sometimes delusions aren't so simple (m'kai/'thay)

[Avu]

He hadn’t realized how annoying clothing was until now. Formal clothing, that was. Mostly because he wasn’t wearing it. Formal wear didn’t really last very long against mosquitoes alone, never mind mud and everything else icky that did not generally get into rich Holders’ wardrobes. Among rich colors, bright dresses, fitted fancy waistcoats and what have you, he stuck out like a sore thumb—which was not ever a good thing, but particularly now a bad thing. It probably, A’emi mused absently, didn’t help that he had a Darkling curled around his shoulders and had lost a ridiculous amount of weight over the past six months (and he’d thought he had been thin before, pfft). The Darkling was the more pressing problem, the green twittering her delight at all the activity.

Plotting, no doubt. She’d probably be flitting off to find Mojo as soon as her plans had a definite structure, too—couldn’t do anything without her bronze partner-in-crime nowadays, but then her prey had been fairly limited. Who knew. A’emi didn’t bother trying to stop Darkling—he’d given up on that a long time ago—and instead raised a single finger to bop her lightly on the tip of her nose, admonishing, “Shh.”

Yeah, he was a lot paranoid.

I’m glad, seeing how I can hardly be paranoid for you all the way out here, Kyrahth informed him, no small amount of indignation in her ‘voice’. You’re an absolute idiot. You haven’t even any money to buy things with, you’re bound to be recognized, and you are going to die. It’s been lovely knowing you, dearest, for what it’s worth. I find it entirely predictable that our relationship and lives should end by an act of your utter stupidity. It’s only fitting, is it not?

Flightier than normal, A’emi noted in vague distress. Glowing, too, somewhere beyond the Hold proper, out of sight (and unfortunately not out of mind). Hmm. She’d be up within the sevenday—would have to make sure they cleared out the Hold territory before she actually Rose. They’d be pushing it, but…well, it paid to know what was going on, hobos or not. Even if all the gossip he got was that some rich Holder lady was cheating on her boyfriend and what interesting lives you have. He kept his head lowered, gaze flicking out from under the hair he’d given up trying to comb back. It was annoyingly curly and long but it did well to hide his face, and it wasn’t like there were many mirrors to see himself in.

He was a hobo: He would look the part. Always had wanted to look like a tramp, and now he’d gotten the entire lifestyle as a freebie. That, and probably the fact that while he had managed to appropriate a razor about a week ago the stubble had grown back just as fast, at least kept most people from recognizing him (he was hoping nobody recognized Darkling; she hadn’t changed a bit). Shameless people-watching: Selenitas Rider, hello, good-bye; oh look, they were buying a something from the something stall over there. A’emi snorted softly as Darkling hummed, wings flashing in the corner of his eye. “Somehow I remember Gathers being considerably more fun before when I had actual money to spend.”

[Ruby]

M'kai was doing his best to soothe an agitated Kami, who was skittish around so many people. He wouldn't have brought her - it was downright stupid, actually, what better way to identify yourself as strange than by sporting a half-grown bird on your shoulder? - but she wouldn't let him leave her at Burimyu, and she wouldn't willingly stay with Futh. She didn't dislike the dragon, and if M'kai left her something to eat or waited until she fell asleep she'd gladly spend an hour or two with the blue in lieu of her human, but as soon as she got remotely bored or noticed that M'kai was leaving her she flew off to find him. M'kai hated to do it, but... well, she needed a leash, and maybe a hood. And, come to think of it, a thick leather glove might be nice, to cushion those vicious claws of hers when she got bigger.

He settled his own hood in place again, making sure his incredibly obvious hair was tucked mostly out of sight. He'd considered dying or cutting it, but couldn't quite bring himself to do either. Luckily, the Selenitas invaders had no reason to look for him; not so luckily, they did have reason to look for Cr'oph, if the deaths of bronzeriders during the invasion was any indication. Luckily it was still cold enough out that a rider wearing a hood or a hat wasn't that strange of a sight. Or a man, anyway; he'd foregone knots. Selenitas knots would not have been a good idea, today.

The man covering the Tanner's stall was deep in negotiation with a holder, so M'kai drifted away, examining a dragon-patterned belt. Leaning over, a lock of hair found its way out of the hood, and M'kai turned sideways to tuck it back - only to catch sight of a very familiar profile across from the stall. The hair was wrong, the clothes were wrong, and was that... stubble? But no. Unless A'emi had developed a twin, that was A'emi.

M'kai didn't quite know what to do.

[Avu]

If he hadn’t been people-watching to start with, sitting because standing felt too strange since he wasn’t actually moving, A’emi probably never would’ve spotted M’kai at all. As it was, his gaze almost skipped directly over the bluerider, given the lack of very-distinctive red hair, moving in a restless sweep around the moving mass of people, the predictable press-lull of traffic, skimmed past and—wait. What? His brow furrowed slightly, gaze focusing more intently on M’kai now, watching his progress to wherever it was he was going, and why on Pern did he have a bird with him? He wasn’t even really sure it was M’kai—who knew; seven months could change a person. Maybe Cr’oph had just stopped wearing eyeliner and had decided that slightly-creepy hoods were the new It thing.

Not that that would explain the bird.

Futh? he asked Kyrahth, probably apropos of exactly nothing to the green’s mind. He feigned momentary disinterest when the maybe-M’kai stopped at one of the stalls that concealed him from A’emi’s direct line of vision, letting his gaze slip up towards the sky, turned his head away from the stall’s direction. Darkling fluted her interest in his interest, the green’s head tipping towards the half-hidden maybe-M’kai, her wings fluttering in interest at her sides, but she made no move to leave Hers to actively figure out what was so interesting—no doubt she wanted to, but as soon as the curiosity flickered up a notch too high A’emi raised one hand, casually curling her tail around his fingers, a wordless order: Stay.

What? Kyrahth answered irritably, a minute later. A’emi was vaguely surprised, always, that Kyrahth ever even remembered Futh—she always had been quick to forget the names of the dead, and wasn’t Futh as good as dead to her now? But then, she remembered Castidenloth too—and Saboth. With Futh, all Kyrahth really remembered was that she had been avoiding him right before It, and before his company had been acceptable. What about him—why do you need my opinion, anyway? I’m not allowed to /do/ anything, remember? ‘Stay in the trees, Kyrahth, hang out with Pettahth and Inocenth’—have you forgotten?

Darkling fluted in his ear, the sound accompanied by a flash of image and the prickling awareness that hey, someone was watching him. A’emi casually glanced sideways, away from the M’kai-clone, to make sure that it wasn’t someone considerably more deadly and pissed off. Darkling twittered her laughter into his ear, the green flicking her wings out sideways. Look theeeere.

So he looked, let his lips curve into a humorless half-smirk when he discovered that why yes, apparently M’kai had noticed him, and therefore probably was indeed M’kai, given that a not-M’kai probably wouldn’t have looked twice. Even after seven months, too. Hum. Well, then, why not. Never mind, nothing, he told Kyrahth absently, aware the green would probably be fuming at the easy, distant dismissal. He’d deal with that later. For now…A’emi raised both eyebrows at M’kai, uncrossed his arms (they’d been casually folded so that one of his hands was pressed against the hilt of his knife, just in case) to wave his fingers at M’kai, a small gesture, but the intention very clear: Come here.

[Ruby]

M'kai was having second thoughts - he'd been mistaken, he'd only caught a glimpse, maybe (although he hesitated to admit this one even to himself), just maybe he was actually looking for A'emi, hoping for some confirmation of his continued existence. It certainly looked like the Greenrider, assuming he hadn't seen a comfortable bed or bathing room in half a turn or so, and that green on his shoulder was skinny enough to be Darkling, but... still. Maybe, maybe not. Why M'kai cared was beyond the Bluerider; in the past, of course, he'd have blamed it on Futh and been done with it, but the Blue hadn't seen Kyrahth in so long that he barely remembered her outside of M'kai's assistance. No, it was Nuoth that took up most of his attention now (unless a prettier green was closer, of course).

So why did he care so much if this scruffy, skinny, blond hobo was his scruffy, skinny, blond hobo? It wasn't like A'emi had been talking to him even before the invasion, and on second thought, M'kai couldn't remember why that was a bad thing.

Turning his back to the trader, M'kai adjusted his position so he could sneak another look at the mystery man. Kami left off preening the edge of M'kai's hood to follow her owner's gaze, cheeping a curious "Ka?" when she caught sight of Darkling, apparently pointing their direction. M'kai's gaze caught A'emi's completely by accident, causing the bluerider to dip his head enough that his hood mostly cut off his vision. His hand went to the hilt of his beltknife automatically, but M'kai forced himself to relax, smoothly dropping the hand back to the table in front of him instead. He should be so much better than this, he'd been the twin that was trained for subterfuge. Anyone but A'emi would have been fine, but the Greenrider had already proved, several times, that he was the only human being on Pern capable of completely flustering M'kai. Jerk.

And he was just about to prove it again. That tiny gesture, so easily ignored, so quickly dismissed, nonetheless had M'kai's feet moving before his brain got a chance to stop them. It would be more obvious to stop short, now, so the dark-clad Burimyan continued forward, internally fuming at himself. How could he let himself be so completely entranced by this... this... man? It would be different if it were like the prettiest girl on Pern or something, but this was A'emi. He sighed as he slid around a passing person, letting the crowd take him sideways for a moment before he started back towards the man across the way.

Too soon he made it through, looking down with mixed relief and loathing at the tangled blond nest of hair he'd taken a place next to. Crossing his arms loosely, he leaned back against the wooden upright of the stall behind him, balancing precariously against the thin wood as Kami greeted Darkling with a suspicious "Meeeep." For his part, M'kai shifted his eyes away from A'emi, absently watching passersby. How to start? What to say, after nearly three quarters of a Turn without speaking? M'kai settled for the simplest question, delivered in the kind of neutral tone of voice that meant he hardly cared and was only listening for an answer because it was polite. "Where've you been?"

[Avu]

He half expected M’kai (M’kai-clone, he corrected himself absently in his mind, just in case) not to come at all, even after the little gesture. It’d be all too easy to look away, blink, turn around, leave. It wasn’t like A’emi was going to hunt him down—maybe he would’ve eight or nine months ago, but not anymore he wouldn’t, and while he was sure a M’kai would entertain him admirably if he was even half as interesting now as he had been, it still wouldn’t be worth it. A particularly irritated M’kai was a M’kai who was potentially a risk to their continued hobo-dom. Which, while not entirely a horrible thing, was not really a good thing either. Ah, such paradoxes.

Apparently it didn’t matter anyway, though—M’kai came towards him with hardly a pause and A’emi allowed the brief surprise to show in the curious tilt of his head, his gaze following the bluerider’s approach. Darkling hummed in his ear, the sound reaching a low-pitched crescendo that cut off abruptly as M’kai stopped in front of them. While the green firelizard appraised Kami, eyes bright blues, unafraid and curious, A’emi allowed himself a moment to look over Kami’s owner, entirely unselfconscious in looking over the bluerider before he quirked a faint, sardonic smile to the throwaway question. “Hmm,” he said, tilting his head back slightly to meet M’kai’s gaze without standing up, arms folding loosely back across his chest. “Well. Not a five star hotel, anyway.”

He shrugged lightly, matched the almost-careless tone, glanced casually over the people that continued to swarm and mill around them. “Always did want to see the world. Just never realized it was quite so much the same all over.” The smirk was humorless, but lasted only a fraction of a second before Darkling whistled an answer at Kami, distracting the greenrider from his own whereabouts. There was, after all, very definitely a bird still on his companion’s shoulder, and while he’d seen people with little pet darters before, this was still rather out there, wasn’t it? He nodded his head at Kami, going for a very blunt “What’s that?”

Okay, it wouldn’t have killed him to think of a politer way to say that, maybe, but he was a little bit at a loss here—it was a bird. It wasn’t even a little bird. It was pretty enough as shoulder decoration went, but it was still a very much alive, very feathery, very blatant living thing and therefore not very good for hiding out.

Although he couldn’t really talk, A’emi supposed. He had a Darkling and she was plenty loud and memorable enough to catch attention—as she was adequately proving, fluttering her wings prettily near his head and fluting at Kami cheerfully. It didn’t occur to Darkling to consider the Razorclaw a predator—probably for the better, as Darkling never really saw predators as dangers so much as challenges and a match of outfly-the-bird in the middle of the Gather would probably not go over very well. A’emi patted her absently on the head, earning a nip that was almost affectionate, but absent enough to actually hurt a little. He rubbed his fingers together, added sweetly, “So, did you miss me? Find a new chess-boxing partner?”

Not that he had, which was kind of a sore spot, but when your options are K’sel and F’ur…no, he hadn’t even brought up chess-boxing. Tch.

[Ruby]

"I can see that," M'kai drawled, resisting ruffling A'emi's hair only because it looked absolutely disgusting. Futh wouldn't let M'kai touch him for a week if his hand came in contact with that, even after scrubbing it with sweetsand. Silly hypochondriac dragon. Only once he got that far down the train of thought did M'kai realize that a hair ruffle wasn't exactly a gesture one used simply with old friends, and it was a fairly bizarre first instinct if the person on the receiving end wasn't your kid brother. Why had he thought of doing that? It occurred to him that that sort of thing indicated a desire for physical contact beyond the accidental brush of an elbow, something he never would have expected to feel for A'emi. Ew, what was wrong with his brain.

The bluerider didn't have long to ponder, although he did shift sideways a little so his elbow was no longer brushing A'emi's (or A'emi's arm, anyway). He made a face at the Greenrider's description of the outside, biting back the question he wanted to ask - Then why didn't you come back? - when Kami clicked her beak at Darkling. She followed that up with a puzzled "Ka?" tilting her head sideways and looking at the flit as if she might be good to eat. It was a good thing for everyone that Kami had never shown an interest in actually consuming the other pets of Burimyu. She was rather more prone to stealing their babies and trying to raise them as her own, although so far that tendency had only exhibited itself once or twice. Not too many babies at Burimyu these days.

M'kai reached up, running soothing fingers down Kami's back. "They're calling them Razorclaws," M'kai replied, coaxing one of Kami's feet off his shoulder to display her dangerous talons. "For good reason," he added, allowing her to drop her foot again. She started grooming his hair, eying Darkling slightly suspiciously as M'kai went on, "She's Kami. I, uh, lost Reina and Bomb in the attack -" His voice caught a little, but he did his best to cover it up, mainly by continuing to talk. "And a group of Razorclaws hatched without a mother. Futh sent me to the hatching. They don't bond the same, really, but I always know where she is, and she makes herself understood well enough." Kami cheeped again, batting eyelids and shrinking down a little as if she were embarrassed. Well enough indeed.

While Kami put on a little show of how perceptive she could be for Darkling, M'kai shifted his stance a little so he could look down at A'emi again. Did he really have to be so short? M'kai couldn't exactly look off over his shoulder or anything, if he was looking at the Greenrider it was pretty obvious. Annoying. "Chess-boxing?" he parroted, ignoring the first question. "No, I'm way out of practice. They put me in charge of Candidates," he added, as if that somehow made up for the fact that instead of chess boxing in his downtime he was romancing his students. Whatever. And then to be polite (and maybe, just maybe, because he was curious), M'kai added, "You? Found a new hobby yet?"

[Avu]

Well, Razorclaw then. Bird-thing, Razorclaw, same thing, right? A’emi squinted critically at the bird-thing, resisting the temptation to lean forward and actually poke her, which would’ve come with the bonus of completely invading M’kai’s personal space, a bubble that he had reestablished a second ago, tch. Instead he only wrinkled his nose at her, although something about her name made him blink owlishly, not entirely sure why. Except that…hmm. Darkling chirruped in his ear, momentarily cutting off that train of thought, the firelizard flicking her wings out proudly at Kami, evidently deciding to take her show of humility as a show of submission. A’emi flicked her off of his shoulder casually, stretching and catching at M’kai’s wrist with his fingers to pull himself to his feet.

(Sometimes he vaguely wondered if fate just had it out for him—this was technically a fairly dangerous meeting, but hey. If he was going out, it was going to be with a bang.)

“Ah, Candidacy,” he murmured, and linked his elbow around M’kai’s on the far side from Kami, just in case the bird got any homicidal tendencies very suddenly. Darkling fluttered down to his shoulder again, still peering interestedly at Kami. A’emi ignored her in favor of half-shoving and half-guiding M’kai towards the weapons stall. Couldn’t have him neglecting his shopping, after all. “Hmm. Paranormal investigations.” He paused, momentarily considering, and then added, “And spooning, to a lesser extent, but you know. Things you have to do for ghosts, right?”

Not that he’d forgotten his promise to K’sel to never ever speak of that night again, but what the heck. It wasn’t like M’kai even knew who he was hanging out with other than K’sel, what with Pettahth cheerfully invading Nuoth’s Flight, and he hadn’t really specified much. And it was much funnier after the fact than it had been during, so. K’sel would cope. And hopefully never know.

Worming his way to the front of the weaponry stall (and dragging M’kai along with him), A’emi bent his head under the pretense of examining a knife he didn’t have the money to buy—yet—to lean closer to M’kai, because he’d just figured out what it was about Kami’s name that had struck a chord. “You know,” he commented under his breath, voice slightly strained with the effort not to laugh at what he presumed was an epic failure of a mistake on M’kai’s part, “If you really wanted a kid that bad, you could’ve asked.” He tilted his head, eyeing the bejeweled hilt of one particularly spectacular and probably useless blade. “I never really had a thing for kids, but I’d always expected my first one to be human.”

He dropped his arm from M’kai’s, hands finding his pockets. His sad, empty, mark-less pockets. Glanced up at the vendor, smiled a shade too brightly, and said, louder, “So, weren’t you buying something?”

[Ruby]

Ugh, elbow-link. M'kai allowed it simply because the gather wasn't a great place to struggle away from someone who looked as hobo-y as A'emi did right now, not unless he wanted to get the greenrider arrested anyway. Not to mention that A'emi's hold was strong. A little more contact than he liked with a man, but... well. You had to make sacrifices sometimes (and, secretly, he did like knowing that A'emi was still a living, breathing, human, not some ghost. Secretly).

He allowed himself to be guided, raising an eyebrow at A'emi's current choice of pursiut. Sometimes the pest seemed like he could read M'kai's mind, and honestly, it was quite unsettling. He'd just been thinking about ghosts. "Er... lots of ghost out... wherever?" he asked, trying to cover up the sudden flare of nerves the Greenrider's insight brought on. Why? Why did he let A'emi make him feel like a boy about to lose his virginity? Argh, that was a terrible simile. Terrible, but accurate. To distract himself from uncomfortable thoughts, M'kai examined the rest of that sentence. "And... spooning? What have you been doing out there, licking strange beetles or something? Too much fellis? That's not good for you, you know," M'kai said, reaching over to flick A'emi just above his ear. Like he used to do to Megs. Ugh.

M'kai was trying to get away from these terrible trains of thought by coming up with something really manly to say - maybe it was good to have A'emi around after all, built up a resistance to this sort of nonsense - when the Greenrider dropped yet another bomb. Kami, his and A'emi's kid? Of course. How hadn't he seen it? Crystil and Miystoph made Mikail and Crystoph, Asemi and Mikail made a lovely little Kami. "I, uh..." The Bluerider attempted to re-group while his cheeks shaded pink, and Kami fluffed ducked her head, modestly accepting the attention she was given. There had to be a good come-back for that, didn't there?

Unfortunately M'kai felt his arm dropped before he could snap back with something witty, but maybe... examining the dagger A'emi had disregarded, M'kai grinned wickedly over at the greenrider's back. "I don't know, dear," he said, stressing the familiar term so it simply dripped sarcasm. If they had a kid together might as well act like a joined couple, right? "What do you think of this one?"