A Whole New World (open)

[bookworm]

Imaskel smiled and stretched out, turning his face to the sun. He was currently sprawled out in a comfortable corner of the weyrbowl, leaning against part of the stone wall of the lower caverns. He loved to sit in the 'bowl and watch people. There was just so many people here! Much more interesting than Telgar. And much more attractive. Something about the liberalism of the Weyr made its people that much more attractive.

I guess the new setting made me get over things quickly, he thought to himself before shaking his head. Imaskel had made a pact with himself not to dwell on Ashen's death. It would be pointless. As if to strengthen his resolve to forget, he winked at a random passing woman, proving to himself that he was totally over it.

It was exciting to think that he had so much time in the Weyr. Even if he didn't Impress, he could probably work as a Smith here. Even though he had been looked over at the Hatching a few days ago, he wasn't concerned at all. There were two other Queens in the Weyr. Besides, not Impressing right away gave him more time to be irresponsible. Because Imaskel had a feeling that being bonded to a walking stomach might not be as fun as people made it out to be.

[Avu]

“That’s my spot, you know.”

The half-playful smirk that danced around the greenrider’s lips marked his words as not at all seriously offended. A’emi tilted his head as he looked down at the Candidate in the way, reaching out with his bare foot to nudge at the kid idly. Though ‘kid’ probably wasn’t altogether appropriate, since the…human being occupying his spot actually looked quite old enough to be considered a man. But A’emi didn’t usually consider anyone a ‘man’, because he didn’t even consider himself that yet, despite being very definitely in his twenty-second Turn. Regardless, cute in a way, not his ‘type’, but whatever.

It was his spot, anyway. A’emi liked people-watching, and that spot that the kid had taken was a very nice spot to do it. He didn’t use it a lot; usually Kyrahth was willing to take him flying and flying beat out spying on people for the most part unless A’emi was feeling particularly lonely. Which he didn’t usually, and when he did, he usually found company, regardless of whether or not the company wanted him. It didn’t matter to him either way. It was for his amusement, after all. His head tilted a little more to one side, bird-like, and a faint smile quirked his lips upwards.

“I hope you’re okay with squishing into one corner, ‘cause I’m not mean enough to drive you away and I don’t think you want me to sit on you. Although I don’t think I’d be too heavy for you. You don’t look small.”

Yes, A’emi tended to ramble, and no, he didn’t care if that was off-putting. He smiled, playful, and his gaze flashed over Imaskel shamelessly. He didn’t look too terribly small, after all, and A’emi was tiny, both height and weight. It was probably lucky, since Kyrahth was so small, or they’d overbalance every time they tried to get anywhere on dragonback. Without waiting for a response, the greenrider flopped directly next to Imaskel, scooting sideways and nudging at the kid, indicating for him to move over and make space, because A’emi really didn’t mind being pressed flush against someone.

The worst that could happen was that he’d get punched in the face or something, but it didn’t really matter. A’emi was pretty sure he could handle a kid. Even if Kyrahth didn’t, apparently, agree, because the green lifted her head from a distance away and concern brushed against his mind. Take care of yourself, my dearest. I do not wish to have to injure a child because you cannot contain your need for company. The needling words were definitely all anxiety, though.

“Aw, Kyr,” A’emi replied out loud, crinkling his nose, for Imaskel’s benefit, “he won’t hurt me. I don’t think.” And even if he did, A’emi wouldn’t mind at all, but he’d more sense than to say that out loud.

[bookworm]

Imaskel was staring in the opposite direction, staring at the retreating bottom of a very fit lady dragonrider, and he didn't notice the young man approaching him until he spoke. He looked away from the woman quickly, hoping that the rider hadn't noticed-- force of habit, since he was used to a place where if someone caught you eyeing the wrong person, you'd get challenged to a duel. And he certainly didn't need another one of those on his hands.

He grinned impishly. The man may be a dragonrider, but the young-looking femme boy just wasn't very intimidating. "Is your name on it?" he drawled. "Just because I'm a candidate doesn't mean you--" he stopped, because it seemed like the rider wasn't going to make him move after all. That quirky little smile should have tipped him off sooner.

"Squishing is just all right with me," he said jauntily, patting the space beside him. And I don't mind boys sitting on my lap, either, he thought, but didn't say. Maybe after he'd gotten to know this guy slightly better. Like, after ten minutes or so. He moved over as far as he could, but that still left them squished together like sardines. Ooh, he was really getting to know a weyrfolk person now!

He raised an eyebrow when the man spoke to someone who wasn't there. "Huh?" Then he glanced at the green rider knots and realized what was going on. "Oh. You can tell your dragon that you're safe with me." He chuckled and winked. "My name's Imaskel, by the way."

[Avu]

Mm, closeness.

A’emi had always been a very physical person – he liked touching and being pressed up against other people, given the right situations, and this was nice. The greenrider had to keep from actively winding his arms around the other male and pinning him there. He’d make a nice pillow. People generally did, nice and squishy. Some of them weren’t as squishy as others, of course, but the kid didn’t look like he was one of those. The greenrider drew his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs instead and resting his chin lightly on top of his knees.

The response to his words to Kyrahth drew a wide, dazzling smile from A’emi and he tilted his head to quirk his eyebrows in the green’s direction. “That’s good to know. She won’t believe you, but it’s still good to know.” The introduction had him pulling one hand free, offering it to the Candidate cheerfully. “A’emi. And that’s Kyrahth, over there glaring, but she usually does. She’s grumpy and she bites sometimes, but I don’t, so you’re okay.” Another slightly smirking smile crossed his face, and A’emi leaned his cheek sideways against his knee to peer at a passing Drudge idly.

“You said you were a Candidate, right?” he inquired, crinkling his nose thoughtfully. Hmm. He needed a new Candidate pet, he did. His old one had left; some snotty little bronze hatchling had stolen him and that was absolutely unacceptable. Although he doubted Rofi (A’emi didn’t even know what his new name was, and the greenrider really didn’t care. Bronzeriders were stuck-up and generally useless, the lot of them) thought of it that way. “Did you just get here or something? I thought this spot was pretty well hidden. I guess I should start adding camouflage.”

Or you could just stop people-watching and do something more interesting, Kyrahth responded, sharply. The green dragon had rolled to her feet and was making her way directly towards them. Paranoid, thy name was Kyrahth – she hated anyone being near A’emi at all and having someone he barely knew pressed up against him was intolerable. She flopped about two dragonlengths away, though, to give them some room – but there was no denying the mistrust in her gaze. Did not like, please and thank you.

[bookworm]

Imaskel found himself rather disarmed by the greenrider's bright smile. That was just adorable, not to mention infectious. He had to smile a little bit too. He shook A'emi's hand with his usual firm grip, looking over the rider's shoulder at his dragon. "She's pretty," Imaskel said, although he wasn't sure if that was necessarily the best way to describe a feisty dragon who could take his head off with one bite.

He followed A'emi's gaze to the drudge, but Imaskel didn't really take any interest in drudges. They usually weren't very hygienic, although the Weyr might have higher standards for that. A'emi was just more interesting than the passers by, for now anyway. He nodded when asked if he was a candidate, thinking that the greenrider's habit of crinkling his nose was pretty cute. "Candidate I am...I just got here a few days ago. Just in time for the Hatching, but I guess the dragonets wanted more experienced candidates." He shrugged. "I guess I'm just good at finding hidden spaces," he added with a chuckle.

Then he looked up and saw that the green was stalking towards them. She didn't look too friendly. "Er...nice dragon!" he said nervously. Hopefully the fact that he was squished next to her rider would prevent a mauling. "Want me to scratch your eye ridges?" Dragons liked that, right?

[Avu]

It had really been far too long since he’d really considered flirting with someone. Flightlust was nice in its own right (and he had had fun) but it wasn’t really the same. Elysia he would’ve flirted with (shamelessly, because that was just his style) but there’d been that kid there and then…well, it wasn’t really appropriate to flirt during Wing Drills. Nice Candidate. Human contact was just nice, anyway, even if it didn’t go further than that, and A’emi didn’t mind at all huddling up next to Imaskel.

His lips twitched in a pleased smile at the compliments towards Kyrahth, but he didn’t respond verbally – he only hummed. Pretty? She was, in his opinion. Not the flashy beauty of some greens (see: Onyth. Just because he thought the Rider was gorgeous didn’t mean he liked the dragon.), but pretty. Kyrahth also happened to remind him of green apples, and hey, A’emi was good with green apples. As he went on, A’emi nodded, understandingly, and then smiled, tilting his head playfully.

“I didn’t go to the Hatching” – if he remembered correctly, it had started at the crack of sharding dawn and Kyrahth couldn’t be bothered to move, so he’d just whined at her and then went back to sleep – “but hey, none of the ones who Impressed’ve found this place yet. It’ll suck to be them when they’re trying to run away from the Weyrlingmaster and his rage and they don’t have anywhere to hide.” He smiled, widely, before he added, “And once you Impress, at least you’ll already know. That one-ups you, in my opinion.”

The greenrider was, by that point, actually leaning against Imaskel, lazily, as if he lacked the energy needed to prop himself up. His eyes were half-closed against the few rays of sun that reached the area. A’emi was seriously considering purring out of pure pleasure. So nice, curled up here.

Kyrahth was not so pleased. The look she shot at Imaskel was frosty at best. Did she look like she wanted attention? Hmph. Really. The green stretched out a little further on the ground, crossing her forelegs delicately, one over the other. You may tell the idiot that I have no desire of being petted by one such as he, the green stated, calmly, to A’emi. And that I will not hurt him unless he decides to be stupid. Which he probably will be, but at least it will probably be the harmless kind of stupid.

“She says no, thank you,” A’emi reported, obediently. “She doesn’t really like being touched by anyone. Like, after her Flight, she wouldn’t even touch the dragon that Caught her. I mean, more than was…necessary.” His nose crinkled, again, amusement coloring his voice. He’d enjoyed Kyrahth’s Flight very much, after all, whether or not the green had. “But yeah. She really won’t hurt you. Just she’s overprotective, is all…”

[bookworm]

Imaskel wasn't sure if a rider or a cat was snuggling up to him right now. As A'emi leaned more heavily against him, he did the natural thing and put an arm around the rider's shoulders. His eyes were still fixed warily on the approaching dragon, and he had to keep reminding himself that dragons only attacked humans on the Hatching Grounds or under very extenuating circumstances. Unless the Candidate Master had lied.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be running from the Candidate Master quite a bit," he murmured. "At Telgar--" he paused, wishing he hadn't said that. He looked away from Kyrahth for a moment to study A'emi's face, gauging his reaction. "Well, let's just say that I wasn't known for being a good boy."

He snorted slightly at Kyrahth's response. Apparently, dragons were very different from the silly little fire-lizards, who would take pets from anyone. "She sounds like an interesting dragon," he said dryly. He wondered if all dragons had dysfunctional quirks like that, or if it was just a certain few. The word "Flight" definitely grabbed his attention. "What was the Flight like?" he asked curiously. "I mean, unless it's rude to talk about it or something,"

[Avu]

Hmm, he really liked this pillow. A’emi made a low, contented sound that sounded suspiciously like a purr in his throat as the arm looped around his shoulders, taking it as an invitation to drop his head against Imaskel’s shoulder. He wasn’t exactly snuggling, but it was a close thing. Actually, for the moment, the greenrider was content to be able to feel the pulse of blood through veins. Lifeblood, he thought idly. So easy…and people wondered why he bit there during Flights? It was so obvious. Still. Probably better to refrain from reaching up and actually touching the jugular vein nearest him.

“Telgar?” he echoed, automatically, and smiled. “Telgar’s Beholden to Fort, isn’t it?” Point to Imaskel. Southern playthings weren’t much fun usually. Northern was much better. “I’d expect the Candidatemaster to be a lot more laidback than if you were in the, you know, North?” His hand, the one farthest from Imaskel, flicked idly upwards at the sky to illustrate ‘north’ as he said it. “So I think you’re safe. And if you need to hide, people run right past here all the time and don’t notice.” He smiled, contentedly. Such a nice little hiding place.

Interesting. Imaskel earned a faint smirk at that, but his question made A’emi tilt his head, thoughtfully. His lips grazed the Candidate’s collarbone as he replied after a moment, “It’s not rude. I mean, I don’t think it is. Kyr doesn’t really care either. I guess some greenriders are touchy, but, whatever, it’s their prerogative whether or not to make it embarrassing, y’know?” A slight shrug. “Anyway, I guess most people kind of go under Flightlust right away, but I Impressed Kyr seven Turns back, so she doesn’t affect me as much, but her last Flight, all of the dragons that Chased her, their Riders mostly weren’t…aware of themselves, I guess. So it was funny, having them dote? Most of them probably swing the other way, usually.”

Hmm, yes. The phantom taste of blood seemed to curl in his mouth for a moment, the fragility of bones and flesh streaking across the pads of his fingers. “Kyr’s tiny for a dragon, too, so her Flights are always really short and fast. I think one of the males might’ve broken the Drumtowers ‘cause of her…” Laughter quivered under his breath. Kyrahth was far too fast, too adept, too conditioned, to harm the Drumtowers that she’d used as an obstacle in her Flight, but she’d apparently forgotten (or just hadn’t cared) that the males weren’t as good as she was. “I don’t know, it’s different for lots of people. Did you wanna know something specific?”

It is ridiculous. Does he expect to Impress green? Kyrahth yawned, head resting on her forepaws, eyes hooded and wary, still. Most greens tend to find Riders of the same gender, now. They are fools. But they do.

[bookworm]

Imaskel reached out and ruffled the greenrider's hair playfully when A'emi dropped his head onto his shoulder. This was...nice. And unexpected. Cuddling with people you had just met simply didn't happen in Telgar. He was liking the South better already. He gave a relieved smiled when A'emi didn't push him away after finding out he was from the north. Maybe he was just imagining it, but A'emi even seemed a little impressed. Imaskel chuckled to himself. He was...exotic.

He listened attentively as the Greenrider ran through what he knew about Flights--well, as attentively as he could after that accidental (was it?) collarbone graze. Imaskel was rather surprised to hear that A'emi had been with his dragon six turns, and he wondered how young the rider had been when he Impressed.

"That does sound amusing," he agreed, laughing. A big group of riders, all gathered around and out of their heads with wanting him? It sounded like quite the trip. Being on that end sounded more fun than actually being the one out of his head with longing, but maybe it would be something like being drunk. Just with lust.

"What about other people? I mean, can they feel anything when dragons are rising?" If greens rose as often as they were supposed to, that could get chaotic. "I mean, not that this is the only thing I'm interested in about dragons..." he added a bit sheepishly, not wanting to seem too shallow.

[Avu]

Umpf, hair.

A’emi crinkled his nose again, this time in slight dismay, but it was an expression mixed with a kind of playfulness as well. He didn’t like his hair being touched. Punch him, kick him; he’d roll with it. Hair, he’d prefer people stayed away from. Not because it was painful when it got pulled – that was okay with him, the sting. It was just the touch that grated against his nerves. No sense in actively protesting, though he ducked his head, cheek rubbing against Imaskel’s shoulder, a faint, exaggerated whine of protest leaving his throat before he resumed his previous position.

A quick, bright smile flashed across his face at the Candidate’s agreement. Not many people thought it was amusing (which confused A’emi greatly, but whatever) – apparently it was, what, humiliating, degrading? Something stupid like that. It was fun. It had always been fun, even when the same dragon caught Kyrahth more than once in a row – even more so, sometimes, when that happened. Just depended, really, on whether or not he could convince some poor idiot that they were meant to be because of it (thus far he’d been unsuccessful, but he’d gotten laughter from the man in question, which was okay, too).

“S’okay. Candidatemasters are ridiculous about Flights. I think they’re embarrassed and convinced they’re in a room full of virgins or something. I don’t know. Anyway, you’ll be one-up on the other idiots who haven’t a clue in the world once you Impress.” One of his hands had come to rest idly on Imaskel’s knee, drawing little circles; A’emi hummed low under his breath, gaze half-lidded and focused on his fingers. “Although I don’t know what it’ll be like if you Impress blue or brown or bronze. I’d imagine it’s…really different?” A slight shrug.

“Anyway. You asked. People can’t. I mean, I’ve heard rumors about some people – girls only, I think – that can hear all dragons, and I guess they’d be a little more affected. But I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about there.” A playful smirk, and A’emi glanced at Kyrahth, who was still eyeing them mistrustfully. “’Course, golds people do feel, since they’re not careful about broadcasting, or they can’t resist it, or something, whatever their problem is, but they don’t Rise so often and it’s really obvious a long time before they do anyway, so it doesn’t matter much. Golds don’t. Matter, I mean. They’re kind of annoying…?”