Blue Hour (Rii)

[Ember]

Jazheera yawned expansively as she walked into the mainhall, ignoring the smattering of people there. Seems she wasn't the only one awake at such an ungodly hour. She figured a few were wherhandlers given the time. Hmm. As she walked some people watched. Perhaps on another occasion she would have told them to mind their own business but she was still tired and they did have cause to look. To the onlookers it sounded distinctly like she was whimpering, occasionally breaking into a little baby-like screech. To those who were familiar with salamandyrs they might have recognized the faint mental whimpering that accompanied the physical sounds the girl's salamandyr was making.

Oh yes, Jazz had herself a 'mandyr alright. A positively tiny green who was more like a helpless baby than the cunning creatures that were often talked about. The green required a lot of work to keep happy and healthy. She couldn't even eat regular food since she only had her front two fangs. She couldn't sleep without light. She preferred to sleep touching Jazheera's skin. There were a lot of things Jazz wasn't too fond of regarding little Tod. Would she have traded the 'mandyr away for anything else in the world? Never. Despite all the early morning (thankfully she managed to tire the green out just before bed long enough to get a decent sleep most nights) wake up calls, meat preparation, and snatching of dying glows she loved the little creature.

If babies came in finger length packages and connected to your mind, Tod would be easy to define as Jazheera's child. Perhaps for that reason Dhavalth adored the green. Jazz was so glad her blue didn't object to Tod. She could only imagine the problems that would ensue. She had been a bit worried about Tod liking Dhavalth in the beginning though. She was quite scared of the blue at first but she'd eventually warmed up to him. Too bad the blue wasn't awake. If he was then Jazheera could have used his food (and his teeth) to prepare Tod's meal. As it was she'd have to do it all by herself before Tod started crying again. She'd woken up to the screeching of the green and fled the barracks before the green could wake up too many people. On the way to the main hall the green had settled down to whimpers but Jazz could tell she was gearing up for another screechfest.

The weyrling snagged some meat from the kitchen and a plate before returning to the main room. She set the plate of meat down before her and took out one of her knives. it was one of her older ones so she didn't mind so much that it would get all bloody from a bunch of uncooked meat. She diced it up real small and then squished it with the flat of the blade. There, Tod ought to be able to manage that. The green crawled out of Jazheera's shirt and the woman settled her down on the plate. "Eat up, Tod," she mumbled with another yawn. Darn. Sun still had several hours to go before it rose. Made the morning all the colder.

[rii]

Sooo big.

Mirage sat back on her hatches, tilting her head up at Jazhera as the weyrling yawned. What a giant mouth – the little white sent images to the girl of what it looked like from her tiny perspective. A sucking black hole that would inhale them all if they didn't anchor themselves! Mirage twirled in a tight circle as if caught in the tornado of Jazhera's – someone save her before the weyrling sucked her in to chomp on! She probably wouldn't even chew, just swallow poor Mirage whole!

Kostya glanced in the direction of his projecting salamandyr, eyeing the back of Jazhera's head when he didn't recognize the girl. Not one of the handlers. There were few enough of those that Kostya knew each of them by sight if not by name. The nighttime crowd was depressingly sparse group. Kostya missed having a bigger platter to pick from. He liked people – endless sources of entertainment.

The whimpers only heightened the dramatic edge to Mirage's images. The little green was in perilous danger, crying because she knew that it was only time before she got sucked into that gaping maw. Mirage jumped forward, curling around the edge of the plate in a desperate attempt to ground herself.

Moving over to the table, Kostya reached over to pluck the little white off the plate. Gratitude was felt, all around (mirage liked to share her epic stories) – she was saved. Kostya snorted, glancing at the side of Jahzera's face – she looked sort of familiar. Might as well take a leap in logic. Playfully he teased, "You seem out of place."

[Ember]

Huh? The images that popped up in Jazheera's mind were nothing short of confusing. That was her but why was she seeing herself? Not to mention there was a little white 'mandyr and...ah. Well, that explained it. Clearly the 'mandyr was responsible. Tod had never shown her any images before but Dhavalth could do it so it wasn't inconceivable that other draconids could do it. Tod was kind of a special case anyways. Calling her under-developed was putting it politely. The blueweyrling didn't let the little green sense her thoughts though.

So the best way to get the white salamandyr to leave her alone was to find who it belonged to, right? She wasn't so tolerant that she'd accept a random white menace bothering her, especially not at such an early hour. Jazz started when her 'mandyr did. Mirage's jump at the plate had startled the green (whose face has been buried in squashed up meat up until that moment). Tod squeaked and fell over backwards, rocking herself side to side on her back until Jazz reached for her and turned her upright. Mama luv, Tod cooed mentally.

Jazz was saved (or was that the white?) when her bonded came to pick her up. Except...said bonded had moved to her table. Oh wait! She recognized this guy. Yes, most definitely. Not only was the day Dhavalth hatched permanently engraved in her mind, but Kostya and Marsayis had made a strong impression on her as well. They were an odd pair. Marsayis has Impressed a wher. She knew that from Tod's hatching. Hmm, there was a pattern there. She saw those two at hatchings.

The white 'mandyr must have been from Tod's hatching as well. That explained Tod's vague recognition of the white and the fact that Kostya had one at all. The guy had been there too, though Jazheera had been more distracted by the amusing scene that had been Marsayis. The long and short of it was she knew Kostya and so she greeted him. Or was about to when he spoke to her first. Out of place? "Yes, a bit," she responded with wry amusement. "You seem right at home, Ogler." Oh yes, she was going to call him that. Not like she knew his real name anyways.

[rii]

Ogler.

Kostya's face was blank as the gears in his mind flew to find a reason why this girl felt the refer to him as such. No doubt what so ever that he had done something to earn the name. Kostya did many things to just earn reactions – that didn't mean he always remembered antic. A few seconds passed before recognition dawned – cue a friendly smile painting across his features. "Apologizes, I didn't recognize you sitting down."

If he got to be called ogler, only fair he got to reference her rump in return. Mirage chose that moment to share the mental memory of just how Jazheera's rear had looked that day on the hatching. Little pest, tch. In retaliation to the name, Mirage only went further to make the image of Jazheera's rump swell in size – going so far to add a tail to the image. Maybe she did have a tail under all that false skin. Couldn't call her a liar until proven wrong, ha ha!

Kostya sat down next to Jazhera, facing out instead of sliding his legs under the table. "More than a bit out of place. I recall you impressing to a... blue? .. this hour isn't welcoming to the daylight folk." He wiggled his fingers at her with the term. OoOo, spooky daylighter! "Any particular reason you've braved the night?"

[Ember]

For a moment Jazheera thought she was the only one who remembered about his staring at her behind. She didn't intend to let him off just for forgetting though. If he didn't remember on his own she would remind him of it. The sudden smile had Jazz's brows raising a bit. Then he spoke and her lips quirked up into a smirk. She inclined her head to acknowledge that he'd gotten it right. "You're forgiven assuming you recognize me the next time I'm sitting down." Her tone wasn't quite friendly but it wasn't angry either.

The unfamiliar image Kostya's salamandyr projected was recognized to be her own behind and she let out a slightly scandalized sound. Thanks but she really didn't have any interest in seeing that, if it was all the same to the little white. The image morphed and Jazz grimaced. A tail? Now that was just wrong. "Does she?...he? do that all the time?" Jazheera meant the whole image thing in general, not just showing images of her behind. If the white showed Kostya images of her behind all the time she'd be severely disturbed. He could keep that information to himself.

Jazz turned her body towards him slightly when he sat. She wasn't antisocial by any stretch of the imagination and while she didn't much care for the images his white was spewing out, Kostya had piqued her curiosity. "Mmhmm. Dhavalth," she said almost idly, glancing at the wiggling fingers in open amusement. At his question she pointed down at the plate. "This little one was hungry and when she's hungry there's just no sleeping."

[rii]

"Next time," Kostya mused with a lift of brows and a genuine smile. "That implies you are going to make a habit out of this late night excursions." His head tilted to the side as he thoughtfully hummed over his own words. "Or early morning, depending on how you view it."

Mirage mimicked Jazhera's scandalized feeling (unable to make the noise herself). She stood up on her hind legs, snapping her translucent wings to her sides in a clear huff action. Images were sent, of herself, clearly defining her beautiful features. Her thin tail curled delicately around her tiny frame. Nothing masculine about the salamandyr – even if it's gender was more or less non-existent.

"She.. " Kostya elaborated verbally with a faint gesture of hand at his little mind mate, "is a tale-weaver. I call her Mirage. Sometimes it's hard to tell what she shows is true or false, did it happen, or did it not. Was it really there, or just a mirage.." Playfully, and Kostya was assuming Jazherra mind all that much for the eyeful attention, he deliberately leaned forward to glance down at her backside. "You might have a tail under there. We may never find out.."

He settled back against the table, giving a sliver of attention to the green salamandyr out of social courtesy rather than any interest in the obviously deformed creature. "We must have been at the same hatching. I tried to duck out of the room when I noticed eggs hatching, much to my chagrin.." Yes, he remembered that hatching. Recalled thinking it was a bit horrifying to have people finding themselves bonded to broken creatures that would have been culled anywhere else.

[Ember]

Jazheera smiled in return, though her smile held more of a challenging edge. What? She wasn’t allowed to be up in the hours of the wherhandlers (she naturally assumed he was one since he referred to her as a daylighter and his friend had gotten one)? “Maybe I will,” she said lightly. It was entirely likely Tod would wake her up again in the dark hours. If Kostya was any indication of the type of people she might run into at night she might not mind it so much. The man was amusing even if he did ogle her. He was proving himself capable of intelligent conversation without looking at her behind…too much.

The white salamandyr’s attitude was not missed since she’d pulled Jazz’s attention to her with the broadcasted emotion. Oh, so she’d managed to insult the little critter, had she? The diminutive woman wasn’t vengeful but a little taste of the white’s own medicine wouldn’t hurt. Jazz guessed, given the content of the images, that not knowing the white’s gender had upset Mirage. Not her fault. White wasn’t a colour known to dragons (or any other draconids) and so she had no way of knowing. Besides, it wasn’t as if dragons’ genders didn’t deviate from their colour either. Jazz knew there was a female blue somewhere in the weyr.

Tail-weaver. Mirage. The explanation added to the name and she grinned. “Very fitting name.” As Kostya moved to look at her butt an incredulous expression crossed her face and she snorted. His words had her attempting to catch his eyes. “You may, you may not,’ she said teasingly, a cross between a challenge and a flirt. She didn’t do it often but she could flirt. She couldn’t guess one way or the other what Kostya would do given that but she was curious to find out all the same.

Jazheera nodded at what he said. “Yeah, probably. I remember wondering why someone thought to bring salamandyr eggs to the main hall. Some people just wanted to eat in peace,” she said, the emphasis indicating she was one of those people. The green salamandyr whimpered sadly and Jazz ran a finger lightly along her spine. Hush, that didn’t mean Jazz didn’t like Tod. The green had finished eating and crawled over to Jazheera’s hand and licked it, smearing some blood from the meat on the woman’s hand in the process. Tod luv Mama, she cooed adoringly. “Speaking of hatchings, I’m pretty sure there was a wher hatching before theirs?” Jazz asked, indicating the salamandyrs. The other question was implied; had he Impressed one of the whers? She was fairly certain he had.

[rii]

Kostya wouldn't oppose to having company, other than wherhandlers, during the night. Familiarity bred contempt. He'd tire of his fellow handlers all too soon, and Kostya was a terrible person to be around when bored. "Hmm," A thoughtful draw as the smile inched back over his expression. Pale eyes playfully narrowing on the weyrling in acknowledgment of her flirtatious challenge. "That will be the mystery to solve by the end of this fair night."

Would she show him or not?

It was an amusing question, and as doubtful Kostya was about people's spontaneous nature he had to note people could surprise him every now and then. Perhaps if he played his cards right, and to Jazheera's liking, he might get more than a verbal answer. They both knew the truth, but there was nothing wrong with a little game.

"I think everyone in this weyr eventually ends up with one. I can't really think of anyone off the top of my head that doesn't either have a salamandyr or at least a fire lizard." A curious thought, Kostya shrugged it aside. After knowing the poor quality of mind mates plaguing the weyr, he was thankful that out of them all he had gotten Mirage. Or, he could just be bias.

"There was," Kostya teased, hearing the implied question but not answering it by any means. "And a dragon one before that aaannnd..." He paused, examining Jazheera's expression before gesturing toward the door. "She's outside, if you want to see. It's too bright in here for her."

[Ember]

Jazheera gently rolled the green salamandyr onto her back gently and began to tickle her underbelly with light brushes from a single finger. Tod was positively tiny. She was practically a white in size and colour. The woman sought to tire the green out so she'd be able to catch a couple more hours before she had to be up. Tod always made it fairly easy to tire her out since she played hard, almost to the point of simply dropping with fatigue. Tod always gave her sudden bursts of emotion and right now she felt so happy she could laugh aloud.

Thankfully Dhavalth had given her some experience with blocking it out and she pushed aside Tod's emotions lightly, brushing them to a corner of her mind where she could overlook them. The boost from Tod did manage to make her smile a little brighter as she heard Kostya's response to her challenge. Interesting. Jazheera wasn't quite loose enough to regret the fact that Dhavalth was still immature. She would not risk upsetting him, even if he was currently asleep. Flirting, maybe showing a little skin...the night would tell.

She wasn't the most body modest person. Travelling around in a troupe tended to mean bathing in whatever way was available. It didn't make sense to be prudish during the times the troupe had to bathe together in groups. Then there was Bitra which was just a bathe as you can...if you can. As it was, the conversation wasn't headed that way. She shook her head slightly, though her words were of a greement, "You may be right there. Though my friend has yet to get one...." She was willing to bet Ruliana would wind up with one soon.

Jazz had never been the best at keeping emotion off her face and her look was clearly one of displeasure when he refused to indulge her curiosity. She would find out, one way or another. Even if she had to stalk him back to wherver he slept. Jazz was just a little hung up on knowing what she wanted to know. He saved her the trouble though and she smiled sweetly, it almost seemed to have a 'now that wasn't so hard' feeling, whether for herself or him it was a bit unclear. "I do. I've never seen a wher." She paused for a moment before ammending, "Up close." Since he'd offered she wasted no time scooping up her 'mandyr and standing up. He could hardly complain at her wanting to see his wher since it gave him the chance to look at her butt all he wanted.

[rii]

No doubt whoever Jazheera's friend was, s/he would impress a nuisance sooner rather than later. Kostya was willing to bet on it if only because the possibilities ran high. A shame they already had something on the table to be settled, otherwise Kostya wouldn't have resisted putting new wager there to be collected once this unknown person impressed.

His fingers drummed along the table with the passing thought, one quickly dismissed. No use dwelling on missed opportunities. He stood from the table, moving along side Jazheera while playfully extending his hand toward her. No expectations – merely curious to her reactions to his offer.

With her hand or not, Kostya lead the way out to where his wher laid. Konstask knew he was coming. More importantly, she was well aware of the fact he was bringing someone to admire her. An unmistakable approval touched at Kostya's mind – as if his whole intention had been to show her off. Not true, but Konstask could – and often was – blinded by her own vanity.

The lithe wher lounged on her side in the grass, head held up to watch the approaching humans through drooped lids. Her pose was that of effortless grace, accompanied by the lazy curl of his tail through the air. She would not rise, just yet, but the female human was more than welcome to come over and marvel at her beauty.

"You can pet her if you want," Kostya absently voiced a translated version of his wher's thoughts. "Her name is Konstask. I like Konna for short.. " Which made him dawn with realization. "My name is Kostya, by the way."

[Ember]

Jazheera eyed the offered hand for a moment. She considered it for a moment and decided not to take it, smiling playfully as she let him take the lead. Tod rolled around in her hand for a moment before crawling along Jazheera's shirt arm and up onto her shoulder. The green was both curious about Kostya's wher and nervous about meeting such a big creature. All draconic creatures initially made the itty bitty green nervous but she warmed up to them soon enough.

One might think the blueweyrling had odd tastes and it was certainly true enough. Even ugly things were somehow cute, even mean things had a side that made her want to go 'aww.' To her Dhavalth certainly wasn't majestic or anything. He was an adorable, cuddly thing. Thankfully her odd tastes were limited to animals and not humans or she might be considered very weird. Jazz's reaction to the green wher was undeniable joy and she approached.

Well didn't she just like the queen of all she surveyed. When Kostya said she could pet the green Jazheera crouched down on her feet. The position would get uncomfortable quickly but she didn't really plan on staying like that long anyways. She offered her hand to the green's nose, a holdover habit from dealing with runners, before reaching for the green's head. "Konstask, huh? Good name," she said absently. She turned her gaze to Kostya, tilting her head to the side curiously. She knew about how whers got their names.

He was lying. Or at least, not giving the whole truth. Even if she cared that he might want to hide anything, she had no filter from brain to mouth. "Your names don't match up," she commented, tone indicating she was only pointing out that truth. "I'm Jazheera, or Jazz if it's too much of a mouthful." Her family had a liking for long names. Most people preferred to call her family members by shorter nicknames...or they could go M'ta's route and try to Impress for the elided name.

[rii]

Declining his hand told more than she could possibly guess. Kostya really didn't care one way or the other, and simply folded his arms behind his back as they strolled on up to the pride incarnate. He stood back, quietly watching as Konstask sniffed at the offered hand. A gesture translating that Jazheera was asking permission to touch her. Wasn't she a sweet girl – at least she knew her place.

Konstask gave Jazheera's hand a light lick in approval – she wasn't half bad looking either. Kostya couldn't help but smirk at the thoughts circling his wher's head. If only it were so easy to make such a hierarchy tier based on a person's physical beauty. His wher would never understand that he found a person's mind more interesting than their outer appearance.

"Well Jazz," He used her shortened version to better emphasis a point, "There aren't many of us that go by our full names. Marsask and Sayis. Tekivisk and Vix. Quintresk and Trell. Since you think I'm lying – " His hand shot up, palm out to quiet any possible denial. "Just because you didn't say it, doesn't mean you didn't imply it. But now I'm not going to tell you my full name. You can just figure it out on your own - maybe even make a wager of your own if you get it right in 3 guesses."

Because three was the magic number, was it not?

[Ember]

Slobber on her hand made the woman grimace slightly. She didn't find it gross really, just a bit uncomfortable. She wiped her hand on her pants nonchalantly before reaching to touch Konstask's claws. Only two? That was interesting. They were similar enough to dragons she expected the full five claws. Konstask wasn't even half as ugly as she expected either. Really she didn't understand why anyone said they were (her odd tastes aside). "You're not ugly at all, are you, girl?" Her voice was reminiscent of the one she used when talking to runners but the wher wouldn't know that.

When Kostya spoke Jazheera glanced at him and internally acknowledged that she had been tactless. This wasn't really anything new for her though. At the accusation that she thought he was lying she opened her mouth but he stopped her from speaking. She closed her mouth and frowned. She wasn't about to deny it, not entirely anyways. Huff. How was she supposed to figure it out on her own? The problem with Pernese names was that they were very unpredictable. Given the beginning it was almost impossible to figure out.

She wouldn't back down though. Though first she had to clarfiy something. "I didn't necessarily mean you were lying. Only that you weren't telling the whole truth," she said. It was as close to an apology as she would be making given the challenge in front of her. "Three guesses...Konsta...." She frowned thoughtfully. The wher's name had to be based on his so that was definitely part of his full name. Beyond that she didn't even have a clue. "Tch. Unfair," she muttered softly. To the green wher she asked, "Don't suppose you could help me?"

[rii]

Konstask's head reared back, eyes falling to a near close as she regarded the girl that thought she might be ugly. That was surprised that she wasn't ugly. What insolence! Calm down. She would not! Not ugly at all meant she was beautiful. Then of course why didn't the girl just say that. Not everyone knew how to flatter. Well then should learn.

"Omitting the truth, even part of the truth, is still a lie."

He wrinkled his nose at her, a childish show to let her know he was just teasing her. "The matter is not a black and white as truth and lie anyway. Kostya is my name, just as Jazz is yours." Kostya swept forward, taking a knee beside Jazheera and sweeping his hand forward to pet Konstasks head. In actuality he had pushed her head down to avoid nipping the weyrling in suggestion to his name. His mindmates were not welcoming of other females in his life. Bad enough that they constantly feuded with each other.

"Two guesses, now." A cheeky smile, detour Jazheera's attention to him instead of the green wher huffing at the pressure of his palm. "Konsta is not right."

[Ember]

Jazheera eyed the green wher for a moment as she moved her head back. She couldn't guess what the green was thinking so she didn't bother. Her mind was quite well occupied by figuring out Kostya's full name anyways. At his words she did nod in understanding of his point. That was true. There were shades of grey. Even if sometimes she missed some of them she knew they were there. Wouldn't it be so handy if everything was clean cut?

Kostya's proximity didn't bother her in the least. The tomboy that she was she frequently chilled with her guy friends with little regard for personal space. She didn't have many in the weyr though. Oddly enough she had more girl friends for once. Jazheera looked sharply at Kostya when he said she only had two guesses left. She hadn't meant that as a guess! "If only it were that easy," she grumbled. She gave his leg a light punch, not even hard enough to hurt. It was really just a show of her displeasure.

She withdrew a knife that had been hidden on her calf. Since she couldn't think out loud she decided to write her guesses as she crafted them. She scratched out a Konsta and added a few letters randomly. What else could she do but randomly guess? She'd gotten no hints to help her besides Konstask's name. Apparently Kostya's new name was Konstador. Because that made so much more sense than anything else. It was dumb enough sounding to the woman that she'd have chosen a nickname over it. "Konstador?" She asked in a plain tone, not even pretending like she hoped she was right.