don't need anything or anyone [t'ke]

[Avu]

“Sharding…” The word left Vix’s throat in a hiss, teeth clenched together against the pain as he pressed the sleeve of his shirt roughly against his split lip. Blood trickled down his chin, soaking into the once-white fabric, dying it a brilliant scarlet. He was sitting against the back of some random tent (it smelled good; it was probably a food stall, but Vix wasn’t really sure), curled between the pegs that held it to the ground, trying to be invisible. Of course, cursing to himself was still attracting quite a few curious glances, which typically turned startled and then horrified at the sight of him: Lip dripping blood, a bruise darkening on one cheekbone, his shirt torn at one shoulder – and that was only what was visible. The most damage had been to his ego.

In hindsight, finding a starscope, obviously new, abandoned on the beach a distance from the main Gather, as if the owner had just dropped it by accident, wasn’t actually a good thing. At the time, though, Vix hadn’t thought much of it, mostly grateful to get away from the crowd and find himself a suitable distraction that he could lose himself in so he could think properly. And so he’d begun to dismantle the contraption, until it lay in pieces around him, and then Vix had started to put it back together again. He was about halfway done when a group of boys around his age approached him.

At first, Vix hadn’t noticed them. He definitely had, though, when one grabbed onto his shoulder and jerked. The sound of fabric ripping was barely noticed. They wanted the starscope. He should have just given it to them; Vix wasn’t good at defending himself, really, especially not against three boys all larger than he was. But he’d hissed at them, literally, defiantly, and wasn’t it just his luck that the boys were apparently Northern, and really wanted that starscope.

“Blow me” probably wasn’t the most diplomatic response he could have managed.

In fact, it was apparently the wrong response, because the first fist had sent Vix reeling, with the now-purple mark across his cheek, dropping the starscope in the middle of the loose screws and pieces he’d yet to fit back together. They’d picked it up, jeering, and, though he knew it was stupid and useless and ridiculous, Vix had snapped something at them – he couldn’t remember, exactly, what he’d said. That had been the punch that split his lip open, but at least he hadn’t been so surprised he hadn’t been able to hit back; it’d left the other with a bloody nose and Vix had taken the momentary surprise to bolt.

It wasn’t one of Vix’s more glorifying moments, but at least he’d gotten away without further damage. He just kind of hoped that his lip would stop its irritating bleeding soon. The taste of it in his mouth was nauseating, it was ruining his shirt (well, more than it was already ruined), and it had utterly ruined his concentration and he had a headache. Part of Vix was humiliated, crouching as he was, hiding, but part of him was just angry. That was probably why, with a low sigh muffled by his shirt sleeve, he flopped entirely into the dirt, plopped his head against his knees, and then swore, louder, when it managed to agitate the spreading darkness on his cheek.

“Ow!”

[Rowana]

T'ke wasn't sure why he'd agreed to come to the Gather, except that Garaeth had threatened to carry him to it. His dragon was increasingly of the opinion that he needed to spend more time outside. T'ke tried to explain that he already spent time in the infirmary making a fool of himself, but Garaeth wouldn't have it. Fresh air is good for you! he insisted. You might make new friends too.

Who needs friends? I have a mother for a dragon, T'ke grumbled. He kicked at a loose stone and planted his hands in his pockets. Shard cowered behind his neck. He would have suggested she stay with Garaeth, but he already new the answer. Garaeth was male, and therefore, terrifying. It still befuddled T'ke that Shard didn't seem to care that he was male. She really aught to have picked a nice female greenrider, but instead she got him. Lucky us.

T'ke started to walk around the back of one of the food tents. The crowds were getting to be a bit much. How did Garaeth expect him to meet anyone in this mess? He wasn't really watching where he was going. So when someone exclaimed next to him, he jerked in surprise and turned his head. This meant he really wasn't watching where his feet were going. He tripped over a tent pole and landed flat on his face.

"Shard it!" T'ke spat out a mouthful of grass. Shard? T'ke-love need Shard? The tiny green poked her head out and saw the boy. Her huge frill went up in warning, then caused her to over balance and flop onto the grass behind her bonded.

[Avu]

He’d just finished promising himself that he wouldn’t mouth off anymore. Vix knew it’d be hard (for him, all but impossible, actually) – but he’d be able to manage it. Especially when his cheek was still stinging and throbbing in turns, reminding him constantly of where mouthing off had gotten him; especially when his lip was still dripping a steady flow of blood onto his shirt sleeve. He dabbed at it, wincing absently, right about the time that some kid did an ever-so-elegant faceplant over the nearest tent peg and onto the ground, more or less directly in front of Vix, whose mouth dropped slightly, uncertain whether or not to curl into laughter.

“Graceful,” he snorted, sarcastic amusement touching his tone, but the word pulled at his split lip and elicited another string of growled curses. Vix didn’t like cursing, but it made him feel better. He wasn’t really sure why a particular set of (foul) words did, but they did, and he wasn’t going to question it, anyway. He hissed quietly through the blood-stained fabric he’d pressed against his mouth in another attempt to stem the bleeding that had only started up again when he’d decided to talk (mouth off, really. He was bad at this whole not talking thing).

Vix curled up a little tighter in the folds of the cloth, peering out through narrowed eyes at the boy that was in his space. And then his gaze snagged on Shard and narrowed even further, a look of decided dislike painting itself across his features. “Is that one of those worms that the kids at the Egg Stall keep complaining about?” He didn’t wait for an answer, though, instead opting to flick a drop of blood off of his fingertip at T’ke and Shard. “Get it away from me. This is my hiding place, and loudmouths won’t help me hide.”

So that probably wasn’t very nice, but Vix was fairly certain that if the boys he’d been fighting with before caught up with him, they’d be all too happy to punch him again. Probably more than once, too. Stupid, stupid, arguing with them, even hitting back. Just stupid. And anyway, he would’ve been fine – Vix was small enough that he could fit more or less in the little crevice of tent, but the loudmouth – he shot a glare at the Salamandyr, scooting backwards to lean against the leather tent before he flicked his hand, the bloodstained sleeve, at T’ke. “Shoo.”

[Rowana]

T'ke looked up dumbly. Oh, it was a boy. A rather beat up looking boy. Who was bleeding. Great. T'ke tried not to look at the blood and instead open his mouth. This turned out to be a bad idea, so he closed it again before his lunch decided to join him on the grass. He muttered a few curses of his own and sat up slowly. He'd thought he'd beaten this thing with blood, but apparently not. He was already feeling queasy and it was only a little bit.

"Worms?" he blinked. He looked down at Shard. Shard had decided that the best way to go unnoticed was to play dead. Maybe she would blend in with the grass and the scary boy would lose interesting. T'ke poked her gently, decided she was alive, and looked back at the boy. Then remembered how much blood was on his face and looked back at the grass. "Sorry," he returned crossly, equally sarcastic. He was smart enough to know when he was unwanted and started to get up.

That was when a glob of red appeared on his pants. He looked at the boy again, and noticed just how much blood was all over his shirt. He stared for a second. Then his knees decided standing wasn't healthy and gave out. He flopped back on to the grass. Well, at least he hadn't fainted. He would have to thank Faranth for small mercies. "Um, actually," he said, embarrassed. "Mind if sit here a while? Maybe I could help?" He doubted he could, with his track record of being helpful, but at least it gave him something to do.

[Avu]

For somebody whose words tended to positively drip sarcasm, Vix had a very short patience with it. He shot a hideous look at T’ke and his ‘worm’, scowling, never mind that it just agitated his split lip even more. At least the kid looked like he was moving, though, or intending to. Vix’s eyes narrowed further, following the other’s every movement before they widened, startled, at the sudden collapse. Well. Uh. Maybe his worm really had died. He leaned forward, still irritated, tempted to reach out and actually poke Shard to see if she was alive, before the kid’s words caught up to him and the look Vix shot at him was nothing short of absolute dislike.

“Help with what?”

And then he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, and Vix’s head whipped around. A look of acute panic flashed across his face and he sprang to his feet. There was no forgetting the three boys that had taken the starscope down at the beach, especially when one of them still had blood down his chin and the starscope in question in one hand, an assortment of loose pieces and screws in the other. Uh. Time to go, especially considering that the boy had, apparently, spotted him, and had started to actually come over. Vix was fairly certain that it wouldn’t be for a cup of tea and small talk.

“Hey, c’mon,” he remembered, and grabbed for T’ke’s wrist, jerking at the kid. “You wanted to help, right?” Vix didn’t wait for a response, though; he pulled on T’ke as hard as he could, and then bolted, dragging T’ke along behind him without regard as to whether or not T’ke wanted to come along. He’d said he wanted to help; well, he’d help. He’d be a nice distraction if it came down to that, and two against three evened up the odds at least a little. Even if T’ke didn’t really look like he’d be too terribly helpful.

“Run faster, stupid,” Vix snarled backwards at the bluerider, jerking at his wrist again emphatically. One sleeve was still pressed against his lip, muffling the words, but the intention was as clear as he could make it for the moment. “Or I’ll ditch you and I don’t think those idiots back there’ll believe you if you say you don’t know me – ” And they’d probably flail at him, yell, make a scene, possibly throw some punches, and by then Vix would be long gone, and he was actually okay with that, but still. Having a distraction on hand was preferable, just in case.

And no, he had absolutely no idea which way he was running – he was mostly aiming towards the biggest crowds of people so he could dodge behind and around them.


((Lemme know if any of this isn't okay. xP <3))

[Rowana]

Shard opened her eyes to find a male human poking at her. One that was not T'ke. Her eyes bugged. How could he see past her ruse?! Her tiny mind tried to think of what to do next. She should run! No, wait, that would attract attention! Maybe she should hide? Where? T'ke's shirt was a nice place, but that would mean going towards the other boy. Oh dear, what was a salamandyr to do?

T'ke made an uncomfortable face at the boy. Still, he was right. What could he possibly do that would be of any use. "Well...um..." he started. He was going to suggest cleaning up the cuts, but something else had grabbed the boy's attention. He glanced to see and was started to find himself dragged to his feet. He barely had time to find his balance before they were running. "Hey! What's the idea?" He shouted in irritation. Run faster, he muttered inwardly. Easy for him to say. Still, he'd had his own experiences with bullies, so he tried his best to keep up.

In all the excitement, however, T'ke had forgotten one rather important thing. Shard was so startled by the sudden movement, that she'd ducked under the tent flap instead of into T'ke's shirt. When she poked her head out again, both boys were gone. T'ke-love! she cried. No leave Shard! She raced away, dodging feet, while she tried to find the right person. Where could they have gone?!

[Avu]

Vix fairly twitched in fury.

What kind of idiot was the kid, shouting like that? He spared a beat to shoot a venomous glare at T’ke, though it didn’t occur to him to just let go of his wrist, shove him backwards at the pursuers, and vanish. “I can hear you, you don’t need to scream,” he hissed. And promptly took out his frustration with another jerk at T’ke’s wrist, fairly dragging the other behind him as he threw himself around a particularly wide woman (earning a muffled screech from her as she threw up her hands to her mouth in shock), took a sharp left around a tent, and then shot for the open.

They’d probably get caught. Probably. Vix wasn’t terribly fast, but he was quick enough to avoid being caught – but not when he was unfamiliar with the layout, cautious of running them into a dead end, and was dragging an apparently reluctant distraction along with him. His hand tightened around T’ke’s wrist as Vix skirted a rock, and then nearly ran headfirst into a dragon. The sight of a very large, very curious dragon peering down at him had Vix stopping dead, swallowing as he stared blankly back at the dragon for a moment, before he threw a glance behind him at T’ke, and then past the bluerider, calculating.

“Okay, c’mon. I’m pretty sure dragons don’t eat people, so will you please just shut up and stay low.” He jerked T’ke around the rock that the dragon was sprawled on, and dropped flat onto his stomach, his grasp on T’ke’s wrist ensuring that the other boy would either have to do the same or just double over. Only after he’d held still for a moment, listening intently, did Vix move, releasing T’ke to half-climb onto the rock, peering around the dragon still studying them curiously. “Okay, so here’s how it goes. You weren’t really that fast but whatever, I figure that maybe if you’ve got an incentive to run, you will.” He eyed T’ke warily as he dropped down onto the ground again.

“They’re stupid, too stupid to like, actually figure out how to put the starscope back together, but not that stupid, I don’t think. Anyway, three against someone that’s unarmed is good odds in their favor, but when you’re armed I guess you’d be better off. Just wave a knife at ‘em or something; you got something on you?” Vix didn’t wait for a reply, though, continuing rapidly, “I don’t expect them to’ve followed us; they’re just about as unfamiliar with this place as I am.” He nodded, satisfied with that, at least; he was fairly certain the three had been on the same crossing from Keroon that he’d been on. “So just trot off and they’ll probably find you and corner you or something later, but it doesn’t really matter. They won’t do anything in the middle of the Gather, you can honestly say you don’t know where I am ‘cause I’m gonna be far away from here…so there you go. That’s helping.”

He paused, and then added, “I hope your worm wasn’t trampled or anything.” Just to be nice, because even though he’d never admit that they probably would do something in the middle of a Gather, they would and he’d just probably spared T’ke a beating, even if he’d only acted in self-preservation. Same difference, really.

[Rowana]

T'ke opened his mouth to protest again, but the boy's grip was too strong. His wrist was starting to hurt too. The only good thing about the whole situation is that he had apparently forgotten about the blood. Self preservation instincts had kicked in instead and he concentrated on running. If for no other reason then to keep his hand on his arm. They rounded a rock and T'ke nearly run into his captor. He stumbled onto one knee and scrambled back up quickly, breathing hard. "What now?" he hissed in irritation.

One good thing about being a dragonrider. The dragon barely made him glance. T'ke had nearly forgotten what it was like to see one up close for the first time. He rolled his eyes at the boy's so helpful decision. Of course they didn't eat people. Who's silly idea was that? At least, not unless they were threatened anyway. He let himself be dragged around the rock, then nearly fell on his face again as they ducked down. Good, a rest at last.

T'ke-mine? Garaeth sounded worried. Another dragon had just told him that T'ke had run by him with another boy. Both he and the little Shard seemed quite upset about something. What is wrong? Should I come get you? Not yet, you'll probably just scare everyone to death, T'ke returned with a sigh. Maybe not a bad idea, but he didn't want the boy to run until he'd explained himself. Am I that scary? the blue sounded sad at the idea. Only when you try to hug them, was the amused reply.

T'ke looked back at the boy in annoyance. "Who's they?" he asked in a whisper. He laughed quietly and bitterly. "Me? With a weapon? Wiser persons then me decided the world was a safer place so long as I didn't have any sharp objects." He gave the boy a dark glare. "Is that what you brought me for? A distraction? I should have known. Not like I'm good for much else in a crisis." He was feeling quite unhelpful now. He liked helping, but he didn't like being dragged around and put into danger with no explanation. He was quite sure he was being used. And equally sure he probably couldn't get out of it.

The next comment drove everything else from his mind. "Shard!" He jumped up, not bothering to be quiet anymore. How could he fail to notice she wasn't here?! It wasn't unusual for her to wander off at home, but here anything could happen to her. He danced around looking at the grass, as if she might appear. "I have to go back for her!" he exclaimed, half panicked. Shard was actually completely lost by now. Slinking around the edges of tents to avoid the crowds, still crying for her bonded. T'ke-love! Shard lonely! Where go?

[Avu]

Vix hissed. Audibly. He probably made quite a picture, derision and undisguised irritation written clearly across his face, lip twisted upwards in annoyance, still dripping blood down his chin. The bruise on his cheekbone was smarting more than ever, turning rapidly into a livid blue-purple. He’d probably managed to hit it on someone’s elbow in his dash, or something. “I don’t know who ‘they’ are,” he retorted sharply, refraining (if barely) from informing T’ke that even if he had known, he wouldn’t tell. Wasn’t it bad enough that he’d been hit at all? He didn’t exactly stop to ask for names.

He merely shrugged, tongue darting out to worry at his split lip, at the other boy’s anger. A distraction, yes. And no, he hadn’t really given him a choice, had he? Well, whatever happened, he’d be mostly safe. He could sneak around the outsides of the Gather and Vix was fairly certain the three bigger boys wouldn’t find him. Head for the stables, grab a runner, take off. Not exactly a complicated plan. “You said it, not me,” he returned vaguely, before a look of complete disbelief darted across his face and he twitched, visibly, trying to keep from literally tackling T’ke down.

Was. He. Stupid?

“Can you please shut up?” he demanded through gritted teeth, and then his eyes latched onto the rank knots. And a new idea brightened in his mind; Vix tilted his head to one side, lips quirking in a kind of smirking smile, and he scrambled to his feet to comment, “You didn’t tell me you were a dragonrider. That changes things. I’ll help you look for her, though it sounds stupid…worms can’t do the little vanishing trick?” He flicked one hand expressively to indicate the ‘vanishing trick’ he meant. “If you’ll give me a lift somewhere afterwards. I don’t want to stay here and runners are ridiculously slow.” His nose crinkled slightly.

Nothing against runners, of course. They just weren’t…choice transportation, in comparison to a dragon. “I thought worms could talk to you,” he added, still skeptical about the ‘worms’ in question – they all seemed to be annoying loud brats, if the kids at the Egg Stall were to be believed. “Can’t she just, you know, tell you where she is?” The definite condescending note in his voice was ill-deserved, given that Vix knew absolutely nothing save a few silly rumors about Salamandyrs – but that certainly didn’t stop him.

[Rowana]

T'ke glared at the boy and shrugged. He didn't see what he should be quiet. Near as he could tell, this still wasn't really his problem. He should probably just leave him and have done with it. He open his mouth and suddenly remembered the amount of blood that was currently all over the boy's shirt. He closed his mouth quickly and found that he had to sit down again. He was starting to feel sick again. That was just great.

"You didn't ask," he pointed out. He was too busy trying not to be sick to be angry anymore. Worrying about Shard wasn't helping. "Shard can't between," he added impatiently. "And she's too scared now to make sense." Not that she usually made sense at all. He didn't really want to have to deal with the boy any longer, but maybe if he agreed at least they'd be out of this mess. "Fine," he agreed, stilling trying not to throw up. "We find Shard, then I'll take you somewhere." Is that alright with you, Garaeth? Of course. Are you feeling alright? I've been better.

Shard had giving up running and had found a spot underneath a table to curl up. She was so lonely. Why didn't T'ke-love come find her? She knew he was close. Maybe if she just stayed in one place? The big, scary, blue monster promised he wouldn't leave without her, so she knew he must come soon. Maybe the scary boy had him! That would be terrible! Shard whimpered. Maybe she should keep looking after all.

[Avu]

What, really?

One of Vix’s eyebrows jumped upwards, arching in a look of definite condescension. Worms couldn’t even go between? How useless were they…? The boy didn’t speak, though, instead opting to click his tongue dismissively, the only signal of just how low an opinion he held on ‘worms’. He leaned slightly against the rock – the dragon was ignored; big and pretty it might have been, but Vix didn’t really care about any dragon except the one that’d be giving him a ride. Thank you, random kid he’d basically dragged into his problems, thank you very much.

“Fine,” he echoed, a satisfied smile quirking at the corners of his lips. “Let’s go, then, back to where we started. I remember where we came from. Then you’re going to have to use your brain, ‘cause I don’t think like worms do.” Although, really, Vix didn’t have any proof of that, but…he was coherent, most of the time, which was more than could be said for most of the worms. That counted for something, didn’t it? He wiped his forearm across his mouth again, earning a long dragging line of blood, but his lip had mostly ceased its dripping now, simply settling for staining his lips and chin a bright red.

“C’mon. If we see them again, we’ll outrun them. Again. They’re pretty stupid, I guess. Stupider ‘n I gave them credit for, anyway.” Vix crinkled his nose in amusement, before he shoved casually off the rock, tongue swiping over his split lip again absently. The boy slunk towards the Gather, his step light, careful, anticipation obvious in every step – his gaze swept, watchful, across the space before him. Vix half-expected one of the three boys to jump out, in front of him if he was lucky, on him if he wasn’t, but they didn’t, and after a moment, he found himself peering idly at the items offered for sale in the Starcrafter’s Tent. The sight of a starscope sent a twinge of remembered annoyance through him, but Vix repressed it, for the moment, and turned back to look for T’ke.

“Hurry up, please,” he called quietly, flapping one arm absently in the other boy’s direction. “Can’t she send you, I don’t know, one of those mental pictures or something? The Gather’s big and worms are small, y’know, and we can’t exactly hang around and wait for everyone to pack up and leave before we look. As it is, if we go around crawling we’ll just get trampled. You can, but I’m not going to. So?” His arms crossed, expectant, head tilted to one side, eyebrow raised again. Because really. Searching for a worm to get a ride on a dragon might have sounded like the easiest trade ever, but it wasn’t, not when you were looking for one specific worm in the whole Gather.

Stupid worms.

[Rowana]

T'ke avoided looking at the boy as he got up to follow. As long as he helped find Shard, he could deal with the blood and the attitude. He didn't actually blame him much. After all, it was true he was less then useless most of the time. It was a miracle he was even still among the living. For someone the world seemed to hate so much, he had fantastic luck at staying alive. Faranth must just love torturing him too much to let him go.

T'ke-mine? What now? You are feeling sad for yourself again. You promised you would stop that. Think of the nice, new friend you met! T'ke rolled his eyes and scowled. Nice, yeah, he returned sarcastically. I'd hate to hear what you think of Fort and Benden riders. The tone was lost on Garaeth, who perked up cheerfully. Oh! I am sure we could be friends with them too. We just need to meet properly. Like that would ever happen, T'ke thought darkly. Trust Garaeth to try and arrange friendship meetings with people wanting to kill him.

"Salamandyrs don't send images," he explained crossly. Well, except for white ones, but that wasn't important. Still, maybe he could try to get something else out of her. Ignoring both his dragon and his soon to be passenger, T'ke tried to focus on Shard. Her mind was a crazy jumble of panic and confusion. He took a slow breath and poked at her mind. T'ke-love! Why leave Shard? Come find? Where, silly beast. Safe table. Long shinies, she explained dutifully.

T'ke frowned. "I think she's under a table," he relayed. "With long shiny things on top." He looked apologetically. He knew the boy was worried about his pursuers and they were, in fact, wasting time. "Sorry," he shrugged. "That's all I got." He frowned at the Starcrafter's Tent. Telescopes were long and shiny, weren't they? He started over. It was as good a place to start as any.

[Avu]

“How…helpful.”

Vix’s head tilted, a faint smirk of dry amusement touching his lips, before he shrugged, dismissive again. Oh well. He’d already known (or assumed, really, since he’d never met a ‘worm’ before Shard, and even that had been inconclusive) that worms were useless bratty loudmouthed things. The only thing they had going for them was that they could talk at all, but really. Who needed a talking pet? You wanted a talking pet, you got one of those wild avians that could chatter and mimic words, parrots or whatever. Not as annoying, in his opinion. They weren’t in your head, after all.

The attempt at puzzling out where she was made Vix click his tongue again. This time, it was more thoughtful, but definitely still annoyed. Hmm. This was going to be difficult. He licked his lower lip, nervously, the copper taste of blood heavy on his tongue as he thought, and then relayed out loud, “I’m gonna go take a look around under the Weapons stall table, ‘kay? Let your worm know not to freak and run off or anything, if I find her.” With that, he spun on his heel, sliding automatically into the shadows of the tents, back to moving furtively, cautiously…

As soon as he reached the Weapons Stall, Vix half-smirked at the stallkeeper before he threw himself onto his hands and knees, sliding under the fabric draped over the tables that marked things for sale. It was dark underneath, but Vix didn’t dare just stick his head in – it’d leave his torso and legs out for the world to see and at least if he was going to be punched he’d like fair warning, please and thanks. Under the table, Vix wrapped his arms around his knees, settling on his rump and pressing his back against one of the table’s legs, and squinted around absentmindedly.

“Hey…” The words were whispered, instinctively. It felt safe, cozy, under the table, and speaking out loud would have ruined that illusion. As would remembering that he was actually just talking to some stupid worm. “Helloooo…? Worm-thing, little green worm-thing…are you here? Hellooo?” His face scrunched up in annoyance as the stallkeeper lifted the tablecloth on the other side, obviously bewildered, and he reached out to jerk it back down again. “I’m trying to find a worm here!” Right, because that just explained everything. “And I’m hiding. Let me hide in peace. Worm?”

[Rowana]

Shard clung to the leg of the table. No, no, no, no, she chanted softly. She didn't want anyone to find her here. Not scary males at least. They wouldn't like her. Only T'ke liked her and he was special. Maybe the big, blue one was alright too, but only because he loved T'ke too. Shard was sure if she stayed here and didn't move, that T'ke would come and find her. He had promised! Oh, what was that?! A boy was looking under the tables! Shard quivered in place. Maybe if she didn't move, he wouldn't see her.

T'ke slumped as he came out of the Starcrafter Stall. No luck finding Shard in there. Now he had no idea where to look next. He decided he'd better see if that boy had found her. He suddenly remembered he'd forgotten to mention Shard's fear of boys. If he did find her, she might run away again. Any luck? Garaeth asked. Not yet, T'ke grumbled. Much as he found Shard annoying and had been horrified to impress her, he had grown to like her a lot. At least she understood his moods fairly well.

[Avu]

Really. A table was a table was a table, right? You could only hide so many places. Of course, Vix was hardly Salamandyr-sized, which might (but only might, of course) have played some into that fact. The boy snorted quietly at his own thoughts, rolling onto his hands and knees and crawling beneath the table – before he stilled, eyes snagging onto the little length of green that looked decidedly worm-like. Vix tilted his head, clicking his tongue disapprovingly. She was still too far away to just grab, and anyway, he didn’t really want to touch a worm.

“You wouldn’t let me grab you, anyway, would you?” he inquired in a whisper of Shard, crinkling his nose at the green. “Well, at least maybe you’ll be smart enough to stay in place. I’ll go grab your pet idiot. Don’t move. Not like anyone else crawls around under tables, anyway.” Vix sniffed, quietly, disapproving of such an activity, before he scrambled backwards, ducking out from under the tablecloth. The shopkeeper’s stare was rewarded with an icy smirk before Vix took a quick glance around. After ensuring that no large, idiotic boys with starscopes were headed his way, he brushed a hand through his hair absently and then took off.

He headed back to the Starcrafter Stall, just in time to see T’ke coming back out. Vix wasted very little time in moving up behind the bluerider and giving him a gentle shove in between the shoulder blades. His fingertips left little red smudges, but Vix didn’t notice – or care, really, even if he had noticed. He had yet to put the fact that T’ke didn’t like blood together with the kid’s previous weakness at the knees thing. “I found her. Or her evil twin. I don’t know, I’m sure either’ll do, won’t it? C’mon; she’s over by the Weapons Stall.” Another light poke; Vix deliberately stepped on the back of T’ke’s heels to make him move faster.

Because really. He knew people in general didn’t move very quickly (Vix was usually moving as fast as he could. Momentum, see? Less effort involved, and it was over quicker.) but he really wanted to just take off to Blossom about now. The fact that there were people interested in possibly leaving him bloodier than he already was also an incentive, of course.