Wasted [Darmori]

[Ruby]

Serissa needed a haircut. She usually kept her hair long, but lately it had been getting out of control, and all the ends were dead. Time for a trim.

She hated doing it in her Weyr, though (so much hair to clean up!) and the bathing rooms were both too dark and too foggy. Natural light was best for these sorts of things, and it was hot and sticky today anyway. After drills, she headed down to the river, determined to get her hair cut before the last light faded. Ildyth, sitting awkwardly in the shallows, held a hand mirror out for her, one claw hooked through the loop-shaped handle that was more than big enough for Serissa's hand. It dangled upside down, swaying a little when Ildyth breathed, although he was in competition with a nearby tree - his rider claimed the tree could hold still longer. Ildyth was determined to prove her wrong.

Serissa herself was waist-deep in the river, wearing a swimsuit that was hardly more modest that her usual underwear, still dripping slightly from the laps she'd swam earlier. That had been a mistake - now the sun was setting about as fast as she could cut, and it looked like she'd barely finish before it was too dark to continue. Then she'd have a few hours to grab dinner before she headed off to her infirmary shift. The schedule might seem punishing to others, but Serissa was thriving, enjoying both the Southern atmosphere and the warmth of the dying summer. Everything was coming up Serissa and Ildyth, these days.

In the magical red light of sunset, Serissa's hair glinted bright white-blonde, colored more by the sky's shades than it's true honey-colored undertones. She trimmed the dead ends off a lock, then let the curl spring back into shape, loosely framing her face, before returning to her search for any parts she hadn't cut yet. Thank Faranth for slightly curly hair - she could trim it herself without worrying about whether it was truly even at the ends. Once it dried fully, no one would be able to tell anyway. Now, slightly damp, it fell to mid-back, a good inch longer than it would be later tonight. Perfect.

[Rei]

Darmori had actually gotten up early for once and Darmosk had been more hyper than normal. Which really they had been cooped up a little it felt like, so it was understandable. Ready and raring to go was his wher. So, as soon as the sun had sunk down low enough that it’s faded light would not be painful for the bronze, the pair had headed out. Best way to get some energy out was a good run. But the handler, being quite a bit slower than the wher, had decided that a ride was better than a jog. Thus leaping onto the bronze’s back he had kicked his sides like a runner.

Darmosk, in typical Darmosk fashion, had decided that this meant he was going to ‘play’ runner. So the bronze took off at a gallop, head stretched forward, and occasionally giving a leap into the air or giving a playful buck just like a real runner. Oh so he thought anyway, considering the wher himself had never seen a runner. But his had so he was going off what his had seen.It didn’t take to long for Harmony to get tired of this and start screaming. Darmori on the other hand was having the time of his life. Thus the random yells of “Yeeeehaw!”, “Ahhhh!”, and “Wooooo!”

As the pair charged along the river bank Darmosk veered through some underbrush and unintentionally ended up charging straight at Serissa. With a yelp of surprise the wher dug his talons into the earth and flared wide his wings to attempt a stop. Noooooo! He didn’t want to crush the pretty girl. Fortunately the bronze made the stop before he careened into the woman. Unfortunately the momentum threw his and Harmony clear over his head to land somewhere near Ildyth’s feet. Well to be more honest Darmori landed there. Harmony was able to spread her wings and glide to the blue’s neck where she clung and broadcasted widely. Stupid! Go too fast. Should watch where going. Apologize to! Now! Clamping her wings against her back the large gold chirped down at hers with worry. Mori love okay?

Lowering his head, and looking very much like a scolded dog, Darmosk crooned softly to Serissa brushing her mind gently. He was so sorry. She was okay yes? While asking the bluerider he ambled closer to his hander and nudged the winded boy. Was his okay? He was sorry there was little time for a warning. The large wher got a breathless “Ow.” for his trouble, as Darmori tried to make sense of what had happened. Damn that had hurt…. The bronze wher gave a worried croon before lifting his head to view the much larger dragon and apologize to him as well. He hadn’t meant to hurt anyone. He swore he hadn’t.

[Ruby]

Serissa started visibly, snipping off a pretty solid lock by accident when the Bronze wher and his... rider(?) crashed onto the scene. Ildyth had leaped in front of His, and the mirror had slipped off his talon, falling to clatter next to Darmori's head. The pair of them froze, after that, Serissa unconsciously pulling the scissors in front of her like a knife, Ildyth with his lip pulled up in a snarl. Only for a moment, though- it was pretty clear the adolescent Wher and his equally young Handler weren't any sort of threat.

Especially not with a talking thing to apologize for them. Ildyth craned his neck around, blinking one yellow-green eye at the strange creature. Is it little, or a creature? Ildyth asked. It's talking, isn't it? Serissa replied, tucking her scissors into a back pocket and putting one hand on her hip, smiling at the Handler on the ground. Tilting his head to one side, Ildyth addressed the creature on his back, squinting a little to bring her into focus. With an unconscious little bounce, the Blue reached out to include Darmosk too, saying, Don't be sad, little ones. I'm faster, anyway!

Serissa couldn't help but roll her eyes a little, smiling in her dragon's direction. Dork. Darmosk's mental brush pulled her around, though (now THAT was a weird feeling), re-focusing Serissa on the Wher and his unhorsed Handler. The bronze seemed to be fine, but the boy hadn't really gotten up... crap. With a reassuring "We're just fine," for the boy's creatures, she knelt next to Darmori, the last rays of sunlight gilding the top of her head - and pointing out the chunk of hair she'd taken out in the recent surprise.

She wasn't about to start poking and prodding, not without hardly knowing him, but she could still make sure everything was alright. "You doing ok, kid?" she asked, smoothing his forehead as if she were pushing back bangs. "Don't move yet, lets make sure nothing's broken. I'm a healer," she added, in case he couldn't bring her knots into focus. Serissa was absolutely a vain creature - she wore both her Apprentice knots, senior cord and all, and her new Wasteland knots.

[Rei]

Harmony gazed back at the large eyeball without fear, even frilling out her ring of spines. It wasn’t a threat gesture as much of a ‘oh hello there, I am not afraid’ gesture. The massive eye perhaps was a bit unnerving but the gold would never admit that. Of course not. With a soft trill she politely spoke back to the blue. Harmony is name. Name has you surely big wing? Fast is good. Fast means not squish. Squish muchly bad. Normally not a talkative creature at all her worry about Darmori had seemed to have loosened her tongue for the moment. Especially since the handler had not gotten up right away. The mandyr did not like this. At all. Thus Harmony peered with both hope and a bit of suspicion at Serissa as she approached the teen. Fixer says is? Fix Mori yes? The gold scampered across the Ildyth’s hide then and testing the wind half unfurled her wings to leap in a half glide for the blonde. Landing on the bluerider’s shoulder the gold mandyr gave a soft chirp. There much better now she could properly watch this one.

Darmosk for his part simply sat on his haunches and peered up, up, up at the dragon. For a minute he looked as if in awe and then his tongue lolled out and he gave a soft and cheerful bark to the large dragon. Oh he was very happy that the other was so fast. He was happy the girl was fast as well. He did not want to smash anyone oh no. he was sorry however that his seemed to be ouchy. A soft whine given at that. The bronze tilting his head to peer down as his handler. Oh dear he did so hope that he wasn’t broken. That would be very bad. The wher sat in silence for the next few moments watching first Harmony and then Serissa before prodding his with a gentle mental poke. The nice lady was speaking she was. Could Darmori hear her?

Blinking up at the sky Darmori grimaced. Pretty sure the sky wasn’t supposed to be spinning. He closed his eyes against the sensation. It was making him feel vaguely nauseous. Yeah I can hear her. Was the mental reply before the handler felt the brush of a hand over his forehead. It was actually kind of comforting. Reminded him of being a little kid in the creche. Darmori half opened one eye to try and put the woman into focus. There that was better. Kind of. And oh my Faranth what had happened to her poor hair? He hoped that wasn’t his fault.

Harmony dipped her head and chirped the noise soft but commanding. Attention Mori. Elsewhere needs be. Oh right she had asked him a question hadn’t she? Swallowing the bronze handler managed to speak. At least his voice sounded okay, winded defiantly but at least he wasn’t whimpering or anything. “I think I’m okay yeah. I’ve fallen out of trees before. Feels kind of similar actually.” The breathless quality to his words was a bit obvious. Yeah air was a good thing.

The desire to sit up was actually pretty high however Serissa had asked him not to move. So Darmori merely gave the barest nod of acceptance to her words. Okay healer. Well that was lucky. Darmosk wuffed softly in agreement. Yes very lucky. The handler couldn’t resist wiggling his toes and moving his fingers slightly though. Nothing felt broken. But he was pretty sure he’d have some nice bruises and his head still hurt and well it still was a bit hard to breathe. Might as well let her take a look. Ildy the teen’s mind wandered a little. He really needed to think about possibly fashioning some type of harness for Darmosk. Would probably be safer. Boy did this healer woman have pretty hair…

[Ruby]

Ohhhh, these were Ildyth's kind of people. He liked Selenitas very much, despite not being able to remember much of Fort, or even High Reaches. With a little wiggle, he rumbled in reply to the Gold's trill, opening his mindvoice to both of the new creatures. I do indeed, pretty one. I am called Ildyth, and it is lovely to meet you. Flaring his wings, but careful not to knock Harmony out of place, he added, And I am certainly fast enough not to squish anyone. Although if I did, I would squish them flattest![/i] Darmosk got a gentle mental poke from the dragon, who of course attempted to communicate better in the Wher's preferred manner than the Wher himself, failing miserably. Dragons were simply not meant to talk without words, but Ildyth was trying to communicate the fact that he was sure Darmosk's would be fine.

The weight on Serissa's shoulder surprised her a little, and not only because it seemed out of proportion for the little creature's size. Sparing a glance for the (admittedly chubby) gold, she nodded. "Yes, I'm a fixer, I suppose. I'll make sure he's alright." The fat thing got another glance, but Serissa added a smile - no reason to offend the creature, and she had not heard good things about Salamandyr tempers. And anyway, Mori (or whatever his name was, she didn't exactly trust the Gold's pronunciation) was certainly breathing, and most likely ok. He was stirring, after all.

Oh good, he blinked! And spoke. Nodding, Serissa smiled again. "You look pretty much ok, but no harm in checking. Sounds like you just got the wind knocked out of you. What's your name?" As she waited for the question to be answered, she gently felt his neck, trying to make sure nothing was out of alignment in a dangerous way. She noticed his fingers wiggling, and assumed he was doing the same to his toes, and his neck was ok. As long as he could move those, there wasn't anything wrong with his spine, and he didn't seem to be in pain.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Serissa laughed. "Looks like you're fine, and I'm making a big deal over a tiny fall. Guess it's in my nature," she said, then offered the Handler a hand up. Ildyth leaned his head over, blocking out the sun, then sniffed vaguely and turned his attention back to Darmosk. Out of everyone down below, the Bronze was the biggest - oh, but then again, the Salamandyr was Gold. Which one would be more worth his time to compete with? Smothering a mental sigh, Serissa went to fetch the mirror, then turned back to her new companion as she examined the damage she'd done to her hair. Her voice was friendly, though, when she asked, "So what are you up to this evening, boys? And lady?"

[Rei]

Harmony, seemingly satisfied with Serissa’s answer, chirped softly to the woman and settled herself comfortably on her shoulder. Her head tilted downwards the gold watched as the bluerider prodded hers carefully. As the handler didn’t seem to be in pain, the mandyr was content to let this one prod him at will. Besides she was nice. Catching the second look from the woman Harmony gave a present little trill and softly nudged the side of the woman’s neck. Good fixer this one was. See look her Mori was already getting up. Oh yes the gold liked this one. Very much.

Darmosk in turn was absolutely fascinated with Ildyth. The bronze wher hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting many dragons at all. So to be able to interact with one was something of a treat almost. He had tried to ‘talk’ to a dragon before in the past but the larger creature had just ignored him. At the time Darmosk hadn’t understood why, but as he grew he came to realize that most of the larger day dwelling draconoids found him undesirable for some reason. Not so with this one it seemed. The bronze was just tickled that the blue had tired to communicate with him. In his own method of communication to! Yes he decided right then and their that he liked Ildyth. With a happy bark the wher wagged his tail furiously and gave the much larger beast a play bow. Would be like to play? They could play chase! Or see who could get to the tree line fastest? Did he want to race?

Darmori for the most part tried to ignore the excitement coming in waves off Darmosk. It was a common thing after all. Giving the hovering woman above him a slightly crooked smile he cleared his throat. Breathing was easier now thank Faranth. She was right, probably just got the wind knocked out of him. “Darmori is my name.” He said the smile never leaving his face as he accepted her hand and allowed her to help him to his feet. Shaking his head and brushing dirt off his clothes he gave a nervous laugh. “It’s alright. I’m glad you where here to check me out. Sorry for the near collision. Darmosk gets so excited that he sometimes forgets to look where he is going.” Shooting a look at his wher, who was now cavorting around Ildyth, he shook his head.

Watching Serissa and wincing slightly at the chunk missing from her hair the teen rubbed the back of his neck. “Well we are supposed to patrol a little later but I guess this evening we where just kinda goofing off. Trying to expend some of Darmosk’s energy.” The bronze gave a bark at that and wigging his rump took off in a gallop for the tree line. He was going to wiiiiin! Turning his attention from the wher back to the bluerider Darmori watched her for a few moments. Or rather examined her hair. “Uh sorry about your hair. It still looks gorgeous. What where you doing before we ran into you anyway?” Oh he could guess with all the blonde stands littering the ground but he figured it was a way to take conversation away from the fact that they had nearly unintentionally flattened her. Also it gave him more time to admire her hair. Looked nice. Even with the chuck missing. He could probably fix that. If she’d let him. And in the process maybe get a little to add to his collection. Such pretty hair. Lucky girl.

Harmony in turn was fascinated with the mirror the woman was holding up and she examined herself in it carefully. Lifting one foot and watching as mirror Harmony copied. With a soft trill her tail wound about Serissa’s neck as an anchor. Pretty girls yes? The gold asked the woman politely. Of course the answer would be yes.

[Ruby]

Play? Play was Ildyth's middle name, something he tried to communicate to the Wher with absolutely no success. Switching back to his own way of speaking (Darmosk seemed to understand him well enough), Ildyth dropped back into a crouch, growling, A race it is! His tail flicked back and forth as he eyed the distance, trying his best to keep his overly round behind in check. He would beat the Wher! Ready? Three, two, one... GO! And with that, he shot off towards the trees, his bouncy gait making it look like he was prancing rather than running.

"Ah, Darmori. Not quite Mori, then," Serissa said, giving Harmony a look like she had tried deliberately to lead her astray. She immediately spoiled it with a smile, though, hauling Darmori to his feet before gesturing to herself. "Serissa," she said, then looked over towards Ildyth with affection when Darmori apologized. "Oh, it's no problem. Ildyth has had his share of accidents himself, and he's even bigger than Darmosk. I'm sure you can imagine what sort of insanity that creates when Ildyth decides he needs to race the Wingleader in wing training..."

Watching the blue and the bronze dash off for the tree line - Ildyth had his wings mantled, trying to stay as streamlined as possible - Serissa smiled. "Yes, I can see that. Can't hurt for Ildyth to burn some, too. I hope Darmosk is faster - we'll be here for hours." It was true, too - Ildyth wouldn't rest until he'd beaten the bronze at something. She fiddled absently with her hair, only realizing she was doing it when Darmori pointed it out. "Oh - well thank you," she purred, cocking one hip out in a subtly attractive gesture. That Darmori looked like he was about half her age never crossed her mind. He'd called her hair gorgeous, and it's not like she planned on following that gesture up ever. Bleh.

"Me? Oh, just giving myself a trim. Looks like you helped," she added, pulling the cropped lock over her shoulder to examine it again. "No drills today, no infirmary until later. Figured it was about time for a haircut." Harmony's tail tightening around her neck made Serissa's eyes widen - now THAT was a terrifying feeling, if you weren't used to it - but then she looked back at the mirror, giggling a little as Harmony examined herself. "Very pretty girls, of course. Your Darmori is a lucky boy, today."

[Rei]

Darmosk gave a happy bark back to Ildyth. Better hurry! He was already half here. A little slow on the take off wasn’t the larger dragon? Subtle teasing barbs given the bronze lowered his head two taloned forepaws digging deep into soil as he flung himself forward. Head outstretched towards the tree line the bronze had his wings flattened as tight as possible to his back. No way he was going to let the bigger beast win! He would be the victor. Charging forward he drew up along the tree line throwing his head back into a victory howl. Won! He had won! (sure he had gotten a head start this first time but that was ignored.) Tail wagging happily back an forth and tongue still lolling out from between parted jaws Darmosk bounced in place. Did Ildyth want to race again? This time to the rive and then back? To be honest the metallic wher didn’t care a whit about winning. Nope all he wanted was the run of the game. Bright happy colored whirling eyes gazed longingly at the blue dragon hoping the answer was a yes.

Darmori smiled at Serissa doing his best to imagine what chaos a blue dragon racing others in a wing formation would do. Sadly the boy hadn’t really paid much attention to dragons during his time as a drudge and now he was awake solely at night. Not many dragons flew at night. Well really none did to his knowledge. Hmm. Well better that he just nod and agree with her. That way he wouldn’t offend her right? Lucky for the bronze handler the bluerider seemed to be okay with continuing onward without his input. Turning towards the racing dragon and wher he smiled.

“Oh Darmosk is pretty fast but Iidyth has longer legs. I’d imagine at some point your blue will outpace him.” Darmosk was very stubborn when he wanted ot be though. So maybe it would take awhile. The prospect of being stuck out here all night wasn’t terrible but sadly at some point the pair did have to actually go on watch. Ah the pros and cons to not being a wherling anymore.

If the handler noticed the subtle flirtatious movement he didn’t acknowledge it. But more than likely it went completely over her head. It helped that Darmori was playing far more attention to her hair than Serissa herself though. Now that she had been so nice to return attention to her pretty locks anyway. Harmony did the mandyr equivalent of a snort when she caught wind of the thoughts from hers. Silly Mori. Despite her attempts the gold just still didn’t get the draw that human fur held over him. To Serissa however the chubby gold replied. Lucky Mori yes. Pretty girls, Pretty hair. Turning her attention back towards the mirror the golden mandyr drew herself up into the most regal position she could manage and crooned softly. So what if she was being a bit vain? She was a gold wasn’t she?

Ignoring his mandyr the bronze handler drew closer to Serissa. “A haircut hmm? Would you like some help? It’s always harder to do it yourself and I don’t mind.” Indeed he didn’t mind and if it meant he could get his hands on her pretty golden locks. Dare he hope?