Time enough for Chores later

[draym]

Draym rubbed his face as he walked. His stomach demanded as much attention as the creature that was currently clinging to his shoulder. His new, against the rules, mandyr was a very clingy one. Maybe that was normal, or maybe Draym just ended up with an overly affectionate one.

Either way, Draym was glad that he wasn't constantly getting gnawed on like he was food. That being said, he idly reached up and gave the little green a scratch under her chin. Olive crooned softly and carefully nuzzled her pointed snout against his cheek.

Are we going to eat soon, Mine? So possessive she was, but it made Draym chuckle. "Yes, Olive. We are headed to get some breakfast now before I become a slave for the day."

I don't like how much you work. That was probably because she wasn't allowed with him. Draym and Olive had been attached as if by some kind of adhesive since she had clung to him at the Hatching not too long ago.

"I know, but having you is worth it, Olive. Glad you are such a sweetheart." He grinned as he turned into the dining hall for breakfast. Plenty of good things to eat, and he grabbed a plate to begin filling with breakfast pastries. Draym had always loves meat filled rolls.

Olive literally pointed out things she wanted to try, and Draym obliged. Sweet rolls, some fruit, even some of the meat pastries that Draym had already heaped on his plate. He knew that she wouldn't like a lot of the stuff, mandyrs were mostly carnivores, but occasionally feeding them fruit couldn't be all bad.

Holding his plate in one hand, he grabbed a mug and expertly filled it with fruit juice. Klah wasn't really his drink of choice, even in the morning.

Olive bobbed quietly on his shoulder until Hers sat down. She jumped off to the table and sat down near his mug. Tilting her head up at him, she crooned quietly. Hers was Hers. No other would do.

[Rowana]

A dark blue fire lizard came whizzing out of the kitchens with a delightful trill. The might not be unusual, except he was doing his very best to fly upside down and not crash into the row of people waiting for breakfast. After a few near misses with plates and heads, he came to a spectacular landing at Draym's table, flipping over his tail with his wings out stretched. Wasn't that amazing? He crooned hopefully at them. They were watching, right?

Annatolli giggled uncontrollably, plate laden with breakfast rolls and fruit she helped Auntie Mae prepare. "Silly Xelos," she said between bouts of merriment. "Auntie Mae'll be mad if you make a mess." She plopped her tray down, without much ceremony, giving the blue fire lizard a big hug. "Hi," she smiled at Draym, eyes widening at the little salamandyr. "Oh, is that a baby one?!" she leaned forward. "Auntie Mae says I'm too young to have one. It's not fair." Xelos wilted a little at that, but Anna patted his head in reassurance. "Xelos is just as good though!"

[draym]

Olive jumped and perched on Draym's forearm, hissing at the sudden newcomer on their table. She relaxed a bit when she realized it was just a cousin, a fire-lizard. She slowly slid back to the table, folding her fairly large wings and sniffing at the blue.

Eww. He doesn't smell as good as you, Mine.

Draym began laughing just as the little girl plopped down at the table. Draym flicked a small little berry at the blue and smiled. "So that's your fire-lizard? He gave Olive quite a scare, she must have been daydreaming again."

Was not. If mandyr's could blush, Olive would have been beet red. She didn't know how to begin to tell Draym she was in love with him. She of course didn't see a thing wrong with it. It didn't matter that she was a salamandyr and Draym was a human. Why would it?

Draym gave her a soft pet, being careful of her wings. "Yes, this is Olive, she just hatched. Not too long ago, actually." He smiled. "My name is Draym, its nice to meet you."

He grinned at the girl and then took a big bite out of a sweet roll. "Mmmm..." Olive sniffed at a berry on his plate, nipped at it, and turned her nose up. Draym chuckled and pulled apart a meat roll and offered her the inside of one half. "There, here's some meat, Olive."

Hers was so thoughtful. Olive crooned lovingly up at him and took a bite of the warm meat in the roll. Meat is good, berries are bad. Her words were laced in happiness as she ate.

[Kisha-Ra]

You are evil. You are pointed, foul thing. You… Oh lovely sister. You are well. I can tell. You are always pretty. A gift. Vivano watched, bemused, as his newly (and accidently) acquired pet, sprang off Vivano’s wrist, where he had been lecturing a fork for some unfathomable insult and half fly, half glide, over to go skidding across a table and come to a halt in front of another young salamandyr, as well as a firelizard and some humans.

With a shrug Vivano decided to go over and at least reclaim his errant pet, his Monster however had other ideas. On placing his things down on the table (his full hands had allowed Monster to escape in the first place) he found that Monster claimed the first object he could grasp, ironically the evil fork, as a gift for the green salamandyr, and wrapped his tail around it to tug the fork over in front of her.

‘Sorry about that. The little Monster seems to have some way to recognise his siblings from the salamandyr crowd.’ Vivano apologised while trying to grab Monster, who twisted, writhed, wriggled and just plain ran away from the attempted capture. NO! The little Monster howled and fled over to Annatolli, trying to hide behind the girl’s plate, only to return and smack Vivano in the hand with his atail a moment later. A gift for the other pretty you should give. he commanded. ‘Er, she’s a bit young for me don’t you think?’ Vivano asked the brown with some amusment, although he did cast a small, slightly embarrassed smile at the little girl. Will grow. Monster suggested slyly before he dived into Vivano’s shirt pocket to see what his might have for a gift.

‘I think the firelizard might be better than a salamandyr.’ Vivano commented, recalling what the conversation Monster had interrupted was. ‘They don’t seem to be half so intent on causing havoc. Unless, of course, that’s just Monster.’

[Rowana]

Oh dear, Xelos wilted at Olive's response. Oh well, at least Mistress Anna would always love him! He didn't need those pesky worms with her around. Annatolli was beaming at Draym around her breakfast. "Olive," she nodded appreciatively. "She's so cute! Nice to mee..." She was interrupted by the arrival of Monster and Vivano. She giggled, nearly splashing her drink at the brown's antics. "Another baby one!"

"Nice to meet you all," she finished brightly. "I'm Anna and this is Xelos!" She leaned closer to Monster in his hiding place, offering him in a tidbit of pastry. Xelos snatched the treat of her hand, flipping up onto her head. Silly girl should know he was more deserving of praise. Anna giggled again, and gave him a berry as well. "Of course you're wonderful Xelos," she agreed. Even Vivano thought fire lizards were better, though she wasn't sure why.

[draym]

If looks could kill, the new brown mandyr at the table would have dropped dead instantly.

Olive smacked the fork away with her blugeon-like tail and growled at the brown. I don't want your gifts. I have a mate. She added the last part as her head swiveled so that she was facing directly at Draym. No mistaking, Draym was who she was talking about. Barely out of the egg, and Olive was bound and determined to mate only with Hers.

Draym's face turned red. He wasn't too sure if this level of infatuation was normal for salamandyrs. "Monster, huh? So he isn't...overly attached to you? Say...in love with you?" It felt awkward to ask, but he had to see if the others who had Impressed were experiencing something close.

Draym couldn't help but laugh at the antics of the little girl's fire-lizard. Her name was Anna, and Draym could swear that she was the most adorable little girl in all of Pern. He grinned at her. "I think you have your hands full with little Xelos there."

Draym then proceeded to nod toward their new table-mate. "I don't know if you heard me, but my name is Draym. Olive is the green mandyr there, staring daggers at your little brown." He chuckled. "Monster right? Looks like he's trying to get in good with Anna there."

Draym watched the antics on the table as he set the half-pastry down for Olive to eat out of and bit into the other half of it. His favorite was the meat too, but he didn't mind the odd berry tart or even fresh berries. Olive though, gave him an eye flashing with discomfort as his thoughts turned to berries. She did NOT like them. Looked like he was going to be changing his eating habits a little to accommodate his new....mandyr.

Olive turned away from the ridiculous brown mandyr and began to eat her pastry. Draym almost choked as he watched her sit on her haunches and being to pick up bits of meat to eat about as much like a person as she could get. It was a bit crazy, but also a bit mesmerizing to watch her work so meticulously.

I find you just as fas...fasc...amazing. Olive stumbled over words every now and then, but she was getting much better already. Draym smiled at her slightly before tearing his gaze away from her.

Shaking his head, Draym looked back up at his table mates. "I'm a candidate by the way, what brings you guys here to the Weyr?"

[Kisha-Ra]

Monster seemed supremely unconcerned by the rejection of his fork-gift, mostly because he was no longer paying attention to it. Instead he looked up at Draym curiously. That? Far too big. Monster is better, is best! The brown replied with bewilderment. Silly, silly sister, she obviously couldn’t see that Monster was the best male ever. He would have explained it for her, but he was distracted by the arrival of his own bonded, who was definitely not his mate.

‘Hi Anna, and you too Xelos’ Vivano replied, a little nonplussed by all the interest, but he slid into a seat anyway, figuring he might as well eat some of his breakfast while it was still hot. Monster made his way back out of his temporary hiding place, having forgotten why he went in there in the first place. ‘He seems pretty smart too.’ He added, noting the firelizard stealing an offering meant for Monster, who hadn’t noticed it.

‘Er, not as such, no.’ Vivano answered the rather odd question distractedly, trying to stop Monster from grabbing any of his food to offer to Olive and Anna. ‘He likes to flirt with anything female, he’s got the attention span of a two turn old at a gather, and he takes offense at inanimate objects, but he doesn’t seem to be in love with me.’ Vivano’s attention wandered to Draym for long enough that Monster managed to wrestle a whole rasher of bacon off the plate and across the table.

The little Monster in question dragged his prize across the table to set it before Anna. A gift for you lovely. He announced, because, really, who didn’t want a gift of bacon with salamandyr drool?

Vivano tried not to facepalm at his pet and vowed to shut Monster in a box as soon as possible. He also tried to communicate with the little girl, by means of eye contact, that she didn’t have to accept a gift of slightly used bacon from Monster. ‘Whers bring me to the Weyr as it happens.’ Vivano replied openly. ‘I’ve wanted to bond to one for a while, and here is where the only wherhandlers who’ll let a hatchling out their sight.’ Vivano had no reason to conceal his goals here, sure they might be considered odd if he was a little younger but since he was two years out of the dragon candidate age bracket he didn’t look odd at all, even if he was more enthusiastic than an aged out person who’s first choice was dragons.

[Rowana]

Annatolli nodded at Draym enthusiastically. "Xelos is fun!" she agreed. "And clever!" She reached for another treat for her fire lizard and tossed it. Xelos jumped forward to catch it midair, then land on the table with another pose. Yes, he was quite skilled, wasn't he? He sniffed then, glancing down at Monster in confusion. What was he doing with that disgusting thing? Anna giggled appreciatively. "Thanks Monster!" She picked it up with two fingers and put it on the edge of her plate. "I'll save it for last!"

"I'm here with Auntie Mae," Anna explained in a pleasant voice. "I used to live with mother at the old place before the earth shake. Mother couldn't come." Anna had long ago ceased crying over her mother's death. It was sad, but mother wouldn't want her to be miserable forever, would she? Besides, she had Auntie Mae and Xelos to take care of now. No time to be weeping and making a fuss!

[draym]

Draym frowned. "Guess it's just Olive then." He reached out to softly scratch the mandyr's head as she nibbled on her half of the pastry. Draym had already finished his half of it, and began on a handful of berries.

"She is attached to me constantly unless I'm forced to leave her behind. And then, she constantly talks to me." Draym grinned as Olive gave somewhat of a purr from his attentions.

Turning his attention to Anna, Draym frowned softly as she told them about her mother. "I'm really sorry to hear that Anna. Its good you have your Aunt and Xelos then." He smiled warmly at her and chuckled as she took the brown mandyr's gift of chewed on bacon.

The little girl was so pleasant, it was astonishing. And it seemed that the other boy's mandyr was just a massive flirt. Olive mentally scoffed at that. That other mandyr was about as appealing to her as a berry was. The little green slipped closer to Hers, Draym was enough for her.

Draym tried to hide his mandyr-thought induced blush. He focused on what Vivano had said.

"Whers do seem interesting, but I really couldn't see myself bonded to one and becoming nocturnal. I would much prefer a dragon. I've wanted to Impress for Turns now." Draym gave a sigh.