just face it, don't pretend [x'rx]

[Avu]

I’m hungry.
Hello, Hungry, /my/ name’s A’emi, and my dragon just changed her name.

Kyrahth didn’t even bother to respond. To be expected, given just how old a joke that was. A’emi might have been sincerely disappointed if she had responded. He rolled over onto his back on his bed, sighing as his head dangled off the edge, his arms folded across his chest like a restless child. “You wanna go to the Feeding Grounds, love?” he inquired, more seriously this time. “You can go ahead if you want to. I don’t really want to hunt out today. It’s too…” One hand flicked, drawing a lazy abstract design in the air. “…too everything. Too hot and too humid and too not-breezy and too…”

The Feeding Grounds are adequate. However, you are coming with me. Her gaze followed A’emi as he rolled straight off the edge of the bed and shuffled, complaining all the way, to her side. His words went ignored; she knew he’d come, after all, complaints aside, and that was all she wanted. The green held still as A’emi draped himself across her neck, not even bothering to sit upright or get straps, and then exhaled loudly. He’d barely mumbled “’m ready” against green hide when Kyrahth threw herself off of the ‘ledge.

The rush of air was invigorating. A’emi didn’t even really know why he was feeling so lazy on that particular day. It probably did have something to do with the weather, since it was almost high noon – the sun was blazing and A’emi did not approve. He almost wished it would rain – at least it might cool down a little. Sigh. He pulled himself into a proper sitting position just as Kyrahth turned into a tight dive above the Feeding Pens, landing to let him slide off next to the fence – For your own safety, she informed him, huffing. I don’t trust you not to be trampled.

“You’re so cute when you’re being a brat,” A’emi crooned in response, pulling himself up to perch on the fence, one ankle hooking around the upright stake to keep himself from wobbling. “Go hurry up and eat, or we’ll have company, Faranth forbid – see, look, there’s already company, and you haaate company. Hey!” he added in a louder voice, waving at the ‘company’ in question, the other hand rising to shield his eyes so he could figure out exactly who their company was. “Horrible day, isn’t it?”

Well, /now/ it certainly is, Kyrahth commented dryly, even though the comment wasn’t meant for her, as the green twisted into flight again, back towards the herd. Meh. Food. She wanted it.

[Requiem]

Said 'company' was, for once, not accompanied by a certain saber-toothed dragon. Eveyth had taken to spending most of her time with Mavenath - even more so now that Cr'oph had requested it of X'rx specifically. The bronze was lonely, apparently. At the moment, the green was asleep. In fact, it was only when she was asleep that X'rx managed to wander around quite like this, not realizing where he was headed. His bond with Eveyth had become frighteningly close. He wondered if it was even natural. She slept and he couldn't help but daydream - all while feeling the phantom presence of another body pressed up against his and the desire to curl up with Cr'oph...tch.

Minnie chittered a greeting at the other greenrider from her position curled up in X'rx's curls. The greenweyrling tilted his head up, his disorientation all too clear as he blinked openly at the man perched on the fence. And yes, it did cross his mind briefly that a little man had invaded his daydreaming, considering the words out of the other greenrider's mouth. (Not that little men were ever much smaller than X'rx himself, who was by no means big, or even average.) Another blink, and he glanced toward the creatures shuffling nervously past the fence. The feeding pens? How had he ended up here?

He pondered that for a moment, finally deciding it probably wasn't that important. "Assuming that you're not a figment of my imagination," he commented, the quick flash of a smile accompanying a distinctly friendly tone, despite the words, "Did you say horrible? I hadn't noticed." X'rx glanced upward to gauge just what was so terrible about the day, leaning against the fencepost that A'emi had coiled his leg around. "Seems fine to me. Typical early autumn day for Selenitas," he concluded, not missing the pale skin that could only mean the greenrider was of northern stock. Which...didn't mean much, anymore. Lots of northerners at Selenitas.

Minnie fluted, fluttering up to perch on the other man's knee, cocking her wicked-looking head to one side curiously and picking at his trousers with her talons. "She's social...sorry about that. Minnie seems to want you to show her some attention," he offered, a touch awkwardly. "I can get her if you like." The greenweyrling extended a hand to the rider. "I'm X'rx...bonded to the one with the too-long canines. Eveyth." Weyrling still, but he didn't care to insult the stranger's intelligence; he was wearing knots, after all. "How long have you been here, then?"

[Avu]

Whaaaat.

There was a question in there somewhere, but it was the first thing the other…random kid (who came to the Feeding Pens without a dragon?) said that A’emi fixated on. Huffily, he raised his hand and pointed at his own face. It bent his wrist awkwardly, but A’emi didn’t really care. “Do I look like a figment of your imagination to you?” he inquired, crinkling his nose slightly – he wasn’t really upset, given that the boy/kid/person/dragonrider(?) didn’t make it sound insulting. His words, therefore, came out more in a deliberately, playfully bratty tone than anything else, and A’emi didn’t wait for a response before he went on, “And yeah, it’s horrible. I can list all the ways if you want me to?”

And yes, that was a sincere offer.

He peered interestedly at the younger man, definitely curious. A’emi talked to anything even vaguely sentient (he chatted to random dragons regularly, even if they never spoke back – at the very least, he probably provided them with some amusement, right?). Having them talk back wasn’t quite as regular. Most of the time he just got kind of awkward looks, like ‘Who is this crazy?’

A’emi’s knee twitched faintly as unfamiliar weight settled onto it, and he’d started to say it wasn’t a problem at all, even raising one hand to poke at Minnie, when a snarl rippled through the air – both mentally and vocally; Kyrahth’s head had whipped around, eyes narrowing on the firelizard that dared to touch Hers – and the green’s tone was undeniably pissed. Get her off of you /now/. It’s a nuisance, I came to eat, not watch /worms/ swarm all over you. You’re /mine/, or have you forgotten that?

“Uh.” A’emi blinked, reaching out automatically to shake X’rx’s hand. “Yeah. A’emi. And that’s Kyrahth, and yeah, your firelizard’s absolutely adorable but I think Kyrahth wants to possibly eat her…” He shrugged one shoulder, apologetically. Kyrahth’s overly-possessive behavior was nothing new for him, just a fact of life…even if it was a particularly annoying one at some times, if the way the green was shredding her meal was any indication. “And we just got here. Like…a minute ago. You know, most people tend to prefer eating at the Main Hall. You plan on eating a herdbeast or something? Can’t say it sounds appetizing.”

[Requiem]

A quirk of an amused smile at A'emi's insulted tone, followed by a slight shake of the head. He didn't say it of course, but he was fairly sure that he wouldn't imagine anyone like that, much less on a fence - and anyway, Minnie wasn't in the habit of sharing in his delusions. (Not that he actually imagined people. Fortunately. Otherwise he might be concerned that it was something in the family, what with his baby sister's odd friendship with cutlery.) He chuckled outright at the other greenrider's offer. "Unless you've something better than it's hot, clear and windless...I'll pass. Daydreaming I can deal with; passing out due to boredom, not so much." He heard those complaints constantly - and not just from northerners, either.

X'rx mentally prodded his green, still mid-shake, his hand returning to his side as the flit's tail wrapped back around his neck. The female chirped questioningly at him, a note of sadness in her tone. "Not everyone's as willing to share as Eveyth," X'rx responded, by way of explanation, stroking his lovely gently. Her head tilted to one side, almost bird-like, before she fluted understandingly at A'emi. If A'emi's didn't want her touching him, she would not cause trouble.

He hadn't precisely meant...at the feeding pens...but he didn't bother pursuing it. Partially cause it was likely A'emi was dodging the question, but mostly due to the slightly older rider's next words. From his position against the fence post, he couldn't hold back a laugh. "Well, you know, all those people complaining about me being too skinny, just figured I'd go out and amend that in one fell swoop. How many do you think it would take to turn me into a blob of nauseating, rolling flesh?" He peered over the fence at Kyrahth's kill, brushing his hands down his sides subconsciously in a clear grooming gesture. Ew, what a mess. "On second thought, I think my appetite has just been destroyed for the sevenday."

His expression maintained its open friendliness, but still edged a tad toward wry. "Eveyth effects me odd. I have trouble focusing when she's asleep and end up," here he flicked his fingers in a general gesture, "wandering aimlessly half the time." He pressed his palm against the wood, eyes going to the wood grains. "I'm not sure that's entirely normal, but I keep forgetting to talk to someone about it."

[Avu]

“Well…” Because that was definitely a challenge, and there was no way A’emi could resist replying to that, even if would just be…“It’s also humid, and I don’t have a hat.” Awesome argument right there. And too short to bore the kid, right? Right. A’emi nodded, more of a bounce of his chin than an actual dignified nod, as if agreeing with himself. An absentminded smile was aimed at the firelizard; the instant she was off of him, Kyrahth’s anger dissipated with almost alarming speed. Probably it was the fact that she was eating and could take out her anger on her food. Ffft.

His smile was amused, exposing a flash of teeth, as the greenweyrling went on. “Yeah? Sure she’s not hungry?” But still. He’d never wandered around aimlessly because of Kyrahth. Different Weyrs might make a difference, of course. “So, what, you just kind of…” His hand waved, trying to describe when words didn’t seem to want to fill in. Since the absentminded, loose-jointed flipping of his wrist provided absolutely nothing, he went on, “Like, walk around without knowing where you’re going?” Uh, potentially dangerous, hello. “You ever walk off the waterfall or a weyrledge or anything yet?”

Why don’t you also ask him if he’s possibly dead, and just happens to be capable of breathing? Kyrahth suggested sarcastically, coiling around her meal so she could stare in their direction. His dragon Rose recently; they are not of the newest Weyrling class. Flights and Weyrlings weren’t things that Kyrahth typically cared about at all, but Rise during a Weyrling lesson and the gossip is bound to spread like wildfire.

“Uh?” A’emi responded to Kyrahth eloquently; his eyes brightened in curiosity. “You’re telling me,” he added to X’rx. “Don’t I count? I’m not exactly a Mindhealer, but, I mean – I’ve had Kyrahth for seven Turns, right? And she’s a slow eater and I’m not going anywhere.” Hint, hint. A’emi almost nudged X’rx just to make his point, but he doubted the random touch would be taken well. Might have something to do with the fact that, yeah, he’d totally never seen the kid before now. “Also,” he added, and the corners of his eyes crinkled in his wry grin, “I’m booored. And I don’t want people to walk off ‘ledges…yeah, that’s bad…”

[Requiem]

"Eveyth? I should hope not. She ate with Mavenath yesterday." Dragged the bronze along with her, to be precise. Greens didn't eat daily. None of the dragons did, actually, which was good because he had no idea how any wher could support a reasonable amount of dragons if they ate that often. A'emi's next words, however, left X'rx blinking at him. It wasn't precisely like he was out of it, per se. He'd come through the kitchens without getting caught by errant knives or boiling water, after all - or bustling servers flitting in and out. The thought of just randomly walking off a weyrledge, though, was enough to make him a little nervous. "That's not possible, is it?" he questioned, with the barest tremor behind the question.

He wrinkled his nose at A'emi. A bit curious for a near-stranger, wasn't he? X'rx wasn't a terribly private person, however, so it didn't really bother him, but that didn't mean he didn't recognize that it bordered on rude, to be asking for personal details so early. "Well, I suppose if it keeps me from dashing myself on a bunch of rocks..." Highly likely, of course, seeing as how Eveyth was almost a turn old. Surely now he'd kill himself by accident. He shook his head slightly, snorting softly.

"I don't know. Like, you know how everyone when they first Impress talks mind-to-mind with their dragons as soon as possible? We had trouble doing that. We understood each other, but verbal communication was hard - and now we don't anymore. We can, but there's no need?" Shifting to lean more comfortably against the post, he rubbed lightly at his temple. "And when Darya was on her rampage through the weyrs, I intercepted her before she could get to one of the other weyrlings. Eveyth was right there with me, and anxious to Fly from that day forward. Asked the dragons of the weyrlingmasters multiple times when they would Fly her, some of her brothers, too. Everyone said it was too early, but honestly she was probably ready even before she went up by nearly a month."

He shrugged, flashing an awkward smile at A'emi. "I'm very aware of her all the time. I feel like I should be curled up with Cr'oph...solely because Eveyth is huddled with Mavenath right now. We don't have a thought or a feeling that is solely our own, and never have, really. I kind of thought that was normal but now I'm not so sure?" He glanced over at Kyrahth again, wondering how a creature could clearly enjoy tearing another one up so much. That amount of rending definitely wasn't necessary.

[Avu]

Mavenath. Mavenath. Was he supposed to know Mavenath?

Hopefully not, because he hadn’t the faintest idea. A’emi smiled amiably, regardless, shrugging – the pleasant expression didn’t leave even at the tremble in the kid’s voice that he almost missed. The greenrider didn’t reply immediately, though, save for a blink and his smile quirking sideways. He didn’t know the answer to that question – how could he? It wasn’t him that had the problem, right? Still, he settled for a relatively unhelpful, “You haven’t done it yet, have you?” Which had been his original question anyway; it was perfectly reasonable to imagine that he might’ve and had just been caught by his dragon or something, wasn’t it?

His smile widened faintly, A’emi wrapping his arms around his legs, nearly doubling over on the fence, chest hovering above his thighs. The explanation that X’rx gave was…uh, confusing. A’emi offered a thoughtful hum in the back of his throat, turning his head to press his temple against his knee. And apparently he was a horrible dragonrider mindhealer, because the first thought that passed through his mind was how absolutely twitchy he’d be if he and Kyrahth were that close. Which they weren’t, and never had been, thank you Faranth for small mercies. But hey. Attention on the problem, please. He could play mindhealer for a little. It’d be fun.

Fun, Kyrahth echoed scornfully, and A’emi briefly glanced up to check on her progress; she had settled to actually eat, muzzle streaked with red.

“So, uh, I really don’t think that’s normal, but it’s not…like, a bad thing, right?” He unclasped one hand from around his knees to gesture vaguely. “Um, right up until you actually do get hurt, anyway.” And what a mess that would probably make. Splatter was not good. “So, it’s always been like that? Not just recently? Like, right after…Darya rampaged?” And, yes, okay, he snickered at that, crinkling his nose in amusement, even though it really wasn’t an appropriate thing to be laughing at. He didn’t even know Darya or who she was, but…yeah, still funny. “I mean, I know I’m probably just kind of repeating crap, but how old was she, then?”

You make a horrible mindhealer, Kyrahth observed, and her tone was almost smugly amused as she licked blood off of her muzzle, throwing a slit-eyed glance back at X’rx, still faintly disapproving of the greenweyrling.

A’emi shot a wide grin at the dragon before he concluded, “Kyr thinks I’m really bad at this mindhealing stuff, and I guess I am. You should see an actual Mindhealer, right? I mean, like – I don’t think watching Kyr eat is exactly relaxing. Or…any other dragon. Unless you like blood. Maybe you should go to the beach or something. Assuming you can swim, I mean.”

[Requiem]

X'rx thought about it for a moment, squinting slightly at the hunched figure of A'emi on his fence. "Hurt myself. Or one of us gets hurt at an inconvenient time for the other one - like when Eveyth's trying to Between." Not that they were Betweening yet, but he was weyrbred and of course he knew the basic mechanics. You'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to, growing up here. "I mean, I know you want a close bond but isn't there a point where it becomes...too close? And then how would I fix it? I'd think they'd go over that sometime, if not here then where you came from." Which weyr...he couldn't tell. Partially because he didn't really care. A'emi was a new face, though, and he trusted his memory for faces enough to know that this greenpair wasn't native Selenitas.

"Darya? She was our weyrlingmaster, and they're always old. Well, relatively old, I should say. Almost forty? I guess they took exception to her jumping a weyrling." He shrugged. X'rx tried to care, but really, it hadn't hurt him or Eveyth. Even if you blamed the green's Rise on Darya...that hadn't hurt anyone either. And if he hadn't intercepted her, the bluerider might well have gotten ahold of a dragonpair (the babies were around, after all) who couldn't handle it, or a candidate, or possibly a child. She'd been near the Main Hall and all the public sections of the Weyr when he'd spotted her.

X'rx smiled awkwardly at A'emi. "A mindhealer? I don't think it's mindhealing we really need, at least not from some random mindhealer. Raebeli's sweet, but...she doesn't even have a firelizard. What I need is someone who at least has some idea of what I'm talking about." Which this slightly older rider clearly didn't. Given how - violently - Kyrahth was laying into that herdbeast, though, perhaps it was a good thing. At any rate, if A'emi was agreeing it wasn't normal, pretty safe to assume he didn't have similar problems, right?

Which left the final suggestion. Go swimming. Well...that wasn't a bad suggestion, though he doubted he would have noticed Kyrahth or A'emi at all if the greenrider hadn't hailed him. Of course, that meant the river, and that meant downstream where he couldn't daydream his way right over the waterfall. Perhaps a better idea, though? Not wandering off alone where there was no one to distract him from his aimlessness.

"It's not that much of a bother." He flashed a grin at A'emi. "Surely there are things you'd rather talk about, apart from the weather and my wandering problems. If you have any questions about Selenitas, this has always been my home and I'm sure I can answer them for you."

[Avu]

Too close. That was a new one. The first thought that passed through A’emi’s mind was “so block her out” – but that probably wasn’t right. He was fairly certain it used to give him headaches when he tried to close Kyrahth out, but that was because she’d been actively fighting him and after a while they’d just never come, the headaches, after the green decided it just wasn’t worth the effort and it was usually for her own good anyway. “Can’t remember going over it,” he replied, one shoulder rising in a shrug. “’Course, we might’ve and I’ve just forgotten, I don’t usually remember things that don’t apply to me…?”

Except that he did, but that was beside the point.

At least the kid cleared up who Darya was, even though by ‘how old was she’ he’d meant Eveyth, but sure. A’emi snickered faintly, tucking his chin into his knees to muffle the sound in case X’rx thought it was offensive or something. One shoulder rose in a shrug, though; he didn’t know anyone who suffered (was ‘suffered’ even an appropriate term?) from being…uh, too close to a mindmate, given that ‘mindmate’ practically screamed closeness. “Mm,” because that was just so helpful, wasn’t it?

A’emi brightened, though, tilting his head to examine X’rx. “Hmm,” he drawled, and uncoiled slightly to prop his elbows against his knees instead. “Well, I mean, I don’t have any real questions, but…” For a moment he went back to watching Kyrahth, considering, before his head lifted again. “Okay, so, the kitchens, right? When I passed by this morning they were making pies, and I would’ve stolen one but I don’t really know the kitchens that well. Or the people that work there, don’t usually talk to them very much.” Sometimes he flirted with them in passing, but playful compliments doth good bribery not make. Distraction, maybe, but he’d probably end up burning his hand trying to keep eye contact while snagging a pie, pfft.

“That count as something you could help with?” he finished. Hopefully so, because pie! But if not, he could probably pretend he was just kidding or something, given the customary playful smile that had spread across his face – of course he wasn’t a thief. He was just…hungry. Right. And anyway, Kyrahth was almost done – she ate more often than other dragons, he’d noticed, but she usually ate only one or two herdbeasts at a time. Seemed like just the one would be enough this time. Which was good, since, company or not, perching on a fence like an overgrown darter really wasn’t terribly amusing for long periods of time.

[Requiem]

Yeah, A'emi definitely wasn't the only one who seemed to find it funny, X'rx's 'encounter' with Darya. The greenweyrling had become more or less immune to the titters by this point. The rest of the greenrider's comments - or lack thereof - were similarly helpful. The teenager suppressed a sigh. What he really needed to do was talk to Iskierka, probably. She was even less approachable than Darya though. Actually, Darya was surprisingly approachable, though that might have had a lot to do with it being hard to maintain much of a distance after being with someone in a rather - compromising - position. At any rate, X'rx was more than willing to drop the topic, seeing as how it seemed to be going nowhere.

The question left the teenager blinking at the slightly older male. "Help you...get pie? Did you try asking? My mother might fuss a bit, but she never says no..." Still a touch puzzled, X'rx made up his mind in a flash. And revealed his very southern upbringing by stepping forward, snaring the smaller man by the waist and lifting him down from the fence in a smooth motion. He waved to Kyrahth. "Borrowing your rider for a bit!" he called to the green who had almost finished her meal. X'rx pivoted and started for the kitchens, glancing over his shoulder at A'emi. "So then, are you coming?" He didn't wait for an answer or even look back again.

In fact, his next words might well have been spoken to the empty air, without him being at all the wiser. "Of course, if you wanted to get your hands on more than one, you'd have to be sneakier about it. They're pretty stingy about the rations. Probably because half the weyrbrats here would take advantage if they weren't, but still." Eveyth might have a hold on him in her slumbering state, but it was easy enough to focus with an actual task in mind and someone to keep him distracted from the queer need to wander.

"So our best bet, I figure, is for you to let me distract the old biddies - you'd be surprised how far gossip can go with 'em - while you sneak in through the back and steal the cooling ones on the shelves. Going to have to promise to share with me afterwards, though," he added, with the flash of a wry smile. "Good gossip can be interesting, but they like to squeeze it through a gauntlet of a hundred questions." He pulled a face. "We got a deal?"

[Avu]

Asking.

…

Heh.

A’emi wrinkled up his nose silently, the look decidedly petulant. Of course he hadn’t asked. This was, of course, because that just wasn’t adventurous. It wasn’t because there’d been a veritable swarm of weyrbrats who’d wanted the pies and had been asking, and (while he was pretty sure he’d traded his dignity away for a cookie at age two – literally) there were some things he just didn’t want to get involved in. Being overrun by hungry weyrbrats just happened to be one of them, what could he say? Fortunately, there was no time to go into that story. A’emi allowed himself to be pulled off the fence, twisting his foot free so he wouldn’t just go splat, amusement flashing across his face.

Kyrahth was not so amused. The green’s claws tightened on the carcass, tail lashing around, but fortunately she had the presence of mind not to outright snarl or do anything more drastic than hiss quietly to herself, eyes taking on a yellow shade. She did, however, throw a downright nasty look at X’rx at his comment, resentfully coiling around her meal. Tell him I want to eat him, she threw at A’emi, and managed to make it sound even more petulant than A’emi’s pout a minute earlier had been. Oh, maturity, thy name is Kyrahth. Then /let/ me eat him. I think that’s a good idea. I’ll even share, then you won’t /need/ pie.

Swallowing down a giggle that he was sure would come out faintly hysterical, A’emi flashed a grin at the green, wiggled his fingers in farewell, and then scurried after X’rx. “Weyrbrats. Sounds dangerous,” he agreed solemnly. “Like, seriously, they could probably storm the Main Hall and take all the pies by force if they wanted to. I would if there were a million of me.” Because that made sense. Still, the plan that X’rx proposed was simple enough and sounded easy enough to pull off (and he really did like pie a lot – especially when it was still relatively fresh).

“Deal, sure. I think they were those little hand-sized pies. Want more than one? Think I could fit two in each hand. And maybe one in my mouth. Uh. Carry it in my mouth by the edge of the tin, I mean, not like…” He gestured vaguely, crinkling up his nose faintly before he added, “How long would I have? Maybe I should just steal one of those giant serving-size plates and stack it.” And if anyone asked, he could say he was delivering them to the crèche, right? Of course. He could lie. And look innocent. Maybe. Assuming he hadn’t already stuffed a pie into his mouth, anyway.

Which he was not ruling out as a definite possibility.

[Requiem]

Completely oblivious to Kyrahth's hatred, X'rx snorted softly at A'emi's comment. "I don't think there's anyone in this world we'd want a million of, even if a greenrider army would be convenient in mounting a pie raid on the kitchens. Besides, two should be more than enough." Pondering for a moment, the teenager offered, "I can guarantee a minute for sure. Some of them are really paranoid...Take as many as you want to. Won't be hard to pawn off if we get too much, right?" Who in their right mind said no to pie, after all? "Remember: in the back, and you've only got about a minute. I'll clear most of them out."

The greenweryling darted around to the front, moving inside briskly. "Weyrbrats, playing by the trees. They've knocked down the laundry lines. People are making sure they don't chase and hurt themselves, but we need as many as you can spare to help get back at least some of the clothes." It was an absolute bald-faced lie, and would never have worked if X'rx wasn't generally responsible and well-behaved, but as it was half the drudges poured out to retrieve the fleeing laundry. The young man cleared out afterwards, following for a short distance before breaking off and swinging back around to the back entrance of the kitchens.

He poked his head inside and waved to A'emi to hurry up. "Come on. They'll figure it out pretty quickly." And his mother would be after him with that big wooden serving spoon, no doubt, but it was good to be a little bad every once in awhile, wasn't it? Maybe?

[Avu]

A’emi spared a brief moment to wonder whether or not he ought to be offended – he sure wouldn’t mind an army of greenriders. Especially if they were all…him, because he was just that amazing. But still. He’d probably end up killing…himself…himselves? – yeah. Awkward. Distracted, the greenrider nodded, scurrying around X’rx and tossing a quick glance towards the group of nearby Drudges to make sure they weren’t looking at him before he bolted for the back, ducking under someone’s arm as it flailed around over his head and skidding around a corner elegantly.

This, he mused vaguely, would have looked much more exciting had it been actual enemies he was running from and not potentially-oblivious Drudges. Catching himself on a countertop, he couldn’t stop the smirk from curling around his lips at the sight of the pies, grabbing two in his right hand and balancing them onto his left before he grabbed for another two. They wobbled, stilled, and A’emi leaned over to use his teeth to clamp down on the edge of the pie tin of a fifth. He was just about to stand upright again and flee from the kitchens when he heard footsteps and nearly had an aneurysm before he recognized X’rx.

“Mmph,” he hissed around the pie tin, and stuffed the two pies he’d held in his left hand into the greenweyrling’s hands so he could free up his mouth and steal another pie from the counter. “Don’t drop those, let’s gooo…” He would have waved his hand around had he not been attempting to balance his own pies in them, scrambling around the counter and towards the door again. This was seriously possibly the biggest adrenaline rush he’d gotten in a while. Teasing people just didn’t work, and Kyrahth trying to scare him to death didn’t really work either. Which was actually kind of sad. Stealing pies was exciting. Clearly he was turning into a weyrbrat.

He speed-walked out of the kitchens, and immediately turned to find somewhere safe to eat. “Bushes?” A’emi asked out loud, without bothering to see if X’rx was even behind him. The ability to talk to himself without looking like a complete idiot: One of the many benefits of being a dragonrider. Although, given that he was talking about bushes while balancing four pies…still probably looked a little strange. Whatever. “Or somewhere farther away? Don’t want to eat anywhere near Kyr…”

[Requiem]

The surprise of the greenrider was enough to amuse X'rx, if only a little, and he accepted the pies from A'emi placidly, following the shorter man at a more sedate pace. Even while the greenrider babbled about bushes and not eating too close to Kyrahth, the weyrling deftly plucked the two pies from A'emi's left hand, arraying the tins serving style down the length of his left arm, the fourth balanced on his palm. He tugged lightly on the greenrider's sleeve with his free hand.

"Or..." he ventured, a touch of laughter behind the words, "we just walk purposely toward my weyr like we're not pie thieves, instead of darting outside and skulking in the bushes while people watch us curiously. Hm?" After a moment's thought, he amended, "Make that your weyr. Mine will probably be visited once they find the laundry's still safe and sound on that line."

Releasing the other man's sleeve, he let himself fade back half a step. "Lead on, you bad influence, you." As if X'rx hadn't orchestrated and conducted the better portion of the thievery. Clearly, he'd had his arm twisted. Just a poor, innocent victim, sucked in by the evil machinations of this northern-bred midget man greenrider. Yes. The ironic part? He probably could play it off that way, when and if they got caught. If he could manage another bald-faced lie, that was. X'rx strongly suspected that he'd already filled his daily quota.

Minnie, having apparently decided that now that the hissing dragon was no longer policing, landed on A'emi's arm and chriped pleasantly at him, her tail wrapping around his forearm to the elbow. Such a nice human he was. Of course he'd be willing to share this yummy smelling treat with her. She leaned down, taking a bite out of the top most of the pies, then squeaking in surprise, her mouth opening and tongue lolling out as her wings flapped vigorously. Hoooooot.