Here we go again... (Open)

[Rowana]

This was the last time, T'ke decided. The last time he ever went to a gather! He didn't care how much Garaeth pestered him or how much people tried to convince him they were fun. Next they wanted him to go, they would have to drag him kicking and screaming. Every time he went to one of these sharding things, he ended up with something he didn't want. First it was Akyo, the loud darter who had tormented him for nearly a year before disappearing and making his dragon upset. Then, it was Tekivix, not nearly so bad, but not a day that would go down on T'ke's list of favorite days. And now...

Garaeth, T'ke moaned. He buried his head in his arms, seated at a table in the tavern tent. Next time someone sneaks an egg into my pocket, just kill me. When he got his hands on the one who thought slipping people random eggs was fun, he might have to rethink his problems with blood. This time, he hadn't had the chance to make it home before his pants started vibrating. He'd tried in vain to simply pass the cracking egg off on the nearest victim, but had been foiled by the small green bursting out and clinging to his hand so hard it drew blood.

Now he was seated near the food stall, with a new mind now firmly latched onto his own. The only thing good about all this was it was female and therefore Shard didn't seem to mind the new company. Nonsense, T'ke-love, Garaeth purred happily. She is a beautiful, little lady. Besides, you need more friends. Human friends, Garaeth, T'ke sighed. Not clinging little greens who flirt and Rise and who knows what else. Bad enough that he had Shard's emotions bouncing around in here, now he had another female mind to worry about.

Hello, Shard was curling around the new coming with happy curiosity. Is Shard. Be friends? The baby fire lizard glanced at her briefly, pausing in her meal of sweet meats. Then she puffed up haughtily and purposely turned her back on the salamandyr. Shard wilted, and T'ke raised an eyebrow. Great, just his luck. He had to get one that didn't like salamandyrs.

[dragon]

"Ohhhh! How cute! How old is it?" Came the gushing voice of what couldn't be anything other than a girl. Indeed, soon following the voice came the body. Orena plopped down across the table from T'ke and his little pet family. Orena grinned bigger than should have been possible for her face, leaning forward to look at the baby flitter. "She's so cuuuuuute!" She squeaked, before looking up at T'ke ... and seeing he didn't look too happy.

"What's wrong? Did your date stand you up today or something?" She asked, with some concern. With her chocolate curls pinned back from her face to fall in a curly mass off the back half of her head down to her shoulders, Orena's features were terribly mobile from one emotional expression to the next. She tilted her head to one side ever so slightly as she considered T'ke's features. "You really do look terrible."

She reached over and patted his hand lightly. "Don't worry! It's a gather, nothing too terribly bad can happen." She assured him. "I mean, they have all kinds of neat things here! Look what I got. I am so excited, I don't even know what to do." A soft leather sack appeared above the table top to plop softly down onto it, though it seemed to appear to be ready to pop at the seams for being too full. Working the mouth open, Orena stuck her fingers down into it and shifted some of the contents about. Soon it was revealed that it was a sand sack with a flitter egg in it. "I wonder if they're much like dragons? I can't wait till it hatches!"

[Rowana]

T'ke looked up and considered whether running and leaving the green hatchling with Orena would be a bad idea or not. Too late, she was already sitting down and now it would just be rude. Shard didn't mind though, since Orena was female and therefore safe. Be friends? she asked the girl, hopefully. She crawled across, dragging her long wings. Is Shard! Hello! T'ke didn't look nearly so happy. "Yeah, um, cute," he agreed, in a grudging tone. "She just hatched."

The hatchling, meanwhile, had finished her meal and was eying Orena skeptically. She puffed up as tall as she could go and hissed. T'ke was hers, hers! Orena couldn't have him! T'ke glanced at her again, frowning. To think he's thought Shard was weird, this one was a whole different mind. He shook his head and looked back to Orena. "Thanks," he scowled. Like any girl would go on a date with him if he asked. Orena sure had a way of making a guy feel good about himself.

He was only half listening to her and wondering when he could get away without being rude, when she brought out the egg. Instinctively, he jerked up and leaned as far back from the table as he could without falling off the bench. "Shards and shells, lady," he hissed, his eyes locked on it fearfully. "Keep that away from me!" The last thing he needed was Orena's egg deciding it liked him better. Getting the green today was bad enough. Besides, Orena wouldn't like it if he accidentally Impressed her egg.

[dragon]

Orena blinked when a green think slithered across the table toward her. At first she started to recoil from it. She knew what 'mandyrs were ... she had one. A not very nice one, at that. But at the peaceable greeting, she tentatively reached out to poke Shard on the head. "Okay. We can be friends. Just don't bite me okay? I get enough of that from Gerroff. Hello, Shard." She cracked a smile and looked at T'ke. "Is this one yours too? She's nice. I wish mine was this nice." As it was, thank Faranth, Gerroff was sleeping on Riavorth. Sometimes she did wish the dragon would inhale the mandyr or something.

"Oh! Just hatched? So that's what they look like when they're brand new? How cute! I can't wait for mine to hatch." She fingered the top of her egg for a moment, before brushing the sand back over the top of it lest it get cold. "How do you know when it's hatching?" She asked. "Is it much like a dragon hatching?" Getting hissed at by the baby was not what she had expected. Orena sat back for a moment and just gave the baby a look. "What was that for? I didn't do anything to you." But T'ke wasn't acting any better, seeming like he was going to topple right off the back of his seat. Orena gave him a very strange look, too, and slipped the egg back to her pocket, out of sight.

What was with people these days? "How much wine have you had? Methinks maybe it was a bit too much?" She wagered. "Eggs don't bite people, stop being silly." He must he hallucinating or something. That had to be it. Maybe he hadn't realized it was just an egg.

[Rowana]

Shard gave a warbling sound that might have been an attempt to purr. She rubbed against Orena's finger happily. It was so good to have a female to talk to sometimes. Shard never bite, she assured her new friendly. Who Gerroff? Her curiosity was perked, if only a little. Whoever that wasn't didn't sound very nice. The green hatchling snorted at them both. Let the worm make friends with the invader, the deserved each other. She trotted back to T'ke, and clung protectively to his wrist.

"I haven't been..." T'ke started, looking offending. Well, what did he expect from how he was acting. Garaeth was laughing in his head, being his usual helpful self. At least you did not offend her, he pointed out helpfully. Yeah, that's great, T'ke returned sourly. Offense was the least of his problem when his new attachment was currently cutting off circulation to his hand. He'd decided to call her Haru, the first thing that had come to mind that didn't sound like an insult.

T'ke took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, it's just," he waved at Haru with a free hand. "Things tend to find me even when I don't want them. And yeah, Shard's with me too." He managed a fond smile for the salamandyr. Shard really wasn't so bad, especially when she wasn't fleeing from any boy she saw. He supposed he could count himself lucky for that. Trying to make up for his rudeness, he tried his best to answer Orena's question. "Well, they usually start to shake, I think," he started, trying to remember. He hadn't been to many hatchings, thank Faranth. "It's a bit like dragons, but you have to feed them right away or sometimes they won't stay." He waved at the rest of the meat he'd ordered for Haru. "You can have some of this if it hatches now."

[dragon]

"Oh good." Orena breathed. "I don't like biting things. Gerroff is my 'mandyr and he is just as often mean as he is sweet. I swear he's bipolar or something." She explained, scritching the entire top of Shard's head with her fingertip. Sometimes, it was amazing how small they could be, and yet so loud. But then ... who'd want a mandyr any bigger? They were trouble enough as small as they were!

"Oh! I see. Okay. Don't worry about it then. Mine is still in its bag, and it would be hard pressed to get out and come after you." She offered T'ke with a wink. "I'll keep you safe! Your little lady here is very nice though. You're so lucky." At least he was acting a bit less strange now. But it also helped that now she understood why he'd reacted like that. Apparently he wasn't much of one for pets? "Soooooo ... how come you got a flitter egg if you didn't want one?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.

She beamed at the offer of the meat. "Thank you! I appreciate that, I really do. I was going to go buy some, since I am still so far from the Weyr. But but but ... do I have to always have it on me until it hatches? I mean ... I have no idea how old this egg is. It might be a dud they sold me for all I know, and is beyond its time ... or maybe it was just laid. I have no idea! Do you know how to tell? I think it would be really awesome if I could tell how long it is going to be before it hatches. Do they sleep a lot as babies? I know Gerroff did ... but he's not a flitter. I was so sad when he stopped taking baby naps. Now he's awake most of the time and it can be quite a strain to not pinch his little head off his neck, if you know what I mean. He likes to bite."

Somehow, she had managed to talk herself right off topic and through three or four others, all without really realizing it. But, it was rather normal for Orena, and she didn't even think twice about it.

[Rowana]

"Don't be so sure," T'ke eyed Orena's bag warily. Eggs had a bad habit of hatching when one least expected it, in his experience. He gave a small smile, watching Shard melt under Orena's attention. "Thanks," he agreed sincerely. Now if he was really lucky, Haru would be just as nice. So far it wasn't looking good. Haru was still glaring at Orena like she was an insult to the landscape and she completely ignored Shard. Maybe she'd calm down once they were home.

"Well," he smirked at his new hatchling. "Someone decided it would be funny to put an egg in my pocket." He shrugged and tried offering Haru a finger. She eyed it critically, but consented to be petted. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. At least he wasn't short of friends now, even with things back home the way they were. "It's no trouble," he waved off her thanks. "I believe if it's hard, it's close to hatching and if it feels warm, it's should be alive." He paused, digging through his bank of knowledge. Doing a lot of reading had its advantages after all. "Beyond that, I'm guessing, but Shard and Garaeth both slept a lot and fire lizards are related so..." he shrugged. He made a mental note to stay away from Orena's salamandyr in the future.

[dragon]

This fellow really was paranoid about hatching eggs. Orena fingered the bag for a moment thoughtfully. If it were so easy for a flitter to wander off and go to someone else ... maybe she ought to take the thing somewhere where there were less people. She'd hate to lose her flitter to someone else! "Okay. I'll take your advice on that." She assured him. "But it's not moving right now, so I think we're good." She grinned at him. "If it does start moving, you'll be the first I tell, okay?"

Her mouth formed an 'O' at his confession. "That is funny!! Someone just up and gave you a flitter? How awesome! You are either incredibly lucky, or someone really likes you a lot but is scared to tell you so." She snickered and winked at him. "Any ideas who that might be? What do you bet it's someone you know really well.." she mused thoughtfully. Nevermind she didn't know T'ke at all, much less who all he knew. Or anything else of the nature. She was more poking fun at him than anything else, even if it was a real possibility.