midnight snack (open)

[Kisha-Ra]

Should they really be doing this? Stealing was bad wasn’t it? People wouldn’t like them if they went stealing, well they might still like hers, Yoalla was the best person ever, but they wouldn’t like poor Yosk anymore they wouldn’t. Couldn’t they go back and just wait for some food to turn up? Please? The green wher hatchling did her very best to persuade hers to a different course of action with all the eloquence at her command but Yoalla wasn’t listening so Yosk was forced to scuttle along after her handler and be a party to whatever she wanted. Otherwise she might not like her Yosk anymore, she might not.

Yoalla walked confidently towards the kitchens, after a few days of being mostly nocturnal it was easier to get around in the dark without getting lost, Yosk wasn’t much help on that score because the young wher didn’t know her way around anywhere. That was alright though, she was only a baby after all, she’d learn. Yoalla sliped inside the kitchens, hoping the glowlight and banked fires in here wouldn’t prove to bright for Yosk, and held the door open for her wher, who was hanging back, slinking along the walls. ‘Come on Yosk, we’re not doing anything wrong, and stand up a bit straighter. People will think I beat you if you keep creeping around like that.’ She scolded, though not loudly, she’d already learned that Yosk over reacted to any scolding.

Oh, it wasn’t wrong? Alright then, Yosk would like maybe just a little of the food she could smell then, not too much though, she was already so fat. Just look at her rump! Yosk stopped, straightened up and folded her wings, then went right back to slinking along the corridor, only at a faster pace.

‘Yosk I love you you silly little wherling.’ Yoalla giggled ushering the wher into the kitchens. ‘Now, what would we like to eat?’ she mused.

[rii]

Company.

Quintrell, upon hearing someone approach and the announcement from the young wher, had ducked behind the counter. It didn't matter that Quintresk had recognized the scent of his clutchsister, and that he had informed the thief of the coming arrival of the green and her bonded. Still the young blonde had hid. The brown sat not too far away, dark brown hide a near shadow in the darkness. If not for the dim lighting giving his rusted stripes a subtle glow, his stillness while seated would have gone unnoticed. He did not understand why his hid from view. Yosk's was a lovely female, was she not? Why did His shy away? If His liked females he should go interact with them.

Shooting a stern glance at the brown, Quintrell put a finger to his lips in attempt to shush the .. silent wher. He liked females well enough, thankyouverymuch, and he was certainly not shy. A persistent questioning from the inquisitive brown only made the thief stubbornly cross his arms. Why did everything have to make some sort of rational sense to the brown? Surprises were a good thing!

Quintresk head canted to the side, not understanding why His wanted to put any sort of fright in the greenpair. So, since he wasn't the one hiding, Quintresk sent a pleasant greeting to Yosk as she came into the kitchen with her bonded. Did she and hers come to eat as well?

Noo, curseable brown, he gave away their position. Fine, since they no longer had the option of slipping by unnoticed, Quintrell stood–or rather, hopped up onto the counter, one leg folding beneath him while the other dangled; kicking at a slow beat. Oh rats.. what was the girl's name– Yosk's. –No, shardit, that was not her name. Quintrell shot a look over his shoulder at the somber brown, then turned a smile on to Yoalla "Evenin' luv, how fairs the night for you?"

A cheery bounce of his foot, Quintrell plucked one of the native fruits out of a nearby basket and offered it to Yoalla. "I dunnae about you," He gave a nonchalant shrug. "But the fruit 'ere in the South far beats the stuff they have in the north. There's also some meat rolls o'er yonder." He pointed to a covered tray a drudge had prepared and left for the purpose of those that lurked the night. Quintrell had flitched quite a few from it.. a bit in excess but he couldn't help himself. Unattended items were usually snagged out of mere habit than actually need.

[Kisha-Ra]

Quintresk. Yosk formed an image of him and set it on to her handler with a rush of happiness. Her handsome brown brother was here, and he spoke nicely to Yosk. Yosk sent a timid greeting back accompanied by slight envy, Quintresk looked so lovely, stripes were very nice indeed.

Yoalla nodded slightly at the image of the brown wherling and looked around, now she knew he was there the brown wher was visible as a darker shape in the shadowy kitchens, and of course wher eyes. She couldn’t believe she’d missed them before. It was the slow thumping that drew Yoalla’s eyes to the handler, she was fairly certain he had not been sat on the work surface a moment ago. Her night vision wasn’t all that bad.

‘Evening. Where’d you spring from? Hiding in a cupboard?’ Yoalla asked lightly, though she suspected that was something like the truth of the situation; either that or she really needed to eat more redroots. Those were the ones that were supposed to help you see in the dark weren’t they? Yoalla strolled over to the counter and leaned there propped on one elbow and one hip, not entirely coincidently in the best position to take the weight off her injured leg without seeming to favour it. She leaned over the counter slightly and plucked the offered fruit from Quintrell’s hand, tossing it lightly into the air and catching it absentmindedly as she thought. ‘Well I can’t say I’ve ever seen the best the north has to offer, when I was a little I though a good fruit was one that didn’t have mould growing on it., but these are good and they seem to be fairly standard for around here.’ Yoalla bit into the fruit and wrinkled her nose at the meatrolls, she didn’t care for them but she knew someone who did.

Meatrolls did Quintrek’s say? Yosk’s head whipped around to follow the direction of the pointing finger. The green gazed so wistfully at the covered tray that she forgot to keep her eyes narrowed as she normally did (it made Yosk look short sighted but Yoalla didn’t have the heart to tell her that) so she looked very hungry indeed. She really would have liked to grab a few but hers didn’t like snatching and Yosk didn’t want to upset hers. Still the wher couldn’t help the wistful little sound that rose in her throat.

Yoalla snorted quietly, amused by Yosk’s reaction to the mention of her seemingly favoured food, put the fruit down on the side and went to collect a couple of meatrolls for Yosk. Although Yosk could probably have swallowed them whole Yoalla tended to concerned about her wher’s health far more than she was about her own so broke the meatrolls down into wher bite sized pieces as she crossed back to the counter, passing them down to Yosk who at least didn’t drool, even if she did look like a begging canine.

‘So, how’re you coping with our brand new schedule then? I note some of our classmates are looking more than a little worn.’ Yoalla made the inquiry and comment bland, she sometimes felt a little worn herself, but she was one of those types who could manage to look awake even when she was on her last legs.

[rii]

Quintresk's long, slender tail made a curious pass over the floor in front of him, making a soundless sweep as it curved, wrapping around his front claws. Pleasantly occupied by his study of his green clutchsister, though his gaze was nothing short of a polite acknowledgment reflecting as dark royal blue–not much brighter than the rest of the room. Her greeting had bemused him, and she now had his curiosity, because (having no other interaction with her) her manners and emotions were new to him. A modest show of gratitude came with his brief response: She too looked well in the night. Has Hers taken well to the bond?

The grin stretched across lips and Quintrell gave a lofty shrug of one shoulder. "I was sittin' on the floor justa moment ago." It was true, he just didn't add that he had tried to hid from notice. Another bounce of his swinging foot as Trel took to subtly studying Yoalla's features–a near mirror to the way the brown viewed the green. Only, the theif had a harder time because the brief share of images that Quintresk shared held more emphasis on his pale clutchsister and the green design masking away from her eyes; rather than give his bonded a focused image of Yoalla.

Would be nice to know how lovely she looks. The theif mused, but only got a rather non-judgmental reply: All females were lovely, were they not? It certainly seemed true, from what Quintresk could sense in his bonded's head. His wasn't picky. Yes, they are, but still would like to know. The more lustrous the more interest Quintrell had in a person of any kind. The brown, mistaken Trel's comparison to mean glow of hide commented the fact that Yoalla didn't glow, but Yosk did–No no, silly brown, Quintrell summed up the image of a woman draped with jewelry. That kind of luster.

Confident one, Trel noted happily about his fellow Wherling, he liked a gal who had swagger. Really, as the brown had pointed out, Quintrell liked any kind of female–it just so happened he favored most whatever one currently shared his company. He grabbed a second piece of fruit and deftly tossed it back and forth between his hands as he gave his full attention to Yoalla (A feat considering the usual scatter-brained demeanor he showed). There was an accent somewhere behind her words, but it seemed masked over by.. one who was properly taught–so why had she, as a child, had to put up with moldy fruit? The wondering toward this mystery may or may have not been his own, or perhaps shared sentiment between he and the brown.

"You? A luv such as yourself had to deal with mold? Ye dun sound like one who had to dig through the bins ta eat. Not offense or such, just sayin' – I came from a poor family muhself, did a lot of travelin' and scroungin'." And his statement seemed affirmed by his strange accent, compiled of bits and pieces of north and a touch of the south blended together in a rather unusual drawl; more prominent when he wasn't babbling mindlessly in boredom. "If ya did, well then, you've come out quite the lady. How long have you been 'ere?"

Quintresk pushed off with his back legs, muscles coiling under his dark hide and bringing him up into a smooth glide of pads over the wooden floor boards. Tail stretched long in an effortless grace of his slender, lean body. He quietly came up to the counter, moving into a better viewing position before settling down–tail politely curling out of the way by going back around his seat–and he looked up at Yoalla. A fresh image was given to Quintrell, and the thief's smile only grew; dimples forming in his faintly perma-red cheeks. She was quite the looker, Trel couldn't quite place the origin of her rather exotic features.

"Eeh, I'm not really fond of the idea of bein' a creature of the night. Not many people around ta talk with, an' those you run inta are usually grouches. Just got yelled at earlier for bein' too loud coming across the bridges. The whole people are trying to sleep thing," He waved his hand dismissively through the air. As if he cared he woke anyone. The lot didn't keep quiet while he was sleeping. "I guess I'm doin' better than some of the others. Haven't talked with them much to know and I think all of us look tired if we hafta go to those lessons." Here he snorted, remembering their last class. "I'd rather eat my boot."

Pleasant one moment, then suddenly Quintrell swung forward. One hand curling over the edge of the counter, nearly laying parallel with the table top as he smiled cheerily down at Yosk. "Just want to say, you have a lovely glow hun. I bet it looks even better under the moonlight." No ruse, Quintrell liked to compliment creatures and well.. from Quintresk's observations (their bond being very close and strong, Trel felt the brown's observations as if he himself had made them) she seemed rather self-conscious. In a way it reminded him of Sprite–Anz's green mandyr. So ridiculously shy. Trel loved to gush at her too.

[Kisha-Ra]

Yosk’s eyes took on a pink tinge. Quintresk though she looked nice? He was so kind, he was, Yosk’s wings furled in a little. Maybe she didn’t look totally dire after all. Quintresk wouldn’t lie to her, would he? The green shook herself, as if she could shake off the troubling little doubts with that gesture and turned to the next question. Yes, thank you, hers was doing well, Yosk thought. Sometimes she thought strange thoughts though. Did Quintresk’s have thoughts that made no sense?

Yoalla’s eyebrow twitched slightly in response to the answer that Quintrell had been sitting on the floor. At least her eyesight wasn’t going. She nearly asked why he’d been sat down there but decided the moment for that had passed. It didn’t really matter anyway.

Yoalla’s response to Quintrell’s fishing for information about her past was to snort, and then laugh out loud. Quite the lady indeed! ‘I got my education late in life.’ Yoalla managed once she’d recovered from her out burst of laughter. ‘They taught me proper speech and manners in case someone important wanted to hire me. Can’t have important men listening to common cant now can we. Good enough for a doxies brat but not for a doxie.’ Yoalla was sure that everyone could see her former profession, and it was easier to just say what you were rather than have it turned against you at some later time. ‘Anyhow, I think I’ve been here four, maybe five months, it gets hard to tell how much time’s gone by with this weather. Never any proper drizzle or sleet here.’ She tacked the next answer onto the end of her statement as she recalled the original question.

Movement caught both Yoalla’s eye and Yosk’s. Yosk dismissed her concern instantly in favour of the remaining bits of meatroll, it was only Quintresk coming over. He wouldn’t tread on them or anything. Quintresk was such a graceful mover, not a clumsy thing like Yosk. Therefore all was well. Yoalla watched the brown wher until she was sure he was settled, she wasn’t so trusting of Yosk’s clutchmates as her green was. Her mind argued that these whers were bonded but her leg insisted it knew better. However once it seemed Quintresk wasn’t going to leap out at her she was happy enough to turn her attention back to the brown’s bonded, only to meet a rather disturbing grin.

Naturally in the face of such an expression Yoalla frowned. What did he have to grin about anyway? It probably wasn’t about being yelled at, well, not unless he thought waking people up and annoying them was funny, which it wasn’t, except in certain circumstances. ‘Well I can sleep through pretty much anything. In any case I should think yelling only serves to wake you up more.’ Yoalla rolled her eyes expressively at the very thought of lessons. ‘What a pain in the backside those are. I hope once we get past the obvious stuff we’ll learn something worth learning. Like something we couldn’t figure out for ourselves. “whers are nocturnal” Well I never! Is this the night?’ It was true Roivao hadn’t gone far beyond the glaringly obvious in lessons yet, and it was also true that Yoalla was impatient to learn more, but it seemed the only way she could learn was to try things with Yosk. However all the trying had to be done in private, Yosk was terrified of making a fool of herself.

And somehow, while Yoalla was busy thinking about the futility of it all, Quintrell had ended up practically lying on the counter to look down at Yosk. Yoalla was obscurely pleased that he’d take time to complement her wher; she did look lovely after all, and maybe, just maybe, if enough other people told her she wasn’t hideous Yosk would believe it.

Yosk turned her muzzle up, huge eyes going wider and pinker in Yosk’s version of a blush. Was Quintresk’s serious or just making fun of her. She couldn’t tell, and began to shrink down into herself, stepping back and bringing her wings forward to hide her face. Yoalla’s hand reached down to console the green with a brief caress and the thought that Yosk really was lovely, but Yoalla was bound to think that wasn’t she?

[rii]

»Always,« Quintresk expressed, seeing and noting Yosk's reactions but making no counter-response to such things, »His was never without a strange thought–but he liked trying to figure them out. He would be willing to help Yosk figure out any of Hers' strange thoughts.« And Quintresk was quite serious; though his interest laid more in forming an understanding or an answer to the otherwise unknown. Those were quickly becoming his favored pastimes.

If Quintrell was suppose to feel put off by her outburst of laughter, he didn't. Instead he continued to smile, his own amusement shimmering in dark brown eyes; appearing black much like his wher. If he had said something to amuse her, all the better. And the unashamed way Yoalla revealed her past, all up front from the start, drew a soft chuckle from the thief. "The horizontal pleasures, eh?" A lady was still a lady, whether she did business on her back or otherwise. Didn't change Trel's opinion in the least. When making a living in the bottom rungs of society, everything took on a different lighting. Though, noticing her wary watch on his brown, Trel couldn't help but tease. "He ain't gonna bite." Ah, but Bitra, that's what he had heard under those trained manners of proper speech. Quintrell often prided himself in being about to pinpoint a person's origin, but hers had been hard to pick out.

Since he had been leaning over the table, Quintrell made an adjustment–rolling over onto his back, arms spreading out to sides. One leg continued to hang off the edge while the other, knee bending up, rested his foot against the work table. Trel tilted his head back, slightly arching his upper torso so he could keep the girl in sight. The exuberant smile never wavering–at complete ease with his own antics. "How do people normally respond ta learnin' ye were a doxie? Lift their skirts and tip-toe 'round it? Or–" One hand came to touch daintily over his heart, the other he pressed the back of hand to his forehead. Lips parted, brows knitted in that womanly stated of empathetic pity. His voice rose a few octaves to complete the comical mimicry. "Oh you poor dear! That's just terrible!"

His hands fell back down to their lax positions and he idly kicked his dangling foot. Obviously he didn't shy away from the subject, and Yoalla had not sounded ashamed of her past–had laughed, even. So why should he do any different? Some people were just too uptight and chose to play blissfully ignorant to what they did not understand. Snub and turn their noses up. Really, Quintrell could likely debate who had it worse in those days. Sure it may have been cute and all that Quintrell made a game out of flitching people's rings and necklaces right off from under their noses. What they didn't know was the number of graves he had rolled–or the fact that bodies tended to bloat after a few hours, which made any rings impossible to remove. When trying to be quick, there and gone, easiest to bite off the fingers to get at the rings (a mixture between crunchy and squishy). Everyone had to make a living one way or another.

The thief snickered at her response to the lessons, but didn't get a chance to respond because an observation from Quintresk had Trel flipping back over onto his stomach and extending his hand out to Yosk. Aw, he had made her shy away, so adorable in the way her wings came up to hide her face. "Nuh need ta be shy hun. Yer lovely here has the right mind of it all, nuthin'a be ashamed or bashful 'bout. Be proud of who yeh are." Quintrell scooted forward, hanging partially off the edge to better reach toward the young green wher. Clearly he wanted to rub her head, reassure her of the compliments–so shy, it just made him smile all that much more. If there was a taboo against touching another person's dragon or wher, Quintrell seemed to know nothing about it. Afterall, he played with Anzask all the time.

[Kisha-Ra]

Yosk blinked slowly. As long as hers wasn’t the only human who had strange thoughts she was happy. She didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t understand, that was all. She might pass on some of the stranger things to Quintresk though, if he was interested in them. The green made a low chirp to accent how happy she was that someone would help her out.

Yoalla was slightly surprised to find Quintrell so relaxed about her former life, though if the comments he made were anything to go on Quintrell’s past was probably a similar sort of story. You made your way out of the bottom of society however you could, or you died. ‘Lots of horizontal pleasures, and some vertical ones, too.’ She quipped. ‘Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back, well I can’t actually imagine Raasheen giving anyone their money back but I’ve never had any complaints.’

Yoalla’ gaze flicked back to the brown wher for a moment, was it that clear she was nervous? Well atually it probably was, she did tend to blather on a bit when she was nervous, and if that wasn’t enough of a give away she was pretty sure the tunnelsnakes had been regarded less warily than Quintresk. ‘Tell that to my leg sometime. It may even listen.’ Yoalla’s first two fingers traced over the parallel wounds bestowed on her by Eikask as she spoke.

Yoalla was faintly amused by the posture Quintrell had taken on the counter, he seemed to be comfortable like that as well, to her surprise. ‘Sometimes I wonder if there’s any such thing as normal around here. It don’t –doesn’t- look like it sometimes.’ Shard it, that broken accent of Quintrell’s, a mix of dozens of different speeches or more, was relaxing enough to listen to that Yoalla had inadvertently dropped back into her childhood speech patterns for a moment there. ‘It’s pretty much an even split between ignoring what they don’t like about my past and open snubbing I’d say. Some of these weyrfolk should try making a living on their backs for a few days and then see what I know of hard work.’ The last sentence was spoken in a tone that made it clear someone had insinuated she didn’t know anything about hard work.

‘Oh Yosk is like that with everyone.’ Yoalla was happy to be distracted by her wher’s shyness. ‘She’s just too shy to know how pretty she is.’ Yosk’s neck stretched forward so that the green could peer out from behind her wings. Were they possibly mad? No, she didn’t think they were mad. They were just trying to be nice to her really, they didn’t want her know how horrible she looked so they pretending she looked normal. Tha was it, all made sense now. Yosk looked slightly pleased with her conclusion. Proud? Oh Quintresk’s was a silly one! But he was trying hard to be kind, Yosk thought, so she ignored the silliness of the comment and simply folded her wings to try and please Quintresk’s and hers before butting her head up against Quintrell’s hand. She’d have that scratch thank you.

[rii]

Quintrell chuckled, pleasantly amused by Yoalla's humor, his entire expression holding nothing but approval for the young woman. In his opinion the Weyr could do with some more of her ilk–not exactly the doxie part, but her attitude certainly struck his fancy. "Madam Raasheen.. " He repeated in a thoughtful echo, eyes rolling to the corners before returning to the greenhandler. "House of Delights. Yeaah, I still remember where that is.." He had lived in Bitra for two years, after all, and by thieving it was no wonder he figured out the men going to the brothels tended to carry more marks on them then the common market shopper. "Had a friend try'n worm his way in there once.." as a distraction, and while he created a fuss up front Trel had tried to find where she kept all that money brought in by the girls. Of course, he had gotten distracted while looking. Teenages boys often were in the presence of such women and activities. ".. She sent him out on his ass. Doesn't have much for a sense of humor."

Blink blink, hm? The thief tilted his head back further to watch the tracing of fingers over thigh. What had happened there to make her wary of Quintresk? The brown, too, felt curious about this and directed a questioning to his pale clutchsister. Why did hers look at him with distrust? He had not done anything wrong. He thought she was a lovely female, and His agreed.

Trel cast a quick glance over at his brown, wondering the answer to that particular inquiry, but left it up to his wher to find out the answer. To Yoalla's words, the thief suddenly snorted, expression waning serious for a few seconds. "Dump the lot of 'em in Bitra and see how many 'em even survive." It took a certain ruthlessness to live under such conditions. This southern lifestyle was very.. pampered in his opinion. Too much for his tastes. "But dun matter what they think. Hey, I like ya luv, what more do you need~?"

The thief went back to beaming as he cheerfully scratched Yosk's head, stretching further and further down to better reach her eye ridges. "She's perfect." He gushed happily–talking to Yoalla but still directing nothing but positive energy at Yosk. "I like her too. And–" Gone too far over the edge, the rest of Quintrell's body slipped over the edge and he fell. One leg kicked out, catching a pan on a nearby counter and together with the clanging metal, the thief made a very noisy, graceless heap on his back (though, he had actually caught himself with a hand and torqued his body down to make a very painless landing, it just looked clumsy). He laid with Quintresk down by his legs, and the greenpair near his head.

"Ow.. " Idly he rubbed the side of his head while covertly looked up the length of Yoalla's profile. Not a bad view, not at all. He eased himself up into a sitting position, giving a pained grimace as he shifted his legs into a cross-legged position. The thief gave a sudden laugh before leaning over against the side of Yoalla's leg, much like a canine pup wanting a scratch behind the ears. "Now listen leg." He poked her thigh, just above the knee. "Quintresk ain't nuthin' but kind. Yer gettin' worked up over nuthin'. So I'd appreciate it if you gave 'im a chance."

[Kisha-Ra]

Yoalla’s mouth twitched upward in a brief, grim, smile at the tale. Someone without the money for such tasteless opulence and decadence normally tried to wheedle or threaten their way through the doors about once a sevenday if not more. Madam Raasheen was known for her intolerance of such tactics, and also for hiring a few men with clubs to discourage such things. ‘Indeed she does not. Only one thing gets you into madam Raasheen’s, well two if you count employment.’

Yosk squirmed as Quintresk questioned her, she didn’t like questions. What if she didn’t know the answer, or worse gave the wrong answer? Then everyone would talk forever and ever about how stupid Yosk was. Oh her leg? Eikask was meeean to hers, that was the problem. Eikask clawed her and Yosk really couldn’t convince her handler that Eikask hadn’t meant it or that other whers weren’t out to draw her blood.

The idea of dropping all the mother wherries and nose in the air types to be found in the communal work areas down in Bitra did appeal to Yoalla’s sense of humour. They’d probably all flock together and look down on everyone before they were killed, raped, robbed blind, or died of something vile, or more than one of those options. She could see them now, using knives and forks to eat what they fished out the trash piles and frowning on others for eating their insects whilst walking around. ‘It’s certainly an interesting idea, I doubt most of them would live long, probably all die of disgust on the spot. Alright, I felt like that about Bitra too but at least I survived in the tunnelsnake nest.’ Again that bitter little smile touched her lips, a far cry from her usual sidelong smile. As for him liking her, Yoalla just laughed. ‘It’s not what I need, it’s what you need: better taste more than likely.’ The lad was charming, probably too much for his own good, but charming wasn’t equal to trustworthy.

Now Yosk, there was a topic she could wholeheartedly agree on, no matter what Yosk thought the green was utterly perfect. Okay she was never going to be a raving beauty but nor was any wher.

Yosk tilted her head back to make it easier to get at her eyeridges, being no exception to the general rule that relatives of dragonkind loved their eyeridges scratched. Then she hopped backwards as Quintresk’s came over the counter with a clatter. There was no need to squash her! If he was tired of looking at Yosk’s horrible eyes he could have stopped, she wouldn’t have minded. Really. The green’s head, tail, and wings all drooped sadly as if she personally were responsible for Quintrell’s fall.

Yoalla looked down at Quintrell, the last clatters of the fallen pan adding emphasis to her raised eyebrow. She hadn’t managed to get a sentace together when she found Quintrell leaning against her leg. ‘If you wanted to talk to my leg I’m sure you could have walked around rather than nosediving onto the floor.’ Yoalla moved her leg away slightly, rather than come right out and say she’d rather not be poked in the half healed claw marks. ‘you’ll end up cracking you head open and then where will Quintresk be?’

[rii]

Quintresk considered the information. Having not witnessed the clawing, he couldn't comment whether or not Eikask had done it intentionally. He, and this he shared with Yosk, found it wholly uneccessary to blood anyone but their chosen. Yosk's need not be wary of him. He wouldn't harm her as did their gold clutchsister.

When Yoalla moved away, Quintrell leaned back to give her space, both palms peeking up in a surrendering gesture. Some girls tended to feel the need to slap if he crossed a boundry. As his bonded shared the reason behind her wariness, Quintrell nodded slightly. "Sorry luv, just playin'. I didn't mean ta hurt ya if I did."

He still nuresed his false wound, rubbing at the back of head while considering Yoalla's words. A lopsided-grin on his face as he mused privately. Strange, in the way people who have struggled and survive in the dankest of scum ponds tended to take a personal pride in their trials. They had every right to be so, after all. Most wouldn't admit to the horrors of their past. Yet the amusing part came in how they, those at the bottom of the rungs, looked down on those that were.. more fortunate in life. Not that Quintrell minded in the least. Every now and then people needed to be shoved off their high runnerbeast. "Yeah.." Trel gave her a more genuine smile. "There's something to be said about those that survive."

What was that about needing better taste? A searching glance went up to Yoalla but the thief opted to address Yosk first. A disarming smile as he reached over to give a reassuring last scratch to her left eye ridge. "Dun look so upset hun. I'm just a bit of a klutz. None of that is yer fault." Quintresk agreed, sending Yosk images of his bonded falling and tumbling at random.. usually at the feet of girls. Apparently females caused him to fall. Trell shot a stern look at the brown. No need to share that. Why not? Just don't. Quintresk neck arched a bit, ridges prominent, but he didn't respond.

Quintrell gave a sheepish smile up to Yoalla. Her words sounded as if she saw through his ruse, but he wasn't going to open his mouth and disclose himself a fool on that matter. He rose to his feet with a bit of a hop, straightening his clothes as he settled his weight between both feet. Before he could open his mouth, however, Quintresk bumped into his leg.. the brown having picked up the fallen pan. The thief took it with a frown. "I don't want this." The brown flicked his tail at an ankle, a mild scolding for making such noise and mess. "Yer startin' to sound like Dmisk." A mental huff came over the bond and Quintrell, satisfied, reached to put the pan on the counter–only to have that thin tail tip flick him again. Quintresk didn't know better, but he sensed in the thief's mind that putting the pan back on the counter would not be acceptable.

"Fine fine, you win." Quintrell raised his fingers up around the pan and moved to step around Yoalla, pausing by her side. Smiling, liking for once to meet a female shorter than himself. "Pardon me, I'm being scolded." But he refused to wash it, harumph. Trel walked over to the sink, glancing over his shoulder as he went. "And, curious, what is wrong with my taste?"

[Kisha-Ra]

Yoalla looked confused for a moment after Quintrell’s apology before she caught on. She might not have said anything about her injury but Yosk had evidently told Quintresk, who in turn had passed the information on. She was going to have to get used to that sort of thing, it was odd having someone who could talk, or at least convey ideas, about you whenever they wanted to. It was even odder that she wasn’t even objecting to Yosk’s passing information about her. ‘I’m sure I’ll live.’ Yoalla answered Quintrell tersely, realising she’d been stood thinking and letting the silence lengthen.

Something to be said about the survivors? Yoalla mused on that comment as Quintrell tried to reassure Yosk, which was probably a lost cause. What exactly was there to be said? Well she did have a small amount of pride in surviving in a place where so many died, possibly even of disgust, so it could be a backhanded compliment. On the other hand surviving normally did mean getting on with whatever needed doing toward that goal, including things that would disturb a fair few people. So…

Yosk twitched her wings, surprised by the scratch to her eyeridge and almost withdrawing from reach to hide away, however she nearly ended up falling sideways instead and decided it might be a good idea to stay still. She liked her eyeridge rubbed anyway. Females made Quintresk’s fall down? Yosk communicated mild amazement and confusion; why should this be?

Yoalla hid a smile as Quintresk decided that it was about time his bonded picked up the pan that had hit the deck. Seemingly the wher was not to be denied. Yoalla covered the smile, alright, smirk, that had developed on her face by leaning down to scratch Yosk some more, until the green looked almost cheerful, for her, which was to say that she looked only mildly guilty and sad.

Yoalla straightened up and gave Quintrell a superior sort of look. ‘What’s right with your taste?’ she inquired with another of her raised eyebrow expressions. ‘There’s got to be something wrong with hanging around dark kitchens at night in the company of a former doxie, and as for actually saying you like me… I can only assume you haven’t been here long enough for the prevalent attitudes to rub off on you.’ Yoalla gave Quintrell a searching look. ‘Though I suppose you have been hanging out in my old haunts, must have be to know Raasheen’s. You sound like you come from everywhere though.’ Yoalla finished and wandered across the room, poking around until she came up with some bread and something to cut it with. The question was; could she be bothered to look for anything to put on it?

[rii]

Silly Yosk, Quintrell clicked his tongue but resisted the urge to shake his head at his thoughts. Her reactions to his blatant flattery were endearing.. but perhaps he was coming on a bit strong. He'd tone it down, though, before she got it in her head to get upset with him for being so openly generous with compliments.

Quintresk's head swiveled to peer at his mindmate, considering Yosk's question, then he decided to lay down on the floor, muzzled resting over one of his forelegs–off to the side so he could still watch his green clutchsister and Hers. He didn't know why females caused His to fall down. Apparently it was suppose to be a good thing. Quintresk didn't understand this, did Yosk know? She was female, after all.

Stop worrying over it. It's not important. But Quintresk wanted to know..

Stepping lightly, Quintrell set the pan next to the empty sink while casting a curious glance over his shoulder. The expression on Yoalla's face made his grin peak–a cheeky one, her. He didn't know why she was giving him that superior look when in the same sentence she was suggesting (at least to his ears) that she was poor taste. How could she exude such confidence and yet speak so underfoot of herself. It almost made him want to muse about how many she was a bit shy, too, to receive flattery.

"As for the dark n' night bit, I am a wher handler, so.. " He flipped his hand off to the side, demonstrating the insignificance of those two points. Quintrell's voice had taken on a more level tone, over time the exaggerated cheeriness had faded. The smile came more easily, which he now gave Yoalla while watching her gather up supplies. Apparently she didn't want meat.. as she avoided getting any from the tray. Curious that. Quintrell mentally shrugged and wandered over to one of the cabinets to receive the wrapped block of cheese. This he brought back and set it beside the bread.

He moved off to the side, lazily leaning against the work table. One elbow bent on to the surface and he used his upturned palm as a rest for chin. Dark brown eyes were intent on his fellow wherling. "No luv, I haven't been 'ere long, but I highly doubt they're gonna change any of my opinions. I find nuthin' wrong with my present company. A gal strong enough to survive through hell–I respect that, that I do– n'she's got her own opinion and isn't afraid to speak it. You know who you are, ye don't hide yer past. What is, is." The hand holding his face up shifted away to point at Yoalla. "And you know right n'well that you are good lookin'–and don't you snort or laugh at me. Or I'm gonna make it a point to do to you.. what I was doing to Yosk."

In short, gushing shamelessly at her. "N'I don't mean scratch yer eye ridges luv."

His hand came back, chin plopping down into the palm. "I am from everywhere. Been all 'round the north n'south. Can't say I'm too happy to be tied down 'ere, but.. eh, I'll adapt." The theif gave a half-shrug. That was one of his better traits, the ability to adapt to any situation in order to survive. Never seeing himself at a disadvantage, but an open road ahead of him and full of opportunities. "I stayed in Bitra for.. two turns, I believe. Got nabbed up while in Lemos, they hauled me over n'sold me to some men, but I managed to get loose. Just kinda.. hung around 'till my feet told me it was time to move on."

[Kisha-Ra]

Yosk did not know, not many fell over in the presence of hers (their bronze clutchbrother didn’t count, he always fell over), in fact she thought it was just Quintresk’s. Yosk wriggled around until she was sat facing Quintresk with her tail curled neatly around her feet while she thought about it. No, she couldn’t any advantage to falling over; maybe it was supposed to be different if you only had two legs to walk on? Maybe Quintresk’s thought that females would notice him if he was right in front of them.

Yoalla was tempted to ask Quintrell what he thought he was smiling about, it was slightly disconcerting after a while to meet that cheerful face every time you turned around. However since she suspected Quintrell naturally smiled all the time and knew how dramatically he could answer a question like that Yoalla restrained herself.

‘Did you want any of this bread?’ she asked instead, rapidly unwrapping the end of the cheese and just cutting bits off it with the bread knife, which would no doubt infuriate someone in the morning, especially since Yoalla didn’t seem to be able to cut straight.

Yoalla’s expression turned doubtful as she leaned against the counter and nibbled on a piece of cheese while Quintrell spoke. A myriad of sarcastic and snappy retorts drifted around her mind, but Quintrell didn’t pause long enough for her to make one anyway, and Yoalla knew from experience that that kind of comment normally made a lot more sense inside her head.

‘Well of course I know that.’ At last something she could answer. ‘One might say that not looking like a canines’s bum is a good qualification for a doxie.’ Yoalla paused to consider this. ‘Well it’s certainly a qualification for bringing in the kind of marks I used to anyway.’ She added, recalling numerous lees than desirable looking women out on the streets. ‘In any case I’d prefer not to have a huge amount of gushing compliments paid to me, no matter how justified they may be.’ She neatly avoided most of the topics in that little speech, and refrained from facetiously mentioning that she didn’t have eyeridges as well. There was something to be proud of.

So, Yoalla mused, he’d been all around the world, probably stealing if he’d been picked up and sold off, unless he was a murderer perhaps. Yoalla gave Quintrell a searching look and would have like to say she didn’t see a killer there, but she was all too aware of the many masks things could hide behind. Not looking like a criminal was a good thing for a criminal. ‘What you do that warranted being sold then? Refuse someone important?’ Yoalla didn’t really expect an answer to that but she had to ask the question anyway, it was her nature.

[rii]

That made sense, Quintresk mused with his clutchsister, the females did tend to stop and notice His–often laughing. His thought making them laugh was a good thing, but Yosk's didn't laugh. It was all rather confusing, a bit puzzling..

"No thanks," Quintrell refused politely. He had stuffed himself full before Yoalla and Yosk had come padding into the kitchens. With a faint touch of amusement in his eyes he watched as she made the end of the cheese appear as if a darter had gotten ahold of it, nibbling it out of shape.

The thief chuckled at her comment, "Oh, so you are sayin' I need ta be more specific than just politely complimentin' that yer good lookin'? I suppose that is just a bit general of a term. If that's what you want luv, I'll gladly oblige." His tone came off teasing, because yes, of course she didn't want him gushing at her. Though that behavior was more enjoyable to do to females that blushed to such flattery–like Yosk for example. "Mind my curiosity, but is there a equally justifiable reason why ye dun wanna be appreciated with a few compliments?"

Because she kept shooting his words down, and by golly, Quintrell was determined to get one of them through.

Brows rose in response to the gaze sweeping his face with question. What? The thief plucked up his discarded piece of fruit, taking a small bite while mulling over her verbal inquiry. He didn't understand how 'refusing someone important' meant anything. Didn't even really know what that meant. Quintrell didn't abide to any form of authority–humored them from time to time, but he was not the servitude type. Though, on the other hand, Quintrell did curb to influences of the female persuasion easily enough.

"Well.." He drawled lazily, the rather.. dark humor starting up. "I was young, small.. and with a face like mine.. " A short pause, letting the words take on a different feel as if he had been some adorable young lad–well he had, and he still was to an extent. The curse of having the boyish features, never quite gaining the look of a matured man–the grin would always show his inner child. ".. and it's Bitra. You can just imagine the people that woulda loved to break such a child. Either mar with a blade or through other heinous acts. Didn't matter who I was, just a means to line another's pocket with marks and sate someone's taste for sex and or violence." And he said it all with such cheer, as if the deplorable trades and bile-rising acts were something to chuckle about. Perhaps the smile and aloof attitude was something of a protective mask–or it really didn't bother him, Quintrell did maintain a certain metaphorical distant to all things.