Cuddles by the Dozen [M'ta and Behruth]

[kysseh]

It is so warm, Mine. You and your strong cuddly should come out here to join us. The sun feels quite nice, but it will be gone soon. You should hurry.

Raiyth's cheerful voice was Fiona's wake-up call, as it was nearly every morning. The green always cooed some soft encouragement as Hers began to stir, putting the already-cheery greenrider in an even better mood. Fiona loved mornings, especially mornings after such a good night. Though... given the light... it wasn't really morning. In fact, she wasn't even sure if it was night yet, squinting as she was in the light. She had lost track of time at some point in the middle of playtime. She was hardly protesting that, though, and the greenrider quivered just a bit with stifled laughter at the memory. Oh, what a day! She remembered squirming beneath the weyrling's attentions, remembered giggling as that playful, skillful tongue worked at her ticklish spots. It had been an unexpected delight, and she was sincerely hoping for a repeat of it.

Somehow, though, Fiona doubted that her bedpartner would react kindly to the situation. He seemed very upset at the mere thought of intimacy before, and being out of control for a flight--admittedly a scary experience the first time if one wasn't prepared--was probably not the way to start. Still, the greenrider took some pride in her skills and her gentle sensitivity to other's preferences when it came to flights. She had expected hesitancy, trepidation, and some awkward fumbling. Oh, there had been fumbling. There always was when taking a new lover, but Fi had scarcely minded a moment of it. The fact that she had gotten him where she wanted him... and where he needed to be, for that matter... was a delightful victory. She was going to be a bit sore for a day or so, but that was scarcely M'ta's fault for giving her a good bit of exercise, was it?

Speaking of M'ta...

Fiona stirred lightly, unwilling to wake the male resting atop her. He was heavier than he looked, she noted, but it was a comforting sort of weight. She liked the furs of her bed just fine, but she much preferred the warm body of a bedmate to keep her comfortable at night. And M'ta? He did that just fine. So fine that she was loathe to wake him, in fact. After all of that, the poor thing probably needed the sleep. He had been playful, and she had liberally encouraged him until she had quite literally crashed from exhaustion, her arms and legs still wrapped around his torso. Her limbs had fallen away during their nap, but now she lifted a hand to stroke along his back, humming softly in contentment. The little cutie would not stay asleep forever, and she scarcely wanted him to wake frightened. No, she wanted him comfortable with her and just lightly stroked her fingertips over his skin, drowsily glancing over at the dragon's part of her weyr to see what her cheery mindmate was up to.

The resulting sight made her giggle very quietly, her big brown eyes practically sparkling with mirth at the sight of her Raiyth curled up on her ledge. Not only was Raiyth sunning herself in the waning evening light, but the green was pressed up tight to Behruth, her neck draped over his forelegs and her side pressed against his. Raiyth positively adored cuddling, and though she wasn't sure when the adorable little brown had arrived to join her Raiyth on the ledge, Fiona was grateful for it. Her adorable green better-half was prattling happily--and privately to Hers--about how ridiculously delighted she was to be sunning herself on the ledge with company. Fiona would have joined Raiyth for a good tan, but.... well, she preferred to stay with her M'ta, especially given what seemed to be the fast-fading light outside. He was only 'hers' until he woke up, but Fiona was satisfied with that, very slowly stroking her way up toward his head to finger his hair. Lovely, playful, delightful M'ta.

She was going to feel this for days.

[Requiem]

Fly, the salamandyr cooed to the pretty green friend of his large bonded, rubbing his head along the edge of her snout. He was doing his utmost to be touching both dragons ever since finding them sprawled out here in the nice, warm sun. His tail curled as far as it could around Behruth's forelimb. The young brown found the salamandyr quite amusing, but he was currently tracing Raiyth's pretty patterns with his snout, nuzzling her every few seconds. So pretty, they are. How did you get them? They're like stone faces, he commented wonderingly. He'd met Raiyth on occasion before, but he'd never had a chance to be quite this close, and her hide fascinated him.

Behruth loved all the pretty colors dragons came in, but he especially liked the beautiful greens and the glittering golds. That they happened to be female was only of secondary importance. The male was just as content to cuddle up with a male as a female, but he found the females prettier he did. Especially the shiny ones like Raiyth. Although he still thought Oquith was the most beautiful. How wonderful that she chose Checkoth to twist with! Behruth always liked it when his bestest friend was happy. I am sorry that Mine is lazy. Or we could have gone flying, he said, with just a touch of sadness. The brown liked to go flying, because it was very, very fun, but cuddling was nice too. Most dragons didn't want to cuddle as much as he did, though.

A random question popped into his head. Raiyth...why are Ours Flying? We didn't twist. His head came around to look at her curiously, the brown only then realizing that his sky shiny had vanished.

Fly! the little blue trilled, peering down over his humanly's shoulder to look at the other humanly M'ta had been playing with. Who was she? He dropped down onto her face, scurrying into her hair to play with the curls. Oh, oh, oh! Soft and bouncy and fun! He liked them a lot he did, burrowing deeper into her head of hair and crooning. The sounds and movement so close to M'ta's face, however, had the brownweyrling twitching, the fingers of one hand curling slightly out of reflex. He didn't move much in his sleep, so any movement at all meant he was beginning to waken. The hand in his hair elicited even more movement now that he was waking up, the young man subconsciously nuzzling at Fiona's neck, although that could possibly be due to the fact that both PMS and Behruth were currently being very, very affectionate. M'ta tended to mimic the two of them a great deal when not fully aware.

"...Behruth..." he muttered, frowning slightly. It felt like he was about to roll off his dragon. And, he knew from experience, that floor was hard when falling from the height of a dragon couch. Definitely not Behruth, though, he realized in the next moment, his eyes flaring wide open. Instead of rolling away from her, however, as would seem the most likely reaction, M'ta froze. He could feel every bit of her beneath him. Behruth had chased. Slowly, he relaxed...at least enough that he allowed himself to breathe again. Well, Ruth hadn't won, clearly, because he was on top of a woman...a woman he couldn't see well at all from this angle. Some Flightmoth. His own nerves were too fried for him to tell immediately if she was awake or not, and he didn't want to waken her if she wasn't, so M'ta began to ease himself off her.

It...wasn't so bad. Really. He couldn't even remember any of it, though from the pulling in his muscles, it must have been a production. At least he hadn't been aware. Now, if he could just be sure he hadn't hurt her, he could put the matter to rest and...yeah. Put the matter to rest.

[kysseh]

The cute little blue thing was rubbing along her snout, and Raiyth crooned at the little creature, delighted by the attention. She was, of course, even more delighted with Behruth’s inspection of her hide, and her tail was waggling furiously in response. Raiyth was just a bit ticklish, and her rapid tail motions were the green’s version of giggles. Dragons didn’t giggle. Raiyth didn’t giggle. She wriggled.

I have always had those markings. Since the day that I hatched, I think. the green responded with a croon, barely able to contain herself. That nuzzling tickled! The nuzzling ceased, and Raiyth relaxed just a little, letting out a whuff of pleasure. She did so enjoy affection, but that really did tickle. She hoped he did not mind her squirming next to her. We can go fly some other time, when Yours and Mine are not busy… Flying.

Behruth’s question caught her off guard, and Raiyth lifted her head in surprise, tipping it to one side to look more directly at the brown. Twist? I think… humans have to Fly when we Rise or we Chase. That is what Mine told me before, and that is why she went to go find Yours. the green said wisely, rumbling softly as she considered. It is very odd, isn’t it? But it makes them happy, so it is good.

Oh, yes, Fiona was very happy at the moment. The young woman giggled softly as the little blue ‘mandyr-thing made his presence known, watching as he peered down at her. He was so cute! She was startled when he dropped down to her face, but he dove right into her hair, no claws used. It took all her effort to not giggle or squirm her head around out of amusement, but she had no wish to squish the little darling. Had to keep very still, she did, oh yes. Of course, her bedmate was waking up, which made that difficult. When he nuzzled at her neck, Fi giggled softly and twitched, gently stroking the back of his neck with delicate fingers. How affectionate he was!

Well… not anymore. When he spoke and then froze, Fi quickly shushed him, letting out her own human version of a croon as she stroked both hands up and down his back. She hoped he wasn’t going to run on her, though… oh no! He was! “Nonono, don’t go. It’s all right,” she tried to soothe him, not liking that her skin-blanket was getting up and moving. “Don’t go. You’re keeping me warm.” Poor thing. He must have been very panicked, even if he seemed more relaxed now than after that initial freeze. Poor, poor M’ta. “M’ta?”

((Short, sorry. x.x No good muse today.))

[Requiem]

Well, they are very pretty. They make you shine and glitter, he replied with complete honesty. The brown really liked this green. Of course, he liked almost any dragon he'd ever met, but any dragon who would let him cuddle up to her and responded so favorably to him had to hold a special place in his estimations. My hide does not glitter, he added quietly. If I could, I would be prettier for you, but I was hatched this way too. For some reason Behruth felt the need to apologize for his lack of shinyness.

Intrigued by her answer, the dragon cast a glance toward his wakening rider. Yes. It is very odd. I did not have to Fly, but Mine does? Humans do not make so much sense. That last was uttered affectionately as he stroked at the mind of His in greeting, receiving the sleepy, mental equivalent of a brief hug in return. It is good, then, that Yours was nice and Flew with Mine. You must thank her for me, Raiyth-Who-Glitters. He feels good tired and...and...fuzzywarm. It was actually a sexual contentedness, but as Behruth had never experienced that in His before, he could hardly identify it. Then Ruth ducked his head, crooning apologetically to Raiyth. I am sorry. I forgot...Mine...does not so much like Flying, he confided worriedly.

The hands on his back had his spine tingling in ways that made him distinctly uncomfortable, and he had the strangest feeling that at any moment they would turn to deep scratches. Fortunately, the awkwardness and direction of that thought was blown clear away when she spoke. Fiona! He twitched, unable - and frankly, he probably wouldn't care to even if he was - to mask the surprise and trepidation that came with that realization. The little...little...she'd taken advantage of him! Waited for Behruth to chase and then just swept in. An irrational anger flared inside him, and it was that more than her pleading which kept him on top of her. His fingers bunched in the furs at their sides in suppressed irritation.

"Fiona..." he murmured, voice distinctly deadpan. Lifting up, he didn't even notice how that pressed his lower half against her more, because he wanted to see her face. Now. If only because doing so might keep him from actually reacting violently, which was his first impulse. He hadn't seen her in months! The act itself...was secondary to that; he'd known it was coming, and was about as prepared for waking up with someone else as he could be mentally, but he'd expected it to be a stranger or Tr'esn. Not Fiona. There was an inexplicable hurt there, at his core. No, they'd never been friends exactly, but they'd at least been friendly - okay, in many ways too friendly, particularly during that goldflight awhile back - and to have her suddenly come back into his life after a turn in this fashion...He felt used. Like a piece of meat to satisfy someone else's desires again, and the open rawness of that wound was shocking. That it was Fiona twisting the knife made it worse. He knew her and in his own way even liked her, no matter how uncomfortable she almost always managed to make him.

With M'ta's arms lifting the upper part of his torso away from Fiona, a hand on either side of her, PMS had to crawl up one of them to come to his shoulder, faint alarm in the eyes of the little salamandyr. He didn't know where all of these sudden emotions were coming from. Why, just a moment ago they'd all been happily cuddling together! Making a low whining sound, the blue rubbed against the line of his jaw. Fly? he questioned softly, wanting to know what was the matter. You are scaring the sky shiny, Mine, Behruth uttered gently. Raiyth says that humanlies need to Fly when dragons Chase, that Hers wanted to help you. I'm aware. It did not hurt. You were happy, Behruth added, very very softly.

It didn't make sense, but that didn't change how he felt. M'ta attempted to box the emotions back up, but he still stared at her face, his own practically expressionless, but for the slight flaring of the nostrils that marked breathing that wasn't entirely regular. "I haven't heard anything from you...in at least a turn. And now you're here when Behruth first chases?" Is that what you think of me as, a lay? Why should it matter, really? They weren't friends. But he still couldn't shake the irritation that was more hurt than anything else. "What are you doing here, Fiona? What are you thinking?" His words were soft enough that they could almost be intimate, but there was a very real anger behind them, a quiet anger that was more cool than heat.

[kysseh]

You are lovely without glitters. Raiyth replied honestly, rubbing her head against Behruth’s foreleg. Raiyth was intimidated by the shiny dragons on occasion, and Behruth was plenty beautiful for her. You do not need glitters to be beautiful. I did not know my hide glittered. she added. Her tone was decidedly thoughtful, as she craned her neck around to view her own back. Did she really glitter? How strange!

The green suddenly crooned, a bit concerned at the sudden flare of anxiety radiating off Fiona. She tried to remain calm for Hers’ sake and snuggled closer to Behruth, resting her chin back down on his leg. It was hard to not be upset, but she managed, trying not to look at the pair of humans in case she got upset at M’ta. I am glad it made him… fuzzywarm. She was trying to make him happy, but I do not think it worked very well. She is very afraid. Raiyth replied, her mental voice barely above a whisper.

Fiona was indeed quite afraid. As a matter of fact, the greenrider was terrified of M’ta’s seemingly emotionless tone, and Fi tried in vain to shrink down into the furs. Her hands withdrew from her face to tuck in fists beneath her chin, her deep brown eyes wide with barely-contained fear. She didn’t like M’ta twitching and sounding like that. It made it seem like he was very angry with her. What had she done?! Had she scratched him by accident? She didn’t think she had. Fiona’s nails were normally under control, and he had been so playful and fun that she had been more interested in tickling him back than anything else.

He was looking down at her, and she would have noticed the feeling of their lower bodies pressed together were she not trying to press back down into the furs. Getting away from the upset person, she was. Upset usually meant angry which meant yells… all bad. Very bad. She watched the little ‘mandyr crawl up to the young man’s shoulder and rub his head against his jaw. Such a cute ‘mandyr. M’ta did not look so cute or happy when his face was almost blank like that, except for the nostrils that practically screamed angry with every flare.

“I… I didn’t… see you around. I was worried about you, but I didn’t see you much,” she sniffed out quietly, cringing at his words. He was mad. He was mad at her, and he was going to hurt her, wasn’t he? No, no… M’ta wouldn’t do that. Right? Right. Despite that logical conclusion, Fiona could not force herself to relax, instead staring fearfully up at the man that hovered above her. “I thought you’d be scared… or… upset. You were upset last time, and… I wanted to make sure it was nice so you’d know you didn’t have to be scared. I wanted to help, but… now you’re mad at me, so it didn’t work...”

[Requiem]

His face was still blank, but this time it was confusion that rendered him expressionless. He'd expect defiance, maybe, or apprehension, not such a look of utter shock and fear. Her eyes were so wide he could almost imagine they'd swallow her face if they got any wider. For all his threats - for all his fears that were covered by bluster and, if necessary, violence - M'ta genuinely derived no pleasure from terrifying anyone. Much less a girl. He wasn't even sure what was so frightening; he'd done nothing violent. He hadn't raised his voice, hadn't cursed at her, hadn't said anything remotely threatening. Why did she look so frightened?

M'ta frowned at her words, the first expression to reach his face, his eyes searching hers for a long moment. Was it really so difficult to find him? She'd had absolutely no trouble at all when he was still a candidate. It did not escape him, either, that during his candidacy he'd technically been allowed to behave as they just had. As she spoke again, though, he blinked, the color quickly draining from his face. What? How? He'd always thought it wasn't too obvious. Yes, he got weird around men, and he'd...panicked...once, but she hadn't been there for that. Was it really that unusual for someone to turn down her advances? How could she possibly know that the mere thought of being with someone scared him? And, once he'd thought of that, the realization that he'd just slept with Fiona hit him hard and fast.

The brownweyrling was off her in a moment, though he didn't vacate the furs entirely. He managed to cover himself from the waist down, gnawing lightly at his lip. "I'm not...mad at you," he finally stated, refusing to look at Fiona until she herself was covered. "I just thought..." She wouldn't understand. What it would take to make her understand was more than he was willing to give her, anyway. PMS, still a bit confused, dropped from his shoulder and moved back over to Fiona, rubbing against her. He didn't like seeing the pretty medium afraid! He crooned again in confusion. Why were they upset with each other? It made no sense.

M'ta's eyes sought out Fiona's face almost timidly. This wasn't how he'd thought it would be. Get in, get it overwith, get out. Because there was no avoiding it when bonded to a dragon. He hadn't expected Fiona, much less her words. "You really came because you didn't want me to be afraid?" He pushed at his hair, even though it was cut short enough that there was really nothing to put back in place. "I'm sorry, Fiona. I thought you came just because...I wouldn't...and when Behruth chased I had to...so..." He sighed. He didn't want to offend or confuse her. "I didn't know why," M'ta finished finally. "I think it was nice," he added, trying to make up for the unfair reaction from earlier. "I mean, I can't really remember, but it must have been. Behruth said it was."

The young brown, who had twined his tail with Raiyth's as she pressed against him in her distress, nudged lightly at her neck. I am sorry. He did not mean to. Mine thought Yours just wanted to Fly him, and did it this time because he would not be able to tell her she couldn't. Strange how Behruth could be far more articulate than His. He is very sorry to scare her and that he got upset. Your will be okay? Behruth asked Raiyth anxiously. He liked this cuddle buddy of his, and he didn't want her upset at M'taHis, because then she might not want to cuddle with him anymore.

You really do glitter, he added belatedly, crooning to her. Behruth had been quite flattered, but everything else had distracted him.

[kysseh]

M’ta was frowning at her. Was he going to lecture her? Fiona could handle lectures, if there was no yelling involved. She did not like it when people yelled. It made her panic and hide, and that made people yell even more. Inescapable, it was. Was he going to yell? It did not look like it. In fact, he looked like he was about to get afraid and cry, which was almost worse. Fiona shrank back into the covers as M’ta’s face lost its color, whimpering softly as he practically flew off her and covered himself up. Oh, no. She had scared him anyway, despite her best efforts otherwise. How did that happen?! She had been ever-so-gentle and kind to him, and he had played with her. It made no sense!

Why was he covering himself? Did he think she would hurt him? He really shouldn’t have covered up. He was not ugly, and Fiona would not hurt him. She did not bother to cover herself up, mostly because there was simply no point to it. He was seeing her already, even if he did not look… directly at her. She did lift a hand to stroke the little ‘mandyr that rubbed at her, managing a shaky smile for the little creature. Poor thing. He sounded upset too. What had she done?! She was slightly cheered when M’ta looked at her, though she refused to move from her position lying flat on her back. It was cozy here. Cozy and safe in case he got mad again. He said he wasn’t, but… his face said ‘mad.’ His nose said ‘mad’.

But… he wasn’t mad at her? She didn’t understand why he thought she would just come to him otherwise. It had made perfect sense to Fiona to come to him and make him less scared. It did make her feel good to hear him say that he thought it had been nice. Behruth had told him? Behruth was very smart, Fiona decided. “You… well… you played, so… I thought it was okay. You were so nervous about touching me before, like you thought you’d hurt me, but you didn’t hurt me at all. It was nice. You tickled me,” she admitted quietly, still pressed back into the safety of the furs and not moving for fear of making him upset. He wouldn’t get mad at her for saying that, would he? “It… you… you’re not scared, are you? It seems like you’re scared. I’m really, really sorry. I thought… I knew how to make it nice so you wouldn’t be scared, but you are and-“ She cut herself off in mid-thought, pressing the back of her free hand to her mouth to avoid babbling anymore. She was making it worse, wasn’t she?

Raiyth crooned affectionately at her brown cuddlemate, twining her tail tighter around his and arching her neck just a bit beneath his attentions. Hers was marginally calmer, which calmed the green considerably as well. Fiona did not seem in danger of having a panic attack of fainting, so she was content to let Hers rest safely with Behruth’s… for the moment. She would intervene later if she had to. Mine… will be fine, I think. She is calmer now. I do not think she understands, but I will let her talk to Yours. the green said wisely, not wishing to get involved and distress Hers anymore. Fiona was not hard to set off.

The brown’s final statement earned a rumble of bemusement as Raiyth turned to eye her own hide. I glitter? I do not… see glitter, but I will trust you. You are the expert. she said quite wisely. He knew shinies better than she did, by far. She heard he had piles of them. Raiyth was envious.

[Requiem]

Why wasn't she covering up? He almost - almost - laughed at himself, then. Since when had Fiona bothered with things like modesty? It was...distracting, though. Not so much because she was beautiful, although she was. Nudity just was associated with a whole range of unpleasant things in his mind and it made him shift slightly with unease. He wanted to bundle her up and pack her away where she couldn't be hurt, the reason behind that desire strange enough that it gave him pause. This creature was so innocent that the very idea of anyone coming along and taking that away from her made him internally cringe. Her words only drove that truth home.

That and genuinely managed to surprise him yet again. He was now staring at her wide-eyed, trying to wrap his mind around how this girl had managed to read so much into him when everyone else didn't seem to have a clue. And...tickle? That had him somewhat bemused. He'd...tickled...her? That couldn't be normal. PMS was arching against her touch happily, twisting to look at first one of the silly humans and then the other. He didn't understand what was going on, but both his bondeds seemed to be calming. That was good, right?

It seemed she was still upset. M'ta managed a small, wry smile. "I told you I can't remember any of that," he repeated quietly, when she'd finally stopped speaking. Not the playing or the tickling or any of it. "So yes, I'm still a little afraid I hurt you." Normally he wouldn't be so direct, but Fiona saw...a lot...and in her own way seemed to understand him better because of the innocent simplicity that had him nearly cringing. It wouldn't do to lie to her. She clearly saw that he was afraid...though by the way she said it you'd think he was cowering in a corner and whimpering. It was more concern than fear at this point. If he'd really hurt her...she wouldn't be acting this way. Right? But M'ta had to ask anyway. "You're sure, Fiona? I won't be mad, if you say I did."

He wanted to reach out and touch her to reassure her, but she was naked and it was just too awkward. M'ta left his hands in his lap, not even noticing that he was slowly wringing them.

Oh, no no no! This would never do! How could Raiyth not know how beautiful she was? How could she not know she glittered?! He wriggled a little anxiously. There had to be a way. He didn't want her to take his word for it. For one thing, she'd probably decide later that he was wrong, and it was very wrong for Raiyth not to know about her glittering. Very very wrong. But how could he show her? He thought about sending her an image of herself, but if she didn't think she glittered now, would she when she saw herself through his eyes? Maybe not. Behruth was used to finding objects that didn't necessarily look 'shiny' just then, but would if displayed just right.

Disentangling himself from the green, he eased back just far enough that his shadow wasn't falling on her anymore. But you do. Just watch. I will show you. He stretched out a wing, then withdrew it, repeating the motion several times, the light hitting her lovely pattern that he'd just been tracing and causing the lines to glisten and jump as the light struck them. Letting his wing return to his side, he watched her anxiously, crooning to her. Did you see? Did you?