More Than One Way to Kill Time (Cr'oph)

[Ember]

It was not even an hour ago that Jazz had barged into Cr'oph's weyr to announce that they were going hunting together. She'd promptly wandered into his bathroom to actually get dressed for hunting. See, Jazz had never been the self conscious sort. She had no problem wandering around the weyr in her short sleeping shorts and a baggy top. Besides, it wasn't a terribly long walk to get to the bronzerider's weyr. In his bathroom she'd stripped out of her shorts and into pants that could survive a rough day in the wilderness before realizing she heard nothing from the bedroom. Oh, really?

Despite the early morning hour she would have thought Cr'oph would be able to get up easily. She considered throwing a shirt on over her bra before simply shrugging and exiting the washroom. She bounced on over to the bed and crawled her way up from the foot of the bed to fully sit on Cr'oph. Jazheera didn't often embrace her feminine side since there usually wasn't a reason to but that didn't mean she didn't have one. Leaning down she put her lips near Cr'oph's ear . "Hey, time to wake up," she whispered. Then, because she really couldn't help it, she burst out laughing and poked his cheek. In a significantly louder voice she said, "Seriously, wake up sleepy head. We're wasting good hunting hours."

She waited for Cr'oph to show some sort of life and when he did she smiled at him brightly. It was a bit of an odd relationship, in Jazz's own opinion, but she couldn't care less. Since when had she ever been a normal woman anyways? Weirdness sort of suited who she was. Rhyming dragons, baby-like 'mandyrs, and giant boyfriends were par for the course. "I need to finish getting dressed and you need to get dressed too and then we can go an-" She was abruptly interrupted before she could even finish what she was trying to say. Well fiiiine then.

[Rei]

Cr’oph was sleeping soundly. He often slept well past noon lately. There were always things to be done but when he could catch some lazy time? He was all for it. Mavenath was sprawled upon his ledge, a silent sentinel. A soft an quiet croon was offered to the minuscule woman when Jazz entered. From his perch near the ledge Raven clacked his beak and then fluffed his feathers before setting to preening them, one yellow and predatory eye fixed on the female intruder. He was watching her carefully. Still a bit skittish around any but his bonded the razorclaw titled his head when the bluerider disappeared into the bathroom. It was still a bit of a mystery as to why Cr’oph had ever accepted the creature when it started randomly hanging around him. Jiggles had been killed by one and the red head had always professed to hate them afterwards. But whatever the reason the bird had been accepted and named.

The bronzer in question was currently mumbling something as he threw an arm over his eyes. Who was waking him up this early? His bronze snorted but didn’t comment as Jazz reemerged from the bathing room. He would let his bonded’s female deal with him. Far more adequate than being bothered to do it himself. Thus decided the large bronze laid his head back down on his forepaws and let his lids slip shut. The movement from the foot of the bed was minimal and not really consciously noticed. Not until a small weight settled itself somewhere near his stomach. A shiver passed through Cr’oph’s body at the whispered words and he smiled cracking open one eye to regard Jazheera curiously. “Sure I need to wake up? I’m liking this dream.” Came the sleepy mumble as his eyes tracked up her body shamelessly. Oh yeah please don’t wake him up.

In all honesty though the bronzerider was rapidly waking. Especially when he realized the girl half dressed and hovering over him wasn’t in his dreams. Had he been M’kai he might have said score! But he wasn’t. Hands lifted to track up the bluerider’s sides. What? Hunting? What were they hunting? The last lingering fuzziness of sleep caused a bit of confusion before his brain changed tracks again. She was speaking again. Nooooo. Don’t speak. Not about getting dressed. With that thought in mind Cr’oph dropped his hands and abruptly sat up, shifting his weight to his elbows as he claimed her lips in a not so gentle kiss to stop the flow of words. When it seemed that his girlfriend was properly silenced he broke away and tilted his head, sleep tousled hair half obscuring his face. “Now what’s this about hunting? Why would we go hunting when I can hunt other things?” With that his hand moved to track up the bluerider’s thigh, a teasing smile on his lips.

Oh Cr’oph knew this wasn’t going to pan out. Because when Pixie wanted something she normally made it happen. But eh he couldn’t resist the long shot. Watch. In a few moments she was going to be shooing him out of bed and they were going to go jungle exploring for something to hunt. Bah. The things he did to keep this girl pleased and thus in her good graces. But in the end he had her didn’t he? Give and take. One of the key principals of life.

[Ember]

Jazheera was quite amused by the fact that Mavenath seemed to be leaving Cr'oph entirely to her that morning. The bronze earned a smile and a wave from the woman. The razorclaw, though, had been given a slightly worried look. She highly doubted the bird would go digging in her clothes lying in the bathroom to eat Tod but...Well, she trusted the bird about as much as he seemed to trust her. The little green would be okay, curled up in the shirt she intended to wear to go hunting. The 'mandyr was thankfully asleep at the moment and would be for a while yet.

The bluerider was mighty amused that she caused Cr'oph to shiver. She was tempted to tease him that it was way too easy but instead she just shook her head in amusement at his mumbling. Jazz raised a brow at his scrutiny, thankful that her dark complexion would hide the faint blush. Okay, so Cr'oph's opinion apaprently still mattered to her. She was fairly certain he liked what he saw though. While she was a confident woman she was still surprised that the bronzerider had picked her. She rather thought he was being pretty faithful too. At least, she hoped he was.

Jazz hummed faintly when Cr'oph ran his hands up her sides. He was most definitely awake now. Being interrupted while talking, though, annoyed her. "Mmph." She knew that he knew she was annoyed at the tactic. She caved in after only a moment of being unresponsive anyways. Tch, annoying giants. When he broke away she smiled and rolled her eyes at his questions. "Becaaaause, staying inside all day is going to drive me nuts. And maybe if you're good I'll let you pick what you want to hunt later," she offered before giving him a quick kiss. She scooted off him then and returned to the bathroom to finish changing. "If you're not out of bed by the time I'm done..." she said from the other side of the door mock menacingly.

[Rei]

Cr’oph was tempted to pull a face and take the 'your argument is invalid' route. But he didn’t. Instead he merely leaned back in bed and gave Jazheera a pout. Really? Did he haaaaaave to? It was so comfortable right here. Should just stay here. Do other things. But she offered a compromise. Hunt with her now and he got to pick the prey later. Was is wrong that his mind was going in very….interesting directions. Hmm. Returning her quick kiss before the bluerider moved away the bronzer sighed. Alright. He could play Pixie’s game. Maybe he’d even be good. With that thought in mind the bronzer watched the woman’s rear as she returned to his bathroom. Or maybe not. Depended on what was more interesting.

Finally manage a catch and you’re still hopeless. Really Crymine. Manners. Please. Cr'oph didn’t even grace Mavenath with a reply. Instead he chuckled at Jazheera’s ‘threat’. It was oh so tempting to stay laying there, make some wisecrack, and see what he got in return. But eh he had already lazed a good bit of the morning away. Best play nice for now. Rolling out of bed, the red head rummaged through some clothes tossed over the sparse furniture that littered the room before he found what he was looking for. A loose dark colored shirt and pants suitable for jungle travel. At least with it now being fall the weather shouldn’t be that infernally hot. As Cr’oph finished getting dressed his eyes went to the razorclaw perched not far away. Might be good to take Raven with him. Good training anyway.

Running a brush through his hair the bronzer quickly fixed it back into a runner tail and donned a leather glove before approaching Raven. The razorclaw didn’t need to be coaxed however. He had long ago learned what the glove meant and with a quick flutter of near silent wings be was perched on Cr’oph’s shoulder wings mantled before he nervously settled them against his back and clicked his beak together once.

With a roll of his shoulder’s the bronzerider turned towards the bathroom and gave a chuckle. “You die in there or something?” Really for all her posturing Jazz was like any other woman with getting ready. They all took ages. “I’m going to count to five. If you aren’t out here by the time I’m done…..One, two, three…” Was he deliberately baiting her? Oh yes.

[Ember]

Jazz picked up the sleeping Tod with a sigh. The green tended to freak out if she wasn't around someone she trusted when she woke up but bringing her hunting was a little dangerous. Perhaps she could leave her with Tenlie? That could work. With any luck the little green wouldn't wake up before she got back anyways. The bluerider placed the 'mandyr down gently an pulled her shirt on over her head. She twisted most of her long hair into a bun, leaving some near the end loose as she stuck metal pins with simple but pretty wooden carved handles. The ends were sharp, making them functional and pretty.

It was when she was putting in the second pin that Cr'oph had called out to her. Well fine. She opened the door at three and half-heartedly glared at him. "I'm out, I'm out. I keep thinking I should cut my hair. It's a little silly sometimes." The loose part now barely brushed her shoulders in the back. She could deal with that while hunting. It was a little harder to deal with when it came to dragonriding, though. Shaking her head she said, "Let's go drop off Tod at Tenlie's. I worry about bringing her along."

Plus if he was bringing his bird then it was all the more reason to keep her away. She knew full well that they could and had eaten peoples' pets before. Jazz moved towards the door without so much as thinking of reaching for Cr'oph's hand. Not only was she short enough that it would actually probably be uncomfortable for her but she didn't think of it. She walked along the now familiar halls to get to Tenlie's weyr and gratefully left Tod with her.

In short order, Jazz led them both outside into the wilderness that surrounded Burimyu. In it's own way, the new Weyr was beautiful. Jazz liked the danger that lurked just outside it. It made it exciting. She knew not everyone liked such an environment but she thrived on the challenge. The bluerider was decked out with nearly all of her blades in preparation for the hunt, too. Boot knife, belt knife, a set of throwing knives she had deadly accuracy with...No matter what happened she knew she was prepared.

[Rei]

Cr’oph gave Jazheera a broad grin when she opened the door to glare at him. “Ah there’s my Pixie and doesn’t she look lovely.” Raven upon his shoulder simply fluffed up his feathers as he looked down at the woman from his lofty perch. Flicking his own runner tail back over his shoulder when Jazz mentioned hair length the bronzer chuckled. “If you cut your hair mine’s going to be longer than yours. Somehow that seems backwards.” He teased before ruffling her neatly pinned up hair, just because he could. A nod was given the remark about Todd though.

“Yeah probably better not to bring her along. Raven won’t eat her but that doesn’t mean some of his wild brothers and sisters won’t.” One good thing Cr’oph noticed about his new companion was that the avian was actually pretty intelligent. Training him to leave firelizards and mandyrs alone hadn’t been all to hard. The problem with training the creature though was he took things too literal. So when he trained him to not chase Elysia’s brown firelizards he found it perfectly okay to go after the other colors. It had taken him awhile to make sure that the razorclaw had learned that no matter the color they were all off limits. Bah pet training.

As the rider pair walked down the hallway Cr’oph kept alert. Not that he thought there was any danger around each corner but well, given recent events, it didn’t hurt to be careful. The tall bronzer took up a position right behind his tiny girlfriend. It was almost awkward really the extreme difference in height but the redhead didn’t have much in the way of complaints about it. She was perfectly proportional for her size and besides this way it was easier to see over her head, plus toss her around should it became necessary due to her stubbornness. Yep much easier to run from felines with a midget girlfriend then a normal sized one. Plus he thought she was rather cute. Fragile was not a word he was given to using around her because, despite her small size, Jazheera was quite resilient. But cute was a word he’d use to describe her. Along with dainty. Well in physical ways anyway. She sure as hell didn’t act like some dainty hold bred girl that was for sure. Which was rather amusing considering she was hold bred.

Cr’oph gave a small wave and a grunt to Tenlie as they dropped off Todd and then slowly followed Pixie out into the great outdoors. The raucous call of birds and the rustlings of other jungle creatures greeted them as they entered the foliage. One bad or good thing, depending on how you looked at it, about Burimyu is that the creatures there were not as shy as the ones around Selenitas. Having not seen humans in who knows how many turns the creatures here were mostly curious rather then scared. The flip side of that coin? Most of the predatory creatures here where completely fearless. Thankfully most of the bigger and nastier predators around here where mostly nocturnal or crepuscular only coming out at night or in the early morning and the evenings. It was quickly approaching mid day. The time where most of the predators should be lazing about and sleeping. It made travel a little less dangerous. Still the bronzer was very much on guard as he stroked his Razorclaw and then tossed him into the air.

As Raven winged up into the canopy Cr’oph whistled one short note to the bird. A simple command. Watch. With a short cry the predatory avian winged out of sight and the bronzer fell into quiet step behind Jazheera, eyes on the undergrowth and one hand on his belt knife. “So then Pixie. What exactly are we after?” He intoned softly keeping is voice down for the sake of not scaring any of their potential prey.

[Ember]

Though Jazheera huffed quietly at the compliment, her true feelings were more easily read by the almost embarassed duck of her head. Whatever. She growled a little when he ruffled her hair and lightly kicked at his foot with her own. Silly. Still, she wasn't all that annoyed and she was fairly sure he knew that. The woman was a little reassured by the fact that Cr'oph's bird wouldn't eat Tod even if he had the opportunity. She was willing to bet the green would be scared of Raven all the same though.

The bluerider was aware of the underlying tension and wanted to sigh. She knew the cause wasn't either of them but she still wanted them both to be able to relax some. Jazz was only a little paranoid when it came to people; monsters that were said to be properly trapped in the records room did not worry her so much. Sure they'd literally eaten their goldrider alive but Jazz trusted the word of the older riders that they'd blocked the tunnel they'd found the beasts in. Hunting would hopefully help a little. Or at least direct the tension to a visible threat.

When they got outside she watched Raven for a moment before smiling at Cr'oph and answering, "Still haven't decided. Felines are a bit new for me still. Don't have them in the North, after all." Most of what she had hunted before were small animals for food when she'd been travelling alone. "So they'd be exciting. Or we could be nice and hunt down something to help feed the weyr." That would make her feel useful but cooking anything was more difficult when the cooks had to be wary of smoke giving their location away.

"I also heard someone actually managed to catch a wild runner from around here. I miss having a runner," she admitted wistfully. "If we see any I wouldn't mind trying my hand at taming one. I've seen it done but I've never actually had to try it." She didn't mention that it had been at least seven turns since she'd last seen a runner in training, never mind being tamed. "Any preference, considering I dragged you along?" Jazz asked Cr'oph wryly.

[Rei]

Cr’oph eyed the jungle around them with mild interest as the sounds of normal activity resumed. Bold things in these forests. They would have to be careful, especially with only the two of them. Turning back to Jazheera as she spoke he gave her a small smile. “Felines normally run in packs. I’d avoid them if we can. Especially with it only being the two of us.” The bronzer remarked before flipping his runner tail back over his shoulder and moving towards a game trail. “Lets just see what we can find hmm? Runner might be cool if you aren’t in the mood to stab something. On the other hand they don’t often wander into the dense jungles like this. More plain animals you know. I think the best we will be able to do is hunt down some game for the cooks. Mae would probably appreciate it.” With a shrug he ducked under a branch and then glanced behind him to be sure the bluerider was following.

For a few moments Cr’oph continued on in silence, looking for any sign of some animal or another to track. There had to be something worth pursuing in this jungle. Preferably something with hooves and not claws. Wild swine would be cool. They put up a decent fight from what he’d heard. Not like your average wild deerlike herdbeast or wherrie. Hmm kneeling down to look at some old tracks he looked up at the canopy in a fruitless attempt to spy Raven. The razorclaw was nowhere to be seen. Could call the bird back with a short whistle but he was determined to keep things quiet until they had a decent lead on something. These tracks were too old to be worth much of anything in the end.

Straightening back up the bronzer looked back at his companion and reached out to ruffle her hair. “Have to admit I’m nowhere near a master at this. I’ve never been much of a hunter.” Cr’oph murmured looking out at the jungle around him. “So if you have any tips Pixie, now would be the best time to speak up.” Oh he’d been on a few hunts here and there but with was with a larger group and someone else was doing the tracking. He had to admit tracking was something that was turning out to be a bit hard to replicate by just watching it alone.

[Ember]

Jazheera conceded the point that a pack of felines would be a bit too much for the two of them. She really didn't know enough about those to try and locate a solitary beast, either. So felines were out. Runners were mostly out, too, considering finding one in this area would be difficult. "Food it is, then," she responded quietly though her tone was excited. Considering how loud Jazz could be when she wanted to it was kind of amazing she could be quiet long enough to be a decent hunter. She didn't pretend to be an expert but one had to survive somehow when they were travelling alone.

The small woman drew up beside Cr'oph as he crouched to look at some tracks. She wrinkeled her nose in annoyance when she noticed what he had; the tracks were old and therefor useless. A pity. When the bronzerider reached to ruffle her hair, Jazz snorted and ducked away. Rather than simply batting his hand away like she would for anyone else she caught it instead. Much to her annoyance, Cr'oph did occasionally do things to her that Jazz associated with how one would treat a child. Not terribly often, but occasionally.

Letting her hand linger on his wrist for a moment before dropping away, Jazz glanced around her then sighed in frustration. "At about this time many animals would be searching out water or sleeping somewhere. I'm not sure where to find water in these parts though." Thus the cause of her frustration. She had an idea of what the animals they were hunting would be doing but no idea how to get to them. "It's a shame we don't have any hunting calls or anything. Could just sit up in a tree and wait that way."

[Rei]

Cr’oph nodded to Jazheera’s comment, obviously distracted by thoughts or something. Or perhaps it was the tracks hmm. Now if he was a game animal around this time of day where would he be? He was distracted by his own thought when his smaller companion caught his wrist and he gifted her a smile. Oh he knew Pixie was a bit irritated by some of the things he did to her. Like hair ruffles and tossing her around when he got the chance. But she got his cute look when she was irritated so it was okay. The bronzer was a bit surprised that she hadn’t let him go though. When the bluerider finally did the tall red head straightened and clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

“Water or sleeping. Possible sleeping near water. Hmm.” Shooting a glance upwards towards the sky, Cr’oph whistled one long sharp note and then turned back to Jazheera. “Water should be easy enough. We follow the path of the waterfalls from the weyr. Down one of those little streams there has to be a pool of water. Or a thicket that contains some type of resting game animal.” As he spoke he kept his eye on the small expanse of sky until he heard a return cry and Raven shot through the small opening in the canopy. Raising his wrist for the razorclaw to land on the bronzerider stroked down it’s back. “I’ll send Raven out to look for game once we’ve found water.”

Stepping forward towards the underbrush he glanced back at the bluerider and grinned. “Come on Pixie. A mythical creature like you should learn the forest.” Slipping into the forest he glanced around and then move off to the left. “I think the weyr is this way. If we keep going we should hit a stream.” Maybe. Either that or he was about to get them horribly lost. But this seemed like the right direction?