What's the Story Morning Glory? [Tags K'lir]

[nightingale]

As wakefulness eased into Saeo’s mind, she began to understand that she was caught between rock and a warm, soft place. She sighed and pressed herself against the later, thinking for a moment that she had fallen asleep next to C’vin…but then, why was his bed so cold and sharp? And there was wind…and he didn’t smell right and that had been two days ago and she had left directly afterward so where in the world was she?

She opened her eyes.

We won my beautiful. Cherilith crooned softly from the far side of the weyrledge where he lay curled beside his newly acquired mate, watching his rider expectantly with slowly whirling cobalt blue eyes. The tender vibrations in his voice soothed her instantly. So they were on a weyrledge? Probably right outside the flight rooms. That explained all the sharp things digging into her squishy bits. Where were her clothes? She hadn't the faintest clue. At least someone had been thoughtful enough to cover them with a blanket. It was Calistoth's idea. She did not want you two to get sick from being cold and wet. Cherilith told her, his voice an expression of pure delight.

I’m happy for you my darling. She told him gently, a small smile playing in the corner of her mouth as she felt his mind glow in the wake of her praise. Saeo had no idea why she was feeling so good. Twenty four hours ago, the idea of waking up next to a stranger had been nothing short of terrifying. Now it was…kind of nice. Not the fact that she was pressed naked against a greenrider she barely knew, but being warm, content and close to a person who, for whatever strange reason, you were suddenly quite fond of. She blamed Cherilith for most of it, but she wasn't terribly inclined toward having him take it back.

She shifted slightly, tilting her head up so she could watch K'lir's sleeping features. He was much more handsome without that unpleasant sneer on his face, she noted with a vague pleasure she didn't feel the need to analyze. In a slow an leisurely motion, she reached up to gently brush the hair off of his forehead. “Wake up K’lir.” She whispered, trying hard not to giggle. “This is your conscience. You’ve made a horrible mistake.”

[glamourie]

His butt hurt.

That was probably not the most mature (and certainly not the most intelligent) response to have upon waking up, but K’lir was not known for his superior intellect or remarkable maturity. He was, however, convinced that much of Selenitas Weyr recognized him by the perfect curvature of his back side. That in mind, it struck him as exceptionally unusual that his was sore. He knew for a fact he had enough blankets to prevent that from ever happening in his furs, which --- allowed for his mind to make the necessary mental leap: he was not in his furs. Or in anyone’s furs for that matter, if the absolute hardness below him was anything to judge by. He was, in fact, on the ground. Naked. Probably outside. Which could mean really only one of two things: he’d either gotten screamingly drunk (unlikely) or one of his so kind mind mates had decided they needed to mate. Since he didn’t drink very often, he was betting on the latter - and as he connected that mentally, the events from the afternoon all came flooding back, complete with his oh-so-elegant slip right off the edge of the weyrledge.

Spectacular. Just spectacular. At least he hadn’t become a red-headed splatter on the canyon floor or in the river down below, but it really was humiliating to have to be pulled back up onto a ledge because he’d slipped in his surprise, and was standing far too close to the edge to begin with. Part of him - a large part - blamed Calistoth. If only she could Rise like a normal green, he might not have the desire to go playing on the edge of a ledge, or running through hallways destroying things. Maybe. Though, it was entirely possible the half-suicidal stupidity was all him. If Saeo so much as looked at him funny, he was going to ---

--- uh.

Touching. Fingers brushing his skin. Very light, yes, but he recognized the contact anyway. K’lir did not open his eyes nor move. He gave no indication of being awake initially, even though the urge to jump (apparently he was ticklish?) was nearly overwhelming. Instead, he reached out to brush Calistoth’s mind and found his green still asleep, doubtlessly curled quite possessively around Cherilith. A similar reach was made for Showoff and the mental response he got was the salamandyr equivalent of a rude hand gesture, so he left him alone; Showoff was always unhappy when Calistoth Rose. Perhaps it was jealousy? He did very much like being the center of attention, but there was little K’lir could do to help him there. Calistoth would always Rise, after all. Not like he could stop her even if he’d wanted to. Greens did what Greens did best - plain and simple.

Speaking drew him from his mental reverie and K’lir groaned quietly to himself. “Conscience?” he asked without opening his eyes, though he squirmed back slightly - unable to help himself. It wasn’t personal, he just… tended to require space after Flights; he didn’t like not being in control of himself very much. “I thought I cut my conscience out of me and sold it to Lennae for Brat to eat one day. You survived the inside of a salamandyr’s gut?”

One eye flicked open and K’lir half sat up, the full on mop of very frizzy red hair bouncing around his face in the process. It was wavy under normal circumstances but K’lir went to great lengths to straighten it. Nothing like a little humidity, rain and sweat to bring the curls back in full force, along with enough frizz to make his head look twice its normal size. The curls made his age significantly more prominent; K’lir was barely nineteen, though he often talked as if he’d been a dragon rider for more than three and a half Turns. It felt like longer than that for him at least. His second eye joined the first and K’lir turned his head slightly, threw his head to try and get the curls out of his gaze, and then sniffed indignantly. “Some conscience. You owe me dinner.”

Are they awake already? Calistoth made no effort to move from her wrapped up position. At least temporarily, she was completely placated, and her usual temper was gone in favor of half-sleepiness. That she didn’t ask K’lir was a bit unusual, but -- as she so quickly explained -- Lirmine is usually grouchy after my Flights. I do hope he’s behaving. Actually, she couldn’t have cared less. Cherilith’s rider was a female, and that meant she deserved whatever temper K’lir could have offered - to Calistoth. But she didn’t care enough to ask what sort of mood he was in. She didn’t even want to be awake, really… such a nice, comfortable pillow her blue made~

[nightingale]

Nearly choking on her amusement, Saeo pressed a finger against her lips in a vain attempt to keep a flood of giggles from spilling out. She took the greenrider’s subtle physical cue that perhaps she ought to get out of his personal space with a grain of salt, and lifted herself up into a more-or-less sitting position, tenting the slightly damp woolen blanket over her head. “You ask the question, but at the same time I'm sure you realize that the interior of a salamandyr's digestive tract makes for wretched pillow talk. How about we just say that consciences are indigestible, and leave it at that?”

The girl took a moment to rub the sleep from her eyes, being careful not to smudge her eye-paint until she remembered that she wasn’t wearing any. Her sun-bleached hair had taken on a gentle wave from having been drenched and then slept upon, and she made a have a halfhearted to attempt to rake it back from her face. She really did need to get it cut sometime in the near future, she mused absently. There was just something about the way is brushed against her shoulders that irritated her -as if someone was always trying to get her attention. Lifting her head, she cast her clouded eyes across the ledge, taking note of the fact that at least one of her slippers had survived the storm. The rest of her clothes were nowhere to be seen...oh please let that darter be building a nest with someone else's brassier...

Glancing back toward K’lir, the girl twisted her features into an expression of incredibly melodramatic indignation. “Oh do I now?" She demanded, arcing her pale eyebrows and tilting her head to make the gesture even more pointed. "Hmph! You women are all alike –let you get one foot in the door and you start making all manner of outrageous demands! I should have known you only wanted me for my money and my huge penis.” She gave her head a haughty little toss and pulled the blanket a little more tightly around her in a show of false modesty. Oh, there was her other slipper -she had likely been sleeping on top of it, as it only became visible as the blanket shifted.

Cherilith crooned softly, nuzzling his mate's lower jaw as he felt her voice touching his mind. Yes my treasure, they are awake. He answered dutifully. It seemed that he wasn't at all concerned by the fact that she was requesting this information from him and not K'lir. Were it physically possible, the young blue would probably would have been glowing from sheer happiness and contentment. That Calistoth even appeared to be concerned for His Saeo’s happiness –he was still under the impression that she had no experience with carrying ulterior motives whatsoever- only drew another rumble of adoration from his throat. He was blinded by love in all metaphorical senses of the term. I am sure that Ours will get on just fine. Mine does not seem at all troubled by him. He snuggled a little closer to her, gently brushing her foreleg with the back of his paw.

[glamourie]

Was he supposed to be good at pillow talk? Considering most of K’lir’s bed partners were in and out (he was distinctly not a cuddler), he’d never practiced. Eyebrow raising inquisitively, he turned his head toward one of the trees growing from the middle of the river, and… stared incredulously. In a nest, he was certain he could see women’s under garments and they looked familiar. However, that wasn’t the only thing he could see. Wound underneath the makeshift nest was his shirt, torn and ragged, with strips hanging down visibly. He knew that it was his shirt. Which meant his pants and the rest of his under garments were missing too, probably thrown from the edge of the weyrledge… perfect. Just perfect. With his luck, Ellie would be using them for a nest or something ridiculous and considering R’wign intended to dump the eggs some place terribly public, he was sure everyone on Pern would get to stare at his underwear that he was not wearing. Great. Great.

Fortunately, Saeo was keeping him from focusing on that too much. He blinked twice and turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow and a bored look that very slowly spread into a distinct smirk. Despite himself, he couldn’t help but crawl over into her lap - literally. The touch was designed to be mock-intimate (the blanket around Saeo prevented it from being anything more serious), but there was nothing but playfulness in it; K’lir wasn’t one to latch onto people for real (though pretending to with T’rid yielded unending amusement), but he did take a perverse joy in picking on others. Especially if it got him funny reactions, and Saeo was being endlessly entertaining. Who knew she wasn’t a screamer? He’d have expected some outlandish accusations, hateful spurts of insults, at least one slap, and then for her to storm out crying. Then again, he didn’t know her all that well.

“Well, I’ve always been a bit of a size queen if you know what I mean,” he began with one finger running over Saeo’s jaw line. “I just don’t think I could settle for anything smaller than a bronze anymore…”

Rather than give her a chance to reply to that, K’lir stood up and stretched, completely lacking in modesty. They were on a weyrledge. Everyone in the Weyr who glanced outside could probably see his naked body. He didn’t care; perk of being weyrbred. His back cracked and he yawned, running his tongue over his teeth in the process. Then he turned around and rubbed the end of his nose as his eyes skimmed over the empty weyr testily. Pants, pants, pants-- that wasn’t his pants. Was that Saeo’s underwear? Ha ha, well, at least someone’s weren’t up a tree (or one piece of it anyway). Rather than voice that thought, he looked over his shoulder as his hands went up to smooth his hair down (as best he could, anyway) and he sniffed. “I definitely do have an outrageous demand for you, bluerider: Help me find my pants. My underpants are in the same nest that your… ah… Well, let’s just say we probably aren’t getting those back. I know I came in here wearing pants, do you see them? Am I just overlooking…?”

Yours is brave. The little monster is unhappy. Expect him to steal. ‘Little Monster’ in that instance meant Showoff, though she didn’t think she needed to clarify. The bronze did not have any personal vendetta against Cherilith or Saeo, but he didn’t like any of Calistoth’s mates. More than once he’d tried to convince her that she wanted ‘Dael’s Blue’ and she had told him in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t stealing Phremath’s favored mate; Phremath had so little in the way of blessings as it was. Enraged, Showoff often took it upon himself to punish the others, anyone unfortunate enough to be picked by her. His idea of punishment involved thieving and/or attempts at sabotage. She found it amusing, but -- most others did not. Best that she at least pretend to care by warning. She wasn’t entirely heartless, after all. Are you ready to be awake, CheriMine? I don’t think that I am, hmm…

[nightingale]

Embarrassing Saeo was a task that very few people had ever managed to perfect. There were very few topics she shied away from discussing and poking fun at –the state of her hands was perhaps the only notable example, as they occupied a sore spot on her confidence she had never quite managed to defend. When K’lir took it upon himself to climb into her lap, the girl’s only reaction was to stare very, very intensely into his eyes. A small smirk flickered onto her expression as she felt his finger brushing her jaw –it tickled. “Oh baby I would just looove to give you funny feelings all day long, but I have places to go and thieving darters to hit with rocks.” When he had moved off of her, the girl reached for the more distant of her two slippers. Once both had been acquired and slipped onto her feet, the girl ducked under the blanket to see if any more articles of clothing had decided to play hide-and seek.

It would have been excessively generous to say that fate was smiling on them as far as their wardrobes went, but it did seem inclined to cut them some slack. Saeo quickly discovered her tunic wadded up into a wrinkled ball, followed by a pair of men’s pants she knew for certain did not belong to her. “There are some pants under here. Either they’re yours or there’s another pantless man running around somewhere nearby.” She called obligingly when K’lir made his equest, her voice slightly muffled by the heavy blanket. “I’ll trade you if you manage to find my underwear fluttering around somewhere…oops. Are you hurt? It looks like these got torn a little bit. Probably a sharp rock or something.”

Thought it was awkward to get changed underneath blanket, Saeo did not intend to leave it’s warmth until there was something between her thin frame and the biting high-altitude winds. She wriggled the disheveled tunic over her head and awkwardly tugged it into pace before crawling free of the choking woolen hug, discarded pants in hand. Most of the blueweyrling’s tunics were oversized, and this particular cream number had been chosen for the expressed purpose that it was practically a mini-dress. The girl frowned as she approached the weyrledge, crouching and glaring down at the nest her bra was now decorating. “Well, at least the padding is going to good use.” She shrugged vaguely. It was somewhat irksome to lose her favorite bra in such an irredeemable fashion, but having it made into a home for baby darters was far preferable to having it strung up in the main hall. That was an honor she was more than willing to pass on to someone else.

Cherilith let out a small, questioning sound that was much like a dull chirp. Brave? Mmmmyes, My Saeo is very brave. Not to worry though Showoff has already stolen most of the objects that are small enough for stealing. Freckle does not do well as a guard… He wasn’t entirely sure if the small green actually provided Showoff with his rider’s valuables or simply looked the other way when he took them, but he knew that she had played some part in the disappearance f sixteen earrings, two beaded necklaces and a thimble. The young blue gave his tail a small, thoughtful flick. I do not mind sleeping longer. Her told her amiably, half-closed eyes whirling with pleasure at his newly given pet-name. Truly he didn’t. He quite enjoyed being snuggled up next to his pretty green, and knowing that it pleased her only made him more egger to prolong the experience.

[glamourie]

Funny feelings? Oh she could just keep dreaming, but if she wanted to keep up with the teasing, K’lir was not above having Saeo walk funny for the rest of the day -- he was positive he could accomplish it. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure she wasn’t up for round two, three, four and so forth, and if he was to be totally honest, he didn’t think it a wise idea. Saeo wasn’t really someone he was close to, although the surge of fondness from Calistoth had him quite positive that he’d be spending more time around her in the coming seven days just because of his green. Peachy. No - no. No sense making a relatively casual situation awkward by pushing the bar - so to speak. Tempting though, very very tempting… He pushed the thought from his mind, because Saeo continued to speak, and her words had his full attention. His pants! … He always thought better once he had on his pants. Without them he just tended to behave awkwardly and hit on things. It was his opinion that a lack of layer between his lower body and everyone else caused a brain-to-mouth disconnect somewhere.

Stalking over, K’lir snatched up his pants and pulled them on quickly. He had to hop to get them up over his waist, as they were one of the pairs that Uu’n purchased for him (And thus were entirely too tight in his opinion). Once they were up over his waist, he noticed the holes that Saeo mentioned and his fingers fell to the spot on his thigh where the skin showed through the tight black material. Would it be easy to fix…? Probably. Would he bother? Unlikely. K’lir wasn’t a creature who usually put much stock in how he appeared. He was far from vain. Conceited perhaps, but not superficial. Actually, K’lir thought himself quite unattractive, with brought him to another point: Saeo had implied that he wasn’t. Maybe it was just flight lust talking but there was a lot of opportunity there to tease her mercilessly, and K’lir took unholy joy in doing just that. Saeo wasn’t his favored target, but she’d do. First, however, he had to reassure her that none of the rocks nearby were sharp enough to tear up fabric… though, maybe they were, hmm…

“Actually they probably got tore in the stress of removing them. They’re not my usual. Uu’n was insistent on dressing me, said my clothes are too loose,” he said and rolled one of his shoulders absently. His gaze fell on the nest and he was tempted to make a jab about padding (and her needing it) but refrained. Women tended to get bizarrely twitchy about that sort of thing. “So… now that our under garments are decorating the trees for all to see…” Turning to Saeo, K’lir put one hand on his side, cocked his head, and raised an eyebrow suggestively. “You called me pretty. And lucky, but I’m going to focus more on the ‘pretty’ bit. I had no idea you felt so fondly of me, blue rider. Should we make this a regular thing? And I was serious about the dinner, you know.”

A hint of amusement swirled through Calistoth’s eyes and she rumbled to herself. Your Freckle and the red monster are as close to friends as he is with anyone other than his hideous blight of a mate, she replied, her disdain for golds evident in her words. Which reminded her to wonder what happened to her salamandyr chaser - but she’d have to ask Corinth and frankly she had no desire to converse with a bronze at the moment. It is unlikely she could stop him even if she wanted to, though. The worm is a very clever little monster, that much I will give him. At times I find myself impressed by his antics… though I am still of the opinion that he needs to take a nose-first dive over the edge of the river. Her inability to get along with Showoff was almost legendary, though in recent Turns it got better. As hatchlings the two squabbled constantly, like siblings. They were extraordinarily close in age. Your Saeo has two of the mongrels, does she not? Do you know where they both are now? The red thing is plotting revenge. He might try to enlist their aid. I would suggest intervening in advance. Nuzzling the blue’s back, Calistoth yawned widely. Sleep would be elusive now that Hers was up and about. Pity.

[nightingale]

Saeo glanced upward, tucking a particularly rebellious strand of hair behind her ear. “Dressing you in general, or just for the flight? If it’s the later, I might have to suggest that he wanted to make it as difficult as possible to get you naked.” She hoped she was wrong in her assumptions. Fighting off a jealous boyfriend was not something she wanted to do first thing in the morning –provided that it was morning of course. Glancing upward, she determined by Rukbat’s position, it was nearer to midday. She looked down again, and briefly considered finding a pebble to lob at the darter nest–only because she knew she wasn’t strong enough to actually hit it- but then he continued speaking.

The girl rocked back on her heels, plopping herself down into cross-legged sitting position and peering up at the greenrider with vague confusion. Had she really said that? Yes, she supposed she had…but she had thought that because Cherilith’s lust had been controlling many of her words and actions during that time, nobody would ever question it. The words had been spoken in the heat and daze of the moment. She certainly hadn’t meant anything significant by them, but she didn’t see any sense in hurting his feelings…well, provided of course that K’lir actually had feelings. She was still trying to figure that one out.

“You are pretty.” She told him, giving her shoulders a small shrug. The words were spoken plainly and honestly. She had never really been fond of redheads, but there were a number of K’lir’s features that she found pleasing and a few that she actually considered excessively attractive. “Just because I pointed it out doesn’t mean I keep a lock of your hair underneath my pillow.” She continued with a raised eyebrow, still not entirely sure whether or not he was being sarcastic. “Well…so long as you don’t follow me home afterward, I guess there’s no reason for me not to feed you. Am I allowed to go back to my weyr and change first?” Spotting her long-lost underwear a few inches to her right, the girl leaned back to snatch them before the breeze could. She made no move to put them back on however –day old underwear was just not something she put a lot of trust into.

No salamandyr could even come close to being as impressive as you. Cherilith purred, deciding it was best not to comment on Showoff when all the information he had on the bronze was touched by Freckle’s hero-worship. Becoming curious as he was reminded of his two small mind mates, the blue reached out to brush against them. Freckle was with Manners, and was quick to assure him that HER bronze was much much MUCH better than HIS green. Baby was somewhere in the lower levels, singing and ignoring him. Chances were that he had tracked down S’rei and somehow managed to convince the infirmed bronzerider to listen to his newest hit single. They are staying out of trouble. He reported, though he personally felt bad for S’rei. I am not sure that they would agree to help…but I will keep an eye on them. Freckle most especially, as I think she may become jealous of yours. She tends to be cruel when she is jealous.

[glamourie]

“General,” K’lir replied absently. Though, he wasn’t sure Uu’n was above trying to dress him for a flight, but -- maybe that was wishful thinking? He was very fond of the bluerider. How much of that was because of Showoff, he couldn’t say, but he knew that any time Uu’n was around him, he practically began to glow in delight. He wasn’t strictly homosexual - K’lir was as attracted to females as he was males. He just tended to get along better with men. They were more tolerant of his very blunt nature, and much more forgiving of the fact that he had about as much modesty as Showoff on a particularly good day. Women… they took things personally, they didn’t have any appreciation for how willing he was to play with people (sometimes to be cruel, though not often). “He thinks I wear too loose of clothing all the time. At the caravans, he bought me a bunch of tighter clothing and -- well, I haven’t bothered to have my own cleaned since…” Since the attack. He felt weird trying to do his laundry. So he’d resorted to wearing the tight clothes. “At least they aren’t his pants. Sometimes I wear clothing I’ve filched from him. It’s more comfortable than my own.”

A definite note of amusement passed over his face as K’lir turned back to Saeo, and he cocked his head to the side just slightly. “I sure hope you don’t have any of my hair. That would be odd.” Pausing, he looked up toward the ceiling, then rubbed his nose. “You’re the second person to refer to me as ‘pretty’ in the past few months, and I’m not used to hearing the term. Typically the word applied to me is --”

STUPID!

Well. That was one answer. K’lir turned to look back toward the entrance of the flight rooms as Showoff came barreling in. He skittered across the floor, little claws rapping as he went, and threw himself onto K’lir’s leg. Furiously displaying, the salamandyr climbed up his chest (leaving little bloody marks as he went), onto K’lir’s shoulder and stood up on his hind legs before actually spitting in rage at Saeo. His frill flared as large as it would go and his wings spread, making him look quite impressively large for a salamandyr. His eyes were the same shade of scarlet as his frill, and he made no effort to hide the rapid swishing of his tail, back and forth, back and forth. Fury. The low growl in the back of his throat was aimed both at Saeo and K’lir, but the red, red eyes were all for the girl sitting with the blanket. K’lir moved one hand down to rub at the tiny puncture wounds in his skin as Showoff threw a right tantrum on his shoulder.

NOT Dael’s NOT Dael’s YOU NOT DAEL’S! Nowant go’way no want BAD not Dael’s notDaelnotDaelnotDael FRECKLE’S. You go MANNERS. Not mine! Not mine! Not mine! Obviously very distressed (and really, it wasn’t entirely his fault -- the salamandyr did not understand why His would not be exclusive with Daeluunya’s pet, since he and Dael were mates), Showoff climbed right up into the fluffy curls of K’lir’s hair and creeled. Freckle go Mannerspet… not Daaaaael’s! The salamandyr was practically in tears (save that ‘mandyrs didn’t cry), he was so upset -- and angry, likely to bite anyone who tried to comfort him. You go MANNERS now not mine not mine do not want FREEEEEECKLEBABY NOT MINE!

“Are you done?” K’lir asked with a glance up toward his head that earned him a very sharp spit. Casually lifting one hand to pluck the salamandyr from his hair, he sighed. “No. She’s not Uu’n. Adith doesn’t Chase Lis. You know that. I am positive Freckle is not going to try and steal you away from Dael so calm yourself down, would you?” The salamandyr spat again and wriggled, and K’lir looked up at Saeo. “Do your two give you this much trouble? He’s like this every time she Rises. He tried to gnaw off Beka’s hand once, and it took me forever to make him accept Kahrelir. He was so angry over the idea of me having a child. Ridiculous.” He lifted Showoff in front of his face and the salamandyr hung limply in his grasp, still displaying. Sighing, K’lir flopped down to a sitting position and cradled Showoff in one hand, then moved to rub the small creature’s back soothingly. Showoff remained tense, curling into a ball and glaring at Saeo accusingly, but he didn’t hiss or insult anymore. Yet at least. Being placated by attention helped… some.

Compliments were always a good way to win Calistoth’s affections, and she leaned over to nuzzle Cherilith’s neck affectionately. Her wing draped over his side and she crooned to him, obviously pleased by the remark. You needn’t worry about your Freckle upsetting mine, my Cheri~ If she tries to become cruel to him, I expect she will anger the little red thing and his hideous gold mate. They are a frightening force when angered. Though she didn’t want to admit it, even Calistoth was loathe to make both Showoff and Dael angry with him. Daeluunya wasn’t normally a bad-tempered salamandyr but she did favor the red thing, for reasons Calistoth could not understand, and Showoff… for all of his insults, for all of his brattiness, and all the stealing, all the biting and clawing - he would protect K’lir at any cost. The dedication the little bronze felt to her LirLove was staggering at times, and was quite possibly the only reason she tolerated him as much as she did… which wasn’t much to start with. You might do to remind her of the red thing if she tries, but if she’s as vindictive as you say, it will do no good. I apologize in advance for what he will do if she upsets Lirmine. He is very, very mean when angered.

[nightingale]

The voice exploding her mind was loud and obnoxious, but Saeo realized instantly that it wasn’t the familiar nerve-grating shrieks she had grown accustomed to hearing from Freckle. The young rider tilted her head slightly as a tiny red blur darted onto the weyrledge and latched onto K’lir, glaring at her as though he wanted her to explode into bite size chucks. Dragonshells, what was he so worked into a lather over? She had assumed that the bronze salamandyr would have been used to this sort of thing by now, considering that Calistoth was old enough to have Risen quite a few times already.

Well… she supposed that she could take some solace in knowing that so long as K’lir and Showoff were attached, Freckle would repress the urge to join in the fray and make a similar fool of herself.

“It really is amazing how so much rage can be crammed into such a small space.” Saeo mused, hugging one knee against her chest and resting her chin atop it. “Freckle is generally about as troublesome. I’ll have to get back to you on her flight etiquette though. She was alright when Baby chased, and I don’t think she would attack you because of him,” She nodded toward the hateful salamandyr curled in his palm. “But if either of my boys decides to chase someone with a female bonded to them, I think I shall have to make a point of caging her. She absolutely abhors women –pretty ones especially.” Not to worry Mine. Baby seems unwilling to chase anyone but R’wign’s Ellegance, and I have no need for another green. Cherilith rumbled, projecting the words in a broadcast.

The girl groaned plaintively, rubbing her forehead against her knee. “You know what? Perhaps one day I’ll decide to have myself a run, and then I shall bed whomever I choose and you three will have to come along for the ride. No latching onto my friends and supervisors, no nearly falling to my death and no regard for anyone but myself. How does THAT sound, oh sickeningly content one?” Is that really how it works? The young blue queried, his eyes widening with interest. He was fully aware of the fact that his rider’s anger was contrived. I had thought that human females mated differently, and that is why nobody understands them and it is pointless to try. “Who told you that?” C’oar did…well, not in so many words perhaps. Saeo growled quietly.

Stupid C’oar.

“Where is Kahrelir?” The girl questioned, suddenly remembering that she had seen K’lir with a baby at Freckle’s hatching. It was a little startling to suddenly make the connection that it had been his son. “Raising a child when you’re a dragonrider must be…well, complicated to say the least.” Are you going to have a hatchling Mine? Not a chance. We’re going to ask G’tor and Ruskeath to take us Between as soon as I get my clothes on. It wasn’t that Saeo particularly disliked children. She was just very conscious of her own youth –perhaps her inherent selfishness as well- and was neither prepared nor willing to take on the role of mommy anytime soon. She had Thread to fight, stitches to add and remove from the injured and a wide variety of very strained inter-personal relationships to manage. Babies simply did not fit into her world.

Cherilith rumbled happily, leaving Saeo to her own thoughts and basking in the glow of his mate’s gentle attentions. Oh, you need not worry for Freckle. She is very fond of Showoff, and I am certain that she will make a point of being polite even if she is angry with him. He did not fully understand his green mindmate’s preoccupation with Showoff. Oftentimes he could swear that she was kinder to him than she was to her mate –not that he could say she was cruel to Manners. Needy, possessive and demanding perhaps, but not cruel. He was Hers after all.

[glamourie]

If she thought that was rage, she had another thing coming. Showoff was throwing a positive tantrum, yes, but it was more like an angry toddler than true rage (in K’lir’s opinion). He’d seen Showoff enraged but only once; it was enough. That one occasion was when S’rei threw a belt onto the table near his hatching eggs, and K’lir himself was almost taken over by the surge of emotion, the desire to rip S’rei to teenie, tiny, bite-sized pieces. Uu’n’s reaction was quite similar. Feelings from salamandyrs could be highly overpowering when at that level. Showoff was more throwing a hissy fit than anything else - it was far from a frightening response. If he’d been truly enraged (and not just pouting), K’lir would have been reacting violently. She’d find out the difference between true rage and just temper tantrums soon enough. She had two salamandyrs, and her little green monster was bound to throw a well and true fit eventually. Female salamandyrs were not known for their consideration for other creatures, or their patience. He had experience with them more than most.

The mental response from Cherilith made K’lir twitch and Showoff hissed loudly. The greenrider spun his head around to get a look at the dragons, while his fingers worked at stroking Showoff to submission. The bronze simmered down, though he continued to stare loathingly at Saeo, as if he could tear her apart with just a look. So… Saeo’s blue flit was fond of Ellie? That was funny. Real funny. Gold fire lizards didn’t let themselves get caught by blue anythings. Surely he knew that? Or maybe the little salamandyr was like T’rid’s brown one and chased things he had no hope of catching - hard to say for sure. Silly little fellow. He almost pitied them both… but then, Stupid was an endless source of amusement, watching T’rid flail. Which reminded him to wonder if Stupid was okay. He hoped so…

“He’s going to get his heart broken eventually. I doubt Ellie will ever let anything short of a brown catch her,” K’lir said with a lofty shrug. He’d expected a brown to catch her sooner -- Hazard, to be more specific. The gold’s fondness for her brown was obvious and R’wign himself was sure Hazard would catch her. Hero was… a surprise, but not a bad one. “Does this mean you’ve got a growing crush on R’wign? I can’t wait to tell him. He’ll probably avoid you. He already thinks you’re a bit off, what with your pet brown weyrlingrider making death threats at him for looking at you. Did he tell you about that? He told me - ooh, he was steamed, he wanted to throttle C’oar something awful afterwards and he’s already commented that if you two ever end up in a relationship, he’s drugging you both with fertility herbs strong enough that even between won’t save you. Vindictive healer, he is.”

Saeo’s little outburst earned raised eyebrows from K’lir and Showoff lifted his head to frill nervously at her. Calming down finally, the salamandyr flung himself onto his bonded’s shoulder and nuzzled Lir contentedly. The greenrider opened his mouth to speak when Cherilith answered and he promptly snapped it shut. So… the brown rider was talking to the blue dragon, was he… that left many, many options to Lir. He quirked an eyebrow, then smirked slightly. He couldn’t resist a teasing jab. No doubt Saeo wouldn’t appreciate it but did K’lir care? Hmm. He thought for a second, then decided no, no he did not. It wasn’t like she was his friend or ever going to be, after all.

“I vote you beat him,” K’lir said all-knowingly. “You could jump him in the baths, tie him up and just whip him continually. He might like it, but you’ll like it more, and in the end, he might have a better understanding into the way human females mate. Just my suggestion.”

His teasing was cut short by her question about Kahrelir and he raised an eyebrow. “The same place I always take him during Flights. He’s with R’wign. I don’t trust creche workers with him, they don’t know him and he’s very shy.” Shy didn’t begin to describe it. The baby was flat out mute. In a group with a lot of children it was very easy to ignore Kahrelir. He didn’t cry. He didn’t scream. He didn’t beg for attention. A less attentive parent would have neglected him terribly; K’lir was no such person. He took good care of his son. It was one of the few things in life he was very proud of. So he didn’t speak. So what. For a nineteen-turn-old, K’lir was an amazing father, and he knew it. “Parenthood isn’t easy no matter how you slice it. Dragonrider, holder. Having a dragon neither makes it easier nor harder, just different. You instill different values based on what you yourself have grown up with, and what you believe in life, but the ultimate goal is the same: to raise a child healthy, happy, and capable of surviving in the world, and thriving. It’s not a single person effort, nor two - it’s a community thing. Your whole family, and your friends, is involved. The hardest part with Kahrelir hasn’t been that I’m a dragon rider… It’s been that his mother is dead, so I’m the only true parent he has left; before that, it’s that I was barely seventeen when he was born.”

Calistoth cocked her head to the side and nuzzled Cherilith again, thoughtful. Then she stretched herself out as best she could, showing off her slender form, before crooning. That is good. I do not want to have to eat the green thing, she said, and then looked at Cherilith thoughtfully. You are friends with Frosstyth’s? It was a very interested question, not actually meant to be invasive - though Calistoth could be quite forceful without intending to be. Is Yours not involved with His? Lirmine thought they were involved. Checkoth’s told him that they were. Checkoth’s was one of the few humans Calistoth would speak to. The reason was that she knew him before he Impressed Checkoth, and well, she deemed him property of her first and foremost. She also claimed the brown, even if he was a wherry-brained fool, chasing after Oquith that way. Pfft. What do you not understand about human females? Thoth explained much to me about BekaHis. Perhaps I can help?