What the shards... {Tag: Sym}

[midnight]

The problem with Gathers was finding the one person our of hundreds, that you needed to find. Especially when the woman needed to find a certain rider so she could start piecing together his costume for the costume contest. This was indeed a bothersome process considering she had a handful of marks. But since the gather lasted for awhile, she had time to get something made back at the Weyr.

She had extra fabric, that could be used for the costume. Problem was - getting the sizes of the damnable rider. R'wign, was who she had to interact with. Would definitely prove intersting, she had heard he was a little weird. Alright maybe not just a little, but more then a bit weird. But the girl was willing to push that to the side so she could interact with him. She would need to anyways. Since first day of gather she had bought Drop and Ka, she knew that Clingy wasn't happy with her.

Whatever she made, it couldn't be heavy fabric, had to be loose and flowing. So that the man didn't overheat like a wherry-necked-idiot. Not that he was one, but in a situation like this it was best to just not make the outfit heavy. So a couple of thin layers of fabric, with possibly something to wrap around his head to keep his hair back and off of his neck in any way possible?

She wouldn't know exactly, till she was interacting with the male. Drop Stupid. You Stupid. He Stupid, she stupid. They stupid. Stupidstupidstupid. The mandyr bemoaned his fate of all the stupid people around him. He knew his was not stupid, but everyone else might as well be. Though his might be slightly stupid cause she kept that snaky thing in a pouch on her waist. All coiled up and sleeping.

Tunnelsnakes! He sharding hated them, Meagen knew this... But it was not the snakes fault it had hatched. Plus she had to take care of it for a bit. Otherwise it was just a waste of marks - and no one liked that. She'd have to deal with it and so would Cligny. Drop was clinging to her other shoulder crooning at everything around him. He was a little slow, but it was ok. At least he wasn't as stupid as some firelizards could get.

"Where is R'wign..." She muttered as she looked at the message that told her she had to make a costume for him. Sharding fardles, this was annoying.

[glamourie]

He really, really wanted another pie.

R’wign frowned and ran his finger down the line of the wooden post holding the large fish kite together. He was carefully putting it together while the weather was temperate enough to enjoy being outdoors. He wanted it to be ready by the time that the wind picked up in the afternoon, so that he could drag M’ta around the beach playing with it. The problem was that the only place to sit at the Gather was near the food stalls and the pie stall had just baked a fresh batch of bubbly pies and the scent was carrying. He had enough trouble resisting without temptation wafting under his nose and only the fact that he’d told M’ta that he would take it easy kept him from caving and buying himself so many pies that he sent himself into a coma. Only that fact. They smelled so bloody good – so perfectly delicious – it was hard to behave.

He settled for moving to fasten the kite together. It was a wonderful shade of ruby-red with blue and green accenting to look like an overgrown and realistic fish in flight. Decently sized, it was enough to enthrall any child and anyone who happened to like kites – as R’wign did and he strongly suspected his weyrmate would. He’d liked the stargazer well enough after all. It’d been a long time since R’wign put together a kite though – in fact, not since he was a small child. Foreign was the process, but he was getting the hang of it and anyway it came with verbal instructions. Fortunately he had a very good memory for those and he was sure that he was making efficient progress. He’d have been making more if not for the fact that his hair was in his face; he really needed to cut it but he was trying to hold off until joining day. He was still surprised Southern was willing to do a joining for two men. Surprised, but not displeased. Hmm.

Vex fly on shiny? the dark green salamandyr inquired from her spot in the tanned bag that the pieces of the kite had come in. She poked her nose out and chirped, her tail snaking around to swirl at her side. Like all salamandyrs, Vex was not very good at flying, though she certainly looked like she ought to be; she was built serpentine, if very long, and for a green, she was lovely (as far as R’wign was concerned – she’d grown on him a lot). Can fly high like Ellie? Eloquent she was – exceptionally so. With near genius-level intelligence (if purely bent on an evil scheme), it was hard not to follow what Vex said when she wanted someone to know what she was saying. She was smart.

“I don’t think it’s quite apt enough to old you, Vex. You’ll have to fly on Checkoth,” he said without looking up. Just two more pieces and then he could test it out and flee from the – oh shards, that was mixed berry. Lifting his head, the healer turned to stare longingly at the stalls of food, his stomach giving an audible gurgle that probably should have embarrassed him, but didn’t. Such wonderful smells. Such wonderful, delicious smells. Freshly baked pies was one of the best scents ever. Only the soft scolding from Grouch drew his attention back to the table, where he sat surrounded by his mindmates that could fit within the Gather. Ellie was curled up and watching his assembly in interest, while Grumpy was laying next to her, his favoritism for the gold blatant. Stumpy was hanging off the edge of the table as if he owned it, and Grouch had moved to sit in front of and chew R’wign out. No pies. No pies.

“Message received, Grouch, you can shut up now.”

He was rewarded with a deafening screech that sounded throughout the entire Gather. Grouch did not like being told to shut up.

[midnight]

Meagen wandered the gather, brushing through the gathering crowd. She held a meatroll from home, and a scowl on her face. Her eyes sparked with annoyance as she felt the shuffling of Ka against her side. Clingy was still not happy, called her stupid constantly. But Ka was a hatchling and had done nothing wrong - yet. It was just young and needed help. She planned on letting it have it's own devices in this hot summer - as soon as she found a good sandy place to release it. She didn't really like the idea of wasting her marks - but she loved Clingy more then Ka.

Drop took this moment to take to the air, landing on the table and shuffling towards someone with just as many little critters. He slumped himself down and looked up at the gold with whirling eyes of adoration. He was hungry! Yup! But he wanted to make others like him more! Yup Yup Yup! He knew Meagen had followed him and was once again diverted in his attentions as his pet arrived. Such a pretty and good pet! She fed him good things, but she kept that snake thingy - and the other thingy that called things stupid. He wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he sent comforting images to all around.

Meagen came up next to the male trying to make a kite - putting a hand on her hip for a moment. But she looked him over and took a more respectful stance. "Hello, my name is Meagen..." She said as she extended the slip of paper - a wry smile on her lips. "I hope this isn't a bad time to talk to you?" She asked lightly as she looked around. Wow, he had a lot of pets. He was also a dragonrider - a spark of jealous popped through her for a moment. She let all emotions slide away as she watched the male. Stupid? Man Stupid? Clingy asked in a tired voice.

The heat was getting to him, or he could just genuinely be tired after being such a butthead all day. She was gonna go for the later, because it seemed the norm for her Mandyr. She was actually nervous, she rarely talked to others outside of her Candidate - now Weyrling- friends... Dia might be here as well. But that was beside the point.

[glamourie]

Excuse you. Best, is mine. Silly baby. Learn. Best, LoveMine is. Not stupid.

Trust Vex to jump to the defense of Hers immediately. The green salamandyr crawled out of the bag and climbed onto the top of it, flaring her frill in obvious irritation at Clingy – as if she thought it would intimidate him. Considering that for a green salamandyr, she was on the large side, and she was full grown, it was possible – depending on his personality. The scary thing about Vex though was not her physical build but her intelligence. As far as salamandyrs went, particularly green salamandyrs, she was one with a wicked intelligence – ridiculously smart, and more to the point, she definitely lived up to her name. The only entity she loved was Hers, too, and that one had insulted him. It was tempting for Vex to punish the little blue – and she had no doubt that she could. Her eyes glinted and she looked at him, waiting for an apology. If he said he was sorry, perhaps – perhaps – she’d forgive him the transgression. She’d been in a good mood to start with, after all.

Unlike Vex, R’wign did not usually take offense at the behavior of salamandyrs. He was more than used to them by then – most of his friends owned at least one of the pests, and he’d known K’lir for Turns, ever since the then-green weyrlingrider (the first time) had Impressed Showoff, the first bronze salamandyr to hatch… ever. Hard not to be immune to their antics. He ignored the creature and instead tilted his chin up, raising an eyebrow in response to the girl’s question. His gaze dropped to the paper she held and he lifted one hand to take it and read it over before handing it back.

“Hi. Feel free to take a seat. I’m R’wign – but you already know that, since you’re here,” he said with a wry grin before going back to his kite. Unfortunately, being interrupted left him staring at it, trying to figure out where he’d left off. He was great at multitasking when he was meaning to, but he’d been quite contentedly distracting himself from thought. Pfft. Shards. “Just move any of the flitters in the way. Most of them are accommodating. The one in front of me bites, but he’ll probably move if you swat or something.” As if on cue, Grouch leaned over and bit his finger – not at all pleased by the suggestion of being removed from his hard-earned spot. Annoying.

Lifting her head, Ellie turned and offered a quiet chirp in Meagan’s direction. The firelizard queen gave a quick flick of her tail, but otherwise did not acknowledge the salamandyr – aside from Vex and PMS, she didn’t really like them. Her head cocked to the side and then she turned to nudge a piece of the kite back at R’wign – encouraging the assembly, and helping him get back on track. Stumpy, on the other hand, positively squealed and threw himself onto the table, crawling toward Meagan with excited chattering – while Grumpy ignored all of them. His Gold was paying attention to him. That was one of the few things that contented him, after all.

“That’s Stumpy coming towards you. He doesn’t bite or anything, but he might follow you ‘round if you touch him. Did you need something specific?” R’wign didn’t look up again, instead focusing his attention on the task at hand. Having only one eye made it difficult from time-to-time to see what he was doing and while he was sure it qualified as rude to not give her his undivided attention, he wasn’t sure he minded all that much. He was answering, after all. He just didn’t want to get his fingers stuck to the kite. Reasonable, right? Right.

[midnight]

Meagen watched the going ons and sighed lightly to herself. Leave it to Clingy to insult a pretty little green. Pretty. was all the blue could get out as he looked at the green. No forget being cowed and whimpering like he usually did when something bigger came down upon him. He was impressed and in utter fascination with the green. He found himself trying to impress her, with no utter idea how. Which utterly made his bonded just as flabbergasted. "Shards, Clingy... " She muttered to the blue as she stroked a finger over his frills. She looked towards the man and gently made herself a seat.

She sat down and crossed her legs, shrugging her shoulder back a little. "You're making a kite?" She said conversationally as she tried to figure out how to ask him for what she needed. She watched the approach of Stumpy and smiled. Reaching out she shrugged at R'wign's answer about the critter following her around. "I have Clingy already - what's another?" She said with a faint smile. She stroked Stumpy from between the eyes and down his back, a grin playing across her features.

"Alright, so I have to make you a costume. I just wanted to get a few ideas from you - as well as your sizes." She said finally as she looked towards the male. She was utterly cowed in the presence of others - at least lately. Since she was getting used to Clingy's emotions slightly - still. But not as bad as usual. She gathered up her courage and looked over his entourage of companions. "So I'd like the help, if you'd give it?" She said lightly as she continued to pet Stumpy.

Drop on the other hand was scooting on his little hatchling belly towards Ellie - dead determined to get recognized in some way. He was a hatchling afterall! So he wanted affection, and his was a little busy. So why not pretty goldy?

[glamourie]

Vex flared her frill curiously at the compliment. So many salamandyrs used the word ‘pretty’ as an insult (no doubt because of Showoff and his dead mate’s preference for it) but that didn’t sound like it was intended as one. Perhaps the little stupid recognized how magnificent she was. Vex still didn’t like him. Not that she had any intentions of voicing that. It was very rare for her to give voice to her true thoughts to anyone outside of R’wign and she didn’t have to most of the time with him – he was able to tell when she was annoyed most of the time. She eyed the hatchling critically, a low whirl of irritation in her eyes, though she couldn’t stop herself from fluttering her wings – showing off the clean, elegant gleam of her hide. She knew she was beautiful. She didn’t need compliments to reinforce that to her; she had eyes and she knew very well what was generally deemed pretty. Her frill flared, half-heartedly, and she eyed Clingy for a moment longer. No immediate response was given.

“I am,” R’wign said with a cheerful nod. “My goal is to give it to M’ta. The toy stall is selling some fish ones, but personally? I’m not exactly fond of fish.”

The blue firelizard squirmed and chirruped happily up at Meagan, his eyes whirling in delight. R’wign watched him in what started as curiosity and quickly blossomed to amusement as Stumpy (who was tiny for a blue – smaller even than some green flitters) crawled up the girl’s arm and came to nestle himself into her neck as much as possible. He peeked around at Clingy before chirping agreeably. Stumpy liked everyone (except for Lust) and he was more than happy to be friendly with a baaaaby. Baby salamandyrs weren’t scary. It was when they got big that they got scary but he was still little so he was safe. Right? Right. Stumpy’s logic was infallible and he had no problem chattering happily before nudging Meagan’s jaw in blatant affection. Attention, attention~

Rolling his eye at his firelizard, R’wign scratched his head and went back to pressing two pieces of the kite together. “What kind of ideas were you looking for? I mean – I can’t exactly tell you what kind of costume to make, that would defeat the purpose of the contest and anyway I used all my good ideas on my partner.” His head cocked to the side and then he gestured to himself. “Can’t tell my sizes by looking?” There was definitely an edge of amusement in his voice. He knew for a fact it actually was hard to tell with him – he wore baggier clothes, given the choice, and because of that, most people didn’t realize he was as muscular as he was. “I don’t know them off the top of my head, but a drudge named Orialle does most of my clothing mending. She can tell you.”

The slender gold firelizard turned her head toward the sound of movement and found herself presented with a blue firelizard. Cocking her head to the side, she chirped pleasantly, her tail curling around her haunches, and a pleasant shade whirled through her eyes. She liked babies, did Ellie. Flaring one wing, she looked over at him and nudged the hatchling gently. So silly. What was he doing, crawling around that way? Firelizards were not for crawling, they were for flying. Didn’t he know that? Yes, the amusement whirled happily in her gaze. Silly blue.

“She’s got a mate, by the way,” he commented toward the blue salamandyr, a hint of amusement rising in his voice. “And she’s not very nice. Are you, Vex?”

Always kind to LoveMine. Always.

[midnight]

Meagen sighed as she looked towards Clingy, who was at an utter loss for words. She had no intentions of getting the male to tell her what costume to make. She was half-tempted to make him something gauzy and dancerish - just to see how much she could piss people off. She looked towards the kite as Stumpy went up her arm and snuggled into her neck.

Why couldn't Clingy or Drop be this adorable? Drop was a little stupid, and Clingy was mean. But that's how Mandyrs were. She hadn't expected to get the Mandyr, but she had ended up with him. She continued to pet the firelizard as she looked towards the males task. "Well if you take and make the loops of string here and here - " She said motioning to the supplies he was working with. "The frame will form a little easier, and the sticks won't slip as easily. Then double loop the string over each of those spots - after teh stick is in place, and it'll firmly be in place. Then put the other stick in it's looks, crosswise..." She said lightly.

It was fun to remember how to make a kite as a child. Her eyes turned as she noticed both Clingy and Drop completely devoted to the females they were entranced by. Drop was for another reason, here was a gold. Big lady! Momma lady? Images of eggs coming to her mind - broken and small - based on the way the blue acted - he had a gold nearby him in his egg for a small time. But he was interested in Ellie only for that reason.

Clingy on the other hand was enamored with the green mandyr. She was so smart! So beautiful and her frills were so so... so frilly! Hungry? Food? he offered to the green. he was fully willing to take off and steal another sausage!

"Oh shards..." She muttered as she slapped her palm to her forehead.

[glamourie]

… He knew how to make a kite. It was tempting to point that out; he’d already fastened several parts of it and he’d been finishing it up. While R’wign appreciated the offer of help, he’d have asked if he needed it – and he’d made more than one kite in his lifetime. He wondered, briefly, if it was common for people to just assume that he was ignorant. She definitely wasn’t the first person who tried to tell him how to do the most mundane things. He did bring it on himself, though, he reasoned: he liked to pretend to be less intelligent, less competent, less skilled than he really was, for the benefit of not having anyone make expectations of him. R’wign was someone who hated when others expected things from him because it inevitably led to letting them down. Being a disappointment was his single greatest fear. (There was a reason that R’wign did not become Weyrhealer until several Turns after being at Selenitas, despite being the most qualified human-healer at the Weyr for most of his time there.)

Just the same, even though he needed no instructions, he followed the same ones that she offered – because they were the next steps. His hands moved mechanically and he watched with his single eye, suspicious.

“I thought you wanted to ask about the costume?” he inquired curiously, ignoring the salamandyrs – it wasn’t worth it to get into a discussion about them and anyway, Vex could more than take care of herself. “I don’t really know how much I can help you there, for the record. I’d certainly like to, but I’m not very good at picking out costumes for myself – I tend to dress strangely for no reason, after all.” He smiled. She didn’t know him very well, so she wouldn’t know that he did everything from wearing skirts to a belly dancer costume at a Gather solely because he could. “Apologies if I seem kind of forward, but I don’t really know how I can help you.” He shrugged. “Your firelizard seems to like Ellie. She attracts blues, it seems.”

The gold crooned to Drop and eyed him curiously, confused. He wasn’t one of her babies – her babies were all older. She remembered. Grouch was around the age of her babies. She flashed an image of her last clutch to him for emphasis before chirping inquiringly. She fluttered her wings and sat up properly before leaning down to nudge the smaller firelizard, confusion touching her gaze. He definitely wasn’t one of hers, though if he was looking for one to look after him, she could, she supposed. She liked babies, even those that weren’t Hers. He was sweet enough.

Vex, on the other hand, was a lot less indulgent of outside attention. Though she was not terribly fond of PMS (she found him less intelligent), she was loyal to him just the same – he was her mate. He was hers, and she was his. For better or for worse. She crooned just the same, eying Clingy curiously as he spoke. He wanted to bring her food? He wanted to give her things? Like a good little servant. A good little servant. Her eyes glinted. She wasn’t hungry (Hers did so spoil her) but she was interested. Standing on her hindlegs in a classical meerkat pose, the green cocked her head to the side and flared her frill. Gift, give Vexling? What name, yours? Stranger, babyling, not know. Tell Vexling. Perhaps Vexling give job, yes yes. Tell. She curled her tail behind her before leaning forward to look at the boy more curiously. Curious about baby…

[midnight]

Meagen laughed softly and lightly, a true laugh. It was definitely directed towards the male - as she looked at him sideways. "I did, but I find urges to help others are more prominent lately. If it bothers you, I can hold it back?" She said as she braced her elbow on the table. She needed to think of a costume and one was definitely forming in her head. Perhaps that? That might work out rather well. She liked the thought of him clad in something like that.

He wouldn't only enjoy wearing it - he would happily wear it more then likely. He was odd enough for it, and it would make her feel wonderful if someone was wearing that idea of hers. She pressed her hand to her lips and smiled at him in a sly manner. "Though I think I have a costume in mind already - now that I have spoken to you. I can get the measurements from the drudge you speak of."She said lightly as she tapped her fingers on the table.

Clingy perked up as he was recognized his eyes sparking with definite interest. Meaegnlove. Clingy. he said with emphasis. First he introduced his person, then himself. His chest puffing up with pride as he went on his rear legs for a moment, so he could pick a piece of gravel from between his toes. Meagen rolled her eyes and laughed at the approach of Drop to Ellie. "It seems he wants a mother - I guess I'm not enough." She said with a faint smile. Real laughter, had been hard for her... it was still a rather new thing.

She had turned so funny after the Siege.

[glamourie]

Shrug. R’wign wasn’t someone who announced his displeasures very often. In fact, the only living entity who ever found out he was upset about something before he exploded in a messy fashion was his weyrmate. Even M’ta had some trouble prying things out of him, too. It was very hard to read R’wign because he usually wore an impassive smile that said everything and nothing at once – he blocked the world away with a joking, playful façade and was pleased to find that most of the world never questioned it. R’wign was a secretive entity who hated expressing emotions. As a result, he saw no reason to state that he was irritated. What did he gain from fussing? Close to nothing. So he didn’t do it; if she thought he liked her well enough that was her business. R’wign was fine with never doing anything that could be construed as “picking a fight.” He didn’t believe in arguing. Nonconfrontational, he was… always.

Part of him was interested though in the fact that she seemed to think she knew him from one short conversation. He wasn’t exactly the easiest man to get to know. Arrogant little girl, she was. He didn’t voice that, instead opting to plaster a pleasant smile onto his face, his single eye narrowing slightly.

“I’m told that purple is my color,” he teased lightly. Actually, he was told that green was. M’ta liked him in green, anyway, and M’ta’s opinion was infinitely more important to him than almost anyone else at the Weyr’s. His gaze flicked to the firelizards and he leaned over to stroke Ellie’s back. “I used to have seven firelizards. Ellie, Crash, Hazard, Stumpy, Grouch, Collision, and Roxie. And Ellie mothered them all – except perhaps Roxie; Roxie was kind of… unfriendly.” He missed her horribly; just saying her name sent a sharp pang down to his stomach. “She still mothers Grumpy and Stumpy, but Grouch tends to be pretty independent. I don’t think he listens to anyone but me and he makes quite a fuss about how inconvenient it is to have to do that. She collects blues, like I said. I’ve got three of ‘em.” He shrugged. He didn’t find it terribly odd that a blue would be fond of Elegance – she was hard to dislike. He didn’t think there was any entity other than Lust that did harbor ill-feelings for the gold. Hm.

The green salamandyr flared her frill curiously and then stretched out languidly. She moved over closer to R’wign, putting herself between him and the girl – mainly because Vex was a highly possessive creature, even if she didn’t spout insults like many salamandyrs did. She didn’t see a reason to; Vex could hold her own without words.

Pleasure, babyClingy. Vex I am, yes. R’wign is lovemine. So is EllieGold, GrouchBlue, StumpyBlue and GrumpyBlue – and big CheckBrown. Collects, Vex does. Only Green. She leaned down to lick her claws before eying the blue curiously. Dementia’s baby, you are? It was a curious sort of question. Dementia was her sister, that much she remembered, but she didn’t know the gold very well. She tended to socialize more with firelizards than her own kind. Unlike many salamandyrs, Vex had no problem with her winged cousins – she kind of had to tolerate them with R’wign. She was fine with anything she deemed intelligent enough to manipulate, in any case. She hadn’t known that Dementia spewed babies (and in her mind that’s all that Dementia was capable of – spewing babies) but there was the proof in front of her… unless he was a firelizard spawn. She supposed that was possible too, considering he didn’t look quite normal, but hm…