When You're Young (Sena)

[Zephyr]

Kaius was pacing. He was in the common room and he was pacing. Kaiusk was sitting off to the side, watching him with amused blues and greens in her eyes. She didn't say anything to him, at all. She just sat there and watched as he paced, back and forth, back and forth. This went on for a while before the boy just collapsed in a puddle on the couch, his head hanging off over the back. If whers could laugh, Kaiusk would have been chuckling her ass off. Instead, she hoisted herself up onto the couch, half crawling into his lap. She was still small enough that she could do so without injuring the boy. It wouldn't be that way for long, and he knew it.

He rubbed the wher's eye ridge as she pushed her head under his head, crooning lightly as she did so. What are you going to do? She asked at last, her tail thumping against the couch. He heard it and remembered thinking better than the couch than his leg. She was still small, but that tail could pack a punch and he knew it. She had the thickness of a wher tail in the base of that thing, and the length of your average dragon hatchling tail. Ow.

Anyway, he pushed his mind to the matter at hand, even though he didn't want to think about it. He knew he had to eventually. Kaiusk would not let him not think about it. " I don't know..." He said at last. He still wasn't completely comfortable conversing with the wher purely by thoughts. Eventually he would be, he knew...but not yet. Sensing his uncertainty, the wher growled a little and grabbed his arm in her teeth. She didn't push down hard, but it was enough to get his attention. Even when she had it though, she didn't let go of his arm...she just sat there, half curled in his lap, happily omnomming on his arm. He knew she wouldn't actually bite into him, but he was going to have wher slobber all over his arm. That wouldn't be good for what he was about to do.

" Get off, Ai." He pushed at her lightly. It was odd to give his wher his own nickname, so he settled for another version. She finally let go of his arm, but not before licking it thoroughly. "You're disgusting." He told her, though he was laughing a little. She looked at him a bit smugly. You love me anyway. He snorted, though they both knew it was true. You're going to go now? She asked him with a little hopefulness coloring her thoughts. She didn't like to see him like this. The better he got this stuff off his chest the better. What better time than now? Of course Kaius could think of plenty of better times...like when he was forty. Surely he'd still be hanging around the girls by then...unless of course...well, he didn't like to think about it. " Do I haveta?" In response, Kaiusk moved, trying to push Kaius off the couch. Gold wher's powers were super effective and he was pushed away, but caught his feet and stood up.

" Fine," He said at last, walking to the room he shared with Sena and Syd, his stomach in knots. Kaiusk lounged around on the couch, her body stretched out. She didn't need to be there cramping his style...after all, she would know what would happen...and this couch was pretty comfy. Kaius, on the other hand, was not comfortable as he went to see if she was there. " Sena?" He asked, his voice totally not his own.

[Avu]

“Food does not go in my pillowcase,” Sena said, trying for stern as she pulled another handful of brightly wrapped candy out of her pillowcase and spilling it into the growing pile in her lap. “I’ll get you a, I don’t know, like a candy bowl or somethin’ and we can put it out real neat if you want but my bed ain’t a food storage area, okay? And I didn’t know you could even unwrap these, where’d you grow opposable thumbs from anyway?” Another handful of candy, including a slightly squashed chocolate with caramel oozing out of the aluminum wrapper, which Sena immediately wrinkled her nose at and set gingerly down on the nightstand.

It wasn’t fooood, Gabriel corrected; the brown firelizard bounced in anxiety as he watched the candy transfer. It was candy. So much better than food. He slipped in quietly to grab one of the candies and then went between—presumably to a new, temporary hiding place until he could transfer it back into the room. When nobody was around. It was getting to be a familiar dance, and Sena didn’t mind it, mostly because hey, it was sort of cute and Gabriel was always a sweetheart (to her. Sena didn’t contemplate what he was like to other people, mostly for the sake of her own sanity).

Sena sighed, and after a few seconds of unproductive poking into the corners of the pillowcase, stuck her head into the case to make sure she hadn’t missed any.

Which was when Sensk, who was curled up on Kaius’s bed, bemusedly informed her that there was actually a Kaius, if his voice hadn’t alerted her to that. Startled, Sena automatically lifted her head, and the entire pillow went with; her answer to Kaius was a startled “Mmph?” sound until she managed to pull the pillow off of her, her hair distinctly rumpled and a small crushed candy falling from the pillowcase into her lap. She wrinkled her nose at it, and neatly added it to the top of her candy mountain before she swiveled to grin at Kaius.

“Want one?” she offered, gesturing to the candy and oblivious to the weirdness in Kaius’s tone (what—he’d been muffled with the pillowcase and she’d been distracted). “It’s Gabe’s hoard, he inhales ’em like they’re air but somehow the pile keeps growin’, I don’t even know where he’s gettin’ all of them. Also, Sensk took over your bed ‘cause tried mine and accidentally sat on candy and it scared him half to death, so. What’s up?” over Sensk’s contemplation of the bed he was on and then Sena’s bed, and then glanced at Kaius before he mischievously crooned and spread himself out further.

Kaius wouldn’t mind.

[Zephyr]

He blinked at Sena for a moment, wondering what the hell she was doing in a pillowcase of all things. It was a little bizarre to walk in on his roommate with a pillowcase over her head. Then again, Sena wasn't normal. None of them were, wasn't that why they had decided to room together in the first place? He had long ago stopped waiting for Sydney and Sena to become normal girls. He actually liked them more like this for some strange reason. It was easier to talk to either of them then It was for him to talk to any of the other girls.

He walked over to her, taking a piece of candy and looking at it almost warily. " I'm not going to wake up to a bed full of candy...am I? Is that just a you thing? Because if it is, that's cool...but it would be tempting not to sneak some out. Do ya think Gabe would mind?" He asked as he took the wrapping off the candy and popped it into his mouth. Chewing on the candy was much preferable to what he had come in here to do in the first place.

Kaiusk always had impeccable timing. Maybe someone shooed her off of the couch, or maybe she just decided to come hang out. Either way, right before Kaius had decided not to ask Sena what he was about to ask her, a certain golden wher came strolling into the room, butting into the back of her boy's legs rather forcefully before she crooned and hopped up onto the bed with Sensk, curling up against him. She laid her head down, buy eyed Kaius reproachfully.

Fine, fine. He said to her before. " I wanted to...um...ask you about something."

Yeah, yeah..just spit it out. Came Kaiusk's oh so helpful advice. As an aside to Sensk, she projected amusement. Silly humans.

[Avu]

“Never know,” Sena answered, and did her best to waggle her eyebrows ominously. Unfortunately, she lacked the…eyebrow dexterity to accomplish it, and ended up just cracking a wider grin, drawing up her legs and waving Kaius to sit down on the bed next to her, candy mountain toppling over in pathetic slow motion to spill a rainbow across the sheet. “And I don’t think Gabe even knows how much he’s got, just ’s long’s you don’t leave a big dent he ain’t even gonna notice. Could be wrong, I dunno. Hey, Kaiusk,” she added to the gold, tilting her head at the wher with a faint grin at her butting up against Kaius.

Sister, Sensk added, pleased, his head shooting up instantly in greeting at Kaiusk’s presence; the small blue scuffled sideways to make room for Kaiusk to jump onto the bed, his tail beating a puppyish rhythm against the mattress at her approach. He made a low rumble in his throat, nuzzling up against her and sliding his muzzle to rest against her spine affectionately, tilting his head at her amusement. They were, weren’t they, he agreed, although he wasn’t quite sure to what Kaiusk was referring to. She’d missed His with her head stuck in the pillowcase, Sensk added, helpfully offering the image as he snuggled closer to Kaiusk. She was protection, safety, after all.

Sena wrinkled her nose in Sensk’s direction in mock disgruntlement for a moment before she tilted her head up at Kaius again, absently picking up a piece of chocolate from Gabriel’s hoard and unwrapping it. “How come you’re nervous?” she asked, in lieu of giving him permission or whatever he was looking for. “Ain’t gonna bite your head off, I promise,” with a flicker of cheeky amusement. Sena nudged some of the candy out of the way with her hand, “Okay, first sit ’cause you’re way too tall and I’m gonna get a neck cramp lookin’ up at you like this. And then you can ask.”

[Zephyr]

Brothermine! Kaiusk said brightly when Sensk greeted her. She stretched her neck out to nuzzle into him happily, her tail thumping on the mattress as she moved to curl around him slightly, her eyes whirring with amusement as he passed on the picture of Sena with her head stuck in a pillowcase. Those humans. She started, amused…maybe a little bit affectionately. And they think we’re odd. At least we don’t walk around with pillowcases on our heads. Not that Sena had technically been walking with it on there, but the fact that she hadn’t been walking didn’t really detract from the wher’s point, now did it? She yawned a little, resting her head on Sensk as she eyed the two people and Pern’s version of a soap opera.

Kaius stood around for a moment, not realizing what she’d said to him for a moment before he grinned and moved to sit down, brushing candy out of the way so he didn’t get sticky all over the back of his trousers. Now that would be embarrassing. He was silent for a moment, that moment stretching out into awkwardness, at least on Kai’s part. “ I was just wondering…” He said, knowing the longer he dragged this out, the worse it was going to be. King didn’t seem too impressed with all the stupid people talking while he was trying to sleep, so he hissed lightly from his spot on Sydney’s bed. How dare those stupid nightbeasts take his sleeping spot away from him. Just because they had to be awake didn’t mean he had to stay up all night.

The boy ignored the salamandyr, however. If he didn’t like them being here, he could just go find somewhere else to sleep. The boy had been putting this off for long enough, he just decided to dive in. After all, it was only their entire friendship on the line…and possibly Sydney’s as well. “ What do you think of me?” He said at last.

Clearly he was beating around the bush, but he didn’t know if he wanted to know how she felt. It would make living together rather awkward if she didn’t feel the same way. “ I mean…” He hurried on, realizing how lame he probably sounded. “…I like you Sena. I like you a lot. I care for you…and I was wondering if you felt the same way about me.”

Cue the awkward.

[Avu]

And humans are practically blind already, Sensk hummed in quietly contented amusement. The wher made a soft sound in his throat at Kaiusk using him as a pillow, pleased, and curled his tail around his gold sister. He wasn’t really big enough—by any stretch of imagination—to really be anything except a quaint pillow for her, but he liked pretending he was a match for Kaiusk in size. Oh, he added in dawning comprehension, blinking at Kaius, ohh, was this why Hers was silly? Poor boy. Sensk could sympathize after all—he was still half terrified of Azazel, who didn’t even do anything, never mind Gabriel who did and it was all sort of the same, right? Fear of rejection? (And speaking of pets—he slanted a nervous glance at King, though the Salamandyr didn’t seem ready to do anything from which he’d need rescuing, fortunately.)

Sena, of course, was pretty much oblivious as Kaius sat down; she crossed her legs, drawn up against her chest, looping her arms around her knees and blinking expectantly at Kaius. She knew him well enough to tell that he was nervous, but honestly it was presumptuous to make assumptions, right? About a friend, anyway, since she didn’t really mind about strangers. Once Kaius finally got the entire question out, she tilted her head to one side, blindsided, a blank “Huh?” a thoroughly pathetic excuse for an answer—but fortunately Kaius didn’t seem inclined to pause there and went on instead.

And oh.

Yeah, that helped.

With clarification, anyway. Sena brightened, a pleased smile curling her mouth upward at the corners before she offered a mischievously evasive “’Course I do, you’re like my best friend…” which yeah she knew was not what he was looking for, so she drew it out into a teasing, “…but if that’s your way of askin’ me out on a date thingy, then yeah, I guess you’ll do.” And since he’d been so anxious about it, Sena composed herself enough to add more seriously, even if the wide grin was pretty much there to stay, “For real though, I’m totally down with that. I mean, we’re real good together already, right? Can only get better from here, and it’s already good, so.” She tilted her head, and edged hopefully closer, “I think this is ’bout where you’re supposed to kiss me, right?”

Hopefully she hadn’t managed to read it all wrong—Kaius hadn’t been explicit but Sena could figure out the implied—at least sometimes. And this wasn’t all that subtle but yeah, well. Supposed there was always room for more awkward if she had.

[Zephyr]

If there had been any silence on Sena’s part, Kaius probably would have excused himself from the situation and ran off to go tell himself how stupid he had been for even thinking about it. Fortunately for the boy, there wasn’t much of a silence, and the silence that was there was filled with her smile, that seemed to light up the room…a smile that spoke more than a thousand words could ever even hope to do. All at once it seemed that he hadn’t been wrong, or stupid after all, unless of course the smile was in preparation for the girl’s eventual laughing him out of the room. He almost freaked out at the thought. Was she going to laugh at him? Would he be able to stand it if she did? It was one thing for her to laugh because she thought he was joking. It was another matter entirely for her to laugh at him because she thought the idea genuinely amusing.

All of these thoughts flashed through his head, almost taking his breath away. Wait…it wasn’t even there? When she finally did speak, he let loose a subtle sigh of relief, realizing that he had indeed been holding his breath. Wow. That was weird.

Then she continued on, and he had to tell himself over and over again that she was serious, because even if she seemingly agreed with his idea, she was still smiling. Not that he wanted her to quite smiling…she was quite cute when she smiled. Not that she wasn’t cute all the time…she was…and oh god he realized that he was rambling uselessly in his head. The boy forced himself to focus solely on Sena and her words, because they were good words.

A grin broke out on his face…a real smile. One that almost took over his entire face and didn’t leave room for anything silly like his nose, or his ears…because who needed a nose and ears to kiss? After all, those would probably just make what he was about to do harder. He scooted closer, lifting a hand to lift her head by the chin as he bent his head down to kiss her lightly, experimentally on the lips.

Kaiusk honestly didn’t care if Sensk didn’t match her in size. She still loved him. He was definitely one of her favorite clutchsiblings. Right up there with Casansk and Sydsk. She didn’t dislike her other siblings, but aside them and Sesk, she really hadn’t spent much time around any of the others. She loved all of her siblings and probably always would, but she could have favorites, right. The gold eyed the humans kissing, and she projection some confusion to Sensk. Why’re they doing that? That’s strange. Must be a human thing.

[Avu]

Kaius actually looked distinctly anxious, which was sort of adorable. Sena half wanted to just aww at him, and half wanted to just tell him that there’d been no way she wouldn’t have liked him. They were friends, and even if honestly the idea of romance hadn’t occurred to her, well, it rarely did at all anyway, and it wasn’t like he was asking her marry him. Dating was good; testing the waters sort of. And it sure wasn’t going to make her suddenly less fond of him. Fortunately, neither course of action was necessary, since Kaius seemed to get it a minute later just fine without Sena’s painstaking explanation, and she positively beamed at him as he moved in at her request, leaning forward to meet him and uncurling to push her weight onto her knees for the ease of it.

The kiss earned a pleased “hmm,” even if she was smiling too widely for real kissing purposes. To make up for it, she pressed another brief kiss against the corner of Kaius’s mouth, and then another on his cheek with a playful smacking “mwah,” content to pretty much cling to him for a while. Wasn’t like she hadn’t been touchy even before, anyway; wasn’t like that was just going to change suddenly into shyness. Sena dipped her chin to rest it on Kaius’s shoulder, and whispered solemnly into his ear, “Not to ruin the moment or anything, but I think I just put my knee in chocolate. Like, for real.”

She peeled herself away from Kaius, settling back to examine the crumpled, squashed candy that was, indeed, digging into her knee, the wrapping gleaming weakly pink through the smear of chocolate. Sena picked it off gingerly and set it on the nightstand, and rubbed her thumb over her knee where the chocolate left a streak, flashing another grin at Kaius, “We gonna do a real date or somethin’? We should take a day off and see if we can’t make it to the hot springs, ain’t fair only dragonriders can get up there anyway, right? And, hey, we gotta tell Syd, and you oughta meet Auntie for real instead of just in passing. And I gotta get this chocolate off my knee. That’s probably first.”

Noo, Sensk answered, it could be a wher thing too, like this, and even though it wasn’t really like what His was doing at all, he swiped his tongue against Kaiusk’s shoulder in an affectionate lick. Kiss, see? Mwah. He nudged at Kaiusk until he could reach her head, and he craned his neck around to lick her muzzle, too. Human things could be wher things, only wher things were better than the fumbling little human things. Another lick, and Sensk butted his head against Kaiusk’s shoulder with a playful purr, slouching against her.

[Zephyr]

Quite honestly, Kaius hadn't thought this through very well. In fact, if it hadn't been for Kaiusk's not so subtle nudgings, he probably wouldn't have done it at all. He just liked Sena so much that he didn't want to ruin their friendship. The relationship he had had with Sydney and Sena was probably one of the most real relationships he could ever remember having. It meant something to it, and the fact that he was willing to risk it meant a lot.

But this, this was so worth it. As she kissed him, he realized that there was no way this wasn't worth it. He forgot all about the potential consequences to their relationship. If things did go wrong between the two of them, then they were comfortable enough with each other to continue as they always had...not that he foresaw anything going wrong in the first place. It was that very comfortableness and familiarity that made this so easy. So right.

Then she spoke...and he laughed. He chuckled at her as she spoke about the candy and grinned down at her, kissing the top of her head as she pulled herself away to pull out a slightly squishy bit of candy. He wrinkled his face in a look of mock disgust, but he couldn't hide the amusement in his eyes. " At least you don't have to worry about going hungry with Gabe around." And it was gone. Just like that, the tenseness and nervousness that had plagued him since he came in the room dissolves, like this was how it was supposed to be.

He smiled as she continued on. The date was an awesome idea, even telling Sydney was a good idea. Wouldn't want her to feel awkward if she walked in on them making out or anything. He was feeling distinctly less impressed with the idea of meeting Sena's aunt. " I...don't think she likes me much." He said to the suggestion. This was based entirely on the looks the bluerider had been giving Kaius, not just at the flitter hatching, but from just seeing her around the weyr. If she wanted it though, if she really wanted him to meet her aunt, for real, he wouldn't hesitate. Truthfully, if she asked him to walk off the face of Pern for her, he probably would. The boy blinked and grinned even more. " Do ya think Ioth would take us up to the hot springs?" He didn't think about the wisdom of asking her aunt's dragon to take the pair of them up to the hot springs...alone...teenagers...who had just declared their intentions of dating. The whole concept of that being a bad idea just went right over his head.

Oh yes. Kaiusk intoned to her brother, crooning happily as her brother licked her shoulder and her muzzle. All wher things are better than human things. She said very matter-of-factly, lowering her head to lick her brother tenderly between the eyes and on his cheek. Just look at us. She purred, lifting a leg and wrapping it around her little blue brother, pulling him close.

[Avu]

“Not about goin’ hungry, just about gettin’ fat,” Sena answered, mock-serious, and licked the pad of her thumb to rub the last smears of chocolate off of her knee, leaving behind a pink splotch instead. Satisfied, Sena swept a hand over the rest of the candy, shoving it out of the way (and a little bit onto the floor, but hey—they could pick it up later, or Gabe would whenever he got back from scouting out a new hiding place) to she could scramble over to plaster herself against Kaius again, sliding one hand into his and resting her chin against his shoulder again, her legs folded into an inelegant sprawl against his thigh.

“I don’t think Auntie’s real friendly with many people,” she commented; just because Sena absolutely adored Iskierka didn’t mean she was oblivious to that, fortunately for pretty much all of her friends. Still, “I think she oughta at least get notice, and I figure she ain’t gonna be super impressed if you aren’t there, but it’s whatever, we can figure that out later.” There was the more important planning of the first date to be done after all, and she was allowed to be giddy about that, right?

Sena, at least, recognized Kaius’s idea for a Bad Idea, and snickered despite herself, “Yeah, I’m sure Auntie’ll just love that, it’ll go over even better’n just introducing you I bet. S’okay, we can hitch a ride from someone else I bet. Kallandrith’s flying now, ain’t he? Or I could ask R’men ’bout Weith I guess, or else there’s some bluerider, I dunno him all that well but he’s got a firelizard that Gabe likes to bother a lot, bet he wouldn’t mind either. ’S just a short ride, yeah?” And she was actually pleasantly surprised by how many Riders she knew, even if she wasn’t really terribly close to any of them other than Iskierka.

“Orrr,” she added mischievously, “We could jump some random Rider in the Main Hall and beg ’em until they get sick of us and takes us.”

Sensk made a startled mrrrp sound low in his throat at Kaiusk’s lick, eyes going happy shades as he stretched out under his sister’s paw, rolling closer to her and sprawling out on his back, tucking himself halfway underneath the gold in the process, squirming until her paw was draped comfortably across his ribs. Wings splayed out to either side, Sensk snaked his head up playfully to swipe his tongue over Kaiusk’s hide where jaw met neck, tail going back to thumping against the bed contentedly.

[Zephyr]

“ I don’t think you have much to worry about.” The boy said in response to Sena talking about getting fat. He realized what he said and blushed fiercely for a moment, looking away from her. Why did everything suddenly get much more awkward? There must have been a switch or something that magically flipped on today when he realized that he liked her more than friends. He hurried to rectify the situation. “ I mean you’re not fat. But you aren’t too skinny either! I mean, you’re just right! I mean…” The words faltered after a second and he looked down at his hands. He had just finished digging himself into a hole a mile deep. What more was there to say besides…“ You’re perfect.” Mumbled beneath his breath, almost too soft to hear.

He looked up at her, a flaming beacon of awkwardness. His eyes widened even more when she mentioned Iskierka. “ I’ll go.” He said after a minute. “ As long as she doesn’t attack me, or like…castrate me or anything. Do you think she could get that mad at me? Some of the color left his face when she pointed out how awful a planner he really was, and the boy chuckled. “ Sure, let’s ask C’loy. I’m sure he’d be thrilled. He has claimed me, you know. I wouldn’t put it past him to follow us up there and watch us.” Who knew went on in that boy’s mind half the time. Kaius had known him for years and he still didn’t have a clue. He remembered when they first met. They had run into each other on Kai’s way to the dining hall. And Cas had been wearing a dress. Yeah. That had been awkward. “ I’m sure we can find someone. There’re plenty of available taxis dragons.”

Kaiusk’s eyes burned blue with content as her brother spread out beneath her. After he was comfy, she licked his nose before stretching her neck over his, resting her head against his as she watched their humans. Do you think we’ll get to go wherever they’re going? That could be fun. I don’t know what it is, but it would be nice to see more than the apartments for once, right? Her tail wrapped around Sensk’s and she yawned a little, rolling over onto her side away from him.

[Avu]

It probably wasn’t very nice of her, since Kaius looked and sounded thoroughly embarrassed by himself, but Sena choked back a giggle at him, wrinkling her nose in bewildered amusement. She uncurled her legs a little to nudge her knee against Kaius’s thigh, “Hey,” whispered in a tone usually reserved for the darkest secrets, solemn and cautious. Sena waited until Kaius looked at her before she informed him, very seriously, clasping one of his hands in between hers, “So’s your face.” A flash of a grin, a dramatic flutter of her eyelashes, “Even when you’re like, ten shades of red, and then some.”

She huffed in amusement at Kaius’s concern; she was pretty sure her Auntie was not that bad, ever, but then, she could be biased. Still, it was sort of adorable how deeply traumatic Kaius expected the encounter to be and with a sage solemnity borne entirely of mischief Sena answered, “Iunno, but I think that if you flailed real hard she’d have to give up on the castration, yeah? Also pants. And a super fancy belt, maybe.” Sena chewed on her lip, tilting her head thoughtfully, and then added, “And constant vigilance. I think that oughta do it.”

Sena let the grin slide across her face then, and then immediately set aside date-planning temporarily in favor of perking up at the mention of C’loy. “Oh, I know,” she answered, quirking one eyebrow in amusement, “He told me. The first time I met him actually, iunno why you came up but you did. He said you were, um,” her mouth twisted for a moment as she tried to recall the term C’loy had used, “his sex kitten?” Her expression eased back into a Cheshire grin, Sena blinking at Kaius expectantly, “It was real sweet, he was all convinced of your loyalty and monogamy to him and what have you. Although he did offer me a threesome I think. And then a foursome. With Syd.”

Which was probably one of the most straightforward and interesting propositions she’d ever gotten.

Sensk purred—a distinctly feline sound, content to be sprawled under his sister. The attention pleased him, too, and the blue made another happy sound in his throat as Kaiusk licked him and then draped her neck over his, eyes blinking shut in affection. Wouldn’t they have to ride a dragon? he asked, peeking through his eyelids at Kaiusk as she rolled off of him and immediately rolling after her to rest his muzzle on her shoulder, tucking his smaller body against hers again. That sounded…well, terrifying honestly, but he couldn’t say that. Instead, the blue tucked his nose against the curve of Kaiusk’s shoulder, and offered a tentative, that would be…interesting?