Totally Not a Stalker (Tags R'wign)

[Ember]

Nephele watched Charming play around in the air in his newest outfit while she walked. She'd just been helping out in the creche and decided climbing up to the top of the cliff and relaxing for a bit might not be a bad idea. Maybe a short stroll through the fringes of the jungle.... Okay, so she didn't really know what to do with herself. She supposed she could have found someone to spar with her but she just wasn't into it that day. That and she still wasn't very good at it. The greenrider sighed and the bronze firelizard on her shoulder nuzzled her in encouragement.

Charming had been the source of the idea to 'go upwards.' His goal wasn't so much the jungle as a weyr belonging to a certain gold firelizard he wanted to see. He wanted to show off the clothes he was wearing and flirt with his favourite female. There was no doubt that Charming was very fond of his gold mother. He'd even had a clutch with her! Okay, so that wasn't quite true, but the brown still claimed that clutch as his anyways. The bronze-green didn't want it anyways and Ellie seemed fine with it. He was certain Ellie would like his outfit. It wasn't a dress. Or even a skirt. No, this time he was wearing masculine clothes. A deep green vest and black pants. There was even a little black tie and a brown belt! He was mighty proud of the outfit, and His for creating it.

The reason he wanted His to come along was so that he could offer her services to Ellie. It was only right that Ellie have some outfits of her own. Ones that matched his would be nice, right? Of course! Who didn't want to match him? When they were about to pass R'wign's weyr the brown chirped and darted towards the weyr and betweened to the other side of the door, much to Nephele's surprise. What was that little troublemaker up to? The girl paused and hesitated. He'd never gone into a strangers weyr before. The brown much preferred busy places to show off at rather than randomly entering weyrs. The fact that he'd entered this weyr in particular (she was sensing that now) meant something.

While Charming fluted at the weyr's inhabitants and landed very close to Ellie, Nephele knocked on the door. "Er, excuse me? Anybody in?" She figured someone must be since she could feel Charming very clearly interacting with someone. Such an odd situation she found herself in. The brown firelizard chittered at Ellie in amusement. Silly people always needing to be invited in. They just went anywhere they wanted, right?

[glamourie]

The Weyrhealer was sprawled out on the floor writing – a fairly regular occurrence when he wasn’t in the infirmary or cuddling his weyrmate. Since M’ta was outside building Kalierre’s furniture, the latter was out of the question and the former – well, even R’wign got sick of the infirmary from time to time. He was working on a present for M’ta, anyway. His weyrmate had liked the journal of stories that he gave him for his first turnday and R’wign decided to write another one. His stories routinely were based on real life occurrences, with comical twists to protect the guilty. This particular journal was dedicated to M’ta – it was mostly stories of their escapades as weyrlings. The original one had been all the things he’d never felt comfortable talking about (and still didn’t); in many ways it was more intimate because it was his life on paper, with names changed and some minor details being switched around, but it was still all of his so-closely guarded secrets hidden away. But this one was special because it was them and R’wign’s memories with M’ta were among his favorites. Yes, yes.

So distracted was R’wign that he did not notice the arrival of a firelizard into his Weyr. Of course, firelizards coming and going was not exactly an odd occurrence to R’wign so it wasn’t that out of the ordinary that he didn’t notice it. He still had four (and little Grumpy was curled up in the bend of his arm while he wrote, most thoroughly sucking up attention) after all.

Ellie, however, did notice Charming’s arrival and she flung herself into the air from her spot curled in the blankets. Happily chittering (but quietly, so as not to disturb the sleeping baby), she flew in a circle before landing on the top of the wardrobe. When the brown landed, she nudged him with blatant affection, her eyes whirling her fondness while she wove her tail with his, effectively claiming it. Her head cocked to the side and she chirped inquisitively, nudging at the little vest. It was a very nice outfit, yes, where had he gotten that? She had one like that, sort of, but hers was in shades of brown like he was. Hers insisted that brown shades looked good on her, brought out the vivid gold of her hide, and she trusted R’wign unfalteringly; if he said it, it must’ve been true. He looked very handsome, didn’t he? Yes yes, he did. Aw, she wanted Hers to put the clothes on her, too.

“Later, Ellie, I’m busy right now,” R’wign said, sniping that thought from the gold’s mind without looking up. He finished his sentence and then lifted his head, his single dark green eye narrowing thoughtfully on the pair of firelizards. “You’re new. I don’t remember you. Which one are you again?” he asked Charming, as if he honestly thought the firelizard would answer him. Which, he did. He was R’wign, the Firelizard Whisperer (TM). They all answered him... or his flits and they delivered the message. Crinkling his nose, the healer adjusted the eyepatch over his empty eye socket and twirled his stylus absently. He likely would’ve said more if speaking hadn’t come from the door. Ah, the brown’s owner, come to pick him up surely.

“Yoooo.” R’wign made no effort to move from his sprawled out position on the fluffy black blanket that covered the floor. The weyr was well decorated – any visitor would doubtlessly notice that someone had painted the main room bright, warm earthy shades, and that it broke into two subrooms; a family weyr. R’wign’s herb cabinet was on one side of the room, there was a couch, several tables, a book case, desk, and most importantly, pillows slung everywhere. During the day, R’wign was messy. And M’ta wasn’t there to call him on his blatant hypocrisy, ho ho ho. “You looking for a finely dressed brown flitter?” Hey, wasn’t that the girl he’d been in the story-telling competition against? The one that told the feline story? He remembered her. Vaguely.

[Ember]

Charming chirped and flopped onto his back to look up at Ellie. Funny angles always made things more interesting. Yes, his vest was lovely! His had made it for him. She could be so very good with the little string and fabric sometimes. Say, did Ellie want an outfit or two to match her beauty? Nothing His could make could really due her justice but he'd make sure His tried her hardest. He'd even help out! As the thought translated over to Nephele she exhaled with a sigh. Her little troublemaker was causing her more trouble. Big surprise. She was quite used to it by that point.

When addressed by Ellie's person, the brown rolled back upright and wiggled his tail in a humourous imitation of an excited canine. He flashed an image of Ellie followed by eggs. No need to show the man His. He'd see her soon enough. Charming added to his response with a pleasant flute. While His distracted the Ellie-bonded, Charming leaned over and licked the gold. What was Hers doing? Seemed a bit boring, if you asked the brown. They should liven things up! He nudged the gold playfully and flew down to where R'wign and the papers were. What to do, what to do!

At the weird greeting, the greenrider paused outside before shrugging and tentatively entering the weyr. Oh. She recognized that one. The gold she'd spotted by Charming's side before he fluttered over to the brownrider was a better indication of who it was than the man himself. That was most definitely Charming's mother. So that man was...was...bah! She couldn't remember his name anymore. Not that it really mattered. "Yup," she replied simply before a slightly troubled expression crossed her face. "He normally doesn't invade strangers' weyrs. Sorry if he bothered you at all."

It was all well and fine to say sorry, but no matter how much she tugged on his mind her oldest mindmate was refusing to listen to her. He pleasantly expressed that there was no need to go. The bronze firelizard on her shoulder watched the gold and his brother (he thought of both of Nephele's other firelizards as his siblings). It seemed like harmless fun to him. Much less annoying than dear little Diva's tantrums and item-claiming. He kept those thoughts private though. Best not upset his. That wouldn't do at all.

[glamourie]

Ellie cocked her head to the side and fluted quietly in curiosity. Then she leaned over and nudged at Charming’s shirt, almost in thought, before crooning appreciatively. Yes, it was lovely, wasn’t it? That outfit reminded her a lot of Hers, he liked greens because his eye was green – look, look. Chattering, she turned to R’wign and then gave him a musical flute, obviously adoring. There was never to be any question that the gold firelizard loved Hers. She was absolutely devoted to him and some could argue her fondness for Charming might’ve also stemmed from the fact that of her entire first clutch, his egg was the one that R’wign favored the most – and R’wign had also expressed that he was the cutest of the hatchlings. The fact that Charming lived up to his name definitely helped though. Ellie was very fond of browns as a rule and he was so sweet, so kind, always so pleasant to be around – he was definitely her favorite brown flitter. (She had to specify flitter because Hers and the Checkoth were browns and they were her favorites because they were Hers – but Charming was a close third!)

Charming received an indulgent smile from R’wign, the brownrider propping his chin up on his hand before he held the other wrist out absently – clearly an offering. “Ah. You’re the sire of Ellie’s last clutch, of course, of course. Didn’t you attract a salamandyr? Tsk, I haven’t forgotten that. Quite the harem you’re collecting. A gold flitter, a green salamandyr and clearly someone to dress you on the side. Shameless,” he teased, a hint of amusement tracing into his voice. “Do you want to read my stories then?” He eyed the papers, then the firelizard, before poking the brown in the stomach with his free hand. “You better not mess them up, little man. I’ve worked quite hard on them and if I have to rewrite, I’ll be displeased. I’m not above dying your clothes pink to make a point. I’m really not.”

R’wign looked over his shoulder to the girl as she arrived and gestured vaguely for her to make herself at home. Plenty of places to sit if she wanted and he wasn’t really averse to visitors. “He’s fine. I get a lot of firelizards popping in and out. Ellie’s popular. Everyone’s favorite queen. Can’t blame them, I mean, have you seen Rose? Or heard her, for that matter? Even Ellie doesn’t claim her. I think she tried to blame Rose on the salamandyrs.” She’d also tried to blame Arrogance on salamandyrs. Rarely did Ellie claim any firelizard as her offspring if they were terribly loud. She was, however, quite fond of fussing over the ones that weren’t. See Charming for example. “I don’t remember his name or yours. Sorry; I’m usually pretty decent at names, but I’m frazzled. Checkoth helpfully says you’re Nuoth’s, but I’m pretty sure that running around calling you dragon property is some kind of violation of social etiquette.” Turning to Charming, R’wign cocked his head to the side. “Am I right?”

[Ember]

Charming was interested in the exchange between Ellie and Ellie's person. Ooh, yes, very interesting. If Ellie liked him so much then he was definitely alright. Not to mention that the man was handsome. Yes, quite so by people standards. The brown quite willingly landed on R'wign and chirped at him. Hello handsome! The flirt that the brown was couldn't resist complimenting the man. He wasn't quite prepared to be teased by his perch. He chittered in amusement at the harem comment and flashed an image of Ellie and his only. No green salamandyrs for him. Though he could see why they'd like him so much. Charming's tail curled and he flared his wings. Posing? Him? Of course!

Charming's attention was drawn to the papers strewn about and he chirped hopefully, leaning down to peer at them. Sadly, as smart as he was, he couldn't read the writing and crooned sadly. They were sure to be interesting and the brown did like the occasional story. A poke to the stomach stopped him from leaving his perch to examine the papers more closely. He looked up at R'wign and fluted. Pink? Pink was a lovely colour! He showed an image of his pink frilly dress and puffed out his chest. Hah, beat that! He already had something pink so it wasn't a very good threat.

Nephele barely kept herself from telling her brown firelizard that it most definitely was a good threat. If his clothes got dyed pink he'd want another new set of a different colour and she was not willing to make him another set so soon. Instead she responded to what R'wign had said. "The other gold? Yeah, I remember her." Came from the clutch that Charming claimed as his. "Charming doesn't claim her either," she added with amusement. The brown fluted with agreement to what His was saying and R'wign's question. "Ah, can't say as I remember yours either. I'm Nephele. That one's name is Charming," Nephele said easily. Mother's movement on her shoulder reminded her that she had one more to introduce. "And this guy would like you to know that his name is Mother."

[glamourie]

Smiling indulgently, R’wign lifted his other hand to gently stroke Charming’s head knob. Ellie liked it very much when he did that, so he was betting that Charming would too. (Actually, it usually made Ellie writhe and wriggle in joy – she liked it that much.) He was a cute little guy, wasn’t he? The brownrider did not turn back to the firelizard’s owner, not immediately, instead lavishing very blatant attention on him – much to the irritation of Grumpy, who uncurled and gave Charming a very sharp hiss. R’wign looked down at him, cooed quietly, then went back to petting the brown. There really was no placating Grumpy when he got into a mood and he hated when R’wign paid attention to anyone (species not mattering) other than him, so he couldn’t win. At least he’d been happy for a few fleeting moments. That was good enough for the healer. The flashed image made him cock his head to the side though. Hadn’t this firelizard had a green salamandyr mate? Maybe he was confused. It was possible, he supposed – Ellie was no help since the mention of green salamandyrs had her adamantly insisting that no, he was not Vex’s mate. (Apparently no other green ‘mandyrs existed. Or were worth acknowledging. Yes, Ellie, R’wign knew very well who Vex’s mate was, thanks.)

“You know,” R’wign said to Charming, poking him in the belly again. “I’ve a very lovely purple, green and blue dress. I think mine’s prettier than yours. I’ll dig it out for you if you’d like. I’m told it makes me look quite delectable. Except my weyrmate hates it and tends to look embarrassed when I wear it.” He’d only worn it once, and M’ta hadn’t seen it. He just opposed any time R’wign mentioned wearing it and tended to look annoyed. Tch. Spoil sport.

To supplement R’wign’s comments, Ellie flashed an image of him at his graduation wearing the dress and flowers in his hair. The gold delicately landed on R’wign’s wrist next to Charming and fluted – then she flashed an image of Hers wearing a bellydancer’s costume. He had many pretty outfits, Hers did. She didn’t know why he stopped wearing such silliness, but it probably had to do with Sneak’s. He wasn’t so fond of the silly, not out where people could see it, and Hers had cooled off. He used to have pink hair, though, and Ellie happily flashed an image of that to Charming before nuzzling his wing with her face. Wasn’t it pretty? She’d matched it. She understood why it changed though – Hers had been most upset when he had the pink hair and he’d been hurting so much. That thought soured her mood slightly and the little queen turned to look at Charming’s – because she was a good distraction.

R’wign followed Ellie’s gaze with a smile and he indicated the gold on his arm pleasantly. “Elegance.” His hand dropped to the angry blue flitter curled up by his body. “Grumpy.” He lifted his hand to point at the wall behind Nephele, where Grouch was perched, watching her like a hawk. “Grouch.” The blue in question gave a shrill, scolding squawk, as if insulting Nephele’s intelligence for not knowing his name. R’wign ignored him to point at the couch, and out of a pile of blankets flung an absolutely tiny blue firelizard who squealed in delight and then fell back to the blankets weightlessly. He looked like the sky woven into hide. “Stumpy. And the green salamandyr that is currently terrorizing the infirmary is Vex. She’ll be back shortly to greet you herself though. My name is R’wign. Nice to meet you, Charming, Mother.” The last name was said with a hint of amusement. “Why’s he called Mother?”

[Ember]

Ooh. Ooooh! That felt very, very good. Charming responded to the petting by gently pressing into R'wign's hand. The brown was happy with just a little more pressure. The spoiling of her eldest firelizard brought a faint smile to Nephele's face. A hiss made Charming pull away from the hand for a moment to look at the offended blue. The brown crooned at Grumpy in an attempt to placate him just as R'wign did. Sorry, sorry. He'd be stealing this one for just a little while! Charming let the brownrider continue petting him again and he chirped when the man showed confusion. Oh yes, he'd caught a green salamandyr but the brown was one of those rare firelizards that didn't necessarily remain loyal to a mandyr.

It was actually very likely Charming would have been loyal if not for the fact that the green salamandyr in question had been at the hatching of Charming's babies and caused trouble for Ellie. Between his loyalty to Ellie and his clutch, Skink had been pushed out. The green had simply had very bad timing. The brown blinked up at Ellie's when he was poked again. He had a dress too? The brown chittered excitedly, his answer quite clear. He nudged Ellie in his excitement when she landed next to him. He tilted his head at the images. Hers was quite the good dresser. Or could be, if he actually wore what she was showing him.

Charming saw the image of pink hair and became curious about how that was done. He'd never seen a person change their hair colour before. Their eyes didn't even change colour like theirs did. How did Ellie's manage it? He crooned quietly to Ellie when he noticed her mood change slightly. The attention shifted to His though and he paid attention while the others he didn't know were introduced. Nephele listened as well, glancing at each firelizard as they were named. Grouch wasn't too friendly but Stumpy seemed to make up for that. One thing she realized above all was that R'wign had more firelizards than she did, not to mention a mandyr. Interesting. Maybe it was a side-effect of having a gold.

Nephele smiled when Mother's name came up. "He acts like a mother," she told R'wign in response. The bronze chirped once in greeting before rubbing his head against Nephele's cheek. "He likes babies and comforting people." The greenrider reached up to give the bronze a quick pet before Charming stole the show again. He chittered scoldingly and flashed an image of Diva to all present. "Ah, that would be my little green menace, Diva. One of Rose's little ones." Thankfully that one was safely in her weyr, no doubt guarding 'her' things.

[glamourie]

Helpfully, Ellie flashed an image of an array of herbs – impossible to truly identify from that one fleeting picture, but very obviously a potent concoction – to Charming. Hers used it to make his hair silly colors sometimes and he could make almost any color if he tried, though he favored the black because Sneak’s liked the black. And Sneak’s had to always be kept happy, in the mind of R’wign. Ellie knew that was because he was R’wign’s mate, but she didn’t share that information. It wasn’t something that Charming needed to know and Hers was somewhat private – not in his affection for Sneak’s, but about his personal life if he could help it. Ellie was smart enough to be more than willing to respect that. She nudged Charming as he rubbed so firmly against Hers’ hands and chirped pleasantly – see, see how good Hers was? He was so good, yes yes. She’d trained him so very well. She was happy to see that Hers seemed to like Charming as well. All around content was the gold firelizard – but why shouldn’t she have been?

Still stroking Charming, R’wign looked at Nephele and nodded. He moved carefully to avoid dislodging Charming and Ellie, but Grumpy was sent sprawling on the floor. The blue hissed loudly and disappeared between to sulk somewhere – no doubt R’wign would get an earful later. His disappearance though was not given much time to be thought over, for a moment later another voice – clear as crystal, decidedly feminine and almost human enough as to be mistaken for a dragon – was projected to all who were present.

Greetings. Vex, I am.

The green salamandyr was prone to climbing and as soon as she arrived, she went up the wall near the entrance to perch on her shelf – the one she always seemed to settle on. It had many flowers and some jewelry, but none of it was stolen; it all belonged to R’wign. He put it there to placate her, because salamandyrs that didn’t crave shiny things were almost nonexistent. As long as she had pretties, though, Vex was happy and saw no reason to try thieving. Flaring her frill in greeting, the dark green salamandyr sprawled herself out on the shelf and gently started grooming herself in a manner that was decidedly feline. Delicate. Feminine. ‘Pretty.’ These were definitely words that described Vex’s mannerisms, even as she turned to Nephele as if she were a little human holding a conversation. Vex sometimes forgot that she was a salamandyr… that or she simply thought herself so intelligent that she could converse with all species equally. Either or, really.

“She’s Vex,” R’wign explained with a nod toward his salamandyr on her perch. “She’s from a wild clutch. Grumpy is one of Rose’s little ones, too. Grouch and Ellie came from eggs at a Gather – Grouch is about a sevenday older than Charming is, I’d think. Stumpy came from the clutch that hatched K’lir and Kalierre’s bronze menaces. Fun fact: He can drop his tail and regrow it like a salamandyr. He’s also scared of all of them except Vex and PMS. Feel free to make yourself at home, by the way – I don’t intend to relinquish this little guy any time soon.” And to Charming, “Do you want to see the dress?”

[Ember]

Charming would have tilted his head if not for the rubbing when the images of herbs passed through his mind. Oh, oh! Wouldn't it be so neat if he could show off His with interesting coloured hair? His was pretty enough but having a more interesting colour than near black would be much better. It also seemed the only one he would be able to ask for help in that department was Ellie's. At the gold's nudge, Charming trilled pleasantly in agreement and compliment as he broadcast his thoughts to both Ellie and R'wign. Yes, Ellie's was a very good man. Glad he'd met this one, the brown was.

The brown was just about to ask about the hair herbs when a voice cut into the weyr. Oh, he recognized that one. He chittered a greeting to the green he'd once chased (albeit more for fun and to show off than anything else) before returning his attention to the man petting him while he talked about the other firelizards. Ooh, that Stumpy was a cool one. He wondered what it was like to leave behind a body part but decided not to ask. Nephele smiled slightly at the expanded introduction and the interesting fact. Her gaze lingered a bit longer on Stumpy before she said to the weyr at large, "Hello." Having lived with a firelizard for two turns, she knew they had feelings all their own. If anything, it was rude to ignore them.

Nephele made herself comfortable on the floor and her earlier smile returned slightly wider. "He has that effect on people. Definitely lives up to his name." The greenrider had been a bit wary of the little flying pets at first but once she'd impressed Charming...well, there was no going back. Given the chance she'd probably go to another flitter hatching, despite the fact that Diva made her life a little more difficult on a daily basis. Their company generally outweighed their flaws.

Charming chirped happily at R'wign's question. The dress? Yes, yes please! He so wanted to see it! And with that he gently slipped in another request; would he 'fix' His' hair to be a different colour too? Her hair was just begging to be coloured, wasn't it? So boring right now. It wasn't quite pleading. The brown simply didn't do that...well, rarely did that. Maybe if he was doing it for humour's sake.

[glamourie]

Ellie happily rubbed against Charming, obviously taken. The gold favored Hers strongly, not in the sense that she was jealous and possessive (with someone like R’wign, how could she be?) but in the sense that she was protective; she viewed him as the ultimate clutch to watch over. Anyone who complimented him was well-received in the gold flitter’s eyes and Charming was rapidly endearing himself further to her – not that he wasn’t already her favorite brown flitter. He was, and she wasn’t ashamed to express that. Of course, it wasn’t hard to get into Ellie’s good graces: flattery and sweetness really did get someone everywhere with her. The amount of creatures that she disliked was few and far between but the numbers were all made up by loud, self-absorbed entities. See: Rose. See: most salamandyrs. She just didn’t like anything that made a lot of rocket or was insulting. Vex was actually okay with her because the green salamandyr, while purely evil, was quiet and kept her wickedness from bringing harm to Ellie and Theirs in any way. It could be said that Ellie was very self-oriented herself... but then, no matter how nice she may have been, she was a Gold flitter.

Charming’s greeting to Vex earned him a little wave of her frill before she found her way to R’wign’s side. The salamandyr climbed up Hers’ side, using his back as a brace to launch right onto his head. It was her favorite place to perch for her dark green, glimmery hide (always metallic!) blended in well with his long black curls. Even straightened, she fit in pretty well with the strands. Plus R’wign was tall so it gave her a vantage point with which she could look down upon the world. Vex, the true ruler of salamandyrs everywhere. That was her mentality, anyway.

“He certainly seems to,” R’wign agreed pleasantly, with a nod toward Nephele. “Make yourself at home. I seem to have stolen your flitter; it’s the least I can offer you.” Vex fluttered her wings as R’wign nodded and stood up but did not otherwise complain. The brownrider wandered over to the wardrobe and opened it, shuffling around. The clothes inside were primarily his because M’ta didn’t own that much in the way of fancy clothing. Near the back of it, he found what he sought and removed the hangar to sprawl the dress out on top of the furs for all to see.

And a dress it was. Dark purple backdrop, form fitting, with definite shades of turquoise near the bottom and bright teal near the top. It had sequins. It was gaudy beyond belief. It fit R’wign perfectly once upon a time but he’d gained a lot of muscle mass over the past few turns and that left him being too large for it. His head tilted and he looked at Charming with a grin. “It made my butt look incredible when it fit. Alas, I’ve bulked up too much and M’ta would never forgive me if I suddenly lost a lot of it.” He sighed softly, as if in depression, and then grinned. “If you want, your humanling can have it to cut up and make you something. You’ll get more use out of it.” He poked Charming in the belly lightly. “Your choice though.”

[Ember]

Charming could hardly complain about all the attention undeniably on him. Ellie's was spoiling him and the gold herself rubbed against him. The brown accepted it all shamelessly. Charming turned and gave Ellie a good old affectionate lick before watching R'wign retrieve the dress he wanted to see so much. Nephele's response to the brownrider's words was to snort softly and say, "He often steals himself." Her tone was pleasantly and not at all accusatory towards her eldest firelizard. She wasn't lacking in the flitter attention department with Mother around.

The rider was somewhat distracted from the man by the salamandyr in his hair though. For some reason it was kind of amusing. If she hadn't seen the 'mandyr get there she might not have seen her at all. If she ever saw him again it was highly likely she'd be looking in his hair for the salamandyr, if only because she'd be curious to see if it was a habit of the green. Her attention and Charming's was quickly diverted to the dress R'wign brought out though. "That's some dress," she said, voicing her thoughts aloud.

She couldn't make up her mind whether it was a compliment or a condemnation. It was a bit...flashy for her own tastes. It seemed to fit R'wign's personality, at least from what she had seen of him. Charming had flown over from his previous spot to look at the dress more closely. He landed on the edge of the fabric and crooned a complement. It was very wonderful. He placed a paw on it almost reverently and looked up at R'wign when he spoke. The chittering sounds he made sounded distinctly like laughter at the comment about R'wign's butt. Yes, humans did so like their butts to look good.

At the offer to have the dress the brown crooned wonderingly glancing from the material to the brownrider a few times. He could have it? When his belly was poked he licked the finger. Thank you, thank you! Ooh, he'd make sure His made lovely things out of it. In fact...he looked at His beseechingly. Was there a need to wait for her to start on a mimicry of the dress for him? Nephele giggled and stood. "You two make a dangerous pair," she said to the brown and R'wign. "The brat wants me to start on something for him right now. Are you sure about giving the dress to him though?"

[glamourie]

He was a little thief? Hm. R’wign glanced at Charming and mouthed, ‘Is she telling the truth?’ carefully. Of course, if firelizards could lip read he’d probably be in trouble; he doubted very seriously that the brown would know what he was asking. No matter how many people called him ‘The Firelizard Whisperer’, R’wign knew very well that he was no better than anyone else; he just had a peculiar ability to attract flitters that he had trouble explaining. It really wasn’t the same thing. Just the same, did it stop R’wign from treating them as if they really were little dragons, complete with the same level of intelligence? No. Because in his mind, they were. Talking didn’t signify how intelligent something was in his mind and flitters could communicate just fine. He liked firelizards better than he did salamandyrs, with maybe Vex as an exception – maybe. He also had trouble actually being bothered by the idea of the very-cute firelizard that Ellie so liked stealing. Maybe it was unfair, but he thought most things firelizards did were cute. When salamandyrs did the same thing, R’wign got annoyed. Yeah, yeah, he’d address that issue some time when it mattered. Really. He would.

“It was a gift,” R’wign said all-too-pleasantly, and it was. He’d later found out Jermayan had it made for him – bizarrely enough. He hadn’t really known the brown wherhandler very well, as he always seemed to stammer in his presence and avoid him. Being on different shifts in the infirmary meant that he really didn’t spend a lot of time around him. He’d been told later that Jermayan found him attractive and it was a weird kind of gift – but hey, R’wign had liked it. He’d worn the dress to his weyrling graduation ceremony and the look on Sel’n’s face was more than just priceless; it was an image that would be forever burnt into R’wign’s brain. And he was trying his best to forget the cramming-his-tongue-down-Sel’n’s-throat part. It’d been amusing at the time but he had a lot better things to be remembering. Really. He did.

The little firelizard seemed so happy (and Ellie was happy that he was) that even if he’d been joking, R’wign wouldn’t have been able to say no. Fact: He couldn’t turn down cute things when they were being cute. He just couldn’t. So he often didn’t try. His gaze switched from Charming to Nephele and he allowed a very pleasant – too pleasant – smile to pass over his face. Okay, so maybe he liked the fact that it was very obvious who called the shots and that it wasn’t her. Maybe he found it amusing. So what? He wasn’t a bad person for laughing at that, was he? Nope. Not at all.

“I’m sure,” he said, stepping aside for Nephele to get better access to the fabric. “It doesn’t fit me anymore and I doubt I’m ever going to be that scrawny again. My weyrmate would never forgive me if I lost that much weight. He might actually hurt me and well, I like being in one piece. If nothing else he’d sulk and he’s far too cute to leave that way. You got a plan for what you’re going to make for him then? I think I have sequins somewhere. Or something with sequins on it, if he wants ‘em.”

[Ember]

Though quite intelligent Charming had never learned to read lips. The sentence that dropped soundlessly from R’wign’s mouth was met with a puzzled croon. He didn’t understand without the sounds. He glanced at Ellie and chattered at her. What was Hers telling him? The brown couldn’t figure out what was the man wanted to say. There were several things that it could have been about. Lost, was he. He didn’t much like being lost. Nephele reached down and gave the brown a calming pet. She’d caught R’wign’s lip movements but she hadn’t been paying all that much attention to them. She was curious by nature but whatever he mouthed hadn’t caught her interest in the first place.

The greenrider blinked in surprise when R’wign mentioned that the dress was in fact a gift. How very strange. Dresses weren’t such a bad dress to give a girl (though a dress as gaudy as that was a bit too much) but to give a dress to a guy was very unusual. She’d have said it was mocking but the man seemed to be quite proud of the dress. Hmm. Well…not her place she supposed. She wore whatever she liked so others could do the same if they liked. Heck, her male fire lizard was particularly fond of dresses as well. Him and the man whose weyr she was in were both odd sorts of people/draconids.

R’wign smiling at her caught her off guard and she closed down ever so slightly. She didn’t trust it when guys smiled at her like that. She knew how well some could act or how naively innocent others could be. Given he was missing an eye she doubted he was the latter so the distrust came all the easier. Old habits died hard. She was careful not to act too oddly, to tip him off that she was uncomfortable. She nodded at his assent and placed a hand on the fabric of the dress, feeling what it was like. Yes, she could work with it easily enough. Charming licked at her hand pleasantly. She would make pretty things out of it. Pretty things that he could then wear and show off to everyone.

The greenrider smiled almost sympathetically at R’wign. Given her current freedom she would chafe against any restraints put on her. It was probably a part of why she liked K’sel. She could argue against anything he said and it would make no difference to either of them. “I think I’ll make him a miniature of the dress for him. He’s fond of the design. Sequins would be useful for that. After that I might make him a skirt or something,” she added musingly. She tended to have a lot of fun thinking up ideas for things. A large majority of her clothes had been altered slightly in some way to make them more appealing to her.