IT'S SQUISHY!!! (Rei

[dragon]

It was a lovely day, too lovely to spend in the Weyr. So naturally with a wandering bone that couldn't be quenched (even if it broke rules) Orena had taken off with Riavorth for a fly. It didn't matter where or how ... well, how did matter. They were flying straight, taking their time to get there. Glorifying in the sunshine and the big bright blue sky.

It had not taken them very long to make it all the way to the beach either. Faced with a huge expanse of water, they had done circles in the air up the beach, uncertain whether or not to keep going. After awhile, water just all looked the same, didn't it? Not to mention there was no where to land should Riavorth get tired. Which Orena thought was silly. There was plenty of water to land in. But Riavorth was not at all confident she would be able to swim in it.

After a few dozen circles wandering up the beach, they landed instead. Mostly because they had both noticed that the beach was polka-dotted with brown and pink polka-dots. How often did a body find a polka dotted beach??!

Sliding down Riavorth's shoulder, Orena walked carefully and cautiously toward the nearest polkadot. That was the biggest sharding polkadot she'd ever seen in her life. It was as big as her head, and just as translucently pink as it could be. Stopping near it, she eyed it suspiciously. What was it?

Riavorth lowered her head to sniff one. It smells like the ocean.[/color] she offered helpfully.

"Are you sure it's not the ocean you're smelling? It's really smelly you know. Everything near the ocean smells like the ocean." Orena pointed out. Looking around, she trundled to the edge of the forest and picked up a stick. Going back to her chosen polka dot, she gave it a poke right in the middle.

It squished.

"OH YUCK!" Orena danced away from it in revulsive horror. "IT'S SQUISHY!!!!"

[Rei]

Lucith was not amused. But then again the blue was rarely ever really amused. Today however he was less amused than normal. His was having fun however. Kicking stranded jellyfish. Yes somehow to his this equaled fun. Probably because the poor creatures had little defense. Well besides the obvious stinging tentacles they had. Still dead jellies couldn’t sting and if one or two were alive the bluerider was being careful not to hit anything with his bare foot but their large squishy heads. His moving target? Little Lancelot. The little blue mandyr was squealing in terror as he ran around trying to avoid flying jellyfish. Ack! Baaaaaaaad. Heeeeeeelp. The mandyr squealed as he cricket hopped out of the way of yet another squishy projectile.

The slate blue watched this with an air of boredom. It would be more amusing if one of them actually hit. Shame that the little worm had become something of an expert in the area of dodging. A flash of green hide caught his eye then. Lifting his head from forepaws the blue’s mouth gaped in a sinister smile. Well, well. So far from the weyr she was. Rocking to his feet Lucith started in Riavorth’s direction. Young maiden. Even better. Almost old enough for first flight surely. One of the older weyrlings. Perhaps she could provide some amusement? Anything was better than the display he had been watching. Just how would pretty react? Slipping into the tree line the blue slunk closer. Z’ves, if he was aware of Lucith’s thoughts, gave no indication or intrest. Obviously playing kickball with jellyfish was more important.

Lancelot’s little legs were getting tired as, bouncing from safe point to safe point, the little blue mandyr made his way down the sandy beach. Leaping over a sand dune the little creature paused, tiny chest heaving. He needed to rest. Oh! Look a person. That might work. Moving his tiny legs double time he leapt on the squishy jellyfish just as Orena poked it with her stick. Hi ma’am. He called by way of greeting as he scrambled up her stick and then slipped down her shirt just as she yelled.

Now to Z’ves’ credit he was already in mid kick as he got to the top of the dune. It really was pure luck that the jellyfish projectile made a straight shot for Orena. As it impacted with the greenrider the bluerider’s eyes widened to probably comical proportions. Well shit. Who put a greenrider in the path of his missile of squishy death? Yay for it being a woman but darn. Z’ves tried not to laugh as he clambered down the side of the dune. Yeah laughing at her wouldn’t get him anywhere.

The next event was….rather unexpected. Lucith exploded out of the trees on a crash course for Riavorth. He hoped the baby could think fast. Because if not she was about to be pinned, with jaws hovering perilously close to her neck. The larger blue swung his body towards the green with the intent to knock her off balance and get the upper hand. He did however keep his talons sheathed. For the moment anyway and only because his was forcing him too. A little ichor never hurt anyone, his could be so unbending sometimes. Hello my pretty. Fancy meeting you here. Why so far away from home? His jaws parted in a macabre grin, eyes whirling in pleased green and blue shades. Now this was amusing. Much better than kick the squishy.

[dragon]

Orena took enough time to inhale sharply, and then she screamed again. This time for real. Flailing and hopping in circles, she clawed at her shirt. Something had come off of the squishy thing and was now inside her shirt!! Freaking out beyond all reconciliation, she inhaled and screamed again, trying her hardest to get her shirt off. Unfortunately, there was a jacket in the way of that effort, which had to come off first. Riavorth just stood there as she watched this with some concern. She had no idea idea what was going on, but did it really require that much ear-splitting squealing?

Her snout twitched slightly as another squishy thing sailed in and smacked into Orena. Oh! Were the squishy polkadots attacking hers?! That wouldn't do! Her eyes started to get a tint of red to them at the thought as she tried to formulate a plan on what to do about this. How did a dragon defeat a horde of polkadots?

Orena on the other hand, froze at the squishy impact of the jelly on her side. As it drooled down her side and flopped onto the sand, she just stood there in shock. Chocolate eyes so wide they couldn't possibly get any wider, she just stood there and trembled. All the while she could feel this thing crawling around inside her clothes. It probably wouldn't take much more to send her cascading over the edge.

Already twitchy, when Riavorth saw a big blue form hurtling out of the forest at her, she whirled around on her haunches and shoved off with her thick hind legs to meet him head on. She didn't even think about it before she did it, all instinctive reaction. Being already an aggressive sort, and more brawn than brains anyway, her natural course of action was to crash into him with all of her own burly mass in a meaty thud. Not very good at flying or agility, she made up for it in sheer muscle. It was only the words being spoken that stopped her from going all out rabid dragon on Lucith. Faltering, she hauled backward again. We were exploring...? she offered uncertainly, now confused again. The dots on the beach are attacking mine! Do you know what to do about it? Riavorth asked, reverting back to her original conundrum.

[Rei]

Oh dear! Lancelot ended up squirming around quite a lot as he tried to avoid being grabbed. Sorrysorrysorrysorry. The little blue repeated like a chant as she squirmed around finally burying himself inside Orena’s breastband so he wouldn’t get squished. The little mandyr had no clue why she was shrieking so loudly but he felt bad for her. He’d protect her he would! If he could only figure out what she needed protection from. Hmm. Maybe the jellies? They were attacking him too. He understood they were scary but screaming wasn’t going to help. Articulating his thoughts to words though? Another matter entirely. Orena would have to excuse him his lack of proper vocabulary. Baddddd. Help. Bad. Ma’am. Shh. Help. Bad. Bad. Bad. Peeking his little head out of her shirt he chirped up at her, flaring his frill. As the jellyfish smacked into her side he hissed at it and then gave a squeal of dismay at an oncoming figure. Oh no his!

As Z’ves approached it became obvious that the shrieker really wasn’t going to shut up. Well damn. That gave him a couple of options. In the end he began to run down the dune in a beeline straight for her. Actually mimicking the blue who had charged from the trees just moments ago. As he drew closer the bluerider merely lunged at Orena grabbing her and pretty much football tackling her to the ground. He was seeking to drive the air from her lungs. If she was trying to catch her breath she couldn’t scream now could she? After the tackle he grinned and pushed her hair back before sitting up and looking down at her with a raised eyebrow. “One would think you’re being attacked by the way you are carrying on. Stop. You are upsetting your dragon. Relax girl.” The words though not unkind were firm. Really if she wanted a reason to shriek he could give her a proper one. It never occurred to Z’ves to ask Orena her name. He’d get it eventually. “Lance get the fuck out of there you idiot.” Chirping an apology the blue removed himself from the girls shirt and with a quick flash of frill hopped to the rider’s shoulder. There he nervously began to preen but his seemed more interested in the girl for the moment. Safe from jellies.

Lucith dug in his talons as Riavorth sought to meet him head on. Immediately he pivoted away from the muscular green’s attempt to close, talon’s slashing outward in a vicious bid for her throat and face. The attack falling short only because his had stopped him at the last moment. Hissing, head slung low, and long lithe body prepared to avoid, the blue circled her carefully. Turns of war had made noting each and every opening she presented to him extremely easy. Silly baby. Brawn did you no good when you had absolutely no brains. He could have her dead in mere moments if he wished, of that Lucith was confident. As Riavorth drew back he only growled deeper his eyes whirling in amused shades.

Silly stupid baby. Silly baby. The dots you refer to are what the humans call jellyfish. They have been beached and have perished for the most part. They can harm yours not, as they are dead. Yours merely was unfortunate enough to be in the path of one mine decided to kick. If she was being attacked she would be bathing in a pool of her own fluid right now. And you would be too. With a sinister smile the small blue stopped his circling and regarded her as one might regard an interesting looking insect. Pity. He had had hopes.

[dragon]

Her boobs were talking. Since when did her boobs talk? Much less just like a dragon did? Only ... with less sense. But that part actually made sense. Boobs didn't have brains after all. Orena's eyes flew wide all the way open when there was ... what was that, a serpent?! ... stuck its head out of her shirt and hissed at her with a massive display of ... fins...? She inhaled at the same time she just started to move to try and grab the creature and fling it away from her. She never managed to actually utter the scream or actually grab it though. Instead the wind was knocked completely out of her and she soon found herself sprawled in the sand.

She gave a grunt upon impact, and then groaned what air she had left. Ohhhhh, her ribs hurt now. Orena completely failed to answer any of the first comments that reached her ears, simply for lack of air and being stunned. Where ... where had ... who was this? And where had he come from? Some random part of her brain registered that he was cute. But other than that, she was still trying to get a grasp on reality again. Inhaling finally, she coughed. Flopping her arms a bit in search of the ground, she started to get up but then flopped down again. She was pinned.

Spying the blue snake creature on his shoulder, she eyed it for a moment. "Is that your salamandyr?" She asked blandly. Now that she could see it properly, and it wasn't squirming around in her breast band, she recognized it for what it was.

Movement of the dragons caught her attention for a moment, but her gaze soon returned to Z'ves. "Who're you?"

With the resolution of the panic episode, Riavorth's fretting died down considerably. Her attention shifted from Hers to the blue that was now stalking around her again. I did not know these things. I have not been to the beach before. Do not speak as if you expect me to automatically know everything when I encounter something new. If I did, the whole world would best worry when I should come around. Riavorth answered, her lines tensing up again. She'd seen enough in her short life to know when a dragon was being openly hostile. Charging, talons, snarling, growls, derisive comments ... he was not casting a very good first impression upon the green, even if her memory was rather short. Do not make assumptions that you do not know to be true. she warned. What she lacked in training and experience, Riavorth made up for in guts, brawn, and ignorance. She didn't know she couldn't, so she would. And nothing would stop her once she got a notion. Now whether or not she would survive such a notion was up for debate. But she certainly didn't like the way this puny blue was looking at her ... or referring to Hers.

"I ... should probably warn you..." Orena started, somewhat worried. "She doesn't tend to think linearly. If he provokes her into doing something rash, she's probably going to do it. Please don't let that happen." She confessed, aware that Riavorth was starting to get more of her back up over what the blue was doing than anything that had previously happened to Orena. Orena winced slightly. "Ow. She's ... not the brightest glow in the basket. Much quicker with violent action than thought."

[Rei]

Operation tackle screaming girl to shut her up was a resounding success apparently. See she had shut up. Because she didn’t have any other choice, but whatever. A victory was still a victory. Shifting to release some more of her body Z’ves grinned down at her. Not a bad looker either. No brains and pretty. Good catch. It was all to easy to fall into his normal routine of friendly banter. Lets see where this led. With a shrug he turned towards the little blue on his shoulder as Orena spoke. “Yeah. Lance is my mandyr. Got him at the last hatching. The one where the two headed thing hatched. Sorry for the whole down the shirt thing. We were playing a game. Guess he thought it was a good hiding place.” We waggling a finger at the mandyr in mock scolding, Lance visibly deflating and flattening on the rider’s shoulder. Sorrysorry. Ignoring the mandyr as the greenrider spoke up he gave a charming smile. “Z’ves. Z’ves of blue Lucith. And what might your name be?”

Lucith was…unimpressed. He continued to eye Riavorth, teeth bared in his trademark nasty smile. Listen to baby speak. Oh so commanding and snippy. His tail flicked across the sand lazily sending the grains spraying outwards and towards the ocean. You have no right to tell me how I can and cannot speak self righteous baby. Pity. She was nothing but an idiot. A high and mighty one too. How he would love to sink talons and teeth in. Show her how terribly outclassed she was. Turns of war had hardened Lucith into a predator of complete accuracy and precision in the air and on the ground. The barely a turn old baby before him would die before she even knew her throat had been ripped out. But it hardly mattered. The slate colored dragon was already bored with her. He’d have no qualms taking her out if she sought to close or threaten his but other than that? The green was an idiot and he was rapidly losing interest. With a yawn done purposely to display all his teeth Lucith kept one eye on Riavorth as he looked past her towards his own rider.

Z’ves blinked down at the girl sprawled half beneath him. “Oh your dragon?” He turned his head to get a view of the green and then gave a lazy and unconcerned shrug. “You don’t have to worry. Lucith won’t hurt her. He’s more bark than bite and he likes to rile things. Always looking for some type of fight. He’s a real annoyance at times.” The man rolled his eyes at his dragon. “Don’t worry. I’ll warn him off her. He’s not doing anything but sitting there though. Surely that won’t make your dragon upset?” Okay so the part about Lucith being more bark than bite was total bull. The blue would love to rip and tear and maul. Z’ves just hauled back on the mental reins to stop him, but at least the sitting there part was right. Lucith had already grown bored with Riavorth by now anyway. The green had probably tried to come off as threatening like all the other Selenitas babies and softies. It was only laughable the first few times. Then it just got annoying. Why did they all think they could match turns of actual battle experience with bravery and what they thought was knowledge? Oh how little they really knew.

Shifting off Orena so she could sit up Z’ves started to brush the sand off her. “Where are my manners anyway? That was a hell of a way to meet you.” The bluerider gave her a friendly grin. “So what brings you to the beach today?”

[dragon]

Orena smiled slightly, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I have a blue 'mandyr too. I hate him. He's mean." Which was how he'd ended up with the name he had. Her first introduction to him had been him trying to tear her ear off. Or, at least it had felt that way. "I am glad ... Lance? ... didn't bite me. Truth be told I had no idea what was crawling around on me there for a moment." She laughed slightly, and shrugged.

Okay, so she was being pinned down to some vaguely wet sand by a fellow ... it wasn't the first time that had happened, but it was most certainly the first time it had happened so unexpectedly. "Z'ves." She repeated, before turning her gaze briefly to where the dragon was. "And Lucith." This time her smile was genuine and it did go all the way to her eyes. "I'm Orena. Of Riavorth." she answered, with a tiny nod. It was kind of awkward to try and curtsy properly when pinned to the ground, after all. A nod would have to do. "Pleased to meet you. But I daresay you play some really strange games."

Riavorth eyed the two riders on the ground for a moment, warily tense for Lucith's posturing. Of course he had to blather on again about something that made no sense whatsoever. Apparently blues made even less sense after they had aged a bit. Maybe he was going senile early. She didn't bother to tell him she had every right to speak her mind, just as he did. It would only provoke more blather from him, and she didn't want to hear it. But as long as he kept his body parts to himself, she was willing enough to keep hers to herself. For the time being. Hers was no longer in perceived danger, so it was all good. Flicking her tail around her feet, Riavorth eyed Lucith again, exhaling slowly through her nostrils in silent contemplation.

"I know what you mean ... unfortunately Ria is quicker with the bite than the bark. She's more than annoying. It's amazing she's lived this long. You know she tried to attack the weyrling master's dragon on her first lesson?" Orena snorted, and shook her head slightly as she pushed herself up off the sand. Nice of him to remember to get off eventually. "I honestly can't say what will upset her and what won't. She doesn't seem to think there's any other answer to problems." She shifted most of her weight to one splayed hand in the sand, flicking the other to free it of sand particles. Wiping it off on her thigh, she promptly ran it through her hair, pushing the curls back away from her face. She couldn't help but smirk at his attempts to clean her off. There was no hope for that ... nothing short of a swim or a bath, anyway.

"If you promise not to tell ... we're actually not supposed to be out here, I suspect. But we were exploring ... and just forgot to turn back. Really. Then we saw all the ... well ... the squishy things dotting about. I thought it might be neat to stop and see what they were." She flicked her fingers at the nearest jellyfish. "I've never seen anything like it. But then I never really went to the coast either." Orena admitted, before laughing a bit. "That is a hell of a way to meet someone." She agreed. "I'll have to try it sometime. From the other perspective of course." a quick wink crossed her features, so fast it was almost not there at all.

[Rei]

Z’ves grinned down at the smaller female beneath him. “Lance? Nah he wouldn’t bite you. In all reality he’d be more likely to try and defend you from some perceived threat than anything else. One of those odd chivalrous types. If he was a person he’d be one of those guys that held open doors and was unerringly polite to all.” As disgusting as that was. The bluerider didn’t really see a point in all that crap. “I’ve met some pretty mean mandyrs. My apologies that yours is. You seem rather sweet. Don’t know why he’d even want to be mean to you." Okay so really he did. But he had to hide those thoughts carefully from Lance. Who was very present and very much a fucking whistle blower. Grrr.

Smiling more broadly as she introduced himself Z’ves nodded. “Well met Orena and I’d say hi to Riavorth too but our dragons seem to be playing the cold shoulder game. Shame really but what can you do?” Her remark as to his games had the bluerider laughing. “Oh I don’t know about strange. It’s actually rather fun. Although I don’t normally go around tackling people usually. Well maybe I would if they were all as pretty as you.” He remarked in a light and teasing tone. Indeed. So kicking jellyfish had been a good idea after all apparently. Hello attractive welcoming female.

Lucith eyed Riavorth for a few more minutes and then his lips slid back over his teeth and he stretched slowly, his talons extending to dig deep into the sand. Rising to his feet he angled his movement and moved his slender body away winding around dunes. The green had completely and utterly bored him. He couldn’t make her fun. His said no. So the blue was going to go lay in the warm sand instead. With a few swipes of his tail Lucith removed all the drying jellyfish from an area and sprawled out in the warm sand. Close enough to the riders to see them clearly and be able to react in case his got into trouble. Which the slate blue highly doubted. His always worked nice and slow on his victims. Orena was rather safe from anything damaging. For the moment at least.

Z’ves turned to look at Riavorth as her rider described her. “Hmm really? Well you should learn to control her better perhaps. Just a tiny bit of advice. I can control Lucith rather well. He won’t hurt her. But someone else just might take her viciousness as an excuse to let their dragon attack her to teach a lesson.” The bluerider shrugged and gave Orena a light smile. “That would obviously be a bad thing. You can’t have a dragon like that running around without a leash. There are plenty of aggressive dragons in the weyr but they are controlled an uncontrollable aggressive dragon is…a danger to everyone. You’ll be the ones in deep trouble if she does anything. Even if she’s teased into it. I’m surprised your Weyrlingmaster put up with that without some kind of consequence actually.”

He shrugged and smiled. Really wasn’t his place to say anything to the girl but at least he knew if Lucith ever wanted to kill something Riavorth was a candidate he could probably get away with murdering. Not that Z'ves let Lucith go around slaying random dragons. But it was interesting information to have if the green was really that easy to set off.

Brushing the sand off his own palms Z’ves gave an easy smile. “Really I don’t know if you’re allowed at the coast or not. Probably not without supervision seeing as how you’re still a weyrling.” (And a Selenitas rider besides.) His gaze traveled to the jellyfish as she gestured to it and then back to her face. “But now I’m here so I guess the supervision thing is taken care of. My lips are sealed.” With a wink he gave a chuckle. “Never been to the coast? I haven’t really either. Not often anyway, till I came here. Maybe once or twice before that. Those things are jellyfish. Sea creatures that pack a wicked sting when living. Never been stung but I hear it’s painful and some of them can kill you. Lucky they can’t sting dead. These must have been washed up with the last storm that blew though.”

Running a hand though his dark hair Z'ves laughed. “Well don’t make a habit of it. I sure don’t plan to. Might get you knifed with the right person.” Standing he grinned. “So if you're not busy maybe I can show you some things about the coast?” Yes time to sink his claws into this one. Get her nice and interested.