scribbled out the truth [emi!]

[Avu]

Why you need an excuse is beyond me, Ahth commented idly. The dark blue dragon was sprawled out at the edge of the jungle, tail swishing from side to side thoughtlessly. Green-blue eyes were fixed on his Rider, who was slightly inside the jungle, lounging across a fallen log that was propped up by a tree that was leaning under its weight. Dark hair had been pulled back into a loose runnertail, his concentration mainly on the small Salamandyr darting to and fro beneath the fallen leaves underfoot, occasionally pouncing on one and shredding it with needle-sharp claws. The golden-brown gaze was unfocused, absentminded, making it clear that however intently he was following Sylph’s gaze his mind was on Ahth. After all, the blue went on, It’s not like you haven’t ever skipped chores before.

“An excuse is preferable to ‘I didn’t feel like it,’” R’ahre answered quietly. The fingers of one hand dug idly into the dead bark of the tree, peeling it off and dropping it onto the ground. Sylph pounced on the little piece, ripping her claws down the length and crooning smugly as it broke into two before she leapt off again and leapt onto a leaf, pinning it and stripping it in half with her teeth. R’ahre let her; the sooner she got her destructive tendencies quenched for time being, the sooner they could go back to the Weyr. Not to say that he didn’t like it out there – because he did.

It was a cold day – colder than most that the South had. The wind was biting, the sun bright and frozen in the sky, without clouds anywhere in sight. What undergrowth protected R’ahre certainly wasn’t thick enough for the iciness to go unnoticed entirely, but the weyrlingrider liked the cold. If the way he was lounging wasn’t enough to prove it, his choice in clothing certainly was. The pants were to be expected, tight and practical. The shirt, less so, possessing short sleeves that cut off just above his elbow. It was made of fabric that was typically associated with summer, loose, the three buttons at the neck undone and the collar askew. Not exactly what one would wear if they were terribly worried about the cold. Dark brown boots and the knife sheathed at his waist was entirely typical of the weyrlingrider, too.

‘I didn’t feel like it’ /is/ an excuse, Ahth corrected lazily. As it were. However, since you are /such/ a conscientious person… A flick of the blue’s tail; his gaze skimmed the sky for inspiration. …say the spy destroyed someone’s weyr and you had to help clean it up. If you need a name, say they were too busy yelling at you for pleasantries. It’s realistic, quite possible, and if you’re asked for a description make something up that’s deliberately vague. A lazy roll of his shoulders in a draconic shrug; Ahth stretched before an entirely new rustle caught his attention and the dark head swiveled on his neck, eyes narrowing slightly. MyR’ahre… The warning was entirely silent; Ahth gave no growl or hiss to give away their position.

I heard. His head tilted, gaze lifting from Sylph, who darted like green lightning behind him, claws scrabbling at the tree until she pulled herself up to waist level and frilled in the direction of the rustle. Her Bonded’s left hand touched the hilt of his knife, not quite curling around it, expectant, unmoving. Until Ahth rumbled and flared his wings, torn between irritation and amusement. Do tell what’s so amusing.

It’s just a human, a little female. Harmless. He spoke dismissively. One of Selenitas’s.

[Sheari]

Emiliah crashed through the undergrowth, following the green lizard before her. For once the girl was wearing shoes, the ground being too cold for her to run around barefoot. Her pants were loose fitting but thick against the chill and tied at her waist with a very worn rope. Her shirt skewed across her chest and shoulders from her trek. A slash from something, possibly a branch, exposed her left shoulder, though the flesh underneath was unmarred. "Shrew!" she called. Her throat hurt from breathing hard, but she was determined not to lose this new friend. Not after loosing Mouse, oh no.

Shrew simply flitted away. Her's worked too much! Just, it was work and she had elected to leave before she'd been told to do something. Farnath forbid she actually be given a task! Soon enough she spotted a blue dragon and His. Obviously they weren't working and she approved, perching on Ahth's head. She flared her wings and hissed to display that she did indeed approve of their slacking.

Emiliah crashed through the brush to the clearing, promptly being smacked by a branch when she saw R'ahre. She stopped short with an audible squeak and would have turned immediately and left had Dib not told her to stay. "Emi is sorry. So sorry," she said, quickly scrambling up to Ahth and becoming torn between climbing him for Shrew or remaining where she was standing, staring at him with wide eyes big enough to rival his own. He might bite, or claw her or...she backed up a step.

"Can Emi have Shrew back? Please?" The poor girl was a wreck but she didn't want to loose her friend. She no longer felt the sting of the wind bite into her exposed shoulder.

[Avu]

Errr.

Firelizard. It landed on Ahth’s head, and the blue immediately froze, though a rumble started in his throat. Ahth had very little patience for firelizards, though he tolerated them because they were gossips. Sylph hated them on sight, and R’ahre didn’t approve of them either – he much preferred Salamandyrs, always had, and the look that the bluerider awarded the firelizard was clearly one of dry amusement. Her hiss was responded to with an idle click of tongue against teeth, one eyebrow rising. Was there a reason for Ahth’s being turned into a firelizard perch, or did she just feel like it…? He hardly approved either way; Ahth was too good for just any creature to sprawl all over. One hand rose slightly, peeling off another strip of bark absently, and his head tilted silently.

Too pretty, too /too/ pretty, was Sylph’s input. Her sneering tone was as cold as ice as the green slithered up the tree trunk, frill flaring as her eyes narrowed, challenging. How dare the firelizard think to perch on her bluething? How dare she assume that Sylph would sit by idly and watch? Too pretty. /Now/ off. Her claws raked against the tree in her fury, the Salamandyr pressing her tiny form against the tree as if to launch herself at Shrew. Ahth’s quiet rumble kept her frozen in place, though; her gaze was locked on the firelizard, a sibilant hiss emerging from her throat. Emiliah’s ungainly entrance was completely ignored by the Salamandyr.

Not so by R’ahre or Ahth. The blueweyrling didn’t move; his eyes narrowed as he focused on the girl. Ahth’s head came around, rapidly enough to unseat Shrew if the firelizard wasn’t prepared, and the blue rumbled again. She refers to herself by name? he inquired, dryly amused. How funny that a human would do such a thing. Is she broken? His forepaws settled neatly, one over the other, and his head canted to one side, eyes whirling in vivid shades of interest as the girl approached him. In pursuit of the firelizard using him as some sort of perch, then? Ahth flared both wings, hissing quietly. If she tried to climb up his neck or something ridiculous…because that seemed the type of thing someone who referred to themselves by name would do…she’d get thrown off; Ahth had no desire to have anyone but His on him at any time.

“Can’t you call her to you?” R’ahre suggested evenly, ignoring Ahth. One of his hands rose slightly to cup over Sylph, pulling the Salamandyr off the tree. She squirmed in his hand, awkwardly, before licking his fingers to express her annoyance. “I’m sure…Shrew…would be much more willing to listen to you than me.” His fingers brushed across Sylph’s back, reassuring; he wouldn’t let the firelizard occupy ‘her bluething’ any longer than was necessary. “You shouldn’t be out here alone anyway.” His eyes narrowed slightly, suspicious. Didn’t she know people kept vanishing…? It wasn’t safe in the jungle by any stretch of imagination. Hypocrite, who, R’ahre? Of course not.

Too pretty ugly, Sylph added, jeering. Poof /too/ good.

[Sheari]

Shrew, being vain, cared not for the worm on the tree. Nor did she particularly pay heed to the warning rumbles of her perch. She did, however, wonder why they obviously disapproved of her! She had noticed they were not working and had joined them! True, Hers tended to be a bit...strange...in her opinion, but Hers also worked and she did it willingly, it just made no logical sense to the creature. Just as she was about to show the creature on the tree how much she didn't like being harped at her perch moved and she dug her claws into the hide with no avail. The head had moved too rapidly for her to remain on it and she flew off. Only quick thinking saved her from the fall and she just as quickly caught herself with her wings, flying over to Ahth's head again, and repositioning herself. She was not about to let them tell her off!

Emi just stood and stared stupidly at Ahth. Oh yes, he looking straight at her and she couldn't help but wonder what he might be thinking. All she wanted was to get Shrew back! Emiliah looked at R'ahre as if she hadn't seen him before (in truth, she had only just noticed him) and stared. "Shrew sometimes doesn't listen to Emi." The fire lizard listened well enough and could actually be very loving toward the girl when she wasn't working on her drudge duties, but when she was, calling the green was like calling to a rock. It just didn't work. Emiliah shook her head at him. She didn't want to cause trouble, she just thought that the blue would let him climb up and get Shrew, rather than her. Oh, it was all just so confusing an frustrating! Her shoulder was beginning to feel sore and she absently touched it with cold fingers.

"Emi is sorry, Emi is sorry. She needs to get back so she can finish her work but Shrew doesn't like work and so she left and Emi chased her out here because she doesn't want to lose her like she did Mouse!" Dib had told her it wasn't her fault that Mouse had died. The gold had told her that the bad men from the north had done it because the people here were nicer. Some of their colors had died too, but the girl found it little reassurance that fact.

The girl fell silent, at a loss of what to do. This one seemed nice, but his big blue actually kind of scared her and only fear and awe kept her from approaching. It rooted her to her place and kept her from turning back. She may not be a very strong person, but if Emiliah knew anything, she knew she was not going to leave Shrew. She stood and watched R'ahre almost expectantly.

[Avu]

And the firelizard just came right back to Ahth. The blue dragon made no active protest, again, his eyes flicking into a darker shade of blue – a shade that indicated the same dry amusement that his Rider felt, though it was clear of the faint thread of irritation that defined R’ahre’s. One dark wing flicked open, though he didn’t actively swat off the green; the gossips that they were, she could be either incredibly useful or devastatingly poisonous. Ahth wasn’t quite in the mood for company at the minute, though, so he’d just try to keep her away from becoming the latter, and that would be suitable. His tail twitched, idle, before his gaze returned, evenly, to Emiliah. This one confused R’ahreHis, he noted in slight amusement. Why, he was uncertain; it had something to do with the way she phrased her words.

His head tilted to one side, curiously, brown eyes staring right back at the girl, before R’ahre blinked and shrugged one shoulder, automatically, only somewhat actively considering the fact that her firelizard didn’t listen to her. Sylph listened to him most of the time, but that might be because he’d hardly been strict with her, ever; the pale green was awarded an extreme level of independence and it showed in the amount of damage she caused on a weekly basis. His mind was more occupied with the fact that she…seemed to be referring to herself by name, something he’d never heard anyone do before. Ahth had done it, but only once, and only to tell R’ahre his name, and after that it had always been ‘I’.

“Your name’s – Emi?” he inquired, crinkling his nose faintly, just to make sure. “I don’t want to get her for you. Sylph will attack her if I get near her, or she’ll bite me.” His head tilted to one side slightly, as the green Salamandyr that had clambered onto his shoulder spat violently in Shrew’s direction and emphasized the words by proclaiming loudly, Poof ugly happy make. Bluespymine – MINE. He belonged to her because R’ahre belonged to her; she’d had him first, before anyone else – and then he’d come, so she’d graciously accepted him, yes? “Ahth can ask her to go, but he likes firelizards; he doesn’t mind if she stays.” A pleasant half-smile. No need to mention that he very much cared. He didn’t want an irritating firelizard around making Sylph agitated.

I don’t care one way or another, as long as she doesn’t touch me, Ahth informed R’ahre idly. At the bluerider’s insistent request, however, the blue exhaled, grumbled audibly, and turned to brush his mind against Shrew’s, lightly, indiscreet, as was his habit, ignoring the furious hiss from Sylph. Little cousin, Yours is becoming most upset by your absence, he commented pleasantly. I am honored that you would visit me, but perhaps you should rejoin her for the moment? MineR’ahre does not wish for the little green spy to attempt to harm you. She doesn’t like firelizards; I expect she’s jealous of them.

Yes, he was lying; Sylph was not by any stretch of the imagination jealous. She just detested them for being so silly, simple-minded, ridiculous – the list of insults went on, even if the green didn’t know the words for them all.

[Sheari]

Emi stared, wide-eyed and awed at the blue head. She refrained from touching it, as badly as she wanted to. She wanted to know how it felt, the texture of the skin, she'd been told, was soft and leathery, thought the only leather she'd ever really felt was the worn leather of her worn shoes that she hardly ever wore. It was true that Emiliah preferred to feel the earth beneath her feet, the dirt and the grass and the sand. It made her feel happy to feel the world as she walked upon it then to feel socks and sweat, and heavy feet. Today was cold, that was the only reason she was wearing anything on her feet.

Shrew squawked indignantly at Ahth's words but deigned to perch on the shoulder of Hers. She had chased her all the way out here for her and the green decided that she had been successful in her initial mission: draw Hers out and make her live a little. She nuzzled the girl apologetically, however half-hearted it truly might have been. She flared her wings and hissed loudly and viciously at Sylph, however. That one she did not like, not at ALL! She made herself a private oath to bite her when she got the chance, though it might as well have been written in sand. The fire lizard simply would bite her when she felt like it and when it struck her fancy to, not now.

Emiliah looked lovingly at Shrew as she accepted the creature with near open arms. Kind of hard to grasp something and show it you love it when it decides it would rather sit on hour shoulder. She chirped at Shrew as she pressed gently into the nuzzle like a cat would a hand. The display did not strike the girl as possibly odd in the lest bit. The green understood her quirks.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Emi said hurriedly. She turned to leave but paused. The path was no longer obvious as she had sort of crashed through everything. Oops. Determined to prove (to whom?) that she could find her way back on her own she put on a determined face and cautiously approached the foliage.