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Post by dragon on Dec 19, 2008 22:51:28 GMT -5
Cloar was looking for someone, this time, rather than wandering off by himself. And the look on his face said that he had something exciting that he was just bursting to share. But first he had to find someone to share it with. Preferably, someone he knew, and even more preferably, someone he liked.
There had been a few people he'd met so far that he just didn't like. And this was not something he'd share with them! No ... somebody he liked.
Cloar was carrying around a bag ... well ... it was the only bag Cloar owned. So naturally it was the same bag that he normally took with him when he went out into the forest. The same bag that he normally filled with interesting odds and ends that he found. Interesting bits of mushroom that grew on a log, a neat looking lichen. A handfull of berries for later. A twisted stick that looked kinda like a serpent ... those sorts of things. And in the bottom of the sack was usually a spare pair of trousers ... for emergencies.
That was the sort of things that the sack was usually relegated to carrying around. But not this day! This day it had something super special hidden in its depths. Something that made Cloar handle the bag as if it were fragile, holding something made of blown glass.
So instead of banging around behind him like it usually was, he was carefully keeping the bag at his side as he walked around in the barracks, looking for someone he knew. Like Saeo. Or Raylin. Or Keloran. Somebody.
Cloar realized he hadn't seen Keloran in a long time, and wondered where the lad had gotten to. But the thought was a passing one, as he finally spotted someone ... Saeo! He walked over to where she was, and poked her shoulder with one finger, grinning from one ear to the other.
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Post by nightingale on Dec 19, 2008 23:05:10 GMT -5
Saeo didn't glance up right away when she felt someone poking her in the shoulder -she was after all, right in the middle of reading a very interesting book about dolphins. She was dead in the middle of the paragraph in fact, and so whomever it was would just have to be patiant and wait until she was finished. Luckily for Cloar, she was an exceedingly fast reader, and so it was only a second or two before she marked her spot with cotton-gloved index finger and glanced up at him.
"Well, don't you look like a canine who's eaten the dinner roast."
She commented, unable to keep her expression from mirroring the boy's infectious smile as she realized something lovely must have happened. She tilted her head slightly to the side in a small, questioning gesture. He obviously wanted something, or else he wouldn't be there, and so she felt no need to ask specifically what his news was. She'd find out soon enough.
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Post by dragon on Dec 19, 2008 23:35:08 GMT -5
"Hi!" Cloar said, once he finally had her attention. "Busy?" He asked, leaning over to see what it was she was reading that was so interesting. He read just enough to determine that it wasn't all that interesting after all, and straightened again to grin at her.
"Not a dinner roast ... something far better than that!" He said. "Interested? And no ... I didn't eat it, either. I wouldn't." He corrected her. Eat it ... egads!
He took a seat across the table from her, and gently set the bag on the table in front of him, again acting as if it were made of glass. The bag, though, remained a bag. And it slumped slightly now that it was sitting on something.
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Post by nightingale on Dec 19, 2008 23:47:26 GMT -5
Okay, so he had a bag...and he wasn't very good at metaphores. The later wasn't much of a surprise -considering that this was Cloar she was speaking to- and neither was the former really once she got a good look at it. Wasn't that the same ratty old thing he carried around everywhere? What on earth was so special about it today as opposed to any other day? It certainly didn't look any different.
"Ahmmm...I'm afraid you've lost me."
She sighed, folding down a page in her book to mark the place she'd stopped reading, then setting it aside. (Something told her that she wouldn't get back to her reading for a while.) She leaned in for a closer look, resting her chin atop laced hands as she studdied the worn out old bag. She blinked twice. Nope, it was still just an old bag.
"Alright, so it isn't a dinner roast...and I'm assuming it fits in a bag...is it a very small man?"
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Post by dragon on Dec 20, 2008 0:13:12 GMT -5
A very small man? Cloar looked at his bag speculatively. That was an idea that had never occured to him. "I must admit that I've never seen a man that small. Some pretty small, sure, but not that small." he said, poking the bag.
And the bag moved, at the poking. Or ... to be more precise, something inside the bag moved. And then it was still. For a moment it stayed still, and then it moved again, wiggling around in funny directions. There was most definitely something alive in that bag. And it wasn't inclined to come out, either.
So Cloar leaned forward and lifted the flap off the top, and poked around inside. After a bit of a lot of wiggling around in the bag, he sat back and just grinned at her. A moment later, a small head popped up out of the bag.
It was tiny ... and bronze. The shiny metalic flitter head blinked a few times in the light, and then looked around. It was a baby flitter ... it looked like it had just hatched! Well ... not just. It wasn't gooey. And it wasn't creeling with hunger, either. But it was definitely small and curious.
"Isn't that neat?" Cloar asked, happily, before lifting the little flitter out of the bag entirely, and setting him down again on the collapsed bag. Once Cloar let go of him, the little bronze wriggled around, and sat down, before looking around again, blinking sleepily. Spotting Saeo finally, it uttered a small curious peep, tilting his head.
"I found his egg in my bag, last night ... and right after I found it, he hatched!" Cloar said, excitedly. He was obviously quite thrilled to have a flitter ... especially after having missed out on impressing one at Zessa's clutch. And it was a bronze, to boot! Something that had not been in Zessa's clutch. "How he got in my bag, while here at the barracks, even, I have no idea..." He shrugged. He really didn't care ... he was just thrilled to have a flitter!
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Post by nightingale on Dec 20, 2008 11:30:14 GMT -5
A flitter? Where in Faranth's name had he gotten a flitter? Forget that it was the most beautiful little bronze flitter she had ever laid eyes on -the hatching had been tendays ago. Even as he explained how he'd come to possess the little treasure, Saeo could only bring herself to give Cloar the most fleeting of glances. The little rogue was just so adorable to look away from!
"Neat? Shards, it's far more than neat -a story like that needs to be put down in writing!"
She laughed, leaning in for a closer look at the infant bronze. She took care not to get her nose too close to him -bronze creatures of most species could be rather fiery and aggressive- but this one seemed far more friendly than most of his colour.
"It's as if he'd just been waiting for you to find him so he could hatch...top notch stuff there..."
So now Cloar had a flitter as well? As happy as she was for him, the vague sense that she had been cheated still gnawed at the back of her thoughts. Not impressing at Zesa's clutch hadn't been so bad when she knew at least one other person had been left disappointed. Now though, it seemed she was the only girl in the entire barracks who hadn't a pet of some kind. She desperately hoped that this wasn't a sign of things to come at Aslath's hatching.
"Have you named him yet?"
She asked, making sure to keep her voice high and chipper as she reached out a finger toward the little creature's head.
"Charming would be my first choice -then Rin, then Corinth jr. Then again, Dragon would be interesting too. "
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Post by dragon on Dec 20, 2008 23:48:20 GMT -5
"Naw, I haven't named him yet." Cloar said. "I can't decide what to call him, honestly. He's just so ... well ... " Words failed him entirely, but he was pretty sure she understood him perfectly, seeing how she was staring at the flitter.
The baby bronze blinked sleepily, looking back at Saeo. She didn't seem all that interesting. But then she was suddenly close. Reacting as if he'd just suddenly awakened to see a giant eye staring down at him, the bronze flitter peeped in alarm, jumping to his feet. And then he tilted his head, and stared at her face, more specificly, her right eye. Her blinking really got his attention.
And ... what was this? A finger? Food? Yes? The flitter jumped on her finger, and started trying to gnaw on it. Thankfully, his jaws weren't yet anything to hurt her. Seeing that he couldn't gnaw anything off her finger, but she definitely tasted like meat, he started trying to swallow her finger whole, little forefeet hanging onto her finger.
Cloar saw that, and jumped to pull the flitter away from her, grinning apologetically. "Sorry about that. He just eats and eats and eats ... and sleeps." He said, poking the flitter back into the bag. But he left it partly open. The bronze poked his head out of this opening, and looked around with obvious curiousity.
"Are you alright?" Cloar asked. "I hope he didn't break the skin ..." He would really feel bad if his brand new highly-looked for pet had promptly chewed the finger off the first person he'd showed him to. That and he kinda liked Saeo and wanted her to keep all her digits. The gloves she was wearing had probably helped to cushion her from the flitter.
"Corinth Jr.?" Cloar asked, his face wrinkling up. "I don't think so." Corinth belonged to that rider ... T'rid. The Weyrleader. T'rid was not a nice person. One that Cloar hoped to not encounter very often at all.
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Post by nightingale on Dec 21, 2008 21:20:12 GMT -5
Saeo's response to the bronze flitter deciding her finger would make a good midmorning snack was quite good natured. She grinned, giving the finger a little wiggle as if to remind the tiny flitter that it was still alive and wouldn't make much of a meal for him. However, it seemed that her gloves tasted absolutly fantastic because he clung on tightly, at one point even getting his entire head around the digit. She couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed when Cloar pulled the infant away. She'd been quite enjoying herself...
"He must have tasted the dried meat I was handling this morning."
She smiled, rubbing her fingers together to disperse the flitter slobber. She let out a quiet snort of laughter when he asked if she was alright.
"I'm fine Cloar. He's just a baby -the day I become terminally injured by a baby flitter is the day Thread falls in an interval. Aaaaand...if you don't like Corinth Jr....how about...Gust? Copper? Storm? Ravenous finger eating beast of death? I quite like that last one -fits him quite well."
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Post by dragon on Dec 21, 2008 23:07:26 GMT -5
The baby flitter looked around, and then wiggled out of the bag again, shaking each little wing in turn to free himself of the heavy material. Ambling in an exaggerated swagger of one not yet confident in one's own legs yet, he made his way in a circle on the table, before sitting down again. He looked at Cloar, and peeped, before looking at Saeo and peeping again.
Cloar stood up for a moment, and dug industriously in a pocket for a bit, before sitting down again. The item he had retreived revealed itself to be a peice of jerked meat, as he teased a bit off the end. "Here you go, little guy." He said, offering the snippet to the flitter, who expectantly held his mouth all the way open for it, not moving for it in any other way. Cloar chuckled lightly, and poked the dried meat into the small mouth.
"I was just checking." Cloar admitted. He hadn't wanted his new pet to maul anyone, after all ... and some people had some pretty sensitive skin. He was releived to know that Saeo had suffered nothing from the attention, though. "Ravenous finger eating beast of death?" Cloar laughed, amused. "Maybe. It's a tad long for something so young as him, though... so something a tad shorter. Copper sounds kinda cool. But so does Storm..." Cloar mused aloud, indecisively. Something such as a name was something that bore consideration, rather than a snap descision. After all, the poor thing was going to have to live with it for awhile. Like ... all the rest of his life.
He pulled the limp sack off the table, so that the bronze wouldn't get tangled up in it. Setting it in his lap, he offered the jerk to Saeo. "Would you like to feed him?" he offered, knowing that Saeo had also wanted a flitter for a pet. And he saw no reason what so ever to not share with her. After all ... the little guy was already his. There was no danger in allowing someone else to feed his eternally and perpetually empty belly. For something so small, he could sure put away some serious food.
Mouthing the jerk he had, the little flitter eyed the strip of jerk as it moved around in his vicinity. The meat was a tad dry for his tastes, but it tasted good and filled that awful hole in his belly ... so it bore paying attention to!
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Post by nightingale on Dec 23, 2008 18:48:57 GMT -5
Saeo smiled, delicately accepting the jerky as it was offered to her and tucking it into her palm. She didn't want to be jamming food in the little fellow's face while he was still chewing after all.
"I think it might be because he's so large."
She commented offhandedly, watching the little bronze with a wry smile as she waited for him to finish swallowing his mouthful.
"Raylin's Vega and Keirin's Lamb don't eat very much at all. I suppose it's just the price you'll have to pay for impressing a bronze."
There, he seemed to have finished. Now came the issue of removing a piece small enough from him to nibble on without choking. Using her fingernails was not an option -apart from the fact that they might split right down to the quick if she tried, the salt in the meat would sting like all dragonflames if she got it on her hands. In the end, she opted to nip off a tiny portion of the leathery meat with one of her canine teeth and offer that.
"Come on then."
She murmured encouragingly, holding the morsal near the little fire lizard's nose.
"I'm sure this is much more tasty than my fingers."
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Post by dragon on Dec 23, 2008 19:36:55 GMT -5
The little flitter held his mouth open expectantly for a moment. When it appeared that the peice of jerk wasn't going to magically appear in his mouth, he refocused his energy on reaching for it, and trying to sink his miniature teeth into the jerk. Once he had a pretty good hold on it, he started tugging industriously, burbling around the mouthful of meat.
"Maybe so." Cloar agreed. "But I still can't beleive how weird it is. A bronze flitter egg just appeared in my sack? And then hatched directly after I found it? How coincidental is that?" He asked, rather happy with the synchronistic event. And all right after failing to Impress one of the flitters from Zessa's clutch.
"I think I like the name Storm." Cloar decided, finally. "I'll call him that." He nodded, and grinned at Saeo. "Thanks for the suggestion."
Storm burbled again, reaching up with one front foot, to grab onto Saeo's thumb.
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Post by nightingale on Dec 27, 2008 13:23:32 GMT -5
Saeo was giggling in the most girly, child-like mannar as she watch the tiny bronze. He was simply adorable! She couldn't get over it -his little feet, his little tail, his little face- she just wanted to squeal! Thankfully, she managed to fight the urge as the sound of Cloar's voice reminded her that he was still there.
"I know! It's like some kind of dragon magic...maybe a gift from someone? They say there are people out there who can speak to any dragon the want. Maybe there's someone who can do the same with flitter eggs and... oh, it makes sense in my head, I swear!"
She couldn't quite surpress a squeal of laughter as she glanced back toward the newly named Storm, who was tearing at his jerked meat like her brother's canine with a piece of leather.
"Are you sure Storm is right? I still think his name should include the word 'ravenous' somewhere!"
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Post by dragon on Dec 27, 2008 22:31:20 GMT -5
Cloar laughed, as he watched the little bronze attack the jerky that Saeo was holding. "Maybe so. I would imagine that he'll be just like a dragon when they're new. Eating everything in sight. He's such a little guy ... he's got a lot of growing to do." Cloar said, resting his elbows on the table's edge.
Storm finally got the peice of meat free, and gulped it down. The tiny peice of dried meat made corners in his throat all the way down, visible to both candidates. Cloar made a pained looking expression at seeing that, but Storm only made a rather comical looking face, blinking at Saeo as it went down.
Uop.
"You're supposed to chew it first, silly." Cloar said, to the flitter, who turned around and ambled back across the table. He poked his head back into the bag, hunting for something more to eat. Unable to find anything in the folds of material, he backed back out of it, and looked at Cloar expectantly, tail flopping around. After a moment, he looked over his shoulder at Saeo, too, wondering which was more likely to feed him next.
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Post by nightingale on Dec 29, 2008 20:52:08 GMT -5
Saeo had never been one for wandering about empty handed, and so when prompted by an expression on the bronze flitter's face that just insisted she fill him with tasty morsels, she passed what remained of the dried meat back to Cloar and went diggign through one of her pockets. After a moment, she produced a round piece of dried redfruit.
"Does he like sweets?"
She asked curiously, grey eyes flickering toward the boy for just a short moment before fixating once again on his tiny, metallic pet. She didn't bother to wait for an answer, and proffered the round of fruit leather to Storm, eager to see his reaction.
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Post by dragon on Jan 1, 2009 19:47:17 GMT -5
Storm followed that jerky across the table, head stretched all the way out as far as it would go. Peeping mournfully, he watched it go out of reach. Sitting down, Storm managed to look quite pitiful. And then motion got his attention again. What was this? He hopped back to all four feet again and trundled back across the table top to where Saeo was seated. Standing up on his back feet, he reached out and set his front feet on her hand. Arching his neck, he sniffed the round curiously.
"I really don't know." Cloar admitted, watching with interest. "I haven't ever offered him anything but meat." he explained. "He only hatched last night." He reminded her.
Storm looked up at Saeo curiously for a moment, and then stuck out his tongue to taste the leather. Peeping inquisitively, he tilted his head to one side, and licked the leather again. Sitting down on his haunches again, he licked his face for a moment, as if thinking. And then he walked back to Cloar again, plainly indicating that he wanted the meat, instead.
Cloar laughed. "I dunno. Maybe when he's older, and food isn't such a life threatening issue?" He mused, offering the flitter another smal peice of meat to chew on. Storm grabbed it up, and stuffed it into his mouth with both forefeet.
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