Bombs Away! (Tags M’kai)

[Rei]

Cr’oph chuckled quietly to himself as he meandered through the gather crowds to an arranged meeting place. So yeah he had been evil and decided that his dear brother needed another pet. To that end he had went to the egg stall and purchased a small flit egg. Was M’kai in for a surprise. Peeking into the little covered basket he carried he heard a hiss from his shoulder. Looking around he tsked at the chubby mandyr. “Jiggs I already fed you. What’s the problem now?” The masked mandyr upturned his head and huffed. No want eggy. Bad baby. No want. Eat eggy please? Hungry is. Dying of hunger. So very painful. The mandyr said in a distressed tone.

The bronzeweyrling just glared at his pet. “Seriously Jiggs. You don’t need anything. Stop being so dramatic.” Not dramatic. Want eat eggy. The fat brown replied waving a small forepaw at the basket in question. The red head shook his head. “This egg is not for you and I’m not keeping it so you can fret at someone else. Mavenath would kill me anyway. He still hasn’t forgiven you. If I get another pet he is likely to have a full blow hissy and I am not in the mood to put up with it.” The mandyr seemed to consider that for a moment before grumbling to himself and flaring his overlarge wings. His was soooooo unfair. He was starving.

Just then Cr’oph caught sight of a red head bobbing through the crowd and he thrust the basket behind his back before waving to gain his twin’s attention. “Over here Mik!” Target acquired. Poor little baby brother. He had no clue the evil waiting for him just a basket away.

[Ruby]

M'kai pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead, wincing slightly at the headache that was plaguing him. He was sure it had to do with being dehydrated in this crazy heat, but he was equally sure it was mostly Reina's fault. Apparently, M'kai had been completely out of line when he'd told the Green that she should stay in Selenitas, out of the sun rather than coming to the beach-side Gather. This had caused a twitterfest that seemed to drill into M'kai's skull, taking what had been a dull ache and making it searing pain. He'd finally shut the Green up by shoving a half-dried date in her mouth. Reina loved the sticky treats, and they had the added side effect of gluing her beak together for a good hour, at least. There really was no other way to shut her up.

Just as she started chewing the date down, M'kai heared his name and spotted a shock of red hair to match his own. Cr'oph, of course. The twins had planned to meet up and take a look at the weapons stall, then grab some food. M'kai waved to his twin and headed through the crowd, clutching the glass fascinator he'd gotten for Futh. It was sized for a flit, but knowing his dragon, Futh would love the shiny, pointless glass ball. Joining his brother, M'kai bumped Cr'oph with his shoulder, then held up a date for Jiggles. No doubt the salamandyr would reject it, but M'kai figured he might as well try.

"How's the gather treating you?" M'kai asked, tucking the fascinator into a leather satchel he had slung over his shoulder. "Got anything for Mave?"

[Rei]

Cr’oph had to struggle to keep the smile off his face as M’kai offered the date to his mandyr. Jiggles just stared at the date as if it was the most disgusting thing he had ever seen. So much for him being ‘so starving’. Catching the thought of his Jiggles hissed before flaring his wings and actually winging to the top of the bronzeweyrling’s head. Sitting there he grumbled out loud. Nasty mine so mean. Not feed Jiggles eggy. Is so hungry. His eyes fixed upon ‘the other’. Other see how mean is mine? He questioned before his tail slid down to flick in front of Cr’oph’s face.

Batting at the tail by his nose Cr’oph laughed. “He is being just a tad dramatic. I fed him before we got here and now he won’t stop complaining.” Raising a eyebrow he flashed a smile at his brother. The kind he knew would have his brother scared. “The gather’s been great.” He said enthusiastically the smile turning sly. “I’m afraid I haven’t picked anything up for Mave. To be honest he hasn’t shown much interest in anything. However I did pick you something for you.” Bouncing on the balls of his feet he brought the basket hidden behind his back into view. It was still covered so likely his twin had no clue what awaited him inside.

Before M’kai could move he thrust the basket at his brother knowing he would instinctively grab it. Then he backpedaled holding up his hands as if warding something off. “There you go. Congratulations bro.”

What he was congratulating the other on became apparent as the cloth covering the basket began to quiver. Cr’oph’s eyes widened. Uh oh. He Hadn’t expected it to hatch quite that soon. Jiggles sitting upon his head flared his wings at the movement. Bad egg! Make go away. Is mine! He cried punctuating the words with a hiss for good measure. That nasty baby better not even come close or he would sit on him!

[Ruby]

M'kai smiled at Cr'oph, and with a highly theatrical shrug, popped the date into his own mouth. "Mmmm... tastes JUST like eggy," he mused, chewing and swallowing. "Other does see how mean yours is, Jiggles. Things that taste like eggies are simply delicious." Of course, M'kai assumed that it was someone else's egg that Jiggles wanted to eat, or one that he'd seen in that accursed egg stall they had passed. Reina had gone into fits at the mere mention of another pet. No eggs for him. With a smug 'hmph', heavily muffled by the date in her mouth, the Green resettled her wings and eyed Jiggles balefully.

M'kai lifted an eyebrow at Cr'oph, crossing his arms and cocking out one hip. His twin was acting pretty suspicious, but M'kai figured it was probably just some stupid prank. "Something for me?" M'kai asked, rocking back on his heels, extremely suspicious now. The basket Cr'oph pulled out looked pretty innocent, though, so M'kai reached out and grabbed it. It was as M'kai was reaching for the cloth that the whole thing shook. A very quizzical look on his face, M'kai lifted the corner.

Ohhh no. No no no. That was an egg, and by the cracks spiderwebbing the surface, it was about to hatch. "Here, Jiggles, you can have it!" M'kai offered, shoving the basket back at Cr'oph. But it was too late. Large chunks of egg shell had already flaked off, and M'kai spotted an eye- a purple eye? Didn't creatures only get purple eyes when they were chasing?- blinking at him through a beige skull marking. A brown salamandyr scrambled out of the egg, up M'kai's arm, and down into his pocket, coming back with a date.

Bomb nom, the little brown declared, taking a big bite out of the date. Boyfeind wuvvers, he continued, big, wet purple eyes fixed on M'kai. Then he decided to look around, his eyes fading to red. Cr'oph got a hiss, but when the brown spotted Jiggles, the tiny thing (undersized even for a baby brown) went into an absolute fit. Nasssssy fatt spwanner! Babies! Babiiieeesss!! he wailed, launching himself at Jiggles, weak claws flailing. M'kai simply blinked, totally confused by this new development.

Shockingly, Reina hadn't moved. The Green was eyeing the tiny brown... approvingly? This could not possibly be good.

[Rei]

Jiggles simply hissed at M’kai and hunkered down on Cr’oph’s head with a distasteful look fixed at the other red head. Jiggles not stupid. Know date not eggy. He replied with the proper amount of scorn. This caused the bronzeweyrling to chuckle slightly. “Yeah you’ll have a hard time convincing Jiggs of anything food oriented. He is like a master at consuming things.” Lifting his hand the rider scratched at the brown’s belly earning him a frustrated nip.

At his brothers exclamation over the gift Cr’oph simply smiled and further backed up. No accidental impressions thank you. Jiggles seemed like minded as he hissed unhappily at the basket. If the thing sought to impress to his he would have to fight Jiggles for him. His bonded. The brown would not share. At the comment that he could have the egg The masked brown hissed the sound furious. No want ugly baby. Take away! He shrieked as the bronze weyrling only backed up further, determined to put as much distance between the hatching egg and his body as possible. It seemed as if it was pointless though for the creature that scrambled out of the egg seemed very attached to his brother already. Haha Bombing successful.

There was only one point of confusion in Cr’oph’s head. How did a mandyr get spat out? He had bought a small fire lizard egg. Interesting. Maybe the shop keeper should be informed. Thoughts any further in that direction where derailed swiftly however. Because Jiggle’s claws where digging into his head. He large brown spat back at the baby, wings frilled in anger, eyes swirling red and orange. Bad baby! Eat you will. Off Mine! OFF! He screamed the force of the cry giving the red head a slight headache.

Oh dear. Immediately Cr’oph’s hand shot out to grip the baby assassin. Wincing as the little thing clawed and bit the weyrling thrust his hand at his twin. “Here take your insane gift back.” Wince. Paybacks where a bitch it seemed.

[Ruby]

M'kai laughed, too. He'd have to remember that antagonizing Jiggles was fun. Much more fun that antagonizing Futh (which wasn't possible) or Cr'oph (which was likely to get you stabbed). "That sounds like a challenge," he said, eying Jiggles. "We shall see, little brown one. Some day, I will convince you to eat lettuce!" he promised, struggling to keep the smile off his face.

The contents of the basket pretty effectively cut off that conversation, though. M'kai still hadn't totally recovered from the brown's birth, nor had he figured out what the creature was talking about. As opposed to the usual 'mine', or Futh's 'M'kaiMineLove', he was apparently now... boyfiend. It didn't seem like the Salamandyr had a very good grasp of language, so M'kai figured he meant 'boyfriend', but it didn't seem worth correcting while the mandyr was trying to savage Jiggles. Leaping forward, M'kai grabbed the little one back from Cr'oph, keeping his hands away from claws and teeth. It didn't seem like the salamandyr wanted to be let free, though; as soon as he was back in M'kai's hands he stopped flailing, climbing up to nuzzle his bonded's cheek opposite Reina.

He was still angry, though. Bomb splode, has babies. Chubby buggy, must have babiessss inside. Must kill. His broadcasted words were augmented with an audible hiss, and he flared his frill at Jiggles and Cr'oph. Wait a second... that was no frill. Instead, the Salamandyr had two thin, flexible spines, which he seemed to be able to whip out straight at will. It... kind of made him look like he had a mustache. Raising his eyebrows at Cr'oph, M'kai cooed quietly, "Little one, it's a brown. Browns can't have babies, Jiggles just eats too much. Believe me, no babies there. In fact, he wanted to eat your egg before you were born, so he must like killing babies, too."

That seemed to calm the mandyr a little, and M'kai idly wondered if the brown's desire to kill babies extended to human ones. That probably wouldn't be a bad thing. Bromn, bomb Bromn, the creature mused, clearly considering a continued attack on Cr'oph and Jiggles. "Thanks," he shot at Cr'oph, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sure you'll enjoy him as much as I do, brother mine," he added, already plotting ways to foist the brown off on his twin. "So, little," he addressed the mandyr, "That's Cr'oph, my brother, his salamandyr Jiggles, and this is Reina," he said as she peeked past his nose to see what Hers had acquired. M'kai failed to mention that Reina could potentially produce babies, but luckily his new pet was still too young to understand that sort of thing. "And since you like the word Bomb so much, I guess that's you. It certainly fits," he grumbled. Fid fide fode food, Bomb nom, was Bomb's reply. With a sigh, M'kai turned to Cr'oph. "Wanna hit the food stalls?"

[Rei]

Jiggles kept up his mental stream of anger for a bit after Bomb was removed. The dark mandyr scrambled form Cr’oph’s head to perch on his shoulder. His wings flared again in threat before his bonded’s hand descended to stroke along his back. The contact soothed the brown a bit but he still shot a glare or two at ‘the others’ new pet. Bad ugly confused baby. He said privately to his. Cr’oph merely sent a pulse of agreement along their link and watched in minute fascination as the new brown nuzzled up to his brother. Hopefully Jiggles and Bomb could get over their hate because the small amount of hate he now felt for his brother made him shiver. He had never hated M’kai and although he recognized the emotion as belonging to Jiggles he didn’t like it. Not one tiny bit.

Cr’oph listened in silence to his brother calm his new pet all the while sending calm feelings across the bond to his own mandyr. Jiggles was calming rapidly and quickly had went back to ignoring Bomb as he did most of his own species. Thank Faranth for Jiggles apathy when it came to mandyrs and flits. The comment about eating Bomb’s egg reawakened the brown however and he chirped before commenting. Yes eggy eat. Is so very yummy. Eggy please Crylove? Want eggy muchly. Laughing outright Cr’oph nudged the small brown and shook his head. If he was already hungry than obviously Jiggles was over his fit in true Jiggles fashion. The hate he had felt for his brother had already disappeared and he was beyond happy with that.

The bronzeweyrling gave his twin a sheepish grin. “Yeah maybe egg bombing you wasn’t the best idea I’ve had in ages. You have to admit he is interesting though.” He added thoughtfully. “Especially that mustache? Who knew mandyrs could grow facial hair?” He joked and chuckled slightly. The spines really did look like a miniature mustache. Then his twin offered a tip to the food stall and Jiggles immediately perked up. Food yes please? Hungry very much is. He stated with a wistful look at his. Cr’oph merely made a face. “Your always hungry Jiggs.” To his brother he nodded. “Yeah we should feed your monster before he decides I look like a good substitute again.”

[Ruby]

Bomb was mollified now that Jiggles had been explained, but still very distrusting. M'kai was not a fan of this feeling; he immediately mistrusted Cr'oph, something he'd never done before. He'd heard about the effects Salamandyrs could have on emotions, but he'd never felt it before. Certainly not his favorite thing. Reaching up to stroke Reina, taking solace in her feeling of calm superiority, M'kai took a deep breath and turned his attention back to Bomb. The creature was just plain hungry, now, an M'kai heard his stomach growl aloud. Yes, the food stalls sounded like a good idea.

Jiggles' plea lined up so well with his stomach rumble that M'kai couldn't help but laugh along with his twin. Bomb humphed, frill-spines whipping out and back once or twice. Ifff no foofs for Bomb... the mandyr threatened, hissing into his bonded's ear, BOMB RAGE! Jumping slightly, M'kai got the hint and started walking, gesturing Cr'oph along. The mustache comment made him laugh again, and M'kai relaxed a little, letting the egg bombing slide. It WAS interesting, and he really could never stay mad at Cr'oph. And shard it, he kind of did love Bomb. "I wish I hadn't named him already! Mustache is a great name. He is kind of an odd little guy, isn't he?" M'kai asked, reaching to scratch Bomb under the chin. He didn't quite get there- Bomb snapped at his finger, mentally sending pulses of hunger to everyone around.

"So hey," M'kai said, leaning over to elbow Cr'oph in the ribs as they walked. "I know Mave isn't old enough yet, but Futh is, and... well, my Weyrling class hasn't exactly turned up any likely ladies. Wanna be my wingman?" he asked, winking half-sarcastically. Bomb threw a momentary fit, broadcasting dangerously, and M'kai hurredly added "AFTER we feed the mandyrs, of course! After!" With a huff, Reina took off, and Bomb watched her go, contemplating. M'kai grinned at his twin, lifting an eyebrow. "So whaddya think?"

((I was thinking we could open a fresh thread for us and tag it open, if you want/have time. I know you've been busy, so either way))

[Rei]

((Works for me Ruby. Could you start it?))