Henceforth thou shall be known as Bigmouth. (Open)

[glamourie]

"Quiet."
Chirp, chitter.
"I said quiet, Roxie."
Squawk.
"That is not being quiet. Do you want to get people's attention?"
Affirmative flute.

Typical Roxie. Rawign shot an accusing glance at the green firelizard. The part of the river he was at was slow - slower than most, and there was a large rock directly at the center that he'd practiced climbing until it was no longer a chore for him. The center rock, with the waves around him, was remarkably save from attacks from the sides. When Rawign went near the river, he always stayed on that rock.. and he spent quite a bit of time at the river whenever he wanted to be alone. The firelizard trio that followed him around as a colorful entourage enjoyed it, and Rawign liked the sound of the water crashing around the rock. It made for a good place to rest... or apply salves to scars in hopes of making them fade, as was his current project. The healer had tugged his dark blue tunic off, put it aside, tied his long black hair out of his face, and was working on rubbing a few different things onto the scars that swirled up his side, vividly marring his tanned skin. The white marks were downright ugly, and to think, he'd gotten them not that far up the river. Not that he'd seen many felines since that fateful day. How he wished they'd fade away forever. Marra might have liked them, but Marra wasn't the one who had to look at them in reflective surfaces every time she was topless. Her torso was flawless. He was an expert on that.

Seated next to him on the rock were his three flitters, and Roxie, she of much noise, was on the highest point of the jagged surface. Her wings spread at her sides and she chittered musically, her tail curling awkwardly around one of the rock edges. Her eyes whirled. It was not unusual for Roxie to make a great deal of noise. In fact, the little green was quite a noisy creature by nature, by far the loudest of Rawign's firelizards. Even before he'd lost his two beloved blues, she'd been the loudest, and her mate's death hadn't remedied that any. Rawign strongly suspected she was being noisy solely because he wanted to be left alone to tend to his scars and then oil the three of them; then again, it was equally likely she was trying to draw the attention of other pretty blues and browns to her. Roxie liked having attention. She didn't mind sharing that much, but she did love being the center of focus, particularly that of male's.. of any species.

On Rawign's shoulder was Stumpy, the blue firelizard. His tail was curled tightly around his companion's neck, and he looked highly distressed; Roxie's mood was upsetting him, and so was Li. Bronzes scared Stumpy half to death ever since a bronze salamandyr (namely, Kalierre's pet Lust) had eaten his tail at hatching. Li was Rawign's bronze, and he was swimming in the water around the rock, silent as the grave, and agile as a fish. Sometimes Rawign thought he was part-fish.

The healer shot a look toward Roxie, one last scolding expression, and then gave up. Hopeless was she. He went back to rubbing the salve against his skin, his eyes flicking toward the sky. Given a choice he was always in the infirmary at night. His reason for that was that it helped him avoid Kali. Her salamandyr severely creeped him out. While he was eager to learn about dragonhealing, he wasn't eager to subject Stumpy to Lust any more than he had to. That meant as little contact with the senior healer as possible, which was unfortunate, since she was the best teacher he had, and the only one he'd ever ask. He liked Kalierre. Sometimes she intimidated him, but he liked her. And Phremath was the main reason he wasn't as frightened of dragons anymore. Normal dragons didn't scare him at all. He didn't consider Aslath or Millieth normal. They were both.. well, freaky. The Senior Queen threw him off the sands and Millieth had once jumped over him in a flying leap. Yes, he was still traumatized. Other than them, he wasn't really frightened by dragons. Awkward, but not frightened. Salenth was his second favorite... second only to Phremath. If he could've, Rawign would probably have given her some kind of gift. He liked the little green quite a lot. If only his Roxie acted as personable... but no, of all the dragons she had to idolize, she chose Calistoth. Creepy firelizard.

It was mid-afternoon. He had time to tend to his brood, his scars, and probably relax, before his shift began. Roxie chirruped and he glanced at her again, then went back to soothing the salve into the scars. "Your name is inaccurate. You should've been 'Bigmouth'," he declared, earning a defiant shriek from the green who evidently understood the insult. "Thank you for proving my point correct. Bigmouth, not Roxie. I'm going to call you that from now on."

[irbre]

Q'in stared blankly at the water, not thinking about anything in particular, his mind wandering. He had finished his chores yet again, early as always, and had nothing to do. Nothing. Nothing at all. It wasn't a particularly rare occurrence in his case, but he hated having nothing to do. He had thusly oiled Russeth (twice, in fact), and had even gone so far as to oil Kalaena, which the green flitt had enjoyed quite a bit. Still, it hadn't taken him quite enough time and he had been forced to sit and laze about with ill repose, watching the clouds go by in a most lack-luster manner. Russeth lounged behind him, body stretched out as far as possible as he lay sunning himself, Kalaena sprawled across his back.

The green flitt suddenly twitched, head rising, wings flaring. Q'in hardly noticed for a moment, preoccupied in his thoughts as he was, and only caught a flicker of verdant movement out of the corner of his eye as Kalaena skittered to her feet in his peripheral vision. Her head tilted for a brief moment and it was quite obvious that she had heard something. Twittering loudly, she reared back on her hind feet, her screeching startling Russeth out of his nap. The brown grunted and rolled over, very nearly squashing the green flitt in the process. Squeaking her protests, which seemed to be a bit panicked from her near pancaking, Kalaena took to the air, fluttering about energetically. Sighing to himself, Q'in pushed himself up, blinking slowly.

Tittering angrily, Kalaena shot off, Q'in leaping to his feet in sudden surprise and not a bit of fear. Where did she think she was going? He dashed after her, sprinting along the beach as the green flitt's flight path took her out over the water, the brownweyrling barely overthrowing the urge to yell after her, knowing that it would be useless. Behind him, Russeth rose to his feet, grumbling the whole while, staring at His and the green flitt without much energy. Why did that little creature have to run away like it did? Shaking his head, he padded after the pair at an easy pace, not at all in a hurry to catch up. His would be fine without him for a moment.

The screeching green flitt rounded a bend sharply, her screams rising in pitch as she spotted the source of the disturbance. She paused midair, no doubt pondering the situation, before giving a shriek that no doubt equivalated to firelizard profanity. It was the moment Q'in had been looking for, though, and while Kalaena was distracted and fluttering at a considerably slower pace, Q'in leapt, and quite literally. Unfortunately, the noisy flitt was still hovering over the river, a fact that Q'in seemed to notice a bit too late.

With a fantastic leap that would have surely set a record, given his stature, Q'in managed to get enough air and distance to place himself thoroughly over the flowing water, his outstretched hands reaching for the green flitt. His fingertips scarcely brushed Kalaena and the green gave a loud squawk, flapping madly to get away from him before blinking Between. Too late Q'in noticed his very precarious position, and the fact that he certainly was in no place to remedy that fact. With the briefest of screams, one high enough in pitch to contest that of any female, he plunged into the river, belly flopping magnificently.

Russeth, who had rounded he corner just in time to witness the wonderful 'skills' of His, turned away with the mental equivalent of a sniff, seeking to distance himself from the embarrassment that was his rider. Spluttering, Q'in surfaced, flounder uselessly for a moment before he found his footing in the shifting sand, beginning to half-walk, half-paddle himself towards shore, spraying water and coughing up remnants of the river. He continued to make his graceless way to the beach, muttering to himself the whole while. At least no one was watching... he murmured to Russeth. The brown tilted his head, looking amused, before gesturing up the river a bit with one foot.

Q'in turned and gave a small yelp of surprise, his earlier relief vanishing in sudden embarrassment. There were indeed viewers, though thankfully, for his sake, only one was human. The others were flitts, much like his now-missing Kalaena, though they appeared to be better behaved. Q'in stood awkwardly for another moment, staring blankly at Rawign while Russeth chortled mentally in his head. Returning sharply to reality, Q'in waved energetically. "Nice day for a swim, isn't it?" he called loudly, swinging his arms like a child, mentally scolding himself the whole while.

[glamourie]

Another green came into her line of sight, and Roxie ceased scolding Rawign to fly up and perch directly on the top of his head. Her wings flared at her sides and she chittered audibly at the other firelizard, just to see her vanish between. Startled, Roxie shrieked and went between as well, much to the confusion of Stumpy, who hid himself in Rawign's hair as best he could. Rawign had only a moment to react to the sight of what appeared to be a weyrlingrider doing a massive bellyflop into the water, and then Li was washed up onto the rock in confusion. The healer knelt down and scooped the flitter up with both hands, the little bronze writhing in his hands. Then Rawign climbed to the other side of the rock, kneeling down to get a better look at the source of the sudden wave. His eyebrows raised and he set Li down on his bare shoulder, earning a quiet chirp from the bronze, who was most effectively insulted by having been removed from the water thanks to a wave. Li turned to look at the splash-maker and scolded once, his eyes whirling, but it was quiet enough that no one but Rawign heard him. Li was never very loud.

Who was that...? Rawign's gaze flicked around but, given his location, he could not see the dragon. So he was left without an idea of who was speaking to him, though he knew he was addressing a Weyrling. They always made him feel awkward, though, as if there was something wrong with him, considering he'd failed to Impress. Of course, to be successful he probably should have attended lessons, did chores, and actually stood on the Sands, but Rawign was scared half-to-death of golds, and he had no intentions of coming face-to-face with Millieth or Aslath again any time soon. (He secretly was convinced both of the adult queens hated him, too, if he was even worthy of remembering to either of them.) So he'd remain a candidate flop, and count himself lucky. That Mutasim kid was a flop too. If he thought the boy would've been receptive to the idea, he'd suggest they start a club - but Mutasim always came off as antisocial to him, and Rawign didn't care enough to try to make friends.

The other male's response made Rawign smirk. He didn't even bother trying to stop himself as he stood up properly and folded his arms behind his head, careful not to squash Stumpy or dislodge Li from his spot. The movement made the scars unmistakable, but Rawign had almost a Turn to get used to them. White marks ripped up from his right side, then up the line of his back, crossing up against his spine. From the severity of the scars it was clear the wounds had required an extended hospital stay. Similar scars lashed down from his shoulders across his chest, uneven, but undeniably that of a feline; the marks were too small to be dragon-caused. He had a few scars on his legs from the one and only time he bothered to actually hobble his way onto the Sands, too, though they were not visible. The white marks were blatant against Rawign's otherwise dark tan. Despite them, though, his posture was nothing short of playful, arms behind his head, weight resting on one leg as he regarded the boy speaking with what was most definitely mischief.

"Nice save. I rate the bellyflop a nine," he called, not a hint of remorse in his voice. If it had been him falling, he would expect to be teased, and Rawign was all about fair-play. Especially when he wasn't on the receiving end of it. "Did you forget firelizards go between when startled?" They also tended to shriek and scream and be a nuisance, but Rawign was polite enough not to remind the other boy of that. It was blatantly obvious anyway.

Turning to his two, Rawign gently untangled Stumpy from his hair and set both of them on the rock. Then, without so much as a second glance, he grabbed his bag, closed it and the jars of lotion (he'd apply them again later), then threw himself right off the rock and into the water. The slight splash set Stumpy creeling and the little blue curled up into a terrified ball, only to be bitten by Li for his noise. The bronze squawked indignantly, and when Rawign resurfaced, Stumpy flew over to land on Rawign's head, where Roxie had been only moments before. The healer did not appear to notice as he swam over to the shoreline, then climbed out of the water sopping wet and dripping in the sand. He hated yelling, so he came closer to talk. Li, on the rock, disappeared between, and Rawign had the distinct feeling he was going to visit with Mona. Not that that was unusual for him. Stumpy was nearly a permanent ornament anymore. Ennayoh's death had traumatized the firelizard enough that Rawign never asked him to leave. Ever.

"It would've been a ten if you had realized about a half second before hitting the water what was going to happen." Rawign held out one hand and raised an eyebrow before smiling. He'd left his shirt on the rock, bugger. He'd go get it later. "I'm Rawign, this is Stumpy, the bronze was Li, and Roxie will probably be back to chew your ear off any moment for scaring her, so don't be surprised; I'd tell her not to but that would just make her worse. She's nothing if not defiant..."

[irbre]

Q'in grinned at the slight joke, feeling relief in it. He was one of those people who enjoyed jokes, and strangely at his own expense, which often made humor more pleasant for other people. Shrugging, he began to uselessly wring his clothes out, water pattering out to return to the river below. "It was quite fantastic, wasn't it?" he called brightly, shaking his head. Russeth's snickering had finally faded from his mind, not that Q'in had been bothered by it a great deal, and was replaced with complete and total silence, if not the faint hint of a question. Do whatever you want. Stay there, come out, whatever. Just don't start harping on me, the brownweyrling whined slightly as he trudged closer to the shore, his eyes nonetheless following Rawign's movements.

What Q'in noticed first was not his appearance, which would be something most people would be drawn to, but his stance. It wasn't at all tense or uneasy, which was a great relief, for Q'in hated to try and talk to someone who didn't really want to be present. Instead, the other boy was relaxed and perhaps a bit mischievous. It took him only a moment more to notice his scars, though, marvel silently at them, a bit jealous. He had always admired scars, thinking them to be some manly symbol, and wondered silently where the boy before him had gotten his particularly enchanting collection. Forcing his thoughts back to the present, Q'in allowed his smile to widen.

"Yes. I sort of...forgot," he admitted, laughing at himself, hand rising to scratch at the back of his head. He shrugged. Kalaena would come back. She always came back, which was nice, since Russeth seemed to like the green, despite his loud protests. He tolerated her, at least, which was as good as Q'in could ask for. Still smiling, Q'in watched as the boy leapt into the water with a good deal more grace than he had, the blue flitt momentarily dislodged, his shrieking earning him a bite on the nose from the bronze before his perch resurfaced and he returned to it. So he had three flitts, then? Q'in let out a small huff of surprise and admiration. They had to be a handful, he thought to himself, still trudging towards the shore, despite the current plucking at his legs and threatening to flip him over.

Q'in glanced up just in time to see Rawign offer a hand, gratefully taking it with another of his grins. "Well, I did notice that, but only with about a fourth of a second to think. So nine and a half points, then?" he asked innocently, lips quirking. "Nice to meet you, Rawign," he replied, finally and thankfully out of the water, straightening slowly. "That obnoxious green was Kalaena, and Russeth is over there. Somewhere," he added under his breath, rolling his eyes. A soft rustle announced Russeth's arrival, the brown dragon quietly pushing himself around the edge of a tree, his placidly whirling eyes inspecting Rawign for a brief moment before he began to move towards Q'in's side, tail still twitching with amusement. Q'in feigned a scowl at him, crossing his arms over his chest and pretending to ignore the brown.

[glamourie]

"Nine and a half points, I'll go," Rawign replied with a slight tilt of his head. He leaned to one side to look around Q'in, not intending to be rude, but more out of interest. Russeth - that was; yes, that was one of the browns from.. Millieth's clutch, from the looks of him. A senior weyrling then. He looked handsome enough. Brown - the one color Rawign had never impressed in Flits. If there was some way to identify what color firelizard was in the egg, he might have filched one just to complete the collection. (The irony was not lost on him; if anyone else had dared suggest he find an egg he might have thrown a fit, yet he was considering it on his own inspiration. Who knew?) The dragon seemed handsome enough - not that Rawign found any dragons unattractive. Even that sickly one from Fath's clutch hadn't been ugly, although the sight of her made Rawign cringe away in guilt. He hated looking at injured anythings; it made him feel inadequate and incompetent. That was a big part of why he was a healer -- he liked thinking he could do something to take away the hurt. But a birth defect was not something he could fix. Q'in's brown looked small, though - but that might have been because the only other brown that Rawign had ever been up close to was Jessereth and that brown was a monster as far as build went. Bad thoughts.

The healer distracted himself with conversation, turning back to Q'in and tilting his head. There was nothing short of amusement on his face as he lifted one hand to stroke Stumpy gently. The blue firelizard was very, very easily spooked, but given how he hatched, it shouldn't have been very surprising. He'd been highly attached to his clutchmate, too, but Ennayoh was gone. So was Beggar. Once, Rawign had five - five total. There was a very good reason that he'd never Stood after Aslath's first clutch. Five firelizards was too many for any normal person to handle, and though he'd managed to take care of them okay, he'd been terrified at the idea of adding to that workload. Plus there was Marra and --

"You think she's obnoxious?" Rawign countered with a smirk. "You haven't seen Roxie. Wait 'til she comes back, you'll praise your little firelizard - trust me on that one." He loved Roxie, he did. But she was absolutely, positively obnoxious. She screeched and threw fits when she wasn't the center of attention, chewed on him until he bled for no better reason than because she could, would often chase other greens to try to attack them for daring to look at her blue and bronze (never mind that Li was, technically, Mona's mate) and if any other green so much as considered landing on Rawign, Roxie would fight them. The really comical thing was that Roxie had trouble landing and her attempts at grace usually involved flying head first into her target and clinging for dear life. More than once he'd had to rub her down in oils and watered down numbweed due to her bruising herself up by flying into people and things, simply to try and stop. "I hope she doesn't decide to come back soon though. I really like being able to hear." And Roxie's screeching was near-legendary when she was angry, which was most of the time. Spoiled little firelizard, how had he ever let her get that way? He wanted to steal Ka'rys's firelizard. The bronzerider couldn't possibly appreciate how sweet little Ophelie was. They could trade. He would appreciate her more!

But then, Rawign had a peculiar talent for attracting females most would deem "obnoxious." The term had frequently been applied to Marra. Why did his thoughts keep venturing back to her? Probably because he hadn't spoken to her since the morning. (Technically speaking, Rawign was a candidate -- but he slept in Marra's apartment, and did not go to lessons or chores; he was too afraid to actually Stand again, but also too afraid to properly back out of being a candidate, so he'd settled for a round-about way of not being allowed. At least then he could blame someone other than himself.) The last time he'd been near the river with a brownrider (ignoring the feline incident which he was pretending never happened), Marra took a tumble. He made a mental note to drag her to the river and shove her in the water; he'd probably get yelled at but he had no real objections to Marra being soaked and wet anyway.

"It's nice to meet you too. I'd ask if you're lost, but it looks like you were led here." He glanced over at Russeth before adding softly, "He's a good looking brown. Shy...?"