A Day of Relaxation [Tags all flits! NOHUMANSPLZ]

[boober]

Darling let herself relax. The warm, steamy water felt so good against her hide, and she deserved all the relaxation she could get. Right? Of course. The little gold had just produced a wonderful clutch, which was tucked safely away in her bonded’s weyr. She knew C’lryn would keep her offspring safe. And so, she’d made her way to the Warm Water where she’d been floating and preening alternately for at least an hour. But it was the sound of another flitter that made the queen open her eyes with a soft, questioning chirp.

A blue hovered above the water as if uncertain, his whirring wings creating ripples on the surface. Sky didn’t want to get in if Darling wanted the water to herself. But Topaz had no such reservations and dived right in with a little splash. Sky watched anxiously as the brown surfaced and rattled his pinions, sending a spray of water everywhere. Tilting her head, Darling crooned to the nervous blue. Whatever she’d ‘said’ apparently convinced Sky that it was all right to get in the water, as he lowered himself to touch down gently rather than plopping in as his brown companion had done. As Topaz dived below the surface again, Sky floated serenely, his wings relaxed and spread to either side of him. He drifted toward Darling, but it was the gold who paddled closer, happy to have a companion.

Just as the gold warbled a cheery greeting to the blue, something very bright green broke the surface suddenly, scaring Sky witless and earning a scolding shriek from Darling. Bite stopped in her tracks, eyes whirling with malicious glee as she eyed the frightened blue. He was scared of her! How wonderful. The green ‘mandyr flared her frill and hissed loudly, earning a distraught squawk from Sky. Darling growled at the green, eyes whirling dangerously. But Bite ignored her and continued to taunt Sky. She didn’t notice Topaz surfacing behind her until the brown grabbed her tail and chomped hard on it, earning an enraged screech from the ‘mandyr.

DUNGHEAD! BITE! FATTY! With lightning speed, Bite whirled around, lunging at Topaz with open jaws. But the brown was prepared, and with a few quick flaps of his wings, he was airborne just enough so that the ‘mandyr missed him completely. He then promptly settled down on top of her, pushing her beneath the surface of the water. Darling and Sky looked on, the former clearly amused and the latter somewhat worried. Topaz began grooming, fluttering his wings and putting his hide in order… clearly acting as if there wasn’t an enraged, thrashing ‘mandyr beneath him.

When she finally struggled free, Bite shot toward the edge of the pool, still shrieking bloody murder while the rest looked on. Even Topaz was obviously amused now as he watched the green throw a fit worthy of a human hatchling. No one noticed the other green on the opposite side of the pool who was watching the scene. It wasn’t until Clover slipped into the water that Sky noticed her and automatically moved closer to Darling and Topaz. But Clover didn’t care enough to start anything; she just wanted to enjoy the warm water.



[[Thought an all-flitter thread would be cute xD 'mandyrs welcome! Please no fights or Topaz will SIT ON YOU >D]]

[glamourie]

A faint ruffle of wings announced the presence of another firelizard, perching several paces away from the other salamandyrs and firelizards. She settled daintily on one of the rocks, her wings ruffling prettily as her eyes whirled, and her tail curled around the rock beneath her, as though possessive. Though she was undeniably on the smaller side for a firelizard, there was no mistaking her hide, the shimmery-green quite unique to little Ophelie. Her eyes whirled inquisitively, but she was otherwise soundless as she snapped her wings to her sides. She made no effort to approach the water or the others, though, and so soundless was she that it might have been easy for her to be overlooked. Ophelie was not a very social firelizard, and it was actually quite rare to see her away from her bonded, but there was a good reason for her departure: Her humanpet was talking to the human-thing of that Gold and she was not going to stay nearby and risk getting raged at. She had memories from the eyes of another firelizard, of the Senior Queen raging, and she was not about to subject herself to that. Nothing and no one had ever said Ophelie wasn't startlingly intelligent for a green firelizard.

Cocking her head to the side, she regarded the playing group with interest. Her tail tightened on the rock. She was most fascinated to see so many firelizards all together at once. Most of the time they were rather independent creatures. No one was Flying and no one had food. Most interesting. She flicked her wings and sent an inquisitve flurry of images to her bonded, but received no response. She hadn't expected one. It was very common for Ophelie to report anything "interesting" that she found to Ka'rys, whether he found it fascinating or not. The few times she got any kind of response, she'd been rewarded most delightfully. (She had a very pretty dried out white flower that hers had given her for reporting the location of the Weyrwoman so that he might avoid her; Ophelie liked making hers happy, because he always complimented her and gave her pretty things as a result.)

A sudden crack made the little green flare her wings in alarm. A silver earring (that she distinctly recognized as belonging to Hers) went flying across the ground, only to plunk lightly into the water with a slight splash. Distressed, Ophelie flapped her wings repeatedly, though she remained silent.

The earring was quickly followed by a burnt reddish-coppery bronze salamandyr moving at wicked fast speeds. Frill flared for all to see, Showoff shrieked before throwing himself straight into the water after his prize. For such a small creature, he was startlingly quick, and he glided on his little wings for a good foot before breaking the surface, the splash far too large for such a small critter. Down he dived, before resurfacing with the earring clutched in his mouth again. Showoff disliked the Weyrleader, and it was not uncommon for him to deliberately steal his extra earrings. He'd even gotten good enough at removing them from Ka'rys's ears when he was asleep that he didn't wake him. The only problem was that the green thing did. Her distress made Showoff display again, nothing short of extraordinarily proud of himself. Had he upset the green winged thing? Good, good!

Is mine now! he called out, earning a scolding flare of wings from Ophelie. No get back winged dunghead!

[Kisha-Ra]

There was a faint clatter of little claws on the floor as Imp trotted into the bathing room with nothing more on his mind than a bath in the heated water those humans so thoughtfully provided for him at all hours. A hide as pretty as his didn’t just happen after all. There were other ‘mandyrs in and around the pool, and some firelizards too. Instantly the bronze proudly raised his frill to show off the swirling of colours there and chirped a greeting to them all before popping between to reappear near above the surface of the water and glide down on the surface looking around with interest.

Loud, loud. Imp absent mindedly scolded Bite for her noise as he looked around. Pretties. He crooned happily to Darling, Clover, and Opheile, though he didn’t move toward any one of them, he was more the type to play the field for attention and wait and see who responded best.

[boober]

It was plain that the arrivals were making Sky anxious. Finally the blue swam away from the group, much to Darling’s confusion. Had she done something to offend him? But between the noise and the crowding. There was no way that he was staying there. Leaving the warmth of the water behind, Sky climbed up on the edge of the pool, casting a glance over his shoulder. But when he turned back, imagine his surprise when he realized that there was a green before him. When had she gotten there?! A surprised peep left him before crawled closer to Ophelie, humming a greeting to her. She looked nice. Nice and pretty. Perhaps she wouldn’t mind keeping him some company? Unfortunately, his chance at introduction was disrupted by Showoff’s sudden appearance. Crooning anxiously at Ophelie’s obvious distress, Sky looked to Showoff for a moment before launching himself into the air and vanishing. It seemed that he had bailed out yet again.

From her place in the water, Darling watched with a sort of quiet disdain as Showoff taunted Ophelie. She squawked at him irritably as Topaz looked on, not offering any kind of help. He had nothing against Showoff. No, his vendetta was with Bite and Bite alone. It had been made clear numerous times that the brown firelizard and the green salamandyr abhorred each other. Their encounter moments ago was surely just round one of more to come, so long as they both stayed in the baths. Fortunately, the green in question was distracted, watching Showoff avidly, having ceased her tantrum at Topaz. Anyone who knew the green at all would be able to tell that she was plotting something. However, she was distracted yet again, this time by another bronze ‘mandyr. Suddenly screeching her outrage at Imp, Bite flapped her little wings and spat explosively. Shut up! FATTY! Her offense at being told that she was too loud only resulted in a display of just how loud she could really be. Showoff was ignored completely. Darling scolded the wayward green as well as Showoff. She was getting tired of the salamandyrs’ habit of always interrupting what had potential to be a quiet, peaceful moment.

But Imp seemed relatively well-mannered, and Darling welcomed him to the group so long as he didn’t feel the need to start a squabble like the other two always seemed wont to do. She cast a final glare in the direction of the ‘mandyrs in question, not that she expected it to do much good. So she turned back to Imp and trilled sweetly to the bronze. Yes, he looked like a nice ‘mandyr. It was clear that the gold approved. Drifting closer to him, Darling reached out and gave Imp a slight nudge, as though to see if he really was as well-behaved as he seemed. A good mannered ‘mandyr seemed too good to be true; who could blame the little queen for being a bit skeptical?

Clover drifted apart from the others, but she still watched everyone with an expression of interest. What were all of them doing? Why all the ruckus and fuss? Although she was a salamandyr, she did not seem to create chaos wherever she went, not like the other two did. But it still seemed to amuse her to watch them. And as she did watch, the blue firelizard reappeared suddenly, something gleaming in his mouth. He cooed to Ophelie around the object, trying to get her attention. When he turned toward her it became obvious what he had: an earring, almost identical to the one that Showoff was taunting the green with. Sky didn’t like to see Ophelie upset, and had gone and gotten a different pretty to replace what had been stolen. But where had it gotten it, and to whom did it belong…?

[glamourie]

Silence! Foul beast! Showoff declared as he floundered about in the water, his irritation with Darling evident. Wriggling, the little bronze salamandyr swam across the bathing pools to the side and climbed up, then out, still clutching the earring in his mouth. His little wings flapped twice and he curled up around his prize, glancing about alertly as though he expected one of them to take it away. His attention was mostly focused on Darling, though, as Showoff had made her his nemesis. He fully intended to make the ugly gold thing pay for giving his favor plaything a noise-maker. Ugly beast, ugly beast, he repeated, firmly. He was totally ignoring Ophelie, as though the green firelizard was not a matter of interest. Just like he completely ignored the other firelizards -- but Imp, Imp had his attention, and he scoldingly shrieked at him. You bad. You bad. No be nice ugly beast. You bad. What was wrong with him that he was paying attention to that foul, ugly, wanna-be gold thing? -- Showoff was quite of the opinion that only Dael qualified as a queen. She was the only one worthy of being gold and shiny and that winged, flying thing was trying to steal her spotlight. Showoff would make her pay.

Fluttering her wings in agitation, Ophelie offered Showoff a look that could only be described as a glare. Her tail lashed and she moved forward, though Sky's presence distracted her. Temporarily, at least. The green offered him - and Imp, for the bronze salamandyr's compliment did not go unnoticed - a musical flute of approval. She bounced across the ground and flicked her tail again, watching Showoff as though she expected him to attack. She did not trust the red-bronze thing. He had stolen her pet's shiny, and that made him bad. Her wings fluttered again and she growled low in her throat.

An idea then occurred to the little green and she bounced forward before chittering to Imp, as though she thought he understood her; she twittered and fluted before looking back at Showoff, then at the bronze salamandyr, a pleading note taking up in her voice; wouldn't he be kind enough to make the ugly red thing give her back her pet's shiny? Her wings folded at her sides and she cocked her head intelligently - only to be surprised by a sudden woosh of air next to her. Startled, Ophelie jumped and flapped her wings repeatedly, to no avail; she would doubtlessly have been grateful to Sky if not for the fact that she fell backwards into the bathing pool with an audible cry and a moderate-sized splash. The little green resurfaced quickly enough, her eyes whirling desperately before she managed to flounder her way back up onto the side of the bathing pools, dripping wet and cold.

HA HA! Showoff blurted out, the 'Ha Ha' having been picked up from K'lir when he was being sarcastic to someone at some point. However, his attention was quickly taken by Sky and the shiny he had. Confused, Showoff dropped his earring, then picked it up again. The little blue thing was trying to spite him! Furious, Showoff flared his frill and ran forward toward the firelizard, 'shouting' for all to hear, WHERRYMATER! WHERRYMATER!

Despite Showoff's obvious disapproval, Ophelie bounced over to Sky and nudged him with her head before twittering softly. Had he gone and found her pet a new shiny? How nice of him. She fluted, then flicked her tail before letting loose with an earsplitting shriek in Showoff's direction, loud enough that the salamandyr actually jumped back in surprise. Ophelie was not a loud firelizard by any means, and she rarely made any noise at all. For her to be so furious was a rare occurrence, and she heightened it by puffing up to the biggest size she could manage, her wings flaring in a display of threat. She bounced forward toward Showoff, but after the initial shock, he did not seem phased by her at all.

LOUD wherrymaters, Showoff decided, frazzled. Loud indeed.

[Kisha-Ra]

Imp gave Bite a look that could only be described as unimpressed. Very loud fatty. He commented, not realising that he’d just been insulted by the furious green. Silence fatty! Imp instructed, happy at learning such a good word from Showoff.

Now that Bite had shut up, for the moment at least, Darling had Imp’s attention, her voice was a pretty thing, it matched up well with rest of her, shame he couldn’t really understand exactly what the winged ones were trying to say, wouldn’t it be much better if they just talked like he did? Speaking of talk, what was Showoff on about? Imp craned his head around looking for the uglies that there were supposed to be. Where ugly? he inquired, honestly confused. There no ugly beasts in here, only them, they greens and the winged ones.

That shiny Showoff had seemed to be the object of a great deal of interest, now the green pretty seemed to want something. Imp propelled himself over to the edge of the pool to listen to her. She wanted that shiny? Imp considered Showoff for a moment. Sadly it was the moment in which Ophelie fell in the pool, Imp dived out the way with a squawk of dismay.

YOU bad. he accused Showoff once he’d resurfaced. You take shiny. Imp was guessing that was why the green pretty was upset, although the blue was back, and he had another shiny, maybe Ophelie would like that one more. She seemed to, though for some reason that irked Showoff. Oh and she could make a big noise when she wanted to. Loud. Imp was forced to agree with Showoff.

[boober]

SHUT UP! Shut up, shut up, shut up!! Bite had clearly worked herself into a frenzy again, this tantrum brought on by Imp’s insults. No, the little green didn’t take kindly to having her insults turned on her. She screeched, flapping her wings for emphasis. Dunghead! With that, she skittered over the edge of the pool and launched herself into the air… landing square on Imp’s back to bite him on the head. As quickly as she’d appeared there, she was gone again. But this wasn’t the end of her rampage, and all Topaz had time for was a warning croak and a flare of his wings before the green ‘mandyr launched an attack at him. Much shrieking and splashing ensued, red eyes whirling as the pair squabbled at the tops of their voices. Bite’s typical insults colored the air before suddenly the splashing subsided. Only Topaz remained above the surface, eyes still whirling even as he sat on the enraged green much as he had before.

It looked as if the brown flitter had every intention of letting Bite drown. But he never got the chance, as sharp little fangs bit into his rump. Shrieking, the brown rose up out of the water, Clover looking on in amusement as Bite flailed to the surface, shrieking her fury. Nasty the other green offered calmly, tilting her head up at Topaz even as he proceeded to scold her furiously. Clover made a noise that sounded suspiciously close to laughter even as Bite disappeared beneath the surface of the water for the second time. Once Bite was out of view, however, Clover’s attention quickly turned elsewhere. What was all this fuss? With calm, leisurely strokes, the green ‘mandyr swam over to Showoff, making a curious sound. What did he have, and why was it so important? Darling just looked on, refusing to rise to the bronze’s bait. Instead, she simply swam off to a different section of the pool. Noisy ‘mandyrs! They ruined everything.

Sky uttered an alarmed chirp as Ophelie fell into the pool. Oh no! What had he done? Somehow still managing to keep from dropping his pretty, the blue crooned anxiously as Ophelie climbed out of the water. Clearly, he was apologizing, and probably quite profusely at that. That had not been his intention at all! Showoff’s interjection earned a dismayed look from the blue… but it only lasted until the green approached to nudge him. Perking up, Sky fluted sweetly around the shiny in his mouth. Oh, he was in love! She was so nice and sweet and didn’t seem mad at him in the least for causing her to fall into the water. He returned her light nudge with a nuzzle of his own, although he kept the bauble held firmly in his mouth; clearly he didn’t want to take a chance on Showoff getting a hold of this one too. The commotion that the bronze salamandyr was raising was all but ignored, at least until he began to approach them… only to have Ophelie shriek at him. The sudden sound startled Sky as well, his wings flashing open as he fought his first instinct to launch himself into the air.

The most that Sky offered Showoff was a puzzled look. Why was he so upset? He had stolen something from Ophelie, and Sky had replaced it. He didn’t understand the ‘mandyr’s motives, and probably wouldn’t have even if Showoff could have explained it to him. The concept of taking something just to upset the owner was beyond Sky’s grasp; he was simply too sweet-natured.

[glamourie]

Ugly! Ugly winged CROTCHEATER. As far as salamandyrs went, Showoff could be ridiculously verbose; he was also intelligent enough that he was good at making a point most of the time. Rarely was it left to doubt what Showoff felt or wanted, and that particular day was no exception. He turned back to Darling and snapped pointedly, as though to direct Imp's attention toward the gold firelizard. Ugly, indeed. She was a false-gold and had no right to pretend to be a queen. Only Dael was queen, only Dael. He snapped again, then turned back to Imp, appalled that the other bronze dared to scold him. Did he not realize to whom he was speaking? He was Showoff! The best bronze salamandyr of them all! And the little pipsqueak thought he could talk to him like that? He thought he stood a chance against him at all?

Oh, he was about to learn differently. The reddish-bronze salamandyr displayed vibrantly and threw his bauble in the general direction that Bite was in. GUARD! he commanded; if she was hoping to learn any more insults from him, she'd do as he said. His frill flared out in full, impressive stature, and he ran over to the end of the pool again before flapping his tiny wings defiantly. OUT! Another command, this time doubtlessly made in anger. Ugly out I beat you YOU DIE!

If Imp's goal was to distract Showoff from Ophelie and Darling, it worked fantastically. The bronze salamandyr was quite determined to destroy Imp, or at the very least, teach him quite the lesson for daring to defy him. He was the best salamandyr there was, only Dael was equal to his magnificence, and clearly the little bronze stupid needed to be put in his place. Showoff was happy to be the one to do it. He flared and hissed, loud enough to be heard throughout the entire cavern. Nothing like an angry salamandyr to complicate one's life. The ironic thing was that despite his blatant show of temper, Showoff was also pleased. He was aptly named, for he quite enjoyed being the center of attention and by bickering with him, Imp was giving him exactly what he wanted.

Bemused, Ophelie looked from Showoff to Imp and back again. Her gaze lingered on the younger of the two salamandyrs and she fluted in gratitude, though partial annoyance; yes, she was loud, she was supposed to be loud, how else to make him back off? Logical firelizard. She flipped her wings and eyed the original earring that Showoff had stolen before nudging Sky again. She was still wet, though, and it didn't take long for her to flip her wings to try and be rid of the water. Once the excess droplets were off of her hide, she turned back to Sky and chirruped curiously, as though to ask where he got the earring, and sent him an image of what she meant. She was not going to get involved in the salamandyr fight, it would only end in her having to drop one of them off from a high shelf. The green firelizard had very little tolerance for bickering... though, secretly, she very much hoped Imp beat Showoff. He was a mean bronze.