told you from the start, baby [m'kai]

[Avu]

I can’t believe you have an appetite /now/ of all times.

A’emi frowned, tickling his fingers down Darkling’s sides to distract the firelizard from the many oblivious people who would otherwise be fair game to scare the living daylights out of, mentally promising her any number of snacks if she’d just stay put. The green fluted approvingly, leaning into his touch and batting her eyelids innocently at Kyrahth as the dragon’s gaze narrowed upon her jealously. A’emi, who had long since taken to ignoring the rather one-sided animosity between dragon and firelizard, blinked at Kyrahth, “Why wouldn’t I? Hold still or I’ll leave your straps on tight, and then you’ll complain at me. And you know what, I won’t listen.”

The green stopped her moving, tongue flicking out to touch his shoulder. Because it’s wet and rainy and disgusting. A’emi shrugged, flicking up the buckle on her riding straps and loosening them before he clipped them back together again. Ugh. Eating now would be— She broke off, and her wings flared wide open as A’emi stepped back and waved at her to take off from the landing pad to make room for other dragons, Whatever suits you, and only Kyrahth, A’emi thought amusedly to Darkling, would be able to make that sound like an insult.

Darkling fluted in agreement and earned a snap of Kyrahth’s jaws in her direction before the dragon twisted fluidly into flight, splattering raindrops all over her Rider. A’emi wrinkled his nose slightly, flicking his wrists as if it would actually help remove the water from him, and turned on his heel to enter the Main Hall, humming, “Yoooou’re hungry too, aren’t you, Kyrahth’s just dumb and has a slooow metabolism and that reaaaally can’t be healthy, who only eats once a week, right?” Yes, he spoke to Darkling about anything and nothing—and what of it? She didn’t make fun of him like Kyrahth did.

Moving through the kitchens to nab a small dish of wine-flavored meats for Darkling and making a sandwich for himself took only a few minutes; juggling plates and firelizard, A’emi headed for the tables. He would’ve taken an empty seat next to one of the Weyrfolk—a pretty girl, and no, he was not above flirting with random people, even if he was hardly sex-deprived—if he hadn’t caught sight of a M’kai, and his path changed so abruptly that one of the people behind him nearly plowed right into him. “Go say hi and save a seat for me,” A’emi requested of Darkling, and the green chirped once before she vanished from his shoulder.

She reappeared quietly behind M’kai’s head, eyes bright electric blue with mischief. A whisper-quiet hum, and then she pounced onto his shoulder, claws carefully curled not to cut him, and a shriek in his ear, shameless, before she vanished between to the chair opposite the bluerider, flaring her wings proudly. Had she scaaared him!

“Thanks, Darkling,” A’emi mentioned to the firelizard, having made his way to the table by then. His lips quirked into a grin, “I hope you didn’t forget that I’ve got a green firelizard, too…” And that emphasis was nothing if not downright wicked.

[Ruby]

Sometimes, M'kai wondered what he did when he wasn't being ambushed by A'emi.

Darkling had, of course, scared the living daylights out of M'kai, who had nearly taken out his half consumed mug of klah with an elbow. Reina was away, curled somewhere with the Brown who had caught her - a skinny thing that M'kai didn't recognize at all, and so was most likely wild - but Bomb was here, next to M'kai on the table. He'd been calm enough, carrying on some form of broken conversation with his owner, his eyes a gentle violet. Darkling's intrusion, however, had snapped them right back to red, and the tiny brown salamandyr was crouched, shaking physically as he shouted, Nn ko! Zot kus cari! Nezex spik Boyfwen, fu guly gray nen! Fzzt! Fzzt! Gently flattening the raging creature with a hand, which seemed to muffle the mindspeech as well, M'kai cocked a head at the Greenrider sliding in opposite him.

It hadn't been long since they'd gone hunting felines, but M'kai had missed at least one chess boxing match, somehow rationalizing that all bets were off post Reina's flight. He'd done his best to forget about the incident and return to everyday life, focusing on having his share of the feline pelts made in to bedfurs and a rug. A small strip from one of the more damaged furs, though, had become a leather thong, wrapped twice around M'kai's wrist and tied off. Teeth of the male he'd killed himself had been sewn on, as well. M'kai figured it would make a good talking piece, not to mention that he liked it. It reminded him of feeling powerful. He'd just go right ahead and forget exactly what he'd done with that power.

Bomb was chewing on one of M'kai's fingers now, so he let the Brown up, tossing him a tiny fish bone to chew on. That would take him plenty of time to get through. Putting on an ironic, long-suffering tone, M'kai replied, "Oh, do you really? I certainly had never considered that possibility..." And... that was all A'emi got. M'kai had given up far more ground than he had intended, so he was going to be as stubborn and difficult as possible until he won some of that back. With a sarcastic eye roll, he went back to his fish, generally ignoring his company.

[Avu]

Darkling was fluting expressively by the time A’emi set down the plate on the table, the green firelizard’s eyes brilliant with delight and amusement as she fluttered her wings prettily, blinking innocently at Bomb. Why was he sooo upset, was it something she’d done? She didn’t meaaaan to, the firelizard hummed, tail swishing coyly around her haunches, why eeever would she want to upset anyone…the bright hues to her gaze destroyed any innocence her act might have earned her, though. So amusing, the little worm-things and their reactions. Maybe Hers should get one.

The green hopped to A’emi’s shoulder immediately after the greenrider sat. Even though his attention was on M’kai, one hand rose automatically to stroke down the firelizard’s back, Darkling arching into A’emi’s touch appreciatively. A’emi ignored the hum in his ear and the warm vibration down the side of his neck in favor of frowning at M’kai, decidedly put out at the lack of reaction. But…on the bright side, he supposed he could take that as implicit permission. Sort of. Not, really, that that was even what he’d come over for. A more amusing reaction would’ve been nice but A’emi would just assume that M’kai had run out of reactions because of Darkling.

Or something.

He offered a small piece of meat to Darkling, and then, feeling generous, set one on the table and flicked it towards Bomb—better not risk getting his finger chomped on, thanks. “I was wondering,” he began, settling his elbows on the table and interlacing his fingers. He propped his chin against his hands, “If you’d gotten sick of chess-boxing, why you didn’t mention it to me. Kyrahth was pretty upset at being used as a go-between, you know. Moody dragons will be moody.” A’emi kept his voice deliberately light—he’d kind of been expecting being avoided and all, but really.

“And on the same note,” since he was thinking about it and all, and A’emi’s mind-to-mouth filter only really worked when he thought about it, it didn’t come naturally, “avoidance is really a dumb tactic, literal or figurative or any other kind. It doesn’t work, have you noticed?”

[Ruby]

M'kai's mood had been fine (or good enough anyway), but A'emi's presence somehow turned it foul within seconds. Or maybe it was Bomb - even with a bone in his mouth, the Brown was still in full rage mode, flapping his two flexible, frill-replacing spines back and forth in some misguided attempt to terrify the much larger Darkling. The piece of meat was eyed greedily, but Bomb was not one to put down what was already in his mouth to snatch something better. He would just have to chew the bone down first. His nonsensical splutterings, incoherent at best, had reached a whole new level as he roundly abused (?) the firelizard. M'kai was fairly certain Bomb was complaining that this was his table, and she had disturbed it... but then again who knew. He could be discussing the weather for all M'kai understood.

Either way, M'kai decided to blame his sudden mental storm cloud on A'emi. "I'm pretty sure even a dragon gone permanently between couldn't avoid you if you were set on finding them," the Bluerider growled. Then, in a mood to wound, he added, "I'd assumed chess-boxing was a means to an end, and as you got what you were looking for, I figured all bets were off." Ooo, ouch, A'emi had just wanted to use him then toss him aside. Sure, it was a little harsher than M'kai had intended - he didn't really think A'emi was using him for sex, or he would have just asked for it when they'd first played chess - but again, moody humans were moody, too.

Wait a minute. Kyrahth was moody? Well, of course she always was, but enough for A'emi to comment? Futh, are you in Kyrahth's vicinity? Futh snorted mentally, not even bothering to answer. Ok, you're right, stupid question. She's not looking shinier than normal, is she? Panic panic panic. Even the volume of Bomb's monologue increased, as did the speed. Maybe that's why A'emi was here, to make sure M'kai stayed in the Weyr, to make sure he didn't escape - Not that I have noticed, M'kaiMineLove. Why?

Resting his forehead on the palm of one hand, M'kai sighed. Why did he let one stupid Greenrider bother him so much? There were other Greenriders (granted, Futh hadn't even come close to winning any of them) and plenty of other women, but unfortunately it was A'emi that was chasing after him. Well, at least M'kai was almost done eating? Increasing the speed of his consumption, he capped off his nastiness with, "Don't you have someone more exciting to annoy?"

[Avu]

Darkling didn’t understand a word that the Salamandyr was uttering, but she did understand that something about her was upsetting the brown—or, at the very least, was making him babble nonsensically. The firelizard fluttered her wings prettily at him, crooning low and playful. He’d really have to be more clear on what he was trying to communicate, they couldn’t all understand Salamandyr, you know, the firelizard’s teasing flute was accompanied by a coquettish flutter of eyelids, what was that he’d said, something she needed to know, maybe…? Her wings closed against her sides as another piece of meat was offered, the firelizard falling momentarily quiet in contentment as she chewed.

Normally the words wouldn’t faze A’emi. Actually, they’d usually on make him want to push harder, because this was ultimately what he liked, the challenge and the chase. But these particular words had his eyes narrowing, the blues cold, even as he continued to pop small pieces of meat up to Darkling, the green firelizard thanking him by licking his chin contentedly in between pieces, Bomb ignored now in favor of food. He ran his other hand down her spine, curling his palm around the firelizard’s body.

“I’m sorry, but I have got better things to do than keep company with people who get off on being used,” the words were gently mocking, the tone just shy of pleasant, the smile that lingered around his lips not reaching his eyes. “You can come find me once you get that out of your system, I’d suggest talking to Elysia.” Not that he had anything against Elysia—far from. It wasn’t like he wasn’t friends (just friends, really, the fact that they occasionally fell into bed was a moot point) with her, but she did like to use people, he was pretty sure.

And it also wasn’t like he didn’t use people. Most of the time he didn’t need to. He was happy in F’lix’s squad and other than the occasional casual flirting to get extra pies out of a Drudge, he didn’t. It wasn’t necessary. Still. Irritating.

“Otherwise, I guess I’ll be seeing you around.”

He pushed the plate of meat, mostly empty save for a few last pieces, towards Bomb, even though the Salamandyr hadn’t taken the first piece, and kept one hand loosely over Darkling’s spine as he stood, scooping up his own plate in the other and pushing his chair back. The firelizard crooned sweetly at Bomb, twittering politely as she clasped a last piece of meat in between her paws, tail snaking sinuously around A’emi’s neck as the greenrider hooked his foot around the leg of the chair to push it back in, turning away to find another seat.

Hey, sweetheart, I’m going to need you do me a favor…
Whatever you wish.

He ducked his head, lips turning up into a humorless smile, letting Darkling nuzzle against his jaw with a content little purr, slender dark body rubbing against his neck. Keep Futh away from you until I say.