something that were like those years [j'on]

[Avu]

“I’m cold.”
You complain too much.

“Complaining makes me warm and happy inside,” A’emi replied, completely deadpan. “I need to be warm and happy inside” – and he illustrated such a concept with a hand waving towards his stomach, as if it was his stomach that was ‘warm and happy’ – “if I can’t be on the outside, yeah?” He flipped his hand gracelessly into the air beside his head, and then attempted to burrow into Kyrahth’s thigh. “Hnn,” he went on, ignoring the fact that he was talking mostly to himself by now, given that Kyrahth had actually turned to bury her head against her other side, curling into a little ball (and with him on the outside, too – the indignity of it!). “D’you know, you’re warmer than a blanket. I wish you could be blanket-sized, though. And…shaped.”

Apparently it took Kyrahth a moment to fully understand what A’emi was getting at, but she got there, and the comprehension was accompanied by a definite wave of dry amusement. You would wish me to be eight feet long, completely flat, and rectangular? Oh, /yes/, my love, I see exactly how wonderful /that/ would be. You’re absolutely /inspiring/, dearest, absolutely – it’s become my /life’s ambition/ to become a blanket. Why have I been wasting so much time aspiring to be a /dragon/ of all things?

The cold made Kyrahth more sarcastic.

The cold also made sarcasm shoot over A’emi’s head entirely.

Of course, that could have just been optional, too. It often was. “I really don’t know. D’you know, I think when I was younger I wanted to grow up and be a tree?” At Kyrahth’s unimpressed silence, A’emi emphasized, “A big tree. So I could get all the sunlight and the other trees would just kind of…” He made an absentminded gesture with one limp hand. “Fail. Die. I don’t think I was that morbid when I was little, though. Well. Maybe.” He crinkled up his nose, sighed, and then cast a look up at the sky. “So it’s almost night. We probably have like…forty minutes of daylight left. And it’s just gonna get colder. Maybe – ”

I thought you liked the cold. You certainly complained about the heat enough.

“Complaining on warm days makes me cold and happy inside. It’s an interesting effect,” A’emi answered. “Like I was saying. Maybe we should build a fire. Like…a giant bonfire, yeah?”

You never told me before it was your dream to burn down the forest, love. I’m rather offended that you kept such an important fact from me. The green uncurled from the rock that had once been the warmest place they could find along the coast, sun-warmed and just large enough to hold the both of them if A’emi plastered himself against Kyrahth. Just – the greenrider had already taken a few undignified tumbles when Kyrahth shifted; in the end they’d just both stopped moving entirely.

“I’m just saying. It’s almost night, and I’m cold. A bonfire would be bright. And warm.”

Given all your complaining, I’m surprised you have yet to spontaneously combust from the inside.

“Yeah, I’m fireproof on the inside. Call it talent.”

[Kisha-Ra]

J’on was taking a dim view of what seemed to have been an entire turn of extremes of temperature. Especially since as a southerner born he didn’t consider himself at all suited for the cold. Nothing offended the young greenrider more than the sight of frost; well nothing except having to get up and run in it for wing drills anyway. Suffice it to say that the weather was definitely the reason for the sour expression on the usually cheery rider’s face as he wandered along, picking up rocks and throwing them into the water with some force.

Where are you going?[/color]

Home. J’on answered the rather waspish demand of his dragon sharply. And since you wanted to stay half buried in rapidly cooling sand and pebbles I thought I’d walk. J’on felt what could only be described as a tickling sensation behind his eyes, which meant that Rinagth was using them to confirm what he’d just said. Well he wished her much joy in that knowledge. Maybe now she’d get the hint and move her tail, of course he’d probably still end up walking he thought sourly skirting around a few rocks.

However the reaction was much more dramatic than J’on had predicted, even with Rinagth’s passion for dramatics. The green shot up out of her carefully dug wallow, sand cascading off her body and charged down the beach, hissing like a demented kettle, to stand right behind him, wings mantled, tail whipping from side to side. Very clearly upset by something. Well this couldn’t be a reaction to him leaving her by herself.

She is evil J’on. evil. She tried to hurt my dragons.[/color] The green warned, flaring her wings t emphasise her point and hissing some more, unfortunately since her head was being swung protectively back and forth over her rider while she postured this meant that J’on got severely drooled on.

‘I don’t care what you think she’s done to you, stop drooling on me!’ J’on burst out, aiming a good hard swat right for Rinagth’s nose as he yelled. ‘You are going to have to put up with sharing a few male dragons with the other greens. You can’t claim every blue and brown in the south, and you certainly can’t expect anyone to listen to you when you try.’ J’on glared right up at his dragon, risking drool in the face, infuriated by her attitude. She’d come thundering down the beach like her tail was on fire and was hovering over him like he’d wandered into a pride of felines all to challenge another green? And not even an extra sparkle to her hide!

[Avu]

Fireproof on the inside, Kyrahth echoed, and then tilted her head slightly. Are you fireproof and earthquake-proof on the outside, by chance? The words were still casual, though the green had still tensed slightly. Person. And green dot in the background, hnn. Not approved by Kyrahth, no. This was their stretch of the beach (claimed as of the minute they’d landed on it, thank you very much).

Given the superiority of dragon sight over human, though, A’emi only crinkled his nose up at her and said, eloquently, “Huh?” They had a script, after all, one usually followed without thinking. Kyrahth playing along with him was not part of their script and A’emi really didn’t know how to cope with Kyrahth…playing along. It was so not Kyrahth. Whaaat. He placed one palm flat on the green’s side, levering himself up, and peered into the distance where she was staring, and his jaw fell slack in surprise at the sight he was presented with. Charging green dragon, hello! Hopefully the person was Hers, or else he’d probably end up getting trampled.

Kyrahth was already moving, too, though, snarling as she twisted onto her feet, still on top of the rock. Startled, A’emi grabbed for her tail tip, missed, ended propped on his elbows in between Kyrahth’s forelegs, legs half-curled and in the air. He gaped for a moment at the sight of the other green defending Hers, in much the same way Kyrahth was over him, even if his green was neither drooling nor hissing, merely eyeing the other green warily now. Charging dragon apparently meant Kyrahth absolutely had to get ready to fight (and A’emi kind of didn’t blame her) but this was…absolutely…ridiculous.

He tried not to laugh.

He really, really did.

All that he accomplished was letting the giggle build up into an actual laugh, and A’emi flopped flat onto his back when it came out, pressing one hand flat against his mouth in order to stifle the laughter. It didn’t help, either. He managed to stop laughing when his ribs started to hurt, though, by actively stuffing his hand into his mouth, proving that, yes, his mouth was big enough to fit his entire hand into. His laughter, at least, had soothed Kyrahth’s temper – partly, if not entirely; she deflated slightly, tail lashing behind her in irritation, and still eyeing Rinagth intently enough that the phrase ‘if looks could kill’ popped up into A’emi’s mind.

“Nngh,” he finally managed to say, shoving himself into a seated position, a smile still wide and trembling on the verge of laughter again. “She rabid or something?” And if the words came out faintly strangled, that wasn’t his fault.

Kyrahth opted to take a politer approach. Congratulations. You are doing a lovely job drowning Yours, the green informed Rinagth, even though the cold sarcasm in her tone detracted notably from the politeness aspect. As did the fact that she still hadn’t moved from her defensive pose, head lowered and hindquarters raised in preparation for…flight, attack, anything. Whatever.

[Kisha-Ra]

J’on waved a hand dramatically at the laughing greenrider. ‘You see Rinagth? No one is taking this display seriously. You’re just making a fool of yourself.’ He ignored the fact that the other green was in a very similar, though less agitated, pose to Rinagth.

Rinagth did stop hissing, and therefore drooling, but that was all the concession J’on got. She wasn’t about to let that enemy green hurt her rider, of course Rinagth couldn’t exactly recall why Kyrahth was the enemy, but she was certain she should be holding a grudge against the other green and the males she’d claimed as hers, or at least some of them, were part of it. But she is evil. She might eat you, or flame you, or-[/color]

That has got to be the most stupid thing I’ve heard for days. J’on responded, switching from speaking aloud so that maybe the other greenrider would calm down and breathe a little. Dragons don’t eat people. J’on was fairly certain that was true, even in battle. Besides she’s not likely to have flame now is she? And I don’t want to hear what else you think she might do.

J’on looked at the recovered rider with a slight hint of a smile, at least someone was enjoying this situation, and if the roles were reversed, he’d probably laugh as well. ‘Possible, but I don’t think so. She’s just being silly, probably over males again. Rinagth seems to think every brown and blue on the continent belongs to her, she’s greedy.’ The greenrider gave a slight shrug and kept his hand on Rinagth’s muzzle, so he could smack it if she started drooling on him again.

Rinagth drew herself up, projecting arrogance, how dare the enemy address her? It was an outrage. It won’t hurt him. You might.[/color] The green responded shortly, flaring her wings again.

[Avu]

“Males?”

There was the strain of laughter still in A’emi’s voice, and the glee that trembled in his throat made itself known in that one word. The greenrider giggled, not bothering to stifle that sound, and rolled over so he was on his stomach, propping himself up by the elbows and pressing his chin against his fingers, legs bent over his back childishly. “You can tell her not to worry,” he offered, batting a playful wink in Rinagth’s direction – something that would probably get him eaten someday, but he really couldn’t help but want to bait the green, even if he suspected it was mainly Kyrahth that had her so upset. “Kyr doesn’t care about males very much. She’s really mean to them.”

He tilted his head, curious despite himself, and pursed his lips like he was blowing a bubble absently. “She Rising soon?” he inquired, flicking his fingers lazily in Rinagth’s direction. “’Cause Kyr’s not. Hey, do you know, if we made a bonfire here, we wouldn’t catch anything on fire, would we?” Because staying on one topic was boring, of course. He really did want to make that bonfire. Little fires were great and all, but a really big one would be much more fun, even if it was just him and Kyrahth near it. “I mean, like…a big bonfire. There’re no rules against that, are there?”

Kyrahth was, fortunately, distracted – she didn’t think a bonfire was a good idea at all. The green’s eyes narrowed a little more, mouth opening in a faint mockery of a human sneer. Do explain how /drowning/ will fail to injure a human, she almost crooned, sickly sweet. As opposed to I – /I/ have no interest in hurting insignificant bugs, you realize. There are more productive uses of time, and Yours… Her gaze swept across J’on, deliberately condescending, before it rose again to Rinagth. …is /not/ worth it.

“Stop picking a fight,” A’emi ordered her, tilting his head back to glare at his dragon. “It’s mean and do you realize how upsetting you can be? Very. Brat.” He tilted his head, glancing down towards Rinagth again. “Sorry.” Kind of. Not really.

I /am/ sorry the truth hurts.
“Infant.”

[Kisha-Ra]

J’on certainly wasn’t offended by the giggling. He actually found Rinagth’s possessive attitude toward just about every male dragon bar bronzes to be amusing most of the time, and all the more so because as much as she flirted and snuggled with them, she was a terror in Flight. Rinagth however offered only another hiss, which earned another thump aimed at her muzzle. ‘That’s probably only going to make things worse.’ J’on said resignedly, that might even explain why Rinagth was blathering on about the other green being evil. Apparently Rinagth was the only green allowed to have violent Flights. ‘Not even a nit of a glow to her, I was concerned for a moment there but she’s not due to rise for a while. If she was close I wouldn’t expect her to care about ‘her’ males. She’s evil to them when she’s proddy.’

I am not Rinagth objected, right on cue, actually pulling slightly out of her aggressive stance so she could look more offended. I just… have to be firm with them.[/color] The green contrived to look even more offended when J’on snorted with laughter.

J’on looked around the prospective bonfire site. ‘Well there’s nothing that’s highly flammable nearby, so I’m guessing no. On the bad side for starting fires, there’s nothing really flammable around. I did see some drift wood and stuff back there, and quite a lot of seaweed but it’s all pretty wet.’ J’on answered one part of the question as fully as possible, and totally ignored the part about rules. A fire sounded pretty good right now, he really wasn’t enjoying all the cold weather.

‘You know I think I remember where I’ve seen you two before.’ J’on suddenly said, watching the two greens with a mixture of worry and amusement. ‘Didn’t you try and kill us in the whole debacle with High Reaches and what have you?’ J’on was fairly certain it was the same green he and Rinagth had fought.

I told you so.[/color] Rinagth sounded victorious, even though she had done no such thing, but J’on was inclined to let this one slide, because while Rinagth was saying I told you so she was also ignoring Kyrahth for the moment. Possibly because she’d run out of insults, Rinagth had a rather short attention span for anything that wasn’t a male dragon.

[Avu]

Oh, poor males, hard lives they had. A’emi grinned, crinkling his nose slightly at J’on. All the females seemed to be snappy at some point or another. Or at least, all of the ones he remembered, which basically amounted to Kyrahth, Rinagth, and possibly Onyth. He only suspected Onyth of having a temper, really, since Kyrahth was pretty talented at getting every green to hate her as far as he was concerned, but Elysia was Elysia. Any dragon Bonded to her had to have some temper, or else they would have probably broken their brains pretty early on. His gaze flicked up to the green; her posture had eased some. Now she just looked kind of pissed.

Well, go by stages. Couldn’t go from attacking to crooning. He discreetly kicked Kyrahth’s foreleg. Ease up, darling, Rinagth’s not gonna be able to pounce you from where she’s at without tripping over J’on anyway.

Which was possibly a lie, but the intention was the same. Kyrahth’s posture was already loose, ready for action; the green hissed quietly and slid fluidly downwards, lying flat on her stomach with A’emi in between her forelegs, tail drooping over the edge of the rock. At least the Rider was being civil, even if she still didn’t approve of the idea of a bonfire. The Rider had to be able to control the dragon. She would trust them for now, especially since the other green hadn’t attempted to answer her back. Point to Kyrahth. The green’s tail tip flicked, smugness practically radiating.

“Driftwood’s good, um – ?” He cut off, blinking at the kid for a moment, and then clicked his tongue, looking speculatively at Rinagth again. For a moment, his eyes were blank, and then they lit up again, and he actually clapped his hands together once in recognition. “Right! Tag-teamed you with what-was-his-name, er, that blue…” He glanced up at Kyrahth for help, received only a tight hiss, and then drummed his fingers against the rock. “Tymeheth?…something like that. Yeah. I think.” He half-grimaced, and added, even though he absolutely wasn’t, “Sorry about that.”

Sorry we didn’t finish her off then, Kyrahth offered, sniffing slightly, but at least she had the presence of mind to keep the comment private. The green gave another tight flick of her tail, gaze narrowing on Rinagth. She didn’t remember this one – she remembered Behruth, had scars to remind her if she ever came close to forgetting, but the green…she didn’t. Not that that meant anything in particular – she didn’t even remember her old wingmates.

“Hey,” A’emi added, softer, ignoring Kyrahth in favor of leaning forward towards J’on, an expression of almost-concern flickering across his face. “Is that why she was,” he flipped one hand in the air, crinkled his nose up, “upset? I’m not gonna hurt you or anything, and I won’t let Kyr. Look, bonfire, yeah? I think I heard once that if there’s salt on the wood the fire burns yellow instead of…red orange yellow. And there’re things that can turn the fire like, purple and white and green and stuff. I was gonna just figure out the bonfire myself, but company would be nice. I can send Kyr away if it bothers her that much.” He could, but he probably wouldn’t. He liked Kyrahth’s company more than any random person’s.

Even if it was a person he happened to have almost killed previously. Especially if, even.

[Kisha-Ra]

Apparently now that J’on had accepted how evil Kyrahth was Rinagth could relax, slightly anyway, and it might have had more to do with the other green’s change to a less overtly hostile posture (yes even though Rinagth had come charging down the beach hissing and spitting Kyrahth was clearly in the wrong). Ironically Rinagth took a similar protective pose, sitting on her haunches with one foreleg placed either side of her rider. She didn’t know why the other green was looking so smug, especially since everyone now knew she was evil.

J’on snorted and absently reached up to pat Rinagth’s shoulder, tacitly approving her relatively good behaviour and lack of drool. He wondered if either of the greens realised how alike they looked, but decided not to bring it up, even if Rinagth had noticed she’d deny it as a matter of course. ‘You are not.’ J’on stated bluntly, slightly amused. ‘And why would you be? It’s not like Rina wasn’t trying to knock you two into Behruth’s claws while you were setting us up for your wingmate. On the whole I admit I’m glad it played out with us alive at the end of it though.’ Unlike his dragon J’on had a very laid back outlook on being attack by the other greenpair. They were on opposite sides in a major battle, they were expected to try and kill, or least severely wound each other. Personally J’on was rather glad he didn’t actually have to kill anyone, cowardly maybe but a part of him definitely cringed back from killing.

J’on shrugged, letting his breath out in a long sigh. ‘Rinagth doesn’t really remember, she probably only recalled the situation at all because it involved Behruth, and Kaaoloth and Inocenth. She’s got the best memory of dragonkind for about five dragons in particular, and a two second attention span for everything else.’ Rinagth felt slightly offended as her rider extolled her faults for a moment but J’on barely noted it, if she was annoyed with him she was ignoring the other green, and that was fine with him.

Fire was a far more comfortable topic, not to mention one J’on was growing more and more interested in as a chill breeze insisted on cutting right through his clothing. ‘Oh don’t worry about it, we just probably shouldn’t leave the two of them alone together.’ World class sniping match, that was nearly all J’on could think. ‘We might find some drier stuff to start this fire with if we look higher than the tideline where storms chuck up a lot of stuff.’ He suggested, J’on might not have known about things making the flames burn different colours but he did know a bit about starting fires, and unless one of the dragons could produce enough flame to light it, it was going to take a quite a bit of effort to get it started. ‘I think I saw some debris high enough up to be dry back there.’ He added thoughtfully, looking back in the direction he’d come from.. ‘I could go and fetch some of it.’

[Avu]

“Okay,” A’emi allowed, grinning a little more widely. “I’m not, really, I’m just saying it so you won’t punch me or anything.” His head tilted slightly to one side as the other greenrider went on, running the names through his mind; Behruth, Kaaoloth, Inocenth; the brown that had grounded Kyrahth, the brown they were after, the blue that Kyrahth had ended up crashing into the ground (and, now, their neighbor). Hmm, yes, he remembered them all. Inocenth and Kaaoloth he really didn’t care about in particular; Behruth he kind of wanted to kill because he had touched Kyrahth and that was just not allowed. He apparently wasn’t as nice as J’on was.

What a surprise.

He felt Kyrahth snort in dry amusement, her breath warm and familiar against the back of his neck. “Sure,” he replied agreeably. He was fairly certain he might have rocks to start a fire somewhere on him (it was entirely possible that the concept of flaming arrows interested him much, much more than it should have. It was also entirely possible that he may or may not have been firing crude arrows lit on fire into the ocean). A’emi sat upright, patting himself down, until he slipped his hand into his pocket, found the two metallic gray-blue stones, attached by stones, and pulled them out. “’F we can get stuff, I’ve got these little things, forget what they’re called…”

But they made fire. And that was basically all he cared about. Hopping off of the rock, A’emi started in the direction J’on had looked in, waving one hand at the other greenrider to indicate he should follow. “If you don’t want to leave them alone together, could you get yours to tag along or something? Kyr’s decided she wants to claim that rock and arguing with her’s only going to get me thrown into the ocean or something, so yeah. I’d kind of rather not, it’s almost night and it’s freezing.” A quick glance was flicked up towards the sky; they probably had about half a candlemark of daylight left…

“Where were you talking?” he tacked on at the end, probably the one thing that actually had any reference at all to a bonfire. Yes, he liked to ramble. It was fun. This was fun, even though A’emi was fairly certain he couldn’t qualify as a pyromaniac, planning a bonfire, even if trotting off cheerfully into the half-darkness with someone he’d once tried to kill…

It’s dumb. Just like you, Kyrahth provided, more weary than actually upset. When you die, I’m going to bring you back to life so I can kill you again. Then maybe I’ll be able to die happy. I hate you. You’re going to give me a heart attack, or else I’m going to have to sit on you and starve. Did I mention I hate you?

Yeah, it was pretty dumb.

[Kisha-Ra]

J’on nodded solemnly, if A’emi had actually insisted he was sorry about trying to kill him, J’on seriously would have doubted the other man’s sanity. ‘See, don’t you feel better now you’ve admitted that?’ J’on asked, trying hard to sound like an adult scolding a child for breaking something but a note of humour laced his tone. ‘Probably not, if your happy to sit there and laugh at me getting drooled on I’m inclined to think you don’t much care.’ Hey maybe this guy spent most of his days laughing at people he’d once tried to kill, maybe he was just quietly insane. Unless the rider became suddenly violent J’on was happy to live in ignorance.

Who cared what the rocks were actually supposed to be called, as long as they made sparks J’on didn’t care what they were named so he merely shrugged in answer to that issue. ‘Great, I won’t have to try and find suitable rocks around here.’ J’on cast a glance at the rather menacing seeming green on her rock, he could easily imagine her flinging her rider into the sea. ‘I don’t think that will be a problem.’ Indeed Rinagth was already rising and trailing J’on like a protective shadow. Kyrahth’s rider might not be as evil as Kyrahth was but Rinagth certainly wasn’t going to take the chance on leaving her rider alone with him.

‘Yeah this is pretty weird weather. I haven’t even seen frost for turns and the other day I woke up and it had taken over the Weyr.’ J’on shuddered just thinking about how cold it had been recently. ‘Oh a bit further up, just around that bend, there’s a big hole there now because Rinagth half buried herself in the sand when it was warmer.’ J’on trotted ahead of his companion as he spoke. ‘Here we are, and there’s a pile of burnable stuff.’ J’on skirted a rather large hole in the sand with dragon tracks leading away from it, clearly Rinagth’s former wallow, and headed a bit further up the beach to a pile of assorted junk that had probably been dumped there by one of the summer storms. Since he wouldn’t be able to set light to them right away J’on tossed away a couple of larger branches and bits of scrap wood, favouring a pile of twiggy bits and pieces, a very dry half rotted board that would crumle easily and a pile of desiccated seaweed. ‘That should do to stat it with. Where do fancy putting this fire?’ he asked as if the person he was asking wasn’t a former enemy, when J’on got focused on something that interested him he didn’t divert easily, not even to consider if it was really a good idea, and he really felt enthusiastic about a nice big fore right now.

[Avu]

A’emi shot J’on a smile that he sincerely hoped was dazzling enough to make up for trying to kill him, and wandered after the other greenrider, crinkling his nose. “I like the cold,” he responded, tucking his hands behind his head and interlacing his fingers. “It’s nicer than the heat. I mean, I complain about it, ‘cause I’d really rather mild weather and all, but it’s fun. Complaining, I mean, not freezing.” He kicked absently at the sand, dropping his hands back to his sides, and scanned the tree branches and twigs that had been – what, washed up, then? And dried.

Bending over, he poked curiously at one, and then picked it up; dried leaves still clung to it. Easy to light on fire, then, even if it’d only last a short time. Wandering around the scraggly pile, he picked up a few more, stacking them in his arms as much as he could, and then headed back for J’on and Rinagth. “Over near Kyr’s rock, she’ll complain if she can’t get warm,” he replied, jerking his head in the direction in question, just in case there was anything unclear about the idea. “I mean, she’ll complain anyway. But less. And I don’t need a headache right now.” He’d probably get one anyway because Kyrahth was Kyrahth and Kyrahth loved to be contrary, but still.

He dumped out his armful of sticks and whatever a few meters away from Kyrahth’s rock, pulling out the two stones. Kyrahth, behind him, uncurled curiously, deigning to lean down and huff against the branches, nudging them into some semblance of an actual pile with her nose. This will only make a small fire, she commented, petulantly. Get more. If we’re going to set fire to the forest we might as well do it properly. A pause, and then she added, Why don’t you get /her/ to fetch more sticks? I’m sure even she can manage /that/, common canine tasks…

“Darling, you’re so sweet,” A’emi murmured dryly in response, turning and tossing the two rocks towards J’on with a quick, “Catch. Y’wanna try and get it going? Those things don’t like me much, never did learn how to use ‘em properly. I’m gonna go grab some more sticks, Kyr wanted a freaking huge fire and I think that’d be pretty cool, too.” He started back towards the pile, and then stopped, tilting his head, and added, “Also, please don’t catch anything on fire other than the sticks. I kind of don’t want to start a forest fire. I’m thinking that’d be pretty bad.”

[Kisha-Ra]

J’on shook his head. ‘Nope I’m definitely a tropical flower at heart. I’d rather have heat than cold.’ The very thought of frost everywhere was making him feel even colder, but that had to be serving A’emi’s nefarious purposes because it was making J’on very eager to get the fire going. Probably why the man had started on about the weather in the first place. Complaining? Fun? J’on didn’t see how that one worked out at all so he just decided to ignore it.

Oh so he didn’t enjoy complaining when it was directed at him then? A’emi was one perplexing man, of course he did come from the northern continent, as far as J’on was concerned everyone there was a very long way off the deep end. So maybe back there, everything A’emi said and did made perfect sense. ‘I thought you liked complaining. I was going to think up some complaints just so you could enjoy them.’ Of course J’on couldn’t just leave such a large contradiction alone, even though he was obediently heading back for the rock. Seemed like a pretty good place for a fire.

Who knew what Kyrahth thought of the stick collection, probably nothing positive, J’on reflected as the dragon poked at the sticks and huffed. Jon gave the sand a look over and supposed it was all pretty much the same when it came to starting fires, at least he didn’t have to worry about stray vegetation catching light here.

J’on made a grab for the flying stones automatically. ‘Sure. Try and bring back some smallish boards and branches.’ He instructed as he moved to kneel in the sand, waving a hand at his dragon to get her to move back a bit. ‘I’m sure I can manage not to set the jungle alight, unless Kyrahth also had a very long fire in mind.’ J’on gave the lack of vegetaion in the area a pointed look, that was somewhat diminished by it not being present.

She might, she’s obviously defective. And evil.[/color]

Shush.

Rinagth flopped down on the sand a little way from her rider, maintaining a semi alert pose. J’on turned his attention back to his fire in progress. Where was that dry board? Ah, under those. Right. In short order J’on had what he considered a good enough pile of small flammables to put sparks to them. It was always a bit of tense moment when the sparks landed, but happily the stuff caught first time, and within a minute or two J’on was carefully feeding the flame its first twigs. In a short while it might be respectable fire.

[Avu]

“Boards and branches, got it. And hey, a long fire might be fun.” On which decidedly pyromaniac-like note the greenrider trotted back off to the pile, leaving J’on and Rinagth at the mercy of Kyrahth.

The green stared at the others through narrowed eyes, tapping her claws lightly upon the rock. Was she deliberately drawing attention to them? Why, yes, yes she was – definitely a threat. J’on’s position was close enough to her that she could grab at him, probably faster than that green could react, and she was so very, very tempted to do it…just pounce on him, grab him by the collar of his shirt, and carry him back to the rock and see how Rinagth would react, just for fun. Not hurt him, of course; Kyrahth wasn’t stupid. Hurting a random greenpair would not be looked upon kindly the rankers.

Playing with a random greenpair, though…her tail flicked, the movement a little more violent than before, and shades of ice blue appeared in her eyes. Kyrahth’s head tilted, and she’d just gone still in preparation to spring when A’emi caught her intentions and stopped her. If I come back and there’s a green dragon ready to rip my head off that’s not you, I swear to Faranth, Kyr, you can figure out how to bathe and oil yourself for a sevenday or two. Besides, he’s playing with fire, do you really need to be burnt to a crisp? Do you know how hard it’ll be to attend Drills like that?

Kyrahth’s eyes slitted, but the green relaxed again, claws scraping against stone in irritation. Then hurry back, dearest, she replied silkily, Dally too long and you may find yourself short a set of companions.

A’emi hurried. Obediently, feeling a little put out at the fact that he was apparently so quick to obey the orders of a particularly temperamental green that just couldn’t settle down and relax in the company of another green – but hurried nonetheless. He arrived a few minutes later, dumping another armful of wood (small boards and branches as demanded) next to J’on, and knelt next to him to examine the progress of the fire. “So,” he said, launching right back into the previous thread of conversation as if there’d never been a break at all, “I’m pretty sure I can out-complain anyone about anything, regardless of whether or not I actually like it or not – which I do like the cold – so come up with a complaint that I think kicks ass and I’ll…um.”

His head tilted, the greenrider’s gaze flicking up contemplatively over J’on. “I don’t know. I’ll kiss you or something, do you think we need more wood after this…?” He rocked back on his heels, gesturing absently towards the wood he’d brought back. “I could get more, I guess…”

[Kisha-Ra]

For a moment J’on stopped to wonder just what he’d gotten into here. Building a fire with a former enemy was kind of strange, building a fire with a former enemy who was starting to sound like a complete pyromaniac was probably utter folly. His mother would probably have said something about playing with fire and getting burned, but she was nowhere nearby to caution him.

Rinagth shifted slightly, pulling her hindquarters under her body and tensing just a bit at the quiet sound of the other green’s claws tapping against the rock. She was sure Kyrahth was plotting some wickedness, and she was on guard against it.

Rinagth. If I get eaten, or knocked in the fire, or, pretty much anything, you are going to have to rely on the goodwill of other people to get yourself bathed and fussed over, because I will most definitely be removing my cooperation. J’on warned darkly, feeding more bits and pieces into the fire as he did so. It was bad enough being here with one posturing green, if he was going to be between a pair of them he’d certainly issue an ultimatum to the one he had some theoretical control over. The other one, he’d just have to hope she wouldn’t actually eat him if Rinagth got too annoying.

The scraping sound of talons against rock made J’on shudder as all the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Cautiosly he looked sideways to see if his doom was approaching him in the form of dragon teeth. Thankfully Kyrahth seemed to be relaxing, and Rina also seemed to be quieting down, he hoped this meant they weren’t going to be openly hostile anymore, maybe they were settling in for a long glaring match.

Even with the pair of greens being sort of relaxed around each other J’on was glad to see A’emi back, it was more likely Kyrahth wouldn’t do anything dreadful to him if there was a chance of her rider being caught in the way. ‘Oh well I’m going to be a disappointment in that department. I tend to just endure things without too many complaints, they don’t seem to change anything.’

J’on turned and gave the other greenrider an enquiring look. ‘Is that supposed to an encouragement to come up with something, or an ultimatum not to?’ J’on asked, quite amused by the offer. It was possibly a shame that he wasn’t up to much on complaints, but J’on wasn’t quite sure. ‘That would rather depend on how big you want this fire. That lot should keep it burning at a respectable level for a while though.’ J’on seriously hoped the fire was good as a largish fire rather than a huge one. If it wasn’t A’emi could stay with the snarky dragons.

[Avu]

“Ow, my ego,” A’emi complained, crinkling his nose at J’on, but the grin that flashed across his face made it clear that he hadn’t taken insult. His response would’ve probably been much the same if their positions had been swapped, after all. He flopped back, crossing his legs, and reached forward to poke a stick further towards the little fire that was starting to lick at branches and seaweed and catch. “I’d like to think I’m at least a decent kisser, but since clearly some people are much more adept at it, I’ll just sit here and complain.” The greenrider sniffed in mock-disdain, and then smirked, playful again. “Seriously, though, take it however. And honestly, complaining isn’t that hard. Either that or I’m just a natural at it, but I kind of sincerely doubt that, so.”

He shrugged, appraising the fire for a moment. “Eh, it’s good enough for me.” Scooting back a little so he wouldn’t burn his feet (or any other part of himself, really), A’emi resettled himself loosely in the sand, forearms braced absently against his knees, gaze flashing over the fire briefly before it resettled on J’on, bright and contemplative. As a general rule, he tended to avoid hanging around other greenriders – Kyrahth invariably disapproved (see: Elysia). Of course, Kyrahth didn’t really approve of other Riders much either (she tolerated M’kai because of Futh, and K’thay because he could keep A’emi from dying horribly, and that was about it).

Still…there were worse people to befriend than someone you’d tried to kill once upon a time. Like bronzeriders and goldriders. Irritating, those. A’emi tilted his head absently, one finger tracing abstract curls and curves into the sand directly in front of him. “So,” he commented after a minute, back to watching the fire, J’on in his peripheral vision, “Southern bonfires on the beach in the middle of the coldest winter since ever. Any traditions I should be aware of?”

Traditionally, Kyrahth offered, still silky-smooth and dangerous, The night is ended with a sacrifice of the weakest human attending the bonfire, whose body is disposed of in the sea. The others that attended the bonfire never speak of the sacrifice’s name again, nor what happened to the corpse. In short, they are sworn to secrecy. I’m /sure/ it happens, dearest. Shall we indulge the Southerners in their tradition? The innocence in her voice was so typical of Kyrahth when plotting that A’emi would’ve just outright ignored it – which she knew. Which was why she’d included Rinagth in the comment.

Of course.