A Mismatched Pair? (Mo'rya)

[Ember]

He was hungry and he wanted some human company. Sheya decided to suggest to Hers that it was time to eat. This flying around was undoubtedly fun for him but he couldn't go neglecting his needs. When the blue one straightened out, Sheya cheeped at Dy'shi. "Ah! What is it? Are you okay? Hungry? Sick?" Oh dear, he had misunderstood her. So very attentive was the boy. Too much so, sometimes. Sheya rubbed up against his cheek and flashed images of steaming food to him. Dy'shi's stomach rumbled. "Oh..." Silently amused, Sheya clutched tighter to his clothes as Chakraith swooped in to land and switched to his shoulder when he dismounted and headed for the dining hall.

The bluerider was a little put off by the number of people in the dining hall. Truth be told, Sheya was too. It'd be much harder to find good company for Hers with so many present. Well, food first the pair decided. Dy'shi picked up some soup and freshly baked bread along with some scraps of meat for the firelizard. Sheya had shifted to the boy's head for a better view and finally spotted what she figured would be good company. She didn't yet know too much about her momma's human but she was willing to give the other boy a chance. She jumped into the air gently and slowly lured Hers towards Mo'rya with the promise of a seat. Besides, wouldn't one who didn't care about his clothes match well with another who wore funny things?

She landed on the table neatly, offering a pleasant chirp in greeting to Mo'rya. Oh look, Hers, this one seemed to be fairly attractive, no? Dy'shi approached the table despite the faint blush on his face that signified his embarrassment. He wasn't sure if Sheya was just trying to get him to emulate her love of males or if she'd picked up on the fact that he swung that way. Either way, it wasn't the first tiem she'd suggested that such-and-such a guy looked good. He sat across from the weyrling and smiled shyly. "Hi...you own the gold my Sheya's from, right?" Despite being about ready to panic at that hatching, he had noticed the host briefly.

[Kisha-Ra]

It would be so much better, Mo’rya considered as he wiped his sticky hands on a damp rag he’d dragged along with him for just this purpose, if Evil was more like a dragon. Not in the respect of being large, a larger Evil would be awful, nor in the respect of talking, because he could only guess what Evil would have to say, but if the little bugger only had to eat once every few days that would be just perfect. The trial of feeding a well named blue firelizard honey every day was one Mo’rya often felt he could really live without, and matter how often he offered other foods Evil still insisted on honey. The only thing worse than feeding him honey was letting the blue find his own honey, he could get amazingly sticky, and speaking of… Morya reached out to wipe down the firelizard, only to have him hiss and take off between. That was odd, normally Evil was just about the vainest creature ever and threatened whipping and strangulation with his tail if he was left with honey on his hide for the merest fraction of a second.

Staring in confusion after his missing firelizard Mo’rya totally missed the second firelizard approaching him. Fortunately for him Wit did, and greeted the young green with a cry of Hello Slave-baby. Scared Evil, most well done. That warned Mo’rya that someone was nearby so at least he was able to stop gazing into space and spot the green firelizard that was apparently leading her bonded along this way. He recognised it as one of Ghost’s babies straight off, not only was that hide pattern most likely unique but Ghost was quite prone to keeping a distant eye on her babies and telling Mo’rya all about how they were doing. From what Ghost had to show him this green was adorable.

‘Hi.’ Mo’rya favoured his new companion with a bright smile. Anyone Ghost approved of was obviously a friend. ‘Yes, she’s one of Ghost’s and she’s growing up to be just beautiful isn’t she?’ the weyrling gazed down at the green firelizard with interest, an interest that was not shared by his remaining mindmate. Wit was far more interested in his meal than anything else.

[Ember]

Sheya tilted her head cutely in confusion as Evil disappeared. Was that her fault? Yes, it apparently was according to the salamandyr that addressed her. The green dipped her head as if shy twittered at the blue. Why thank you for the compliment, though she wasn't entirely sure scaring others was a good thing. It was awfully rude after all. The blue seemed more interested in food than her so she turned her attention to Mo'rya when he spoke. She trilled in appreciation of his compliment before food was placed before her.

Dy'shi relaxed some when the weyrling smiled back. He seemed friendly enough. There was no doubt some pride in seeing a pet's baby growing up well but anyone who complimented one of Dy'shi's mindmates was instantly in his good books. Although, how anyone could hate such a sweet and pretty firelizard such as Sheya he'd never know. It seemed like an impossible task. "Yes, she is. And she's a wonderfully sweet firelizard too." As he placed the green's food in front of her he murmured, "If you need me to cut it up or anything..."

Couldn't have his firelizard choking, right? It occured to him then that his table companion probably didn't know his name. "My name's Dy'shi, Chakraith is my dragon," he offered the weyrling. He knew the other boy's name because of his dragon's broadcast but that was it. He wasn't even sure what the boy's dragon's name was. It bothered him a bit that he knew so little about the guy bonded to his firelizard's mother. Then again...it wasn't like he knew Kaegan personally. Names, at least, were known there though.

[Kisha-Ra]

Wit spared the green firelizard a soft snort, she was one of his golden slaves babies after all and therefore a slave of Wit herself, but that was all the attention the plump salamandyr could possibly spare from his meal. Clearly the firelizard was smarter than she first seemed, Wit thought as her attention was caught by her own meal, a meal that Wit couldn’t possibly coerce her into handing over to him because he could see from here that there was an odd number of pieces in that bowl. Odd most bad. Should eat yours. The blue warned with a significant glance at Dy’shi, obviously one who fed their pet anything odd numbered should be eaten, in an even number of bites. Not his, Mo’rya was good now, he only needed biting a few times.

‘I’m glad, all of Ghosts babies seem nice, mind you I’m glad for her too, I don’t know what she’d think of a baby like Evil.’ Mo’rya considered this for a moment, although not to take into account that Dy’shi probably didn’t know who Evil was. ‘Well she did seem to like him when he was a baby, except when he was threatening people, or trying to strangle me, or beating one of us with his tail. So basically when he was asleep.’ Mo’rya shrugged as if to express that Evil wasn’t the easiest pet to get along with.

‘Oh, nice to formally meet you. I’m afraid I didn’t have much of a chance to talk to anyone at the hatching. It all happened so fast, much faster than dragon hatchings I thought.’ Mo’rya flicked a stray strand of hair away from his eyes and thought about that statement. ‘I’m Mo’rya, you probably saw my Epifayrmuth at the hatching too, he’s the really little bronze, although in fact he’s the only bronze weyrling at the moment.’ It seemed that Mo’rya really needed to think over his sentences a bit more before he actually said them but that was unlikely to happen. Wasn’t there something about that dragon that was sort of odd? Odd like Epifayrmuth and his siblings were odd, that was. Mo’rya considered the matter for a moment and decided he couldn’t remember what it was, it seemed so much of his attention had been caught up in his own weyrling class that he’d totally forgotten about all the dragons who weren’t involved with the weyrlings.

Well he was bound to find out, or remember, sooner or later. In the meantime Mo’rya nibbled on his own meal. ‘So, tell me about your dragon. How big is he? It looks like Epifayrmuth’s only going to be as big as a blue but he doesn’t seem very bothered by it.’ Mo’rya was very proud of that bit of speech it was so much better than saying ’excuse me but I can’t quite recall what’s wrong with your dragon.’.

[Ember]

Sheya chirped once, curiously, at the blue's statement. What? Oh. Odd numbered food. She looked between Wit, the food in front of her, and Hers before deciding she most certainly could not injure Hers. The green took a piece between her claws and chewed through the middle of it. She chittered to Wit to bring his attention to the two pieces. That made her meal even, did it not? Problem solved in the green's mind she delicately popped one half of the piece she'd separated into her mouth and ate it. Odd or even, it tasted good either way to her.

As Mo'rya explained to him about Evil Dy'shi smiled weakly. Yes, at least Sheya was adorable and nice. He hadn't wanted her but he'd gotten a rather good firelizard. Some who actually wanted them ended up getting difficult pets to deal with. The boy was grateful and he did love Sheya, unexpected though she'd been. "He sounds like a handful and a half," he commented, if only to show he was paying attention. Then a thought came to him and he curiously asked, "You see the others who got Ghost's babies?" How else would he know that the babies were all nice?

Epifayrmuth. So that was the dragon's name. The bronze really had been small for his age. He was a Millieth baby, though, so Dy'shi could understand why that might be. Rider of a strange dragon himself he couldn't pass ill judgement, especially not since the dragon was only small for his colour. "Pleasure to meet you. I don't blame you - it was fast. It felt like I barely got in there before Sheya found me." He'd ranted so much the Chakraith afterwards before the blue's infectious cloud of calm had settled him down some.

Dy'shi blinked at the masculine reference to his dragon before sliding his eyes away nervously. He probably shouldn't be nervous, considering Epifayrmuth's size, but it was always a bit scary to mention Chakraith's difference to others. At least, it had become scary ever since the Wastelander's had taken over and killed the deformed babies at the hatching. "Umm, well...she, actually. Chakraith is a female blue. Aside from that, she's pretty average for a blue." His eyes flicked back to the bronzeweyrling to check his reaction to his revelation.

[Kisha-Ra]

What? Wit looked curiously at the firelizard, didn’t she understand how terrible it was to eat the odd numbered food? Oh poor, poor, little slave thing. Wait. What? The blue’s half frill flicked up in surprise as he watched the green bite a piece of meat in half, making an even number from the odds, clearly she was a more powerful slave than she looked, the salamandyr decided, so it was a good thing she was Wit’s slave. The blue offered a soft croon and shuffled himself around to bat his eyelids at the firelizard in a mock human gesture, better consolidate his hold on this one.

‘Oh no, I don’t see all of them, well not often anyway.’ Mo’rya clarified with what could only be called a giggle. ‘Ghost watches all her babies and tells me about them. She’s a very proud mother, maybe she feels she has to be because their father’s wild and isn’t likely to see them for a while.’ That seemed reasonable to Mo’rya, why wouldn’t Ghost be proud? The bronzeweyrling nodded enthusiastically at Dy’shi’s comment on the speed of things, it hardly seemed like anytime went by between the first hatchling and the last.

‘Oh’ Mo’rya broke out into a broad grin. ‘She must be Epifayrmuth’s sister!’ For reasons of his own the boy seemed totally delighted by this concept. ‘I heard that most of the odd dragons are from Millieth’s clutches.’ Like a cloud passing over the sun Mo’rya’s delight faded as he recalled what had happened to those odder than Epifayrmuth, and, as ever, he shied away from considering how close to the cut the rest of the clutch had come. ‘Apart from the rest of Epifayrmuth’s clutchmates I haven’t met any properly yet though.’ Mo’rya added thoughtfully and gave Dy’shi an expectant kind of look.

[Ember]

Sheya was silently amused that her simple solution seemed to impress her blue companion so. She delicately curled her tail around her, tip flicking up and down almost thoughtfully when he turned to croon at her. The green crooned pleasantly in return and chittered lightly at the seemingly flirtatious behaviour from Wit. Young though she was she had already seen that human action. She'd seen it down by a female before but apparently it could be done by males as well. Perhaps she ought to get Dy'shi to try it some time. With his good looks he could undoubtedly pull it off.

Dy'shi smiled when Mo'rya told him how he'd known about the other babies. "I didn't even notice Ghost around, checking up on Sheya," he admitted with an amused giggle. Sneaky firelizards were sneaky. Softly, as if afraid even such a light touch would break her, the bluerider ran a finger down his firelizard's spine. She arched up into the touch ever so slightly and he felt a light buzzing that he could swear was a purr before he withdrew his hand again.

He knew without anything being said that his face fell a bit too when the other boy inadvertantly reminded them of the culling. Despite rationally knowing there was nothing wrong with Chakraith, as a dragon, that would cause the Wastelander's to kill her he'd been terrified they'd do it anyways. Thankfully the conversation didn't linger near there. Dy'shi smiled at Mo'rya's obvious desire to see his dragon and so he offered, "I'd be more than happy to introduce you to Chakraith."

[Kisha-Ra]

Wit couldn’t help flaring his half frill up in pride, a bright flash of lavender against his darker hide. He was a master at manipulating little flying slaves (and never mind that the firelizards were all bigger than him), and once again he’d proved it. Now he could do with Mo’rya worshiping him and a little nap. The plump salamandyr rose ponderously and stretched out his body, then wandered over to place himself under Mo’rya’s hand.

Mo’rya grinned happily and nodded, absently scratching his salamandyr as he did so. ‘Ghost is very sneaky, you wouldn’t think a big shiny firelizard like her would be, but she is. She doesn’t like to be stared at, so I guess she’s had a lot of practice.’ It was fair to say that Mo’rya admired Ghost’s sneakiness, though he was about as far from a sneaky person as it was possible to be, hardly anyone had even noticed the gold keeping an eye on her babies, often not even the babies themselves.

It was fairly clear that his new friend, and Dy’shi clearly would be a friend, was also thinking of the culling that had followed Millieth’s hatching, but he, too, seem loath to discuss such a disturbing subject. At the offer of an introduction to the female blue Mo’rya’s expression shifted back to utterly delighted again. ‘Oh good, I’d love to meet her, I’m sure Epifayrmuth would too.’ Actually the bronze probably wasn’t going to get a choice, besides he’d like his sister once he met her Mo’rya was sure, he’d conveniently forgotten that he didn’t always get along with his siblings of course. He liked them better when they were several miles away.