, though, she slowed slightly, allowing The Devil to catch up and the browns to close the gap somewhat. The Devil, fellow night-mandyr and neighbor, her choice last time before Auran had grabbed her. Smaller than the males. She pushed a jumble of feelings at The Devil, primarily consisting of desire for The Devil to stick close and watch carefully, although how much of that the other Green would be able to sort out was up for debate. Red hardly ever used her words, but when she did, they counted; not having words at all made everything harder.

Within moments, they made it to the destination Red had planned as soon as she knew she was being chased by something. It was her favorite new hiding spot... a pool of water? With one of the small waterfalls that filled the weyr? Indeed. As soon as she was directly over the small pool, Red dropped off the ceiling without warning, tucking her wings and plunging straight down. Once she entered the pool, though, she didn't resurface. Smart mandyrs, or those very close on Red's heels (or the heels of another mandyr that had figured out the trick) would notice a shadowy hole under the falls if they cared to open their eyes underwater. A thin tube led up to a cave behind the falls, which was where Red would be waiting for them.

There was an ominous stirring somewhere in the dark recesses of the cavern's ceiling.

((Late folks of either pet variety are welcome. Piden is chillin' behind his locked door for the moment))

[Kisha-Ra]

The Devil’s eyes flashed several different colours in quick succession as Monster tried his hand at flirting with her, and finally settled on red tinged purple as the correct colour to express the mix of frustration that the brown roused in her. Was he blind or just extremally stupid? Red was Running, The Devil was chasing her, and Monster should be too. Her attempt to explain this emerged as Hate! Red not, run she. emphasised by a violent flaring of the green’s graduated frill that was more than partly due to her frustration at her lack of vocabulary. Beyond that, she wanted nothing to do with either of Red’s other suitors.

The welter of emotions that emanated from Red was rather confusing, but as it seemed to strongly contain the desire for The Devil to remain close she was not at all hesitant to obey. Like Red, The Devil clambered up the walls with an eerie ease, though she chose not to venture onto the ceiling. She bounced and scurried her way along neatly, never coming close to taking a long drop until Red cast herself down into the pool. The Devil gave a sort of wing and frill flare that indicated her confusion quite neatly, she really didn’t think this was the time for swimming, but if that was what Red wanted, she’d do it.

The Devil plunged downward and into the water, turning slowly to look for Red, only to find the other green missing. She was sure Red hadn’t surfaced so she must have gone somewhere under here… That was high class reasoning for The Devil, sadly her limited intellect came into play when it came to actually looking for Red. Her technique was charmingly simple but not very effective and consisted of swimming across the pool again and again until the darker shadow finally caught her attention and allowed her to swim through the gap after Red.

In the darkness of her room Yoalla’s eyes snapped open and the greenhandler thrashed wildly against her sheets for a moment before snarling silently and extracting herself from the bed by main force. Disturbed by her handler’s sudden movement Yosk lifted her head, then snorted and settled back down. Only The Devil playing, the wher projected to the two firelizards who still occupied the room while Yoalla shook herself off and padded toward the door, certain the Red wanted her to stay close.


Monster serenely ignored the flared frills and continued running, his gift of paper still fluttering along beside him. They adored him, obviously, they were simply playing hard to get, he was sure of that. However when the two females started scaling the walls Monster paused for a moment, considering. No. He could do something way, way, better than that. Look! Can doooo thiiiinnnngss! The brown very nearly sang with pride as he ran up the wall a foot or so and then took to the air. Look! He was Flying! His flight had all the grace and direction of a sheet of toilet paper caught in a crosswind and took place a mere three feet from the ground, no matter how hard he tried to get closer to the greens.

Fortunately for Monster he was in a great position to follow Red into the pool, although it caused his paper gift to disintegrate as he swam downward to where he’d last seen the tail of Red. Oh, that was a shame, clearly more durable gifts were needed he’d find something good, something perfect, something- just like that! Monster changed course to grab a quartz striped pebble off the bottom of the pool in his front claws and then headed for the last place he saw Red, having become just a little more focused on the glowing green.

The pebble was more of a burden than the paper but through determination to lay it at the feet of his lady love Monster managed to wrestle it along with him and out into a new place. Out with the old, in with this. A gift of shines for you. He announced proudly.

Vivano struggled against whatever pulled him from his dreams, abstracted though they were. Now that he’d finally got this sleeping at night thing down, almost, he was dead to the world in the early evening, and he would have liked to remain that way but the thing that tried to wake him was insistent and grew stronger with every moment. Eventually he gave into it and opened his eyes, sitting up in the darkness and wondering what it was that had woken him, but the more he thought about it the less he seemed to be able to think until his eyes lost focus and he stood without meaning to and crossed the door. Vivask looked up and whined softly, unsure about this new development as yet.

[Sheari]

Competition was not unwelcome for Asshat, after all, how was he supposed to prove he was the best if no one was there? Besides, the more there merrier when it came to chaos. The brown "frilled" in return, though there was more spine and less real frill. The black spikes lay again along his throat. He paid no heed to The Devil or Monster and extended his wings, trying to assist himself in his pursuit of Red. Silly fool Red-green, he commented, diving after her into the water.

Asshat was keen on not losing sight of his potential prize. Yes, for together they could cause much havoc if this one was unafraid of swimming. The brown himself didn't really care too much for the water but he followed for Red's sake. Into the gap he made his way, a twinge of fear that he might be swimming his doom barely being recognized. The very same twinge washed over to relief as he resurfaced in the dark. Right, now where was Red?

Help, fool! the brown scolded R'men, who suddenly had a strong desire to bathe. He needed to be wet, to be submerged but he resisted the urge. No man in his right mind would suddenly want to badly to be coveredi n water, right? Sure, he enjoyed cleanliness and swimming but...really? To such a degree? With a stern expression he refocused on his dinner. Weith is one thing, he told himself, Asshat...no. He could only hope the Run ended before his dinner did.

[Ruby]

It really wasn't a question. Asshat and Monster were big, or at least bigger than Red herself, and The Devil was nice and small. Sure, Monster had brought a gift, but Red wasn't a hoarder like some mandyrs. What would she do with a shiny pebble? Even better, The Devil's human counterpart was coming closer as she'd asked (well, close enough) while Monster and Asshat were... wherever they were. Slipping out of his bed, Piden flitted across to the door, unlatching it just long enough to squeeze out into the hallway, where he skulked past the single door that separated him and The Devil. Knocking quietly, he pushed inside, closing and latching the door behind him before mouthing a silent 'Hi'.

In her waterfall grotto, Red twined with The Devil, sending a confused pulse of dismissal, thanks, and fear (always fear) at Monster and Asshat as each one appeared. Both had performed admirably, but Red was predictable in her desires: if it was small, it was good. Not to mention that The Devil had frilled at Monster, too. She was a good green, and a loyal friend and chaser. The Devil would make a good mate. The males... if they could figure out what was going on from Red's mental broadcast and physical claimage of the other green, they'd know they were dismissed. If not, well, the greens weren't going anywhere fast.

Red added an additional pulse, though, aiming their attention to the shadowy ceiling. It was a good thing she did, too, because something had stirred in the darkness: a razorclaw, not of the domestic sort. This was the sort that dearly loved salamandyr snacks, and it had spotted the salamandyrs paddling around in the dark pool. Now it was hungry. With an earsplitting shriek, the bird dove for the waterfall, aiming to snatch at any salamandyrs exiting the grotto through the falls, or re-surfacing in the pool. Red had been right after all - something was chasing her. Blaring mental panic, the tiny salamandyr shrunk back against the wall, losing her grip on The Devil.

((Yes, this is an opportunity for Monster or Asshat to snatch Red if The Devil doesn't get to her first, or to escape the razorclaw of doooommmm before it tries to eat them all. Woo!))

[Sheari]

Yes! Victory was surely his and...what? The confused pulse and Red clinging to The Devil had the brown very much confused. Greens did not cling to greens...did they? No, it was simply not right and it was up the great Asshat to change this! The Devil was seem then as a rival and something that was clearly trying to steal his prize. He was about to frill at the rival female when the shriek of the razorclaw interrupted everything.

Chaos, such delicious chaos could come from this, but instead the Salamandyr suddenly didn't care so much. Red could possibly be his partner in crime and she was certainly no use to him dead! The brown leapt at Red and tried to both entwine with her was well as flare wings and frill at the attacking bird. NO!! Asshat commanded at the avian, giving it as stern a glard as his face could muster.

In the throws of lust, the brown absolutely wanted to fight of the bird. He might get seriously injured but he was simply done with competition and if he had to fight a razorclaw to prove he was the best thing then so be it, right? R'men was most unhappy by this and rose form his finished meal. He was torn between saving his Salamandyr and finding Piden...he'd already slept with one man because of a flight, and he really wasn't too keen on doing it again. But...he wanted...he wasn't so sure.