It's not gold at the end of the rainbow... [Samael

[Kisha-Ra]

The rain fell in small drips, a fine, mistlike precipitation that made it seem as if the weather was not really sure it was worth the effort to get on and really rain, and in turn J’on wasn’t sure it was worth the effort to move from his position sprawled on the rocks. Not when this had the feeling of something that might pass in a few minutes, and certainly not when it would leave his bonded creatures alone in the river.

It seemed that J’on spent most of his spare time (such as that was) down by the river attending his mindmates. Rinagth might be trusted alone but never Flash, his blue salamandyr was not a pleasant creature and leaving him unattended could only result in bodily harm for someone, at least J’on could always issue an ultimatum to the little beast.

J’on raised his gaze skyward, squinting against the still visible sun to try and judge how long it would be before this lazy cloud passed by and smiled in childlike delight to see a rainbow, though a weak washed out one, arching over the river. His eye followed the band of colour until it vanished behind the bulk of his green dragon and made him giggle just a little.

And just what is so amusing?[/color] Rinagth inquired in a petulant tone, lifting her head to fix her rider with what could only be described as a Look. It was the kind ofexporession the green tended to wear when she was ddeciding whether or not to be offended. Nothing much, love. The greenrider replied. It seems that the rainbow ends over you from here. My mother always told me that it’s gold at the end of the rainbow.

Rinagth snorted loudly and flared her wings, causing, as always, a burst of yellow flecks as the light caught her hide. Well of course she’d think that, everyone always thinks it’s stupid golds don’t they? But they’re wrong. Green is better than gold! Anyway gold isn’t even in the rainbow.[/color] J’on could only collapes in helpless laughter at his dragon’s vehemance. What? What?!

[Aftershock]

Samael was not having a good evening. The sprinkling rain had soaked him to the bone with the long walk from the Weyr to the river's edge, making his brown cotton jerkin and pants stick to his skin, and his boots were soaked with mud from various mud puddles he'd trodden through, Heimdall knowing to help him avoid danger, not dirt. Speaking of Heimdall, the canine trotted along beside his master, nosing him to and fro to keep him from tripping, his tongue lolling out happily as he trotted through the foul weather, his mood obviously not affected as much as Samael's.

Heimdall was actually the entire reason for their near-evening stroll to the river. Samael had, after a long day, chosen to take an afternoon nap. When he awoke, his sensitive nose was assaulted with an odor so powerfully foul he nearly threw up right then and there. Apparently, Heimdall had wandered off while his master was sleeping (as he sometimes did, knowing Samael didn't need him when he wasn't conscious), and found something truly nasty to roll around in. He was obviously pleased with himself, but Samael wasn't, and had decided he needed to immediately take the canine far down the river to wash him, hopefully far enough that whatever it was Heimdall had rolled in wouldn't reach the Weyr.

As he approached the river's edge (which he could tell from the sound of the rushing water), he suddenly heard uproarious male laughter coming from somewhere near the river's edge. Pausing, he called out in the direction of the laughter, "Excuse me, I apologize if I'm interrupting anything. Would you mind if I washed my canine here, or should I move farther upstream?"

[Kisha-Ra]

Rinagth hissed and snapped her jaws together once before snaking her head around to rest on one wing and pointedly ignoring her rider. J’on was obviously the best human ever (Rinagth wouldn’t have chosen him otherwise) but his sense of humour really tended to get the better of him sometimes. The green was idly wondering if she should go back to the weyr and leave her rider here in the rain when something in the air that wasn’t water made her lift her muzzle and look for the sorcce of the latest offense. Somehow she wasn’t surprised to find it was a canine, at least J’on hadn’t adopted one of those yet. Yes, yes. Wash the stinky creature. She answered the human herself, because any inquiry to J’on was obviously an inquiry to Rinagth, and Rinagth had no trouble bespeaking anyone who might be persuaded to adore her (which was everyone).

J’on was well used to being ignored by his dragon, so it didn’t much affect him. Rinagth would be over her sulk in five minutes or so when the next thing came along to entertain her. The next thing to entertain her was apparently going to be the boy with the canine who’d just come walking along the river; J’on hoped he was used to being spoken to by dragons because Rinagth answered before he did.

‘Just one moment.’ The greenrider held up a finger, unaware that the gesture was totally unseen, and waded into the river to pluck one irritated salamndyr out of the water. Why do fugly slavemine? Flash inquired, flaring his wings and lashing his tail to produce one of those flashes of silver for which he was named. The salamandyr chose not to bite his slave however; Flash was wary of doing anything that might make his swimming time vanish. ‘You are not going to bite that boy, or his canine when they come in the water. Do you hear me.’ J’on spoke in a severe tone but kept his voice low. Yessss. Flash drew the word out slyly meaning yes he’d heard, not yes he would obey. ‘If you bite I won’t bring you down here again. You’ll have to stay home while Rinagth swims.’ Flash hissed and wriggled to make another silver flash. Asshat. The little blue muttered but in resigned tones. Couldn’t he bite and swim?

‘Go ahead, I’ve had a word with Flash, he understands what’ll happen if he bites.’ The greenrider dropped his irate pet back into the water and waded back out. ‘I’d take it as a favour if your canine didn’t eat him though.’ J’on added as an afterthought. He might not always like Flash but for better or worse the blue was bonded to him.

[Aftershock]

Samael paused as the mindspeech entered his brain, cocking his head. He was somewhat used to being spoken to by dragons, since he was friends with Erilena and Feyrianth, and like Feyrianth, this mindvoice felt decidedly female. The person that spoke to him, however, had a decidedly male voice. But Samael thought he had heard female dragons only bonded to female riders. So, blushing slightly, Samael thought he might have stumbled upon a female dragonrider and her bonded spending time with her lover, with the female remaining silent for reasons that trying to figure out only made him blush harder.

"I, er, um, I apologize if I interrupted anything. Don't worry, I'm blind, so I can't see the two of you. I'll, um, head downriver a bit more, so you don't have to, er, be quiet or anything for my benefit." Turning so the river was to his left, he began moving farther upriver, hoping he didn't hear anything that would make his face turn any redder.

[Kisha-Ra]

J’on knew that Rinagth hadn’t said anything that could be taken as some kind of weird innuendo to the boy, he’d heard it after all, so he had no real idea why the boy would suddenly start blushing. Being himself J’on had to crane his neck around to see if there was some huge naked party going on behind him or something, but no, anyone having a huge naked party was clearly doing so inside today.

The greenrider’s expression only became more perplexed as the boy, J’on really should find out his name, started talking. What in the world? Oh, if he was blind he wouldn’t know that it was just J’on out here, although he wasn’t actually aware that he and J’ash had quite such a reputation. ‘It’s just me out here, J’ash has drills this evening. Well when I say just me I mean just me, Rinagth, and Flash.’ J’on elaborated on his original sentance. ‘I wouldn’t be out here if they didn’t want to go swimming.’

Rinagth uncoiled from her repose on the riverbank and slid as quitely as she could into the water, and drifted over to the other bank. The green was aware that she was making quite a bit of noise anyway, it was hard for something the size of a dragon to move quietly but she hoped J’on’s talking would cover most of it. Climbing out on the same side of the water as the two humans the green dragon deviously placed herself in the stranger’s path. Though she was sneaky Rinagth had no intent but getting the boy to pay attention to her.

[Aftershock]

Samael stopped as J'on spoke again, responding questioningly, "J'ash? But... I thought only male rider names were shortened when they Impressed? Perhaps I heard wrong? And wouldn't she need her dragon if she was doing drills?"

As Rinagth moved to block Samael's path, Heimdall eyed the gold-accented green warily and began nudging Samael's leg to direct him around the interposing creature.

[Kisha-Ra]

J’on blinked, now totally confused, and frowned as he wondered how he was going to explain all of this, he thought he could work out where the problem was now. ‘I think you have heard wrongly, or incompletely, but not about the name thing. I don’t know why dragons don’t feel the need to contract up female names, maybe they just like them better.’ The greenrider shrugged, despite knowing that the gesture wouldn’t be seen, it was just part of his established body language. ‘If you’re under the impression that female dragons only bond with females, which I have to assume you are from your behaviour, that’s only queens. Greens have male riders quite often. I wouldn’t worry about it too much though. Far more people talk about golds than greens.’ J’on’s normally cheerful voice took on a slightly bitter note at the last sentance. Though he wasn’t always totally in agreement with his dragon he did think that the smaller colours often got far less acknowledgement than they deserved.

I can’t see why they’d want to talk about golds but it’s true.[/color] Rinagth added, her wings drooping expressively, then flaring up again as another thought occured to her. It’s probably because they’re so stuck up, people probably can’t believe they’d want only girls. My goldsister didn’t even have the wit to realise that J’on was better than her girl, but I already chose him anyway, because I’m better than a gold, and prettier. I deserve a better rider. You do think I’m pretty don’t you?[/color] The green asked, dropping her head down to Samael’s level as if that would assist him in making a judgement.

J’on sighed over his dragon’s behaviour, she’d apparently forgotten that she was being sneaky, and that the person she was asking had no way to know if she was pretty or not. ‘Rina, your vanity is showing.’ he scolded the dragon gently. ‘I hope that’s cleared up the confusion a bit, anyway.’

I hope it makes you wash that animal.[/color] Rinagth added.

[Aftershock]

Samael's faced flushed yet further as his misunderstanding was explained, and he stuttered out, "Oh, er, I'm sorry, sir. I meant no offense by my misunderstanding. Weyrfolk like myself often don't get too involved with the dragonriders, so most of what we know is hearsay... you are all heroes, after all, protecting little people like myself from Thread, so among us normal folk you often end up with... well, somewhat mythical reputations. And, well... not all the information comes across accurately."

As Rinagth mindspoke to him, he nodded automatically and responded, "Er, yes, I'm sure that's it, er... ma'am?" He cringed a bit, not sure how one properly addresses a female dragon one does not know, as the only other dragon who ever mindspoke to him was Feyrianth, and she asked him to refer to her by name from the beginning. As she asked his opinion on her appearance, his face, recovering from the flush, colored a bit again as he responded, "Er, I'm sorry... ma'am... I... cannot see. I'm sure you're very beautiful, though," he added quickly.

Nodding his head as J'on spoke again, he said, "Yes, thank you, sir. I appreciate you explaining things to me, and I apologize again for the confusion." As Rinagth mentioned Heimdall's filthy coat, Samael began directing the canine in the direction of the river once more, saying, "Yes, sorry, ma'am, I'll take care of him right away."