operation bronzerider flail [rys and merce!]

[Avu]

Sylph was curled up next to her mate, asleep for all appearances. Her tail was wound loosely around Merce’s, her head resting against his hindquarters; both eyes were closed. Perfect mimicry of sleep, her position…but it was a mimicry, because the green Salamandyr as not asleep in the least. Nope nope; she had a new target, see? Except he had just fallen asleep and she had to wait a little, just a little, to make sure he really was asleep and not just faking like she was. Why Mercelove’s pretty would want to fake sleep, the green didn’t know, but he might. Just might. The green’s head shifted slightly on Merce to put Ka’rys more directly in her line of vision, and then Sylph’s eyelids peeled backwards slowly. Sneaky, wasn’t she? Oh, oh, yes. Because Ka’rys was definitely faking sleep. Sylph darted out her tongue to lick Merce lightly on the shoulder, though she was sure the blue was asleep, too, and very happy she was with her mate, so nice to her, he was~

The office that the bronzerider had fallen asleep in was an unfamiliar one to Sylph, but that didn’t stop her from carefully disentangling herself from Merce (she didn’t want to wake him up; that would be bad because then he would be woken up and she wouldn’t purposely wake her blue, that was mean) before licking him again affectionately before she spun on her hind legs and darted off. The pale green Salamandyr whizzed across the floor, silently, before she threw herself up onto the part of the chair that was unoccupied by a certain human, and then to the desk itself; her head tilted as Sylph examined the scene before her. Desks were nice places, she knew; lots and lots of paper to be shredded into tiny pieces and lots of ink to roll in and leave black footprints all over the place with. But she resisted the temptation; after all, this was Mercelove’s pretty and she didn’t want to distress him…just make him flail a little. But must it be so tempting? Did he haaave to fall asleep on a desk?

Really.

Mercelove’s pretty not, Sylph commented idly to herself, before she skittered towards his face and reared onto her hind legs. One forepaw was tucked close to her chest, the other pressing against Ka’rys’s ear. Balance established, the Salamandyr leaned forward to carefully sniff him before she dropped down onto all fours and began to lick him, starting at the corner of his jaw. Lick, lick, lick; each stroke was steady, careful. How long would she go before she woke him…? The green didn’t know, but that didn’t matter: Her goal was to wake him and make him flail, after all, see…although it would be amusing if he didn’t wake up at all. Then she’d just chew on his ear or on his nose or something and see if he woke…hmm. Sylph hummed quietly to herself in contentment at her plan before she flattened herself onto her belly to lick the bronzerider’s face more efficiently. She’d clean his entire face with her tongue yet…

[glamourie]

Arms folded under his head, eyes closed, breathing level – Ka’rys was asleep. Granted, he hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but it wasn’t as though he slept like a normal individual. Two young babies helped to prevent the whole sleep-the-night-through thing; he usually plowed out for two candlemarks, woke up, worked six, repeat. It was therefore very normal for him to be resting as he was, arms folded under his head, his face tilted to the side, resting at his desk; he’d fallen asleep there on more than one occasion, especially since… the incident… with J’lorin. He was paranoid and worried. End result: Ka’rys was making a long list of things that Selenitas could do to protect themselves (and a list of people they could use for defensive classes, key figures to all of his plans and the like). So far he’d managed two full hides worth of ideas, which would have been useful if not for the fact that he’d fallen asleep on the still-drying ink (his face was covered in black smudges as a result). He was comfortable, though, all things considered.

The office was entirely Ka’rys-like – empty of any kind of special adornment, pristinely neat, with the furniture that came with it: the desk, his chair, and a second chair across from the desk for someone else to sit. Simple glow adornments finished it off. It was boring, bland and impersonal – nothing to make it his own. Ka’rys’s weyr, before moving in with Savitri, was very similar. Her weyr, on the other hand, or rather the one that they shared, was vastly decorated. Ka’rys couldn’t be bothered – the office wouldn’t be his forever so there was no reason making it special for himself. He was sleeping rather well in his empty, barren office, too, until something – something – touched his ear. No one ever accused Ka’rys of not having fast reflexes (it would be a lie) and his response was instantaneous… and quite possibly one of the most amusing reactions he’d ever had.

His head jolted up off the desk, one hand moving rapidly to the other arm in a fluid motion that unsheathed a small but nonetheless quite pointy blade. His chair skidded back and he gracelessly fell out of it, slashing at the air in front of him. The chair hit the ground with an audible clatter that made Merce lift his head from where he was sleeping on the other chair and frill anxiously. Ka’rys didn’t notice, leaping to his feet and looking around frantically for the source of whatever had touched him (because something had).

Wait, why was there something green attached to his nose that was decidedly not a booger?

Slowly lowering the knife, Ka’rys reached up to remove the green salamandyr from his face. A casual viewer might have noticed that he was also exceedingly considerate in touching her – as though he was worried he’d harm the little menace. Just the same, he held her by the middle of her body, lifting her in front of his face before both of his eyebrows raised. A surge of amusement from Ciceroth told him that the bronze was awake (what time was it? Must’ve been early) and taking great delight in his discomfort. Ka’rys twitched, giving Sylph the most murderous look he could manage while Merce scurried over to leap onto his arm. He didn’t squeeze, nor make any effort to harm the little female, but he did make sure that his face told his annoyance very well.

“What. Are. You. Doing. Menace?”

[Avu]

Sylph got perhaps one squeak before her target moved. Oh, she knew her goal was to wake him, but that was just too soon. As it was, his reaction would have been hysterical had Sylph been in any position to enjoy it. However, she’d instinctively latched onto his nose – given that it was the closest thing – and there the tiny Salamandyr clung, eyes whirling rapidly in what was clearly delight. Oh, oh, she did love reactions and this had to be one of the best she’d ever gotten for something as small as just licking someone. No words were spoken as the bronzerider and chair hit the floor (the fantastic noise made it all the more exciting to the green), or as he got up; the flash of knife didn’t frighten her in the least. So he’d started chopping up ghosts. Okay. He wasn’t chopping up her, so all was good, see? Both wings splayed out instinctively nonetheless; Sylph was fully prepared to enjoy the ride she was receiving – mostly because there was no other choice – when –

Fingers looped beneath her middle and lifted her up, and Sylph chirped pleasantly at the look she was presented with. For the moment she was content to dangle and stare boldly back at him, eyes bright with what was undeniably amusement. Ha, ha, she’d made him flail. How amusing. Then she spotted Merce and her frill displayed brilliantly in greeting. The look she was receiving from Ka’rys didn’t put her off at all; Sylph knew no shame and any reaction was a good reaction. Morning MerceloveMine, she offered pleasantly, before she wriggled around in an attempt to lick Ka’rys’s fingers. The green Salamandyr was absolutely obscenely happy that day and time; being around Merce always put her in a good mood and the delight Ka’rys’s reaction had inspired had her positively high off of joy. Sylph snuck a glance at Ka’rys’s face before she crooned at him, her tongue flipping out in a vague attempt to reach him (she couldn’t, more’s the pity).

His question made her head tilt to one side before she squirmed out of his grasp and pulled herself up to perch on Ka’rys’s hand, winding her tail around his fingers and sitting upright in the typical meerkat pose. Menace not Sylph, she corrected firmly. Black ickies have you see? Licking you, was. Ickies go away? Ickies: Plural noun. Definition: Ink smears. But of course she couldn’t just say that. Much too complicated. Much. So much better to understand this way, wasn’t it? The green turned her head, a quick, almost bird-like motion, to look at Merce again and she crooned pleasantly before she informed him privately, Sorry. Not wake mean to. Sorry lovemine. Because she hadn’t intended to wake the blue. Just the Bonded. No, it didn’t occur to her that Ka’rys was probably exponentially more tired than Merce was. And if it did, likely it wouldn’t have stopped her anyway.

Was he still glaring at her? Ickies still there. Silly Mercelove’s pretty.

And yes, she was ignoring the fact that the ink smears were just an excuse. Of course it was the reason. Of course.

[glamourie]

She was laughing at him. Ka’rys wasn’t a fool: he knew very well laughter when he saw it on draconid species. Dealing with Ciceroth made him an expert at being able to read amusement from the creatures and he could just tell that Sylph was deriving an unholy amount of joy from his discomfort. The thought made him want to fling her across the room (salamandyrs were invincible, he was convinced – he threw Merce all the time) and the only reason he didn’t was because it was Sylph and not Merce. He didn’t much care about what her mindmate thought but he did try to treat other people’s pets better, even if he was borderline abusive to Merce at times (ironically, the blue didn’t mind it at all and frequently went right back to doing whatever it was he’d done to irritate Ka’rys in the first place). The look on his face, though, was murderous. It was one thing to be annoyed unintentionally – that he could forgive – but on purpose… he almost wished he had stabbed Sylph, at least in the tail, so that she learned not to wake him up. Ka’rys never woke up gracefully and bothering him was usually asking for it.

Morning, Sylphmysterylove. Morning morning. Wake monster did you? Merce inquired, bouncing up onto the toppled over chair. He flared his own light colored frill at Sylph in greeting before throwing himself up onto Ka’rys’s leg. Scurrying, the salamandyr climbed up his mindmate’s side and came to sit on his shoulder, his eyes whirling thoughtfully; unlike Ka’rys, he didn’t usually wake completely within seconds. He took to grooming his claws as a manner of waking up more completely and stretched himself outward. Monster unpleasant, waked up eat. Angry stop now, yes, lovemine? Because calling Ka’rys a monster was definitely the way to make him listen. Of course it was.

Ignoring his salamandyr (pest!), Ka’rys continued to his attempts at finding out whether looks could really kill. Her explanation made him blink though and lift his free hand to rub his sleeve against the side of his face. The ink, being dry, flaked off against the fabric rather than come away smoothly. He twitched vividly and sighed at Sylph, “A very likely excuse.” He didn’t trust her at all – but then, Ka’rys didn’t trust any salamandyrs. It was likely that he’d have given her explanation some thought if not for the fact that Shadow was positively evil. The white had effectively turned him against all salamandyrs long ago, though, what with his flashing of things that Ka’rys would much preferred to have forgotten. Some memories were better off buried (like the sight of Shmee’s naked body, which he’d been very glad not to recall – evil monster). “But the ink smudges are nothing that a nice long bath wouldn’t have gotten rid of. I did not need salamandyr saliva all over my face, nor did I have any want of it, thank you very much. Do you ever sleep?”

Slept long, mysterylove did. Merce too. Bad waked monster was. Silly, silly. Let lovemystery down.

Merce’s complaint was noted, but Ka’rys ignored his salamandyr still, instead whirling on his heel. He felt Ciceroth’s silent laughter and mentally cursed the dragon, still holding Sylph in his hand. “I don’t know why you feel it necessary to sleep around me – I have a feline who would find you a very tasty treat,” he warned the green. As he spoke, he made his way out of the office, managing to find his way to the stairs that led up and out of the rider weyrs – where his office happened to be. He walked swiftly, though with care; the last thing he wanted was to knock Merce into the river. That would be unpleasant. “You’re lucky that you didn’t try this in my weyr, either – I’d probably have managed to stab you. As much as you deserve it, I don’t think your irritating pet would like it much if I returned you with a knife wound. And I don’t think you’d find it all too enjoyable an experience either…”

[Avu]

Mad monster, Sylph replied to Merce. While the words were appropriate to be said with some level of upset or fear, they came out quite cheerfully; such a nice use of her time, was it not, waking him? Mad monster, so pretty. So very pretty; didn’t he know that it was morning and she was as good as an alarm clock? Never mind that it was ridiculously early in the morning; it was still morning. Perhaps one candlemark past midnight, if he wanted to be picky. Sometime around then…he was still glaaaring. Sylph chirped cheekily at Ka’rys, leaning forward so she could lick at his nose, even though she couldn’t reach. How very distressing. Hmm, he was wiping away the ink smears too. Even worse; now she hadn’t an excuse for licking him if he allowed her to leave his hand. How cruel. Sylph wasn’t entirely sure why licking Ka’rys appealed to her in the least – she licked Hers on occasion, but more as a show of affection than to elicit such a response. He didn’t taste particularly better than other humanthings, either…but he did flail better.

Is! she insisted, stoutly sticking to her excuse before she turned her attention to his hand, pressing both paws against one of his fingers and standing upright to look at him. The Salamandyr’s wings flared outwards to emphasize her point, her frill trembling, before she added, more cheekily, Bath? Take bath you I will. Fatty too big drag ‘round. Sorry. Next time help sistermine will. She didn’t respond to the question as to her sleeping habits, though, since Merce had taken care of that for her. Sylph crooned at Merce, pleased, before she tilted her head back to look at Ka’rys critically. Hmm…how many Salamandyrs would it take to drag him to the nearest bathing room? No, it didn’t matter that it probably wouldn’t be his, either. Any would do. Fatty so pretty… She might have said more had Ka’rys not moved; the green dropped onto all fours with a squeak that indicated her surprise at the movement.

Where…were they going?

The bronzerider’s words stopped her from asking immediately, but the warnings fell on a creature far too arrogant to ever pay heed to them. Felines, stabbings – Wouldn’t. she contradicted, before she jumped out of Ka’rys’s hand to leap towards the shoulder that Merce occupied in order to lick her mate (he wouldn’t mind!) before she added to the blue’s mindmate, Wouldn’t stab, wouldn’t catch. Fast, I am~ Cue preening. The green peered around curiously before she added to Merce, Sleepy Mercelove? /So/ sorry. And she actually was, for that. Waking up her blue when he was supposed to be sleeping hadn’t been intended, but then, she also hadn’t counted on such a fantastic reaction from her prey, either. Love you… And then, the question that still had not been answered: Where?

Because nighttime strolls were nice and all, but this one was still unexplained.

[dragon]

She'd been searching all over the place for her sister. But nowhere to be seen had Sylph been. No where at all. And most certainly not with her pet shiny, R'ahre. No Sylph at all. Which had been a most distressing discovery for Skink, to be sure. Utterly convinced that F'lix had captured or murdered her, Skink had made all haste toward the evil bluerider's weyr. Only to find not a trace of her sister there at all. Convinced now that F'lix had instead eaten her sister, she'd spent part of the night standing on F'lix's sleeping form and trying to call to Sylph in his stomach.

Having naturally received no answer, she had scurried away quickly in a rage. A really unhappy mandyr she was, for a long time, running as fast as she could with the maddest look any mandyr could possibly have on. She needed to find a plan, a plan to rescue Sylph from F'lix's stomach! A plan to murder F'lix once and for all! Eventually, as she ran from one end of the Weyr to the other in a mad dash of energy needing burned, she somehow managed to forget why she was so mad, only remembering that she was pissed.

Scampering down a hallway, she came to a stop that was not only unexpected, but oddly enough - quite comforting. There, walking away from her, was Ka'rys, with Merce and Sylph. Skink had no idea why, but seeing the two mandyrs just made her day. Throwing her tail up at a jaunty angle, all happy again, she pranced after them. But, with legs so short, a prance really didn't cover much ground, and she got left behind rather quickly by the long legged (by comparison) human.

Coming to a stop, she looked around, and spotted the office. Oh boy!! Turning, she shot inside the office, and scampered around the perimeter three times fast. An unguarded room! Lots of parchments! Yay! What a playground! Too bad Sylph wasn't here to play, too!!! Well ... it would just have to wait till Sylph could, then. But, to mark the playground as hers for the destroying, Skink scampered up onto the desk. Finding what most people naturally used for signing things, she grabbed the inkwell. Tumping it over, she danced around in it happily and then scampered across the desk, leaving prints on parchments, hides, desk surface, anything that happened to be there. Twirling down the desk's leg, she shot back out the door and resumed chasing after her Sylphlove.

Wait sisterlove! Wait! Skink called, dashing across the floor. After her previous cross-Weyr run, it didn't take much to wind her. She leapt at the last minute and caught the trailing hem of one of Ka'rys' pantlegs, on the foot that just happened to be behind in that stride. There, she just clung, weighing his pants down, panting and black inking the hem at the same time. I am here! I catched up! I ... I find! I here. Lovelovesisterlove. Not what? She asked, cheerfully, from her particularly strange choice of locations to dangle from.

[Requiem]

LovelovelaurieminelaurieloveofleehersofleettackedwakelaurielaurielovettackedoffleehersWAKE

He grumbled something unintelligible, swatting at something before his nose and shifting onto his side. Worm bit him hard on the shoulder for that one. Oflee was upset and she needed him up now. Adding claws to teeth, she whacked him with her tail. Wakewakewakewakewake!

Plucking her up by said tail, he blinked at Worm dazedly as she squirmed, trying to curl up and reach his fingers with her claws. Only then did he notice their visitor, who immediately decided he was as good a perch as any. Or maybe she was simply trying to get closer to the dangling salamandyr. "What's got into you?" he growled, his voice fuzzy as he rubbed at the spot on his shoulder, coming away with blood. Worm went still, not at all pleased. ofleehersttackedttackedmanybadonessavesavepleasesaveofleehers?

Frowning, he swung out of his bed, snatching up the shirt left on the foot of it and slipping that on as he walked. This dislodged Ophelie (which was clear indication that Ka'rys had to still be relatively okay, at least for now) but she didn't waste much time settling back on his shoulder. He stroked her absently, releasing Worm so she could coil with the firelizard, crooning and offering reassurances. Rubbing ruefully at the spot where he cracked his skull on the doorframe - pretty much a ritual whenever he was awoken unexpectedly - he made for Ka'rys's office at a lope, somehow managing not to trip over his own feet.

Pausing in the doorway, he stared. Ink and parchments everywhere, upturned chair...he'd been certain it was just the critters throwing a fit over nothing. Ciceroth didn't seem that disturbed. But now he was actually getting worried. It certainly looked like a struggle had taken place. "Where?" Had someone taken him? They'd assumed the disappearances had happened outside the weyr - it was tremendously ballsy to kidnap people from within. Maybe that wasn't the case. It occurred to him he might need to get help, but S'rei figured he should probably try to verify before rousing anyone else. Right? Ciceroth wasn't making a fuss. Then again, the other dragons hadn't either...

When he saw the lone figure walking up ahead, he was very much confused. S'rei kept at a distance until he was certain the man was alone (Worm reassured him this was, indeed, Ka'rys) before approaching. "Where did they go?" he rumbled, voice still scratchy from his surprise awakening. He squinted down at the man. "Were you attacked by noogie-giving archivists armed with pens?" It was a testament to just how recently he'd woken that S'rei was even partially serious about the question. At any other time it would have been obvious to him that the greens had got it wrong.

[glamourie]

“Who’re you calling fat? I should throw you off the ledge, little pest,” Ka’rys countered; so not the ideal time to insult him. His sense of humor was most assuredly gone (not getting much sleep had that effect on him). Her comments about her sister were ignored; Ka’rys did not feel it prudent to argue with a salamandyr, as he deemed most of them to be little more than noisy firelizards (and he actually thought Ophelie was more intelligent than most salamandyrs were). Sylph’s movements made him look over at her and he rolled his eyes as she proceeded to continue arguing – nuisance, she was. Quite a nuisance. He didn’t complain about her position, though, namely because he didn’t mind Sylph all that much. He wanted to hate her, but Merce was so fond of the green that it was hard; she hadn’t done anything to merit his full-blown temper yet. Her mindmate was an obnoxious twit though and it was very easy to avoid any interaction with him since he was so infuriating. Sylph was welcome so long as she stayed out of things and did not wake him up at ridiculous hours of the night in the future (and if she continued to do so he wasn’t adverse to locking her in one of his office drawers for the night). Guh.

Merce wriggled against Sylph, crooning pleasantly to her. He wrapped himself around his green mate and lovingly licked her head, his frill fanning. Mysterylove best, he added pleasantly, only to flare his frill wide. Twinling here, hello twin. He didn’t call Skink by her name anymore – primarily because to him, she was just the twin of his lovely Sylph, and that was all that she needed to be known as. His frill went wider, though, as he looked down and saw black smears on the edge of his mindmate’s pants. It didn’t take a genius to connect the dots and Merce was pretty smart (for a salamandyr). The alarm on his face was obvious and he looked from Sylph to Skink and back again before untangling himself to scurry down Ka’rys’s side. He spoke to Sylph and Skink privately so as not to draw the attention of Ka’rys to the stains – yet, anyway. It would be hard to hide them for very long. His was pretty observant. Didn’t, you. Please no. Monstermine angry. Uh oh.

“I’m taking you – and your sister! – to the kid,” Ka’rys commented, glancing down at his leg; he barely missed the stains. “I’m not a bloody salamandyr perch and you have no justification in sitting on me, you’re not Merce’s mate. Get off. You can walk next to me, but I don’t want you touching me.” The bronzerider stopped walking to crouch down, fully intending to peel Skink right off of his leg (what a menace; why did Merce have to pick the most obnoxious green on Pern to chase? She was worse than Ras!) when a shadow in the fading light made him look up and immediately go to draw his knife – which he’d left in his office. His stomach vaulted and he was about to bolt backwards when a particularly pleasant flute that he recognized stopped him. Ophelie.

The flute was followed by speaking and Ka’rys looked up from his crouching position in surprise. S’rei? Ophelie went and got S’rei? Over something so trivial as salamandyrs? The thought would have been hilarious if not for being downright embarrassing. Crazy firelizard. “Attacked?” he asked, head tilting to the side. “Only if you count being harassed by a pair of green salamandyrs as being attacked – I wasn’t – Sylph woke me up. Because she’s evil. It’s okay though, I’m going to cut off one of the kid’s fingers in retaliation and then I will feel better.” Of course, R’ahre probably wouldn’t but that was okay – he didn’t need all of his fingers to be a dragonrider, hell, he didn’t even need all of them for much of anything. He’d leave the thumb just to be considerate, but the rest were definitely getting chopped off. He stood back up and smoothed his hair back as best he could (near impossible considering how frizzy it was in the morning) and blinked at S’rei. “Sorry if Ophelie woke you up; she rather hates Sylph. But - what made you think I was attacked?”

[Avu]

Sigh. Didn’t he get that ‘fatty’ wasn’t an insult? Sylph might have clarified had Merce not stolen her attention; the lick to her head made the green positively preen, rubbing her head against her mate’s shoulder and temporarily ignoring the moving perch. However, a very-familiar voice elicited a startled squeak from Sylph and she would have literally toppled from Ka’rys’s shoulder in shock had Merce not been wrapped around her; what was her sister doing out here at this time of the day? A slight bounce; her wings flared outwards before she turned her head to stare into the darkness. Odd, that; she could normally see Skink coming – the green was as pale as she was, after all, and in the darkness it wasn’t a hard chore unless she was in the very shadows, but Sylph didn’t see why her twin would bother…hmm, hmm…there. Her eyes flashed in alarm at the sight of her ink-covered sister and both wings snapped shut to her sides before she reared up, paws resting lightly on Merce’s back as she looked down at her Skink as the other green clung to Ka’rys’s pant leg.

Merce’s words made her look down at her mate and then back at her sister, crooning quietly; she wavered. Covered in ink; that meant she’d found an office or something worth destroying, but chances were it was Merce’s fatty’s office, given that all the others had their doors closed and were usually locked. This didn’t dissuade the pair; it wasn’t difficult to squirm in under the door, after all, but an open door was so much more tempting…and Sylph knew her sister. But she didn’t want the fatty’s office destroyed; she didn’t. Sylph liked Ka’rys (just because she didn’t show it as openly as her affection for Merce, Skink, and Hers didn’t mean she didn’t) and destroying offices made people actually distressed. She didn’t want that…that was bad. She stayed silent as Ka’rys spoke, though her frill flattened nervously and she glanced back at Ka’rys at the same time to see if he was going to actually throw her off the ledge like he’d said, before she scurried down to follow Merce, snagging her claws in the fabric of his shirt and clinging.

Love sister do, the green offered weakly, before looking up again anxiously. Not supposed to make fatty that mad. Not really mad. Just kind of irritated, like he was now – irritated was good, irritated was fun. Mad was…it wasn’t when she actually liked the person in question. Uh oh. Where? Fattymonster’s sleep-not place? S’rei was completely ignored (mainly because he had a certain firelizard on him and Sylph shunned Ophelie) in favor of her sister; he wasn’t important. Icky from fatty’s? Not good fun… Oh, it was fun. She admitted that much…and oh, it had been tempting. But she hadn’t because she liked the fatty in question, and her sister…did not get it. Because she didn’t have a mate? So upsetting. (And no; Sylph didn’t count Charming as a mate. Because he wasn’t. He was a fat flutter and was utterly useless; his existence was ignored completely.)

Ka’rys’s words made her throw another look upwards before she turned and skittered back to his shoulder, leaning forward to lick his jaw. It didn’t occur to her that it might only serve to be more upsetting; now it was actually a show of affection, an attempt at calming the storm that had yet to break. Evil not I, she protested with a slight bounce, throwing Ophelie (and S’rei) a hideous look. Love you, Merce’s fatty. Not RusaMine hurt. /No/ love. A pause; her head tilted to look down at Skink and Merce. Hmm. Maybe she ought to have warned her sister that Merce’s fatty was off-limits…

[dragon]

Skink lost all her happy bounce as she looked from Merce to Sylph back to Merce again. She flattened her frill to her neck, looking quite worried. The rage and upset of humans and dragons she could handle ... that was fun. But to have her sister and Merce suddenly looking so worried sick and begging that she say she hadn't done something that she had done ... this wasn't good. She meeped quietly, and hopped off of Ka'rys' pant leg, feeling scared all of a sudden.

She paddled around in a quick circle, leaving only the occasional ink drip, as she had long-since worn off the ink on the bottoms of her feet. No no no no... what do? What do? Bad bad... monster bad monster... Skink turned, and scampered past S'rei, back the way she'd come. Despite being tired, she was scared enough to still make good time. Anybody other than another mandyr would be hard pressed to catch her, especially since she was slick with wet ink. But she had one thing firmly fixed in mind: it was time to hide. Where no human could find her.

[Requiem]

Tch. This was way too early to be up over nothing. He cast a glance at the salamandyr cuddling with her flittermate on his shoulder, the irritation present not visible - but definitely felt, given she broke off her affections with the green to rub up against her mindbond, crooning and showering him with 'love' nibbles. Ttackttacknoseelaurienoseelaurielaurielove?Ttackbadbadbabybabybadttackofleepset. The explanation finished with another couple of nips to his neck directly, S'rei sighing and rubbing ruefully at the shoulder (which had stopped bleeding, thankfully enough). "More trouble than you're worth," he grumbled to the mandyr tempramentally.

He blinked at his Weyrsecond dumbly, mostly because he always had trouble processing directly after waking up and there was too much input going on at once between the creatures on his shoulder, Salenth's grumpy stirrings at having been wakened, and Ka'rys's words. He pinched at the bridge of his nose out of habit. "Eh. Much as that might be amusing, fingers can be useful," he commented drolly. When had Merce gotten a mate? He wasn't familiar with Sylph or 'the kid.' It did amuse him, however, that Ka'rys now got a taste of what he went through every time Ophelie rose. Heh.

"It wasn't Ophelie. Worm decided to maul my shoulder so I could come 'rescue' you," he stated, his waking voice dry and rumbling from lack of use. "Though, at the state of your office, I have to admit I was beginning to believe her about your being attacked. Mandyrs did that?" He watched Skink's retreat with some bemusement. Salamandyrs were smart, if nothing else. He was surprised Ka'rys hadn't gone off on the two greens already; he knew what those papers had been. The bronzerider had been working on them obssessively for the last several days.

[glamourie]

“Yes, you are evil,” Ka’rys countered. Yes, it occurred to him that arguing semantics of who was and wasn’t evil with a salamandyr made about as much sense as trying to convince his felines that they were evil (or Ras not to play in the wind chimes) but did that stop him? No – he wasn’t about to back down from a creature the length of one of his fingers that he could easily squish like a bug. No he was not. So she was evil and eventually he’d make sure she understood that. Though, much to his surprise, the other green menace immediately took off along the stairs and Ka’rys watched her, bemused. Normally they little monsters didn’t take offense at his words and he couldn’t bring himself to care that that one had; he didn’t like salamandyrs. He just didn’t. Because of Merce he had the most minimal tolerance (read: fondness) for Sylph, but her sister was exempt from that; Merce’s feelings for Skink weren’t strong enough to impact him. Mostly because Merce didn’t have much in the way of feelings for Skink. The salamandyr really only adored his mate; he was nice to Skink, pleasant usually, because she was Sylph’s sister. No better reason was needed. “You’re pure evil and you’re in denial, answering the question of whether or not evil entities realize that they are, indeed, evil.”

S’rei stole his attention and Ka’rys looked up at the other bronzerider, bemused. Fingers were useful only when the people in question were useful. The kid was decidedly not. One in a thousand just like him: disgruntled, moody, prone to talking too much and – and Ka’rys only knew of him by reputation but that was enough. He was from Benden so Ka’rys was predisposed to dislike him, but he was also a teenage brat. Yes, a brat. Ka’rys had no desire to spend any time with him – and he didn’t exactly feel the kid would be any less useless with the fingers. At least without them the complete lack of use was justified on some level.

“The state of my office? What?”

Uh oh. Merce, having watched Skink go with his frill flared half-heartedly (he would have asked her to stay but it was only a matter of time before MonsterHis got very angry and he was scary sometimes). When S’rei spoke, he twitched and looked at Skink, and the response His offered made him shrink away. MonsterMine angry. Scary angry. His wouldn’t hurt him, or Sylph for that matter, but his anger was still frightening. Beyond all else, Merce did love His. He’d picked him for a reason. Feeling the growing irritation made him duck his head and he curled protectively around Sylph. Worked long, mine. Upset, yes. SisterYours maybe avoid good, mysterymine love. He didn’t mind Skink coming around – encouraged it, even – but for awhile it would be better if she didn’t. His would probably throw tantrums as soon as he saw the ink. It didn’t take someone intelligent to connect the dots and His wasn’t dumb. He was a lot of things, but dumb was not one of them.

Indeed, Ka’rys immediately glanced down at the pair perched on him before looking up at S’rei. Ophelie, snuggled up to Worm, chirped and then flashed an image to the mandyrs (all three), S’rei and Ka’rys collectively – of Ka’rys’s very messy office. The bronzerider gave a visible twitch and Ophelie chirped down at him before looking at S’rei curiously.

“When I left my office to return Sylph to her slave,” he said very softly, but the edge of his voice was beyond icy, “it was not like that. It was in a perfect organization. I think we can assume one mandyr did that.” His gaze flicked to where Skink was and he was very glad that she was gone – because he probably would have thrown her off the ledge for what Ophelie showed him. As it was, he grabbed Sylph in his hand, perhaps a little more roughly than he normally would have, and his face melted into a horrible look. “And she wouldn’t be near my office if a certain nuisance didn’t come around me. Get away from me and stay away. You too, Merce.” He turned and dropped Sylph (over the ground, but still) before brushing at his blue. “Get. Shoo. You’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

[Avu]

And – away went Skink. Sylph watched her sister go uneasily, but it was perhaps for the better. She was arrogant enough to assume that she could evade any flailing that Merce’s fatty might offer, but she didn’t want to risk her sister because of that conceit. The look she shot at Ka’rys was decidedly upset (being called ‘evil’ wasn’t argued with; Sylph had the sense not to keep arguing – not now; she’d press her point later, and anyway, being evil wasn’t so bad, was it?) because she bounced slightly on the bronzerider’s shoulder, anxious. It was tempting to go after Skink, but she was loathe to leave Merce (and his fatty, even if said fatty was currently talking to S’rei) and settled for turning in a small circle so she could nuzzle against Merce anxiously. His words and Ka’rys’s twitch made her look up at the fatty before she hissed in quiet dislike at Ophelie and the one she’d brought with her; annoying person. No, she didn’t actually know S’rei, but if he was with Ophelie, that automatically equated to annoying.

Not good, the green commented privately to Merce, licking his shoulder again, this time more as a sign of her upset than anything else. Bother, sisterMine won’t. Talk to her, will, she added, as reassuring as she could be, though there was an edge to her ‘voice’; didn’t Skink know better? She’d be stalking down her sister to inform her what she could and could not do, Sylph would; clearly it was necessary. So silly, sisterHers…the image flashed by Ophelie actually made the small green’s eyes flash momentarily a vivid yellow in surprise before she flattened herself against Merce, tail twitching slightly. How long had she had to create such damage…? Not long at all, given the short amount of time between their leaving the fatty’s office and her catching up with them. Any other time, Sylph would have been extremely proud of her sister, but any other time, chances were she’d be destroying the place too. There was a reason she hadn’t messed up the bronzerider’s stuff. Sigh.

Being grabbed made her squeak audibly, squirming instinctively, though she managed to squash the desire to bite Ka’rys, especially when she was dropped. For a moment she almost managed to cling, and then Sylph was falling. An aerial creature, she was not, and the Salamandyr thrashed midair before she spread her wings – too late, given the short fall, to do much; she hit the floor with a splat. Undeterred, though, she was; she’d ‘splatted’ worse before and the words had distressed her more than being dropped. She didn’t want to stay away; she liked Merce’s fatty. Merce being brushed off as well served to make Sylph even more upset.

And of course, she wouldn’t be a Salamandyr if she didn’t argue with the verdict. The green darted forward to sit on Ka’rys’s foot, trying to use her (negligible) weight to get his attention. Had it been anyone else, she would have likely nipped at his ankle, but she wasn’t stupid. Not fair! Faaatty love, do. Please? Sorry help am will. She leaned forward to lick Ka’rys’s ankle hopefully; Merce being dismissed upset her more than her own sentence. Even if she wasn’t around R’ahre much of the time, too busy on her own schedule, she still loved him and it would be upsetting to be told to leave, coming from him. Not what she wanted for Merce. Fault Mercelove’s not is, she added (she was speaking privately to Merce and Ka’rys only; Ophelie did not get to hear her). Will go, fatty promise love bluemine? And if not she’d just…cling to his foot. Or something. Not exactly an airtight plan; she’d improvise as she went.