Do want... [Anz]

[Kisha-Ra]

Do want, this good Trick want.

‘Um, why?’ R’fuin inquired of his salamandyr, ignoring the censorious glares of the stallholders. Okay, so his pet had escaped, clambered among the weavers wares and curled up in a scarf, which he was now asking R’fuin to buy for him. That was nothing compared to the mystery of why Trick wanted a scarf that was at least three times the brown’s length, even with his impressive ‘mandyr tail.

Trick rolled over and looked at R’fuin upside down. Good is. he remarked as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. Want. For Spriteling do want. Good Trick, nice Trick. Get Strangemine? The salamandyr expounded, wasn’t it obvious that this was a beautiful thing, and therefore just perfect for his beautiful mate (yes Sprite wasn’t perfect in form but Trick was too besotted with the green to even care). Hadn’t Spriteling brought beautiful things for Trick? Yes she had! He wanted to take her this thing, and he hadn’t even run off with it. He asked nicely… Oh… The brown’s plain frill flicked up and down once in objection as R’fuin picked him out of the scarf and carefully removed his claws from the fabric.

Waaaannnnt!

‘Trick, what in the world is your mate, who I may wish to add here is even smaller than you, going to do with a human sized scarf?’ R’fuin inquired of the creature in his hand, catching several strange looks from people, as well as glares from the stallholders, as he removed himself and his most troublesome pet (well, second most troublesome next to Hisspit) from the weaver’s tent. ‘Alright you picked out a good colour combination that wouldn’t clash with her hide but seriously: a scarf? Most ‘mandyrs take their mates shiny things.’ R’fuin continued, blissfully unaware that he was still getting strange looks, and apparently also unaware that suggesting that might not be a good idea.

Trick flipped his tail dismissively. Shiny things? Why would his lovely Spriteling need shiny pebbles? They were no good, hard, sharp, and too small to hide under, and Spriteling liked to hide for some reason. She could have hidden under the soft cloth thing… His was sooo hopeless. No wonder he couldn’t keep Spritelinglove’s as a mate if he thought shiny things were right. Maybe he should explain? No, it would be totally lost on his strangemine. Oh, who was that? Trick wriggled out of R’fuin’s grip and darted off again, having sighted his second favourite person ever in the crowd.

Minelove! Spritelinglove! Do want see! R’fuin groaned at the cheery pronouncement from his escaped salamandyr and muttered something about tying Trick up. He turned around and scanned the crowd, knowing exactly the face he was looking for among the crowds. Sprite’s bonded, the wherling. Or failing that a bone mask with Trick perched on it, since the brown had decided that Sprite’s bonded also belonged to him.

[glamourie]

He rather liked the masks. Anz leaned forward to eye what appeared to be a network of bones shaping into two stars that would cover half of a face. The blue wherlinghandler felt decidedly awkward being so far from Anzask (he’d promised to bring him gifts) and was doing his best to distract himself by ‘window shopping’ – looking at things he couldn’t hope to afford and not actually buying them. Eventually he’d be able to buy new supplies (like sheets of fabric – he was running low), but for the moment, he was on the broke side – side effects of being in classes. He’d so far browsed over the list of events to come, and he was at his first stall of the Gather; he’d arrived early with one of the ferries carrying the weyrfolk and handlers to the Hold who were unable to get on their own, but the majority of the morning was spent with his mother and father, who positively flew into fussing at having Anzalorin back; they’d fallen in love with little Sprite, and his mother was most proud of him. Yes, busy day. He’d only just gotten to the Gather Square itself. Just. And really, it was a wonder that his mother let him out at all.

Pretty, is. Lovemine get Bratling-Anzlove’s buy? Sprite inquired curiously. ‘Bratling-Anzlove’s’ was her name for Anzalorin’s mother – because Bratling was her dam, of course. It only made sense.

“I don’t think that’s necessary. I mean, I can afford things later on when we’ve graduated. I have a couple marks, I just have to decide what to get for Anzask and nothing here would do. He’d probably break the masks wanting to play. I think we’ll have to go with the toy stall for him,” Anzalorin explained with a slight nod. “We’ll check it out when we get over there. These are cool though. If I had extras, I’d probably buy one of those. Maybe I’ll manage to win something in one of the competitions?” He scooped Sprite up off the table that she was perching on and set the salamandyr down on his shoulder. “You’re awful brave today – having fun then? I wish I could get you something too; I just don’t have a lot of marks, I’m sorry Sprite.”

Love, Sprite replied, diving into Anz’s blond locks. He worried too much. She was happy whether he gave her any gifts or not. She got to come, didn’t she?

A loud announcement distracted both Sprite and Anzalorin from their browsing and both turned. Sprite frilled and actually dove out from under Anz’s hair to fling herself down the wherhandler’s body, zipping over his pants to the ground before positively bolting across the ground. An electric green blur, she made no effort to slow down as she bounded toward Trick. She was a lot of things, but slow wasn’t one of them. For a creature of her build, Sprite was actually ridiculously fast (she got a lot of practice by running around and flinging herself into Anz’s hair at random moments). It showed as she wove through the legs of the people traversing the stalls and then vaulted herself across the ground to tackle Trick over and wind her body around his in an undeniable show of affection. He was the only salamandyr that she felt comfortable with (she was downright scared of Guru) and she really did lavish the male in affection. Compliments weren’t just frequent: they were expected.

Love, Trickmine! Love! Anzlove come.

“I’m comin’. I don’t weave through people as fast as you do. Hi Trick,” Anz said, as he finally managed to make his way through the crowd of people that had assembled for the Gather. He brushed his long blond hair from his face to look down at the pair of salamandyrs with amusement. “You’re always a pleasure to see. Where’s R’fuin now? Or did you ditch him?”

[Kisha-Ra]

Trick chattered happily and bounced several inches off the ground in response to the sight of his bright green love darting across the ground towards him, landing just before Sprite knocked him off his feet. Spritelinglove! Lovebest my Spriteling. Love, love. The brown declared as he was tackled, rolling over a few times and hopping back to his feet to wrap his body up with his mates.

Hihi Minelove. Trick greeted Anz cheerfully and looked back the way he came, confused, he’d had strange his a moment ago, where could one human get to in such a short time. Strangemine gone… the brown salamandyr unwrapped himself from Sprite and turned a full circle, humans were huge how could he possibly lose one?

R’fuin carefully worked his way through the crowds, thankful that Sprite, at least, was easy to spot if you knew what you were looking for. In this hold R’fuin wouldn’t be able to pick out Anzalorin unless the lad was right in front of him, and R’fuin knew what he was wearing. Curse the blossomites and their blond hair, Anz blended right in.

For a moment R’fuin stood silently behind Anzalorin, having somehow managed to loop the young man and love struck salamandyrs as he traversed the crowds, and fought down an urge to greet him as exuberantly as Trick. That would not be appropriate. In the end it was only Trick’s growing concern that he’d totally lost R’fuin that made him step up beside Anz and speak. ‘I’m right here Trick.’ He told the brown before Trick could coerce Sprite and Anz into searching for someone right behind them.

bad naughty strangemine. No run away. Trick scolded seriously, which only made R’fuin chuckle at the brown. In exasperation Trick turned back to his mate. See? Sprite didn’t run away from him, she was the best, brightest, and prettiest of greens.

‘Hello Anzalorin. How’s your wher?’ R’fuin asked, turning his attention away from the salamandyr couple. R’fuin always felt slightly guilty about the young wher, which translated into asking after the beast whenever he ran into Anz. ‘I see Sprite’s feeling more bold than usual today.’ He added, smiling a bit for the green’s seeming increased bravery. She was a sweet little beast in spite of her less than lovely appearance, it was easy to see why Trick wanted to bring her presents and hang around the green every waking moment in that respect, as for her appearance, well, the saying love is blind didn’t just apply to humans.

[glamourie]

Love!

Sprite had low self-esteem. There was no doubt about that. She thought she was an ugly salamandyr and that no one liked looking at her; that was why she hid most of the time. Nevertheless, the mere presence of her mate was enough to spur even the ever-so-shy Sprite into excitement; the green made no effort to hide her love as she wove her body around the male. Her eyes glittered with blatant love and the female salamandyr took to licking Trick’s head over and over. All of his compliments were very well received – she was practically glowing in joy. The only creature (other than Anz) who made Sprite happy and feel confident in herself was Trick. He surely could have caught any green he wanted but he chose her and that made her almost believe his compliments. If he thought she was beautiful, maybe… maybe she really was. That was good enough for her. Sprite purred to her mate, licked his head more firmly, and twined her tail through his. Who cared if the others thought that she was ugly? Her Tricklove thought she was beautiful and her Anzlove thought she was amazing – they were the best males ever, and if they really believed it, it had to be true. It had to be.

Grinning at the salamandyrs, Anz didn’t notice R’fuin come up from behind until the bluerider spoke and then he whirled around curiously. The question made him smile and he shrugged, “He really wants to play with your dragon some day. I had to leave him back at the Weyr though because he’s too young to be jumping between yet. I actually promised to get him a gift, but I haven’t decided on what yet. Hi again, by the way,” he said with a vague wave. He probably should have felt awkward around R’fuin, but it was impossible to – the other man was mostly nice to him, and Sprite loved Trick, so some of that ran off onto him. At least, it led to him being comfortable in R’fuin’s presence, whether he was extremely sweet or not. He wasn’t mean to him though. Not any time he’d encountered R’fuin, at least… But it didn’t dawn on him that R’fuin might not be perfectly comfortable with him either. Anz was easy going after all.

“Sprite’s quite happy to be here; she got to meet my mother and she liked that a lot. My mother and father own the vineyard to the south, some of the wine here is even from there,” he explained amiably. “I was considering getting one of the masks, but I can’t really afford it. We wherhandlers don’t make nearly enough marks. I’ve decided I need to found the first Selenitas vineyard so that I can be more wealthy. We have enough people who like the grape that I think I’d do really well, too.” His arms went up behind his head and he offered R’fuin a playful grin. “Trick seems really happy today too… but then, I’ve never seen Trick not in good spirits. He’s really a very sweet salamandyr. Sprite couldn’t have picked a better mate. I’m glad for him – he makes her very happy, and it’s rare for her to be this bold.”

But of course, R’fuin knew that. Anz didn’t need to share those details. He crinkled his nose and he rocked on his heels before pointing at the tables.

“Are you thinking of buying anything, R’fuin? There’s a lot of cool stuff here. You should get a mask; maybe you’ll be chosen to make the paper lanterns. That would be really fun,” he said with a slight nod. “I think I’m going to get some kind of toys, maybe dolls, for Anzask. At least one doll. I wonder if they do custom designs? I’d like to get him a nice wher to play with, he doesn’t really like playing in our rooms because Guru frightens him…”

[Kisha-Ra]

Love bestgreenmine.

The brown salamandyr’s tone was undeniably smug, as was his posture, lying relaxed on the ground with his neck slightly arched, and his frill flared out proudly. The whole look of arrogance that he was aiming for was totally ruined however by the way his eyes were closing as Sprite licked him. Eventually he dropped the pose and sprawled bonelessly against the green. Wasn’t she just the sweetest green ever?

The sight of Trick changing demeanour so rapidly, as well as the positive emotion the salamandyr was all but glowing with, made R’fuin smile, not for the first time R’fuin reflected the Trick’s sire was right, the brown was somewhat strange. Getting a response from Anz while his thoughts were wondering made the bluerider blink confusedly before he broke out into a grin. ‘I’m certain Ylonth would love to play with him, too. It’s a shame he couldn’t come here really but I guess the ferry isn’t really suitable for whers.’ R’fuin just knew his dragon would love to play with Anzask sometime, fool dragon got hours of entertainment from wriggling his tail around for the cat to pounce on, a wher would probably fall somewhere between a human child and a baby dragon on Ylonth’s fun to play with scale, and both of those rated quite highly.

R’fuin nodded agreement, recalling the days of his own cash flow problems. ‘I’m sure it will get better when you graduate. I never had enough marks to do anything when I was a weyrling I know, and all the lessons and drill took up my spare time so I could barely do anything to earn any marks either. Founding a vineyard might not be a bad idea though. Sounds like there’s serious money in there, especially since you’ll be able to undercut all the northern imported wines.’ R’fuin sounded enthusiastic about the idea, although he wasn’t sure how serious Anzalorin was being about this vineyard idea but it sounded pretty good. Except that R’fuin had a sudden vision of candidates raiding the wine making things (hey he didn’t need to know what they were called, he didn’t make wine, he just drank it) and being completely hammered.

The mention of Pern’s sweetest salamandyrs (in R’fuin’s totally biased opinion) was enough to make R’fuin grin. ‘’Trick does tend toward the cheerful doesn’t he? Of course he’s really at his best around Sprite.’ He answered. ‘She might not be the most perfect in form but she’s got a beautiful personality, I don’t honestly think there’s a more lovely green in species.’ R’fuin blushed when he realised he was gushing. ‘Of course that could just be Trick’s opinion effecting me.’ He added. It could very well be, salamandyrs were, so far as he could tell, the only dragonkin to really experience love in human terms, and it did get a little overwhelming at times. No experience he shared with Ylonth could have prepared him, the dragon felt desire well enough, lust, friendship, but not love, not even for a green like Phremath, whom the blue chased every Flight.

Dragging his wandering thoughts firmly back to the here and now R’fuin tried hard to work out what Anz was talking about. Oh shopping and things. Good. ‘I don’t know, I never normally buy too much at gathers; it’s the secret of my immense wealth never spending a mark. I never really know what to buy.’ The idea of wher dolls intrigued him for some reason, in fact he couldn’t see why there weren’t wher’s already. If people would make a toy based on a tunnelsnake a wher should present no problem. ‘It wouldn’t hurt to ask.’ He replied thoutfully. ‘After all they must have a basic attern for the firelizard and dragon dolls, it would just need bulking out and the wings made smaller to become a fairly good wher pattern. Maybe you could get one made in the same colour as your wher.’ R’fuin shifted on his feet, as if he might dart off to investigate any second. It was clear he was caught up with the notion of toy whers. ‘Hey, maybe they could make salamandyrs too.’ The thought occurred and was spoken before R’fuin realised he had no use for a salamandyr toy.

[glamourie]

Lick lick lick. Sprite happily took to ‘grooming’ Trick, practically purring her delight. She was for once oblivious to her surrounds – completely unaware of the eyes on her, or the people nearby. Only Trick could blow away her shyness with his mere presence. He loved her just as she was – the thought still blindsided Sprite from time to time. She was terrified of most salamandyrs (and favored flitters as a result – they were not usually so mean) with special emphasis on Guru, Sylph and Skink. They were just so scary. Trick wasn’t though. Trick was really nice. Sprite nuzzled against him and climbed half-sprawled over her mate, and her joy was emphasized in the near-glow of her hide; it wasn’t pre-run, no, just extreme happiness (and emphasis that Anzalorin did take very good care of her, despite the fact that she was skittish). Her Trick was so wonderful. So wonderful. She just was continuously blindsided by how lucky she was. And grateful. She wished she could get her lovely mate another shiny – she was good at collecting flowers and shiny shells for him. There were some virtues to being ugly – no one watched her when she grabbed flowers. Blossom had plenty of those.

Best Trickmine, best. Love. So happylove best. See fishies? the green inquired, wondering if Trick had been to the lake yet. Hers told her all about the fish there that some people trained and she was curious to meet them. Maybe Trick would come with her? And she could filch a pretty flower for him on the way. That would be good.

“I don’t think he’d like Blossom. Or, more specifically, I don’t think most people here would like Anzask. I mean, I love him and I’m from here but uh – he’d probably try to eat the flowers.” Blossom was aptly named thanks to the glorious blooms that spanned through most of the Hold, and Anzalorin could just imagine his wher frantically pouncing them in an attempt to acquire the colors. The visual was adorable to him but the holders probably wouldn’t take kindly to it and since he was from Blossom, he’d be held to a much higher standard. He didn’t voice that part of the concern because he didn’t know if R’fuin was holdbred or not; if he was, he’d understand and if he wasn’t… well, he wouldn’t. “He’d be really excited to play with Ylonth. And you. And Trick. He likes playing with everyone and anyone – he’s a very friendly wher, really.”

As far as marks went, Anz could only hope that R’fuin was right. He didn’t really know. Before coming to Selenitas, he’d amassed a huge collection of cloth that he was still filtering through but it was running short, since he made outfits for anyone who asked and never asked for any kind of payment. It was a wonder that he wasn’t a weaver; he certainly could have been an apprentice, considering how much attention he got. “I’d have to get the Weyrleader’s permission for the space and then the supplies, and I’m just an apprentice, so I don’t know how good the wine would be,” he hummed, settling for commenting on that topic as it was easier than discussing his finances. “It would be a good business venture though. I don’t like northern wine – Benden tends to have an odd bitterness, Tillek is usually too light. I’m picky.” Understatement of the turn. “I like Blossom red best, from the Southern parts of our territory.”

He shifted his weight as he spoke and started moving toward the toy stall, mainly because the conversation had shifted to that. “Most salamandyrs certainly seem ornery, I mean, Guru’s downright mean half the time. Sprite is sweet, but Absinthe doesn’t seem so bad. I think she’s lovely too – Trick makes her happy. She’d be flattered by your compliments if she was paying us any attention but he’s got all of hers at the moment. And you’re right – they probably could make a wher doll the same color as Anzask. He’s very light blue. You coming with?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Salamandyr doll sounds cute. You should ask for a custom Trick doll. Then he could have someone to talk to when Sprite isn’t around~”

[Kisha-Ra]

R’fuin had to grin as the image of a wher bounding joyously through the hold, racing through the flowerbeds and snatching up brightly coloured blooms as he went. It was an image that formed easily and wouldn’t go away, leaving R’fuin’s eyes sparkling with mirth. ‘Oh but he’d have such fun with that, besides I was actually thinking he’d enjoy the gather more than I was thinking about what people would think of him enjoying it.’ He supposed that the holders wouldn’t react too well; they did take themselves so seriously at times. ‘I can imagine the reactions. I’m sure they’d be pretty much the same as the ones Ylonth would get if I ever took him home. Not that I could ever take him back to High Reaches, but I like it better here.’ R’fuin cheerfully regarded himself as well out of things there, sometimes he wondered who did get the Hold but not often, he wouldn’t have put it past his grandfather to name one of the girls to be spiteful to everyone else.

Moving on swiftly to less pointless thoughts (he lost his stake in the matter the moment he was Searched and it hadn’t been much of one anyhow) R’fuin looked down at Trick. ‘I don’t think Anzask would have much luck playing with Trick, anytime Sprite’s near him he goes all, well, like that.’ The bluerider waved a hand at his collapsing salamandyr. ‘Not much fun to play with, really.’

R;fuin shrugged. ‘I don’t know, you at least know something about making wine, that’s a big step up from most people around the Weyr. Even if you didn’t manage to get anything really spectacular there’s plenty of people around who’d be more than happy to drink an acceptable wine at a good price.’ R’fuin shrugged carelessly. ‘I wouldn’t know great wine if walked up and bopped me over the head, to be honest. Which is just as well, if had any sort of taste in wines I’d be broke.’

R’fuin tagged along behind Anzalorin, discreetly admiring the view while he had chance, let it never be said an opportunity passed him by. ‘They do have a reputation for themselves, don’t they?’ R’fuin commented. ‘I’m sure it was Dael and Showoff who started that rep, they’ve got to be the worst shiny thing thieves on Pern. There are a few more sweet ones around.’

For one wild moment R’fuin was struck with an urge to get Ylonth a toy, until he realised it would have to be about as big as a wher for Ylonth to carry around. It would be so much easier just to steal Anzask for the blue to play with. ‘That would probably confuse Trick, which might be funny. I wonder what he’d do about a giant sized Sprite, or is that too cruel to do to him?’ R’fuin chattered away, quite oblivious as to whether Anz was listening or not. The bluerider was far too busy picturing Trick’s reaction to a Sprite plushie.

Blissfully unaware of what his strangemine was thinking of, and indeed of anything that wasn’t his Spriteling, Trick rolled over onto his back and looked adoringly up at the green. Fish? he inquired, not quite understanding the point of the question. Fishing eat fish. Not big snatch. If she really wanted him to he’d try and snatch one of the giant fish around here for her but Trick really didn’t see how she was going to eat it all in one go.

[glamourie]

“Oh, I’m sure Anzask would love this Gather. So many people to play with, so many things to play with, so many new things. He’s very fond of new things, period.” Anzask wasn’t exactly hard to satisfy. As far as Anz was concerned, the blue wher would be happy with a simple rock – solely because it was a gift. No other reason. The wher simply loved attention and liked people, gifts, other draconids, and pretty much anything living that he encountered. It was harder to offend him than it was to make him happy, and Anzalorin had little doubt that his mindmate would’ve loved to run rampant through the Gather. It probably would’ve made it difficult for him to enjoy himself though, simply because of all the lectures that he would receive. No one liked being lectured and it would be particularly bad for him. “You’re from High Reaches? I bet it’s cold there. I can’t imagine the cold – I don’t think I’d handle it well. I’m really a warm kind of person, and I get so cold so easily. Even in the winter I have to layer up at Selenitas and it’s not usually even cold there, by most people’s definitions. I’m told I’m a wuss.”

The wherhandler dropped his gaze to the very content salamandyrs and let a smirk play over his face. He rarely saw Sprite so very happy, and if Trick could bring that out in her, he almost wanted to just pin Trick to the green. It was nice seeing her not afraid of her own shadow, of being seen and being out in public. He was always telling Sprite that she was the most perfect salamandyr to ever hatch, but apparently his opinion was biased and he had to say those things because he was Hers and he loved her. He didn’t even have a good argument for that – but Trick made her feel confident in herself. If he didn’t think it would crush the little brown, he’d have hugged him for that. Sprite deserved to be happy.

“You over-estimate my skills,” the wherhandler said with a sniff. He continued to walk backwards through the crowds and really, it was amazing he didn’t bump into anyone. He wasn’t exactly paying attention. “I’d have to be awake during the day anyway and Anzask keeps me up at night usually. I’m going to be totally dead tonight for lessons, you’ve no idea. I’m just going to feel like a caravan ran me over. I don’t think I’ve got time to be trying to make wine. That aside, which ones are Dael and Showoff? Sprite was one of, um, Brat’s hatchlings. I think she was called Brat. Her sire was a brown firelizard who looks to the weyrhealer. Maybe that’s why she’s sweet?” The latter was obviously a question to himself, as though he didn’t quite know whether or not that was the reason that his salamandyr was kind. She was though. Sprite was sweet without even trying to be; he was very lucky in that regard.

His thoughts came to a halt as R’fuin mentioned confusing Trick and he tsked softly, “You should be nice to Trick. But wouldn’t salamandyr dolls be cute? I want to find out if they’ll make ‘em. Not that I can afford any because really, I’m poor, but heh!” He grabbed R’fuin by the arm and then, with little regard for the bluerider, proceeded to haul him off toward the toy stall. “Are you planning on watching the Storyteller contest? That’ll be fun, I’m going to. I’m determined to root for Nausi, because Blossom has to represent and all, plus he’s a wherhandler. I’d participate but I tend to just sing when I’m nervous and I think I’d embarrass everyone by how bad I am…”

What? Eat fish why? Play fish. Talk, do. See, see. Anzlovemine say. Talk. Talk talk. Tricklovemine see talk fish. Sprite bounced up and down to emphasize her point, appalled that Trick did not know about these famous talking fish of Blossom. He was missing out! Sprite show. Come, Trickminelove, Sprite show! Without waiting for a response, the green squirmed away from her mate and then bolted through the stream of people in the direction of the lake, as little more than an awkward yellow-green blur. Talking fish! Trick needed to see them!

[Kisha-Ra]

‘Yep, High Reaches born and bred, shamed though I am to admit it.’ R’fuin shrugged and flashed one of his most charming grins, well he hoped it was charming, it could also have looked creepy, or toadyish, so he was really hoping for charming. ‘You get cold because you’re such a little guy.’ R’fuin emphasised this point with a poke in the ribs. ‘See? Do you even remember to eat? I don’t think I’d be that happy going back to High Reaches now.’ R’fuin continued thoughtfully. ‘Aside from anything else I’m used to being warm all year now, and it does get very cold up there in the winter. If I went back and saw snow I’d probably collapse into a shivering ball before I even hit the ground.’

Another shrug was R’fuin’s first response to that. ‘Well you know more than pretty much everyone at the Weyr about making wine.’ R’fuin’s expression took on a bit of a confused look. ‘You have to, er, do whatever it is that people do to grapevines, during the day? Couldn’t you do it at night instead?’ he’d had no idea anything was time specific in the whole business, except how long it was before you could drink the wine, he’d heard wine that hadn’t been left long enough could do strange things to a man’s insides. That could just have been a rumour to keep everyone out of the wine though.

R’fuin gave another grin, sure on matters of salamandyrs as he was not on matters of wine. ‘Dael and Showoff are Trick’s parents; Dael was the first salamandyr queen so those two are responsible for most of the salamandyrs around the Weyr. Their nests are always filled with shiny bits and pieces, and if you spot something of yours it’s best to leave it there, too. Thankfully salamandyrs don’t have to be like their parents, otherwise we’d both be in trouble. Those gold mandyrs are evil incarnate I’m sure.’ R’fuin was certain on that; both Dael and Brat were nothing but trouble in their different ways. He frowned, had there been others?

‘Oh but his reaction would be so very amusing I’m sure. Either that or he’d ignore it, which wouldn’t be so amusing. Trick doesn’t want much, just everyone to adore him and be amazed by his wonderful tricks.’ R’fuin dismissed the whole issue with a wave of his hand; Trick would undoubtedly prefer the real Sprite anyway. ‘They’d still be adorable, I just have to get someone to make some.’ R’fuin allowed himself to be hauled off to the toy stall, it wasn’t like he minded and it was fun to be with someone who didn’t need dragging around. ‘I wouldn’t miss the storytelling, I don’t know who’s entered but I’m bound to know someone I can cheer on. Now lets find someone to make us whers and salamandyrs.’ R’fuin bore down on the unfortunate stallholder. ‘We seem to have lost our salamandyrs mind you, could be hard for me to explain what I want.’ He added.

Talk fish? Why talk fish, trickyfish? Not eat? Trick was rather confused. Fish didn’t talk, did they? So why would anyone want to talk to fishes? Well if Sprite wanted him to, and her bonded thought fish could talk back. He’d go along. Coming. Come see, follow Spritelinglove He responded and zipped off after his mate, weaving and dancing his way among human legs as if being stepped on was something that happened to other ‘mandyrs.

[glamourie]

Ashamed to admit it? High Reaches didn’t seem that bad of a place. From what he heard, their resident Weyr wasn’t even involved in the wars. (And Anz did not remember that High Reaches was too new for R’fuin to be from there, so he just assumed that he was and asked no more questions.) The little poke made him blink twice and the Blossomite snickered in amusement. “You have obviously never seen me in the Main Hall. I eat like I’ve never seen food before,” Anz explained with a bob of his head. He did, too. He loved food and had never run across a meal that he didn’t like. “I’ve never met a roast that I didn’t like. I just move around a lot but trust me, I eat a disgusting amount. My mother asks me sometimes if I’ve got a dragon’s second stomach where I store everything ‘cause I eat so much.” He really could go through an alarming amount of food at a staggering pace: the wherhandler just loved eating. His particular favorite was roast wherry with just a touch of gravy but… hm, he couldn’t even think of one meal he wouldn’t eat if it was offered to him. How awkward.

“It usually helps to be able to see what I’m doing, yeah. My eyes aren’t totally trained to the dark yet, I expect I’ll be blind by the time I’m thirty at the rate I’m going. Not that I mind; Anzask can tell me where to go,” he explained with a shrug; Anzalorin couldn’t imagine running around trying to maintain a vineyard on top of his other assignments. It might’ve been fun, yeah, but time consuming without any kind of help and he had enough responsibilities. Needed to focus on those, he did. “My roommate likes to steal things. He’s got a positively cruel little bronze who is always unkind to Sprite. She wails and runs away. He calls ‘em Guru. Anyway, I doubt I’ve got much left that anyone could steal after Trell. He’s probably stolen anything remotely valuable from me.” The fondness in his voice made it clear that Anz didn’t mind that much, though. He liked his roommate quite a bit.

As they arrived in the toy stall, Anz immediately scurried over to one of the tables and started looking over the displays. One hand came up to tug on the dolphin toy nearest to him, neatly waving its little fins, before he turned back to R’fuin. His expression was a wry smile.

“You take too much joy out of harassing him,” the wherhandler said with a finger pointing toward the dolphin. “This is cute.” He did agree though that the salamandyrs would be cute in plushie form, and he was pretty sure that Sprite would be on cloud 9 with a Trick plushie to cuddle with when he wasn’t around. The green did so love her mate. Any time Guru upset her, she just hid under Anz’s hair and lost herself in thoughts about Trick, and that cheered her up considerably. If he was any less of a romantic, Anzalorin likely would’ve found it annoying. As it was, he was busy finding it adorable. “The stallkeeper might’ve stepped out. There’s a sign over there about custom work though and I think those qualify – but we should probably get Sprite or Trick to come back if they’re going to make dolls. Probably Trick. He’s, um, more normal looking for a salamandyr than Sprite is.” Normal was definitely not a word that applied to the little green. She had a hunched back for Faranth’s sake. Anz thought her beautiful, though. He was kind of insanely biased.

Talk, yesyes, talkfish. Spriteling show. Spriteling show. Hopping around, Sprite flung herself up onto one of the rocky path markers and scurried hurriedly toward the lake. Her little claws clattered against the stone as she went, garnering some odd looks to her electric green hide. She didn’t look back, trusting Trick to follow. The small green flung herself off the edge of the rocks and then bolted through the pure white sand, heading toward wooden planks leading over the dock. Her wings spread to help her glide downward before she explained, Craftlove, Trickmine. Craft talk fish. Craaaaft.

[Kisha-Ra]

R’fuin shrugged. ‘I never would have guessed from looking at you. And forget a second stomach, it’s got to be hollow legs.’ R’fuin took a second, longer look at his companion, as if trying to see where huge amounts of food might end up on the young man. If there was any evidence of Anz’s claimed eating habits it wasn’t visible, he looked just like one of those youths that seemed to be convinced the human body could run on air and sunlight.

R’fuin wasn’t entirely sure on that one, he didn’t see how working in the dark could make you blind, wouldn’t it make you see better, if you were used to the dark? ‘My grandmother always averred that it was reading by glowlight, staying out all night, and drinking that sent you blind. She never said anything about grapes. But whatever really does it I’d like to avoid. For one thing Ylonth wouldn’t be much help, I can just see him trying to force his way through human sized places.’ Indeed the vision of the large blue trying to force his shoulders through a human sized door was, well, not good to say the least.

What? Someone’s pet was mean to Sprite? R’fuin made instant plans to tell Trick and let the brown sway an army of followers to torment Guru in return. Of course they’d have to do it when Sprite wasn’t looking otherwise to would upset her more, oh and he couldn’t tell Anzalorin either, he seemed fond of his roommate. ‘Ah, I think I met him, indirectly.’ R’fuin commented blandly, said character had actually been organising the wherlings to drive Sprite’s chasers off, but he wasn’t going to mention that. It would only make things awkward.

‘Enjoy?’ R’fuin repeated innocently. ‘Well, maybe a bit.’ He admitted, tormenting Trick was funny, sometimes; the brown could be amusing in his reactions, especially if told he wasn’t wonderful. R’fuin looked doubtfully at the dolphin plushie. ‘Cute? They’ve got huge teeth.’ He objected pointing at one with an open mouth. ‘How is that cute? If someone gave me that as a baby I’d have howled at it, then my sister probably would have snatched it and thumped me with it, so all things considered it’s a good thing I didn’t have one. Nope I wanted these guys all the way.’ R’fuin plucked a bronze dragon from the display and waggled its wings. ‘I was an ego filled little boy, only the best was good enough for me.’ He explained, putting the toy back down and peering at the blues to see if he could spot one that resemble Ylonth, or any other dragon he knew for that matter.

‘Oh but I want a Sprite plushie, and I want it to look like her, as much as possible.’ R’fuin objected. He had a great idea for a pair of plushies, wouldn’t a Trick and Sprite set look cute together? Of course they would, and Anzalorin absolutely had to have a set as well, and he needed to see if he could find Imp and lure him over to be plushiefied. Darya would… um probably hate it but it could sit with that green firelizard plushie she’d bought because Imp loved it. ‘I’m full of ideas and I need to collect ‘mandyrs for people to look at for all of them. I suppose I could call Trick back but I doubt he’d even hear me at the moment.’ R’fuin had little doubt that Trick would ignore anything he said in favour of pleasing Sprite. That was one pathetically devoted brown.

Speaking of that pathetically devoted brown salamandyr, he bounded along faithfully in Sprite’s wake in a manner that might have caused any nearby weyrfolk concern given Sprite’s natural brightness. Trick ran, and glided, and hopped, and occasionally rolled behind her, not so much because he wanted to impress Sprite, more because he’d been a trickster for so very long that he could hardly give up now, and if people stared at him in wonder as he passed, so much the better.

Trick rolled over in the sand, paused so people could applaud him if they wished, and hopped up onto the planks. Big talkfish? he inquired cautiously, unwilling to just run out and jump into the water when it might be full of big things that might not recognise him as inedible. Where hide craft fish talk. Do not find. Hiding they?