Too Much Free Time? (Open)

[Avu]

River or the beach, swimming. Hmm. That was actually quite useful. Ahth’s eyes whirled before he sat, hunching over his prey like an overgrown Terran gargoyle, before he replied, still casually, pleasantly, Oh, you certainly may ask but I’m afraid I haven’t much to tell you. The spy entertains me much of the time and otherwise I just keep Mine company. Deliberately evasive; Ahth didn’t like talking about himself or His too much and that was as much information as he was willing to give away. Instead, he coiled around his herdbeast, shredding its length with his claws before he looked up at Nuoth and then crooned again. Back to her, where he wanted the questioning to take place, the careful drawing of information out of her, for him to know and to keep and to manipulate to his liking. The game that the blue always played, his favorite game, the game that he would never tire of. The blue’s eyes glowed momentarily, though likely it would just be taken as smug pride for his kill, for certainly it was followed by a strip of meat being torn off and consumed, before he spoke.

I know clutchsister Minth goes to the beach often in the mornings, he commented, casually. Have you seen her there? She said it was quite nice there, too, I believe. Maybe she had, maybe she hadn’t; Ahth didn’t remember exactly what the green had said, only that she had said she was going to the beach and that she liked it or something; he hadn’t ever learned what she did there. He’d sent Sylph to spy once but the green hadn’t wanted to go so far and he certainly couldn’t go – such a risk was not one that Ahth was comfortable taking. If Minth saw him and then told everyone, his entire advantage – there it went, quick as that. No, Ahth was the criminal mastermind, the one behind the scenes, his hand felt but never seen…it very much suited him to be that. Sylph and Skink were his little minions – and it seemed to suit them to be that. How helpful, and what a lovely coincidence. No wonder His was the best; he attracted just the right kind of mindmates.

“Interesting how?” R’ahre inquired, playing along with the conversation before he indicated Sylph with a slight upward jerk of his chin, offering, “Sylph likes to shred paper and destroy things for fun. They like to…?” He couldn’t quite recall their names – something-ing and something-else. The mention of his Salamandyr’s name was a slight prompting for her firelizards’ – an eye for an eye, wasn’t it? He’d given his pet’s name, surely she’d respond with hers…or at least, so he was hoping; otherwise he’d just have to guess. Not that names ever bothered Sylph when it came to pinning her crimes on others. As long as she knew the ‘victim’, the green Salamandyr could compromise. So nice that she was actually very, very intelligent and could cope without knowing formalities. Humans didn’t seem to be able to do that.

“How intelligent are they?” he added – and this, R’ahre was truly curious about; brown eyes flickered towards Nephele. He personally thought Salamandyrs were smarter – able to comprehend, and talk back, but of course, Sylph at least didn’t seem capable of processing imagework. Akos was good with it, but Akos was a white and therefore had no real comparison with firelizards. “I know some people think they’re ridiculously smart, and others say Salamandyrs are the smart ones…?” He was one of the latter, and shamelessly so: As far as he was concerned, Sylph could outwit any firelizard any day. Too bad Salamandyrs seemed to be only within Selenitas Weyr; he had a feeling that a certain deceased greenrider at Benden Weyr would have been as absolutely fascinated with Salamandyrs as he’d been when he’d first seen a Salamandyr.

[Ember]

Nuoth's wings fluttered at his answer. Spy? Ah the salamandyr! Kind of amusing that the little green kept Ahath company, since she often listened to the chatter of her little brown companions as well. She continued to tear off meat from her herdbeast as gracefully as was possible. Slower than Ahth's means, but Nuoth was just such a dragon. As she ate she watched her blue clutchbrother idly before her mind wandered. Swimming seemed like a good idea after eating. The water rippling out from her as she swam...Yes, she'd like to do so afterwards.

She heard his voice and used it to pull herself out of her thoughts. Clutchsib Minth? she questioned thoughtfully. Ah yes. I have met her there once or twice. I tend to go later in the day though, so we often miss each other. Nuoth was a bit regretful that they did but Hers almost always seemed glad that there were so few people at the beach. Hers both liked and really disliked being near other people. The green understood why but thought it would be better if Hers pushed herself to be around others normally.

R'ahre got what he was hoping for. It wasn't really hard to get Nephele to talk about her firelizards. Her lips curled up in a fake smile at his salamandyr's quirk. Destructive little thing. "Charming is a really vain firelizard. He has good reason to be but its still rather amusing. He's a jokester too. As for Misfit...he's a bit of an odd one. He came from a mixed clutch of firelizards and mandyrs..." she paused, not exactly knowing how to explain without the model. "Well, anyways, he's shaped a bit oddly. He also has a food he'd do anything for." She deliberately didn't say what that food was. She didn't really want anyone else knowing or they could easily use it against him.

At the question of their intelligence Nephele frowned slightly. How smart were her little pests? She knew they were intelligent creatures, more so than a lot of people gave them credit for. "Well, I think firelizards and salamandyrs both have their strong points. Salmanadyrs can actually speak a language we understand, but firelizards can communicate things just as well or better in some cases." She almost always knew what Charming was trying to tell her. Misfit could be a bit harder to figure out... "My two are pretty intelligent, but without having had a salamandyr myself I don't think I could place them on a scale together."

[Avu]

Claws ripped down the length of the herdbeast again, splitting meat from bones. The dark, sickle-shaped appendages were twisted upwards so Ahth could lick the blood off of them carefully, forked tongue snaking around to slide in between each claw. Carefully, slowly, Ahth went until he had finished with his right forepaw, which was lowered to press carefully against the herdbeast’s haunch, where the flesh was not shredded into bloody streaks. The creature was certainly a sight to behold; from a plump, large creature, fur colored in large brown spots and black specks, to a carcass on the ground, pinned beneath the claws of a dragon so dark as to be mistaken for black, blood soaking into the earth beneath it, stripped of fur and hide, meat ripped into ribbons. Such a comedown…the thought was an absent one; Ahth’s attention was focused primarily (and very intently, even if he gave every appearance of being interested mostly in his meal) on Nuoth. She was giving him quite a bounty of things to know even if she wasn’t aware of it. Nice of her, that.

Only once or twice? Sigh, how unfortunate. He coiled around his herdbeast, ignoring the small pale green spot that ripped intently at the shreds of raw meat, chewing rapidly on them; Sylph had become quite ordinary to him and held no fascination whatsoever, even in how bloodthirsty she could be for such a small creature. That /is/ a pity, the blue commented quietly, and meant it. She couldn’t tell him much if she hadn’t seen him, sigh. The beach is very peaceful, though, I’m told. Is it nicer by yourself or with company? Not that he’d show up either way, but Sylph might (again, either way – it didn’t matter to Ahth Nuoth’s preference). The spy was called ‘the spy’ for a reason: She spied and she was good at it too – Sylph was very intelligent and had a certain maliciousness towards everything not-Salamandyr (save for Ahth) and she knew the blue could help her – spying was her way of paying him back. So helpful.

Charming and Misfit. The former was vain; the latter was – oddly shaped, what? – and liked a certain food. The information was stored away; if he could find Misfit sometime it wouldn’t be hard to figure out which food that was, surely? Just put a bunch of food on a plate and offer to the brown to take whichever he liked. Simple enough. R’ahre didn’t say so, though; he just clicked his tongue in amusement before he tilted his head to glance over at Nephele. “Shaped a bit oddly?” he inquired, crinkling his nose. “Noticeably so…?” Noticeably being obviously so – like one of the browns from Millieth’s clutch having two tails. Not that a Salamandyr and firelizard clutch would produce two tails unless a mutation spontaneously sprang up, but it was just a mental comparison – not something actually important. “Or is it something you wouldn’t notice unless you looked for it…?” Must be able to be recognized when and if he saw the brown firelizard, after all – for Sylph’s sake if not his own; surely the green would want to recognize him.

Just as well, better – well, maybe. R’ahre crinkled his nose absently. Some Salamandyrs supposedly spoke nothing but gibberish, and – well, he could see how that would make people think firelizards were more intelligent, but Sylph didn’t. Sylph was nothing short of articulate when she wanted to be, and often twisted her words just for the fun of it. Could a firelizard twist their images and emotions like Sylph did her words and still make sense? A green firelizard? R’ahre doubted it. The possessive pride he had in the Salamandyr was blinding occasionally – he lied for her, covered up for her crimes, but her affection was all worth it. “Hnn.” The response was absentminded; one hand rose to rub the tip of his nose idly. “I’d Impress a firelizard to compare, but…” But what? But Sylph would murder the firelizard. But Ahth would help her murder it. But he didn’t want a firelizard. So many but’s, and even if the idea did interest him, it didn’t interest him enough to actually try for one of the creatures.

[Ember]

Nuoth paused even in her eating when Ahth questioned her about the beach even further. That was, in her opinion, a bit of an odd question. She considered it nontheless before answering. It is quite peaceful. I find it pleasant with or without company, though some days I lean more towards one or the other. She had her moody periods, during which time she really preferred no company besides Hers and the browns. Other times she didn't want company for the sake of Hers too. Nephele really was mostly a loner type who cared little for the company of others. Like now. Nuoth could feel Nephele's growing annoyance with R'ahre's company.

Nephele looked upwards at the clouds lazily moving as R'ahre pursued Misfit's odd look. She was getting a little tired of his company, really. He also seemed the quiet type and a guy so they weren't entirely suited to having a conversation together. With girls it was a bit easier to tolerate but guys were simply too tiring. "Hmm. To me its obvious because I have another to compare him with, but at first glance I don't think it'd be immediately noticeable. His proportions are off but if he's moving around a lot then most people just see a brown." She shrugged lightly, looking at him again.

She forced herself not to show her annoyance when he mentioned impressing a firelizard "to compare". So not the right reason to attempt to impress one, and so she pointed out, "Not worth trying if only for that reason. Pardon me if I'm wrong, but you don't seem to want one so it would be better not to try." She slipped into a vaguely apologetic smile but wasn't really sorry at all. Most firelizards and salamandyrs didn't get along anyways. It would probably end up being a huge headache for him if he did impress one.

At that point she glanced at Nuoth's progress with the herdbeast and grimaced slightly. She loved the green but did she have to take so long? For the sake of the growing green she'd have to put up with the blueweyrling a while longer. On the bright side..at least it was a nice day!

[Avu]

Slightly frustrating, though Ahth’s quiet, neutral croon in response did little to show it. Nuoth wasn’t hindering him in the least, but she wasn’t helping him very much either. Usually Ahth could be very patient, but R’ahre’s own impatience rubbed against his mind and the blue didn’t respond mentally to the green. Absently running his claws down the length of the herdbeast pinned beneath him again, he snapped up another mouthful, a little faster. It wasn’t that he was eager to leave; Ahth generally enjoyed company – but only if they were helpful, and at the moment, Nuoth wasn’t. No, it didn’t occur to him to just be pleasant and actually make conversation without the intent of gleaning something or another; Ahth just didn’t work that way. The silence was excused by his concentration of ripping off long, deliberate strands of hide and consuming them; the bone gleamed white beneath the raw blood. Soon he’d be finished; Ahth ate quite quickly – and neatly, considering, even though his muzzle and claws were dyed with a dangerous-looking scarlet.

Fatty, Sylph grumbled as he nosed her sideways to get at a particularly fat area; the green Salamandyr latched on stubbornly and ate as fast as she could, but even that was slowing; she was gorged. It was to be expected. Leaf sized Salamandyr vs. one big herdbeast – there wasn’t much more to say. The green took one more defiant mouthful, hissed at Ahth, and then half-leapt and half-rolled to the ground. It was comical how awkwardly she moved when gorged; the Salamandyr waddled over to R’ahre’s feet slowly, shooting a curious look at Nuoth, and then plopped down inelegantly across her mindmate’s foot; her tail curled around his ankle awkwardly before she licked what little skin was visible, tongue rasping and leaving a small smear of blood. Done, I am. Leave bluething, le’sgo pleaaase. She wanted to sleeeep.

R’ahre didn’t respond to Nephele immediately, leaning down to scoop up Sylph in both hands and lifting the green up to chest level so he could look down at her; the meat she’d consumed was practically visible against her sides, so much had she eaten. Hmm. She’d be sleeping a good six hours after that, likely; a slight click of his tongue indicated his irritation. Shouldn’t have been distracted; shouldn’t have let her gorge – he’d become used to Ahth, who stopped eating before he was full, not after. The greenweyrling’s last comment earned her a vaguely amused, slightly condescending look, before R’ahre responded quietly, “That would probably be why I haven’t tried it.” Yes, probably. He’d very little affection for firelizards, and Ahth had even less (though it was mainly because they weren’t articulate enough as a whole to be of any use to him) – and of course, Sylph detested them on sight. Not exactly the welcoming person that a firelizard would be attracted to. They were pretty perverse, but surely not that much.

Both eyes dropped down to Sylph, who had curled her tail possessively around his middle finger and settled snugly into a little coiled ball of green hide. His mental brush against her mind made the green stir slightly, offering a slightly irritated Stupid, flutters are. ‘mandyr better /much/, to Nephele – shy, Sylph was not – before her eyelids drooped and she was soundly asleep, without even a quiver to mark life in the small body. R’ahre dropped her into one of his pockets, patting it absently in affection, before he glanced at Ahth, who stood up from the body of the herdbeast, serpentine form uncoiling; he settled neatly onto hindquarters, the dragon raising one forepaw to lick the blood neatly from each talon again.

I’m done. You remember what she said.
What’s useful, I do.
Oh, MineR’ahre, so silly. /Everything/ is useful.
Whatever you say. Say good-bye to your girlfriend; let’s go.
Why don’t you say good-bye to yours first? Ahth responded sweetly, before he moved to the next claw, taking a step back from the mutilated corpse. Thank you very much for my lunch, Nuoth. I suppose we’ll be seeing you in Weyrling Lessons.