Such deliberate disguises (Ember, Ruby)

[Avu]

There are no eyes here in this valley of dying stars, are there, my love? Titania’s tongue lapped softly at the hollow dip where hand and wrist met, her teeth scraping lightly at his pulse. The Salamandyr wound her body more securely around A’emi’s wrist, her eyes narrowing in soft shades of green-blue. This is the dead land… Her voice was a smooth, silky purr, dropping secretively low, This is the cactus land.

Shut her up, Kyrahth grumbled, and A’emi rolled his eyes affectionately at the dragon, already a familiar push to Titania’s pull. What? It’s irritating and pointless. Keep your poetry to yourself, nobody else appreciates it. Still, the complaint was fairly short; Kyrahth coiled herself around a steam-warmed rock, her tail skimming over the surface of a hot spring, sending up a light spray at A’emi. The warmth made Kyrahth sleepily complacent—or that could’ve been the fact that the hot springs were empty of other people so far: She didn’t have to ensure that nobody was looking at her too intently or in just the wrong way.

Instead of deferring to the literally larger of the two threats (although to be fair Kyrahth was considerably less likely to bite than Titania, if only because a dragon would likely just clip him in half on accident), A’emi replied somberly, “Is it like this in death’s other kingdom?”

This is the way the world ends, Titania purred, a pleased smug sound as the Salamandyr flared her wings, hopping to A’emi’s knee and then scurrying down the tree branch on which the greenrider was perched, peering down at the ground below, Not with a bang but a whimper. With that, she threw herself off of the tree branch, ignoring Darkling’s sleepy chirp of dismay and A’emi’s undignified choking sound of anxiety to glide sedately from the tree to the nearest rock, tilting her head back up to peer at firelizard and Bonded triumphantly. I am better than you know.

“I can tell,” A’emi replied, snorting once he’d gotten over the minor heart attack. “Kyrahth, don’t you dare try to eat her. Titania, don’t drown, okay? Mouth-to-mouth is not an option here, I think even Darkling might inhale you on accident.” He hooked his foot around the branch, pushing his back against the trunk carefully for balance; he didn’t miss exile but he did miss the solitude sometimes—solitude was never complete with Kyrahth and Darkling and now Titania, and people just struck him as utterly wrong sometimes; the messy smack of too many mouths in idle conversation turned his stomach, the hot closeness in which they lived repulsed him.

The hot springs was nice that way: Far enough to avoid the main trickle of people, familiar enough to be safe. Nice enough to relax, too, even if he had brought all this typical weaponry with him just in case. Felines did exist, after all.

[Ember]

Let it never be said that Ae'on didn't know how to relax. Or, rather, that Sfelyth didn't know how to make him relax. The bluerider would never, ever admit it but his blue had managed to worm his way into a soft spot in Ae'on's heart and actually held sway over his actions. It was to the point that if the blue managed to ask politely enough Ae'on would sigh and grumble and pretend to be irritable but give in at the end. He'd discovered early on that the blue was rediculously smart and would find a way one way or another anyways.

It's not reeeeally such a bad thing to relax once in a while, riiight? Sfelyth bugged the bluerider in overly cheerful tones. Well, overly cheerful for Sfelyth. By then Ae'on knew his own dragon well enough to know the blue was asking something totally different. He was really asking if it was such a burden to spend time with his first mindmate. Ae'on wasn't sure when he became aware of Sfelyth's quiet jealousy towards Me being able to be around Ae'on near constantly. Still, since he was aware he'd been even more pliant.

Shut up. I relax plenty. Why do we have to go to the hot springs? We could have stayed in our weyr. Slight stress on the 'our' and wait for Sfe to pick up on it and... But that's no fun! If we go out we can meet people! And maybe get you a lady friend, eh? Yup, the blue was normal happy again. Silly beast. A small smile tugged on Ae'on's face when the blue hummed gently mid-flight. Maybe we should go back now. Don't make me leave you here, Ae'onMine, the blue purred playfully.

The bluerider gave his dragon a light squeeze with his legs when he felt Sfelyth begin to dip closer to the mountain. Don't you dare, he responded, tone growly enough that the blue would realize he was serious. Sfelyth crooned in amusing, craning his head back to reveal obviously amused eyes. Watch in front of you, would ya? Or do you want to run into the green there? Sfelyth whipped his head back around in time to see Kyrahth approaching fast. Or him approaching her fast. He pulled up and crooned an apology as he flew over her close enough to be a nuisance.

My apologies, gorgeous. Mine is awfully distracting sometimes, he addressed her as he settled elsewhere to let his supposedly distracting rider off. "Don't even try and pin that one on me you git. You're the idiot who turned to look at me while flying."

[Ruby]

"Why can't you fly yet," T'ri grumbled aloud, rather ironically because Arhenaiyth actually was flying, marking T'ri's progress from the air. I do not know what you speak of, T'ri. I am flying, you are the fool who has not yet mastered your wings. There's a nice outcropping over there, why don't you give it a try? It's extremely easy. Actually don't do that, I'm not really interested in dying quite yet. Hurry up, before I leave you for the wild felines. T'ri, breathing hard, threatened, "I could... make... you go... to lessons." That got a snort from Arhenaiyth, who executed a wobbly loop. Just hurry up, or I may have to drown you in the hot springs.[/i]

As his Blue winged out of sight over the ridge ahead, T'ri continued panting, scrambling up the tiny, half-destroyed game trail that led from the base of the mountain up to the hot springs. It was several hours of hiking straight up, but T'ri had always liked randomly intense hikes, and Arhenaiyth had agreed to come and chase away any rogue felines that thought a lone Blueweyrling might make a tasty snack. Luckily, they were almost there - T'ri could hear voices over the ridge. With a muttered curse (he had half hoped to be alone, but company was something T'ri would never turn down), he finally crested the last bit of mountain between himself and sweet, hot water. He'd spend all day relaxing, then make Arhenaiyth run him down or something. The blue could fly, or sort of half-glide half-climb up the mountain along with T'ri, but he couldn't carry his rider for more than the shortest of glides. Not wanting to be a rider that couldn't actually ride his dragon, T'ri had taken to tricking Arhenaiyth into exercise - this was the perfect example.

As T'ri took in the scene before him, he heard Arhenaiyth chuckle, the kind of dark laughter that generally worried the bluerider. Shards,[/i] the Blue interrupted himself, I had hoped the other Blue would not recover in time, and would flatten that green. A flattened dragon would be interesting to see. Maybe I will give it a try.[/i] Arhenaiyth dipped towards Kyrahth too, but he wasn't comfortable enough with his wings yet to honestly make a go of it. He was still at least two lengths above her when he pulled around, drawling a mocking, Oh, I thought that's just how dragons were greeting each other this season,[/i] before settling down surprisingly close to Kyrahth and Sfelyth, considering his recent tone.

T'ri just shrugged at his dragon - why Henny thought he could talk to dragons like that and still cuddle them was beyond the rider - and descended towards the hot springs, shedding brightly colored clothes as he went. "No point waiting out here," he shot in the direction of the two other riders, "Or did you just show for the chill view." Dropping a pile of clothes at the edge of one of the pools, T'ri slipped in to the hot water, careful not to get his hair wet. "So are you guys joining me or not."

[Avu]

A’emi, unusually enough, noticed the blue heading directly for Kyrahth before the green did, straightening on his tree perch, one eyebrow inching upwards. One of the Selenitas blues that struck him as very strange-looking before he realized exactly why it struck him as so odd. “That doesn’t seem like a very tactical maneuver,” he observed dryly, despite the trickle of concern in the back of his mind. “Kyr—” he added, as the green did not immediately respond, and dragged his gaze away from Sfelyth in time to see the green had shifted into a fluid crouch, her wings pressed flat out of the way and her head low, teeth bared, eyes focused intently on Sfelyth.

If she could get her teeth around the jugular and just—

The blue’s sharp avoidance drew a grating snarl from Kyrahth, the green pulling the snap she had aimed at Sfelyth as she curled tighter upon herself, There’s another one coming, directed at A’emi. Then, at Sfelyth, If he is such a distraction, perhaps you should not be flying until you’ve the brain capacity to ignore him. Her gaze flicked to the other coming blue, this one younger—one of the ones that had already been here, and therefore less of a threat—and she merely hissed, the sound almost sarcastic, at his rejoinder, the green’s tail looping around Titania in a half-possessive wariness.

A’emi, meanwhile, blew out his breath in irritation, pulling himself into a lazy stretch on his tree branch before he resettled, hooking his feet back around the branches, dropping his hand from where he’d reached up for his arrows casually. He blinked idly at Ae’on before settling on T’ri, pursing his lips at the younger man’s enthusiastic stripping. What had even happened to his life, where had the solitude gone! A’emi flicked a momentary glance around for Titania and Kyrahth, found the Salamandyr had wound herself curiously around one of Kyrahth’s tail ridges and was silently observing their brand-new visitors, and then looked back at T’ri and smiled brightly.

“I’m thinking the view is going to be more than adequate,” he answered, and he wasn’t even sure if it was sarcastic or suggestive or somewhere in the middle. “So that’s a no. Do us a favor and try not to splash Kyrahth.” Not that A’emi really cared whether they went for Kyrahth; she was a big girl and could handle it. But a decent-sized splash would likely wash Titania away and A’emi wasn’t quite sure she could swim unless it was natural to Salamandyrs, which he sincerely doubted. He turned, quirked an eyebrow at Ae’on. “Go on, Distraction,” he added, waving a lazy hand, “Have at it.”

[Ember]

Another blue might have shied away from Kyrahth's temper. Sfelyth merely thought it amusing. He quirked his head and observed the green for a moment. You strike me to the quick, sweet lady! Sour lady? Sweet and sour? Yes, that's quite fitting. Sweet and sour is a delightfully wonderful mixture, wouldn't you agree? The blue might have snuck closer to the green then but the other blue filled in the spot quite nicely. Sfelyth gave a mental shrug and settled himself comfortably where he was.

Ae'on was far less enthusiastic than his dragon. He'd suspected there might be others at the hot springs. If one person (or dragon in this case) had the idea, then others were bound to have it too. That was equally his reasoning as it was Sfelyth's. The blue had been counting on it while Ae'on had been dreading the possibility. Well...it could be worse. There could be women present (other than female mindmates, and...just no) and that would make it a billion times more awkward. What was a naked soak between guys?

Apparently a fair bit, if A'emi's response to T'ri was anything to go by. The bluerider supressed a disturbed shudder as he began peeling off his clothes. He knew those types existed but he'd never wanted to knowingly meet one. When the greenrider turned to him, Ae'on rolled his eyes. "I'm goin', I'm goin'. Don't need your permission." And while you're at it, keep your eyes in your head. Ain't much to look at anyways.

Ae'on rather quickly joined T'ri in the water without so much as an acknowledgement. If they wanted to have a conversation, they could go right ahead without him. He had nothing to say anyways. And really, it was awkward enough on his end to be sitting in a hot spring with the younger brother of his sister's weyrmate.

[Ruby]

The greenrider's comment got a raised eyebrow and a slight hip cock from T'ri, precisely the same mixture of sarcasm and suggestion that A'emi's words had had. The young man was weyrbred, after all, and Selenitas weyrbred - he knew that some men preferred men, and while T'ri had neither tried it nor felt particularly attracted to males, he was always open to new experiences. That didn't mean he had to seem excited about it. Of course, as soon as T'ri slipped all the way in to the water, he flicked a bit at the lounging green, not that it reached her. It was the thought that counted?

Arhenaiyth, in typical fashion, sprawled out between the two adult dragons without a care. A bit of a wiggle brought him closer to the other Blue, so Arhenaiyth reached out a snout to nuzzle Sfelyth neck momentarily. Otherwise, though, the conversation was boring to Arhenaiyth, and he decided a yawn was the best way to let Kyrahth and Sfelyth know that, so he stretched his mouth wide, showing every one of his teeth before settling his chin on his paws.

Now that he was settled in to the hot spring, T'ri realized he was afflicted by that worst of social situations: awkward company. The young one looked like he'd rather be just about anywhere but here, and tree-sitter was too busy communing with nature to be at all interesting. Boooooring. Well, lucky for them T'ri was fairly good at holding a conversation completely on his own if he had to. "So, I totes assume 'Distraction' isn't your real name," he commented to Ae'on, then tilted his head at A'emi, "And if your name is Tree, well, I guess I'm just not quite as vintage as I thought. What are you two doing up here, after all. Secret tryst or something, that must be it. Couldn't just be the hot springs, 'course." Yes, enjoy that, men. He'd seen how suspicious the little one looked of the Greenrider - at least one of two would deny that strongly enough to start a conversation.

[Avu]

Kyrahth appraised Sfelyth with a non-expression that implied his idiocy adequately, in her opinion, and then curled away from him—and Arhenaiyth, who was closer to her anyway, her muzzle wrinkling in derisive contempt when Arhenaiyth nuzzled Sfelyth. Good, let them fawn over each other; she wanted no part of it. I have a name, by which you may address me; otherwise, I’ll thank you to keep your musings on food to yourself; I’ve no interest in speaking to hatchlings. With that, she swept her tail—and Titania with it—around her haunches, the green Salamandyr quietly tilting her head to one side, still eavesdropping, and clinging to the dragon.

T’ri earned a soft, half-amused snort from A’emi before he hooked his foot around the tree, glancing at Ae’on, torn between amusement and irritation still. He made no comment, though, considering the possibility of just ignoring T’ri and Ae’on both until they got bored and left and he could have the hot springs to himself again. It wasn’t to be, though; he’d just closed his eyes when T’ri spoke and he automatically slit his eyes, peering through his eyelashes at T’ri before he turned his head ever so slightly to look Ae’on up and down.

“Oh yes,” he said, utterly deadpan, “Scrawny kid still stuck halfway out of Weyrlinghood with awkward haircut—oh baby, that’s exactly my type, how did you know?” Did he have room to talk about scrawny? No, not at all; Ae’on was, probably, taller than he was when one of them wasn’t halfway up a tree, but whatever. He uncurled slowly, untangling Darkling from his neck and shooing the firelizard off gently; she chittered pleasantly and looped down to settle on another tree, slinking along the branch playfully and settling on her belly like a Sphinx to watch. “It’s A’emi, by the way,” the greenrider added, peering down at T’ri and Ae’on.

I, Titania supplied, slinking down the length of Kyrahth’s tail and blinking jeweled eyes curiously at T’ri, am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; am an attendant lord, one that will do to swell a progress, start a scene or two…politic, cautious, and meticulous. It is a pleasure, she added coyly, I am Titania. Quite lovely a day, is it not?

[Ember]

Present company was most amusing in Sfelyth's opinion. It was always interesting when he couldn't immediately figure someone out. Granted, that really only applied to Arhenaiyth who had just nuzzled him and then yawned, but Kyrahth was amusing simply because she was so antagonistic. Sfelyth rather liked them fiesty. The blue rested his head on Arhenaiyth's back and continued to address the green, though he certainly didn't exclude the other blue. Kyrahth, then. That's awfully mean to our other companion here, don't you think? He commented cheerfully, nonchalantly rebutting her claim that he was a hatchling.

Ae'on found his company far less amusing than Sfelyth did. He could ignore T'ri trying to get his name easily enough but implying...implying such a disgusting thing? He shuddered faintly in the water and was about to snap at the weyrling when A'emi beat him to the punch. His hopes of the greenrider denying it well were dashed. No, he just added fuel to the fire that was Ae'on's temper. "I am not scrawny, nor am I interested in having a tryst of any sort with a guy," he snapped. Almost under his breath he added, "Filthy."

His name is Ae'on, by the way, Sfelyth broadcasted helpfully. "Sfelyth!" The bluerider snapped again. He shot a poisonous glare the blue's way but he wasn't paying attention anyways. "Sharding rude people. Only polite one is the 'mandyr," he groused, having indeed heard the little green. Hardly anyone else it could be, despite the rather advanced speech for the species.

[Ruby]

See? It had worked. Deadpan was good, and A'emi got a wry smile for his trouble. The description could have applied to either of the blueriders, which just amused T'ri even more. Sure, he was tall, but while he might use words like 'slim' and 'interesting' instead of 'scrawny' and 'awkward', T'ri was pretty self aware. His image was carefully crafted, and if he could be described in basically the same way as the other Bluerider, well, he'd just have to get more creative.

Ae'on, on the other hand, got a snort. Making his eyes huge and innocent, T'ri looked from A'emi to Ae'on with faked shock. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I interrupt," he asked, tone as dry as could be, "I was super joking, but a denial like that - I must have hit a nerve." Yeah, he was teasing; yeah, it was obvious, but whether Ae'on would pick up on that remained to be seen. T'ri certainly had no problem with the rider either way. He was capable of being friends with just about anyone, including those that took themselves way too seriously.

Without waiting to see if he'd managed to needle Ae'on more or not, T'ri turned generally to face his two human (and one salamandyr, apparently) companions, stretching his arms back to rest them on the pool's edge. "And I'm T'ri," he said, just the slightest hitch after the T distinguishing him from the plant A'emi was sitting in. "And it is a lovely day," he shot at the salamandyr, then added with a sideways glance at Ae'on, "Lovely day for a sneaky visit to the hot springs."

Arhenaiyth, meanwhile, was happily snuggled up with Sfelyth, eyes whirling a muted blue as he looked over at Kyrahth. Well, the frigid bitch is right, I am a hatchling. Mostly. At least I've got a while left, the two of you might as well already be dead.[/i] Cheery Arhenaiyths are cheery.

[Avu]

Companion tends to imply some camaraderie anyway, Kyrahth answered, her tone indicating that there was decidedly no camaraderie right now. She coiled away from the two blues—how they could stand to be curled up on each other like that was beyond her. Arhenaiyth received an almost condescendingly, morbidly amused look for his comment, the green’s tail flicking at the tip as she answered, dangerously sweet, Only a hatchling would expect lifespan to be dictated by current age; don’t you know how easy it is to kill a fat overconfident baby? It was surprisingly not a threat, despite the sneer in her ‘voice’; Kyrahth was unfortunately aware of the fact that she had no reason to hurt anybody anymore, no matter how much she wanted to. Especially a vulnerable baby.

So predictable. So predictable.

If A’emi rolled his eyes any harder it would’ve been audible. To make up for it, he snorted at Ae’on, eyes half-lidded; the boy’s apparent homophobia didn’t really annoy him so much as just bore him. Got enough of that up North—even if it was a surprise in the South the general attitude never did change much. His gaze flicked, surprised, to Sfelyth—the blue’s words in his mind coincided, as expected, with a sharp growl rumbling in Kyrahth’s throat, the green’s gaze narrowing indignantly upon the younger dragon—before he shook his head, frowning slightly. Never would get used to other dragons bespeaking him; they just weren’t Kyrahth. Or Titania, he supposed. Either way. He flicked a quelling glance at the Salamandyr, whose head tilted in smug curiosity to one side at Ae’on’s grumbling.

“Yeah,” he drawled, deliberately drawing out the vowels into a distinctly overdone Southern accent, “Don’t hurt yourself, kid, if you think too hard you’re likely to get an aneurysm or something. Just because some of us don’t care if someone has boobs or not doesn’t mean we like everybody without ‘em. I wouldn’t touch you either.” One eyebrow rose slightly, A’emi adding, “Overcompensating for something there?” It was actually tempting to play along with T’ri’s little game just because A’emi had never seen someone get quite as fussy as Ae’on was, but ultimately he was still a little too peevish to go along with it; it didn’t exactly help that Ae’on was essentially insulting him.

In a very generalized way, but still.

A glance shot at T’ri, who was evidently not inclined to stop, “Don’t push it, Plant.” He liked his tree too much to let some random kid sabotage its name for him. Plant worked just as well; he was approximately as useful as, say, grass, after all.

Titania, meanwhile, ignoring A’emi’s continued bids at keeping her quiet, narrowed her eyes curiously at T’ri, and then commented to him privately, her voice silky with amusement, You seem quite fixated on the forbidden…fond of temptation, no? She flicked out her tongue playfully like a snake at him. Or just interested in seeing how many colors the boy can turn? He seems quite flustered already and you’ve barely even said anything yet.