Heavy [Tags Ka'rys and Co.]

[kysseh]

Crack.

Savitri winced as the sound emanated from her neck, ceasing her attempts to roll her head in an effort to quell the aches. An inability to sleep or even to get comfortable had characterized the young woman's attempts at rest as of late, and Savitri found her joints to be much noisier in the past sevenday or so. Annoying, but... it was a fact of life for the moment. Her head finally straightened itself out on her neck, and the goldrider celebrated by uncomfortably shifting her not-inconsiderable weight on her chair. Ugh. Aches.

You work too much, Mine. You should rest. You hurt. came the scolding reply from the distant Hatching Grounds where Hepaticath lay almost lazily sprawled on the couch made available to expectant and brooding queens. The young queen was massively eggheavy and had made the Hatching Grounds her weyr until flying became easier again. Eggs were uncomfortable, the gold had decided. She had to lay almost on her side to accommodate the bulging mass of what had once been her fit and trim self. Now she could sympathize with SavitriHers' almost-never-ending discomfort, and her scolding had taken on an edge of sympathy. Still, playing mother to Hers was something that the young dragon was never going to break herself of. The hides will be there tomorrow. Lay down.

The fact that Hepaticath tinged the 'order' with an image of her own version of laying down made Savitri snort softly, one of the goldrider's hands idly dropping from her desk to pet the little feline that was curled up on her belly. You know it'll only feel worse if I lay down. Besides, I'd rather get ahead on this now. I won't have much time when the baby's here. she mentally reminded her somewhat-overbearing mindmate. "Hypocrite," she added softly aloud, knowing the gold could not hear. Aren't you getting eggbound by now? Just lay them already.

The queen gave a mental huff, blowing a bit of the hot sand of the grounds away from herself. Silly creatures, humans were. Didn't they know that eggs just came when they came and not a moment sooner? Really. And why did humans need to be accompanied for their clutchings? Did they not know what to do on their own? A dragon knew what to do with no help. Hepaticath knew. She was simply waiting for the eggs to come. You have been eggheavy for longer, SavitriLoveMine. Get up from the chair and take your fluffy things to your couch and sleep before I tell RysCiceroth's. It was not an idle threat, either. Hers had been sitting at that desk-thing for half the morning, as well as most of the previous day. A waste of time that could be spent resting and being pampered, Hepaticath had decided. The queen mentally sought her mate, certainly not above taking an underhanded and backwards approach to making the fat human take a break. Ciceroth would help her, certainly.

"You wouldn't dare," Savitri grumbled quietly to no one in particular, aware the gold could not hear her. Her shoulders rolled in an attempt to work out the aches, and she sighed as the movement nearly dislodged Fish, eliciting a tightening of claws and a meow of protest from her furry shoulder decoration. After soothing that feline and the snoozing creature still laying with paws splayed on her abdomen, the goldrider diligently returned to her records. She hated checking over records, but it had to be done. Never mind that her fingers were smudged with ink, and her right cheek was decorated with a smudge just beneath her eye. Never mind that she was functioning on perhaps two and a half candlemarks of good sleep and sitting barefoot in her loosest shirt and pants at a desk that was simply not designed for a woman as gravid as she.

She was going to this done, shardit.

((Fail. x.o))

[glamourie]

Rysmine, SavitriCath’s is misbehaving again. Do go and straighten her out before she makes Hepaticath fuss more, would you?

Bossy, who, Ciceroth? Neeever. Not in a moment, even as he lay sprawled out outside the Hatching Sands. As far as he knew, Hepaticath was unaware of how close he was -- but, being nervous, he daren’t enter the Sands, even to perch on the viewing ledges, lest he offend. The last Gold he’d caught made it clear that he was not welcome on the hatching grounds with her, and he did not wish to offend Hepaticath by assuming her belief would be different. He wanted to be close to her, though, so it was that he laid outside, plowed out near the entrance, just out of sight, enjoying the shade. His wings twitched animatedly, as did his tail. The wound on his shoulder was mostly healed. For all appearances, the bronze was a flawless piece of pale grace, complete with vivid red hues where the sunlight danced over his hide; he looked impossibly well cared-for in the shade, and it was true that he was spoiled. He was also half-asleep, and not intending to head back to placate his fussy rider any time soon. Comfortable, he was. Yessir.

Ka’rys, on the other hand, was not outside. He was, in fact, in the middle of the infirmary, reading a skin covered with various records of Threadfall details in the South. Thread was a lot less of a menace there, considering that the ground was heavily grubbed and the insects ate the Thread when it went to burrow, but it was still a problem, and memorizing the patterns was a necessity to being a good wingleader - let alone ‘Junior Weyrleader’ which was a title he found ridiculously stupid. Typically, Weyrsecond was used in reference to the Weyrleader’s second in command -- and it was determined by the Weyrleader’s choice, not who’s dragon caught the Junior Queen; in his opinion, that was more logical. Somehow he doubted that K’roi would have picked him, too, considering that he didn’t exactly like the Senior Weyrleader… a sentiment that was rapidly growing more and more prominent as he read on. Not that K’roi had done anything to him personally but the Fort attack, in his opinion, was handled explosively badly. He knew K’zorn. He also knew J’lorin. Did it not ever occur to them to ask around…? Instead of throwing out insults? Ridiculous. Ridiculous.

His bronze’s words touched on his mind, and Ka’rys glanced up before turning to Kalerary, who was carefully tying off a bandage at R’wign’s instruction. “I’ll be back shortly,” he said, and earned two nods (neither of the dark haired individuals looked at him), and then stalked off out of the infirmary. The skin was rolled up absently to be ignored. Better things to do than read it.

Reaching his weyr was relatively difficult since things were moved around. For starters, the Infirmary was up on a higher floor, and he was moved to the lowest with Savitri. Second, he didn’t have Ciceroth to carry him around because the bronze was being a very lazy beast. The end result was that it took him a good ten minutes to reach the door and as soon as he opened it, his mindmates signified his arrival. Ophelie flew in first, fluting pleasantly to Savitri before spiraling down to land on one of the dressers and preen. The little green made a show of fluttering her wings, showing off how pretty she could be. Vanity, thy name was woman.

The second to arrive made no effort to move from his spot on Ka’rys’s shoulder. The blue salamandyr was perching, though he’d shut up to let Ka’rys read (perhaps sensing the importance of what he was trying to understand). He flared his frill at Savitri, cocked his head, stood up on his hindlegs and gave a shrill purr before leaping up and onto his mindmate’s head entirely. His long body stretched out and he flicked his tail threateningly before posing, no doubt comically. ShadowMine’s back back mine Shadow’s give love sleep sleep you give bad ShadowMine’s make gold thing is go sad, he proclaimed, in what could possibly have been described as one of the most confusing salamandyr babbles to ever escape one of the creatures. No doubt he knew what he meant though, and Merce was often very hard to understand (though Ka’rys was slowly getting better at it -- slowly).

“There’s such a thing as maternity leave. Women take it to not have to fly on Threadfighting wings and all their dragon rider responsibilities, aside from caring for their mindmates, are put on hold because of it. Usually this is taken by the middle of the third trimester… most assuredly before eight months pregnant. Tell me, gold rider, are you trying to stress me out, or is it just a perk in life?” Ka’rys teased; his voice was definitely not aggressive in any way. He wasn’t trying to offend her, after all. “I am starting to think I need to hire you a babysitter to keep you behaving. It won’t come to that, will it?”

[kysseh]

There was only a brief flare of smugness from Hepaticath to warn Savitri that something was amiss, and then the door to her--their--weyr was opening. Ophelie received a pleasant smile, and had the green been closer, she would have received an affectionate stroke. Ka'rys's little green was by far one of Savitri's favorite firelizards, far superior, in the goldrider's opinion, to the likes of Ras, who was off chasing something again. The haughty little beast never stuck around for long, which Savitri supposed was a good thing. Peace was welcome.

It was hard to turn in her chair without dislodging either feline or bumping her squirming belly against something, but Savitri managed to turn just enough to get half a look at her weyrmate, offering up a genuinely pleased, if tired, smile. Infrequently was she unhappy to see him, even if she belatedly remembered that he was supposed to be similarly elbow-deep in work. Hmm. Had he forgotten something? She was momentarily distracted by the blue speck on his shoulder, watching as Merce leapt onto the bronzerider's head to strike a pose. Inside her breastband, Shadow twitched, obviously recognizing that one of his kin was present. She fervently hoped the little white menace stayed put for the moment; he had been in a foul temper as of late.

The smile on her face vanished as Ka'rys's mouth opened, replaced instead by closed eyes and a groan. She lifted one ink-smudged hand to her face to cover her eyes, unaware that she was leaving more black trails across her face. Why did neither Ka'rys nor Hepaticath recognize just how much she had to get done? Hmm?! She was getting ahead on some things, see, and that was different from just doing silly things to keep occupied. Work. Real work. It was blatantly obvious that Ka'rys was teasing her, but Savitri was frustrated by it anyway. That was scarcely the bronzerider's fault, though. She blamed sleeplessness and aches and the creature that kept giving her kicks in the gut, one of which made her exhale in surprise and press a hand to the spot. Bad baby. Bad.

"Hepaticath told you to come, didn't she?" the goldrider managed, her nose scrunching slightly as evidence of her frustration with the smug and similarly uncomfortable queen. Hepaticath was quite proud of herself, and Savitri was willing to bet the young gold was crooning loud enough to set the sands vibrating. Stupid beast. "I'm trying to... to get ahead. I need to keep busy, and I won't have time for much after the baby's born," she added in a weak defense. Shard the man. He was going to take her hides away, wasn't he? She shifted a bit in her chair, prompting Fish to abandon her and stalk over to Ka'rys with typical feline disloyalty. Perhaps the feline would distract Ka'rys. Or better yet... "Maternity leave is for people who don't have this many things to do. I'm behaving. Sitting down, see? But... if you need a babysitter for me, I would suggest that one young bronzerider. Dark hair, dark eyes, recently promoted to junior weyrleader? He knows how to keep me in line." Yes. Flattery. She could use that to keep him from stealing her work away. It was a good plan.

Plans or no plans, Fish was doing an adequate job of trying to keep the bronzerider's attention off his weyrmate's busybody tendencies. The silvery feline was making every effort to rub her body against the man's ankles whilst issuing a constant stream of meows. Nice bronzerider would pet her, wouldn't he? Of course he would. Then she wouldn't be forced to sleep on his head later. Smart man, that.

Hepaticath, still uncomfortably laid out on her couch, was indeed crooning quite loudly, and the gold touched again on her mate's mind, flicking her tailtip as a dignified expression of delight. Thank you, my Ciceroth. The queen shifted her weight, huffing indignantly at the uncomfortable nature of the bed. It was not made for the eggheavy, no, it was not. She wanted her own couch, her own pillow. Are you busy? she politely inquired of her bronze. Perhaps he could come admire his clutch that still remained to be laid, while providing her with a cozy pillow and couch-partner. She liked this idea very much.

[glamourie]

Okay, the ink smudges were adorable. It was frustrating that Savitri was smearing ink all over her face and not trying to stand up and go - just relax - but the ink smudges over her skin were very, very cute. Did she realize how much of it was smeared across her face? Probably as much on her as was on her hides, if he was to guess, though he’d have to go look to be sure. It took all of Ka’rys’s effort not to grin in his amusement, but fortunately he was practiced at disguising his emotions and he met her look with an interested one of his own. Yes, he’d noticed how quickly the smile on her face disappeared when he spoke but what had she expected? For him to sit and allow her to overwork herself? Theoretically she could give birth any time. She needed to go rest, relax, enjoy herself. Not sit around working senselessly. But his weyrmate was a workaholic and really, she only seemed happy if she had someone to harp at half the time. Hmph. So tempting to call her on all of it, that was - but there was nothing gained by doing something he knew would lead to a fight, and in the back of his mind, Ka’rys was quite aware that it would be much easier to manipulate her than try to talk sense into that pretty head of hers. Maybe that was cruel, but he’d rather convince her to do what was healthy than try to be kind. Cruel to be kind. Funny statement, that. True too.

“No,” Ka’rys countered to her question, his eyes following Savitri’s hands. “I heard a voice in my head, but it wasn’t Hepaticath. It said ‘SavitriCath’s is misbehaving again’ and radiated vanity enough to melt Benden Weyr. While I’m fairly sure that statement does apply to your lovely gold, I’m equally sure that the one who tattled on you has more red highlights to his hide than she ever will.” Technicalities, he was sure; there was no doubt in his mind where the request came from, since Ciceroth wouldn’t have asked him to make Savitri relax if Hepaticath didn’t want it. Ciceroth tended to stay out of things with Savitri and him, especially lately; the bronze was convinced they had matters under control and did not require dragon meddling most of the time. He only butted in when they obviously couldn’t get along like civilized folk… and required a helping nudge in the right direction.

The feline prowling around his legs went mostly ignored… by Ka’rys, anyway. Her movements drew attention from another figure in the weyr, who had promptly taken to prancing over when Ka’rys arrived. Reggie stopped next to Ka’rys’s legs and licked his paws, grooming his white-and-orange fur neatly. Then he stretched out, cracking his back and lashing his tail slightly. Yellow-green eyes locked entirely on Fish and Reggie circled Ka’rys, brushing his sides against the bronze rider’s legs affectionately. He managed to shed all over the fabric, though the long fur was so well maintained that he still looked fabulous. Despite being a huge feline, there was no denying that Reggie was a handsome creature to behold… and just as vain as his bronzeslave was. But it wasn’t Ka’rys he was focusing on, not as much as usual. He typically fawned over the bronze rider, but…

So many excuses, she had, Ka’rys decided with a slight roll of his eyes. The felines at his ankles were ignored, though he stepped around them with an almost subconscious acknowledgment. Stopping at the side of the desk, he leaned against it and quirked an eyebrow. “Trying to get ahead. I believe that. I really do. Because you’re not addicted to work or anything,” he said with a dry snort that gave clear indication to what he really felt. “You’ll have plenty of time after the baby’s born because it will wake you up every candle mark or so, stay up for two candle marks, then you’ll put the baby to bed, and not be able to fall asleep yourself. Remember, I’ve done this before. There will be time. That much aside, what you’re doing could easily be put onto someone else. What exactly does Kaegan do? She’s not about to have a baby, and she can reassign your responsibilities for awhile to someone else. You should be resting, or at least trying to relax. Read something and keep yourself calm. Or would that make too much sense?”

Oh and now she was trying flattery. Crinkling his nose, Ka’rys casually leaned over until his face was mere inches from hers, in an attempt to distract, while his other hand latched onto the end of her parchments. The proximity made Merce leap off of Ka’rys’s head and onto the table top, scurrying about in exploration. Hmm hmm hmm! “And why would I do something silly like that, coerce some rival into paying more attention to you…? Where’s the sense…?” Yes, yes, he knew she was trying to indicate him, though ‘young’ was hardly a word that applied to someone who was thirty-one turns old. He knew that, even if his age was a matter of much agitation to him. “How about I myself just give you a massage…?” He pulled the hides away carefully as he spoke, no doubt using words to distract her, though it would only be seconds before she realized what he was up to. Ka’rys was somewhat predictable at times, even if he tried hard not to be.

You need never thank me. I do not know how much success Rysmine will have. He likes to work a lot himself.

Flicking his tail nervously, Ciceroth touched on his mindmate for a moment and then ignored him. Silly man was so amused. One day he would understand the way Ka’rys’s mind worked. His rider was half-agitated, half-amused. Somewhat frustrated. How could one person feel so many things at once and not explode? Interestingly enough, none of it was very deep emotions, either. Ka’rys tended to only feel certain things deeply. Everything else was surface feelings that came and went very quickly. Ciceroth liked that better, though, than the brooding. Hnn… Oh, a question…

Busy? he echoed, lifting his head to look himself over. Does lounging count as busy? He rarely ventured far from the Sands, anyway… but he wasn’t doing anything. Except lay there, anyway.

[kysseh]

Just the same, I am grateful. was Hepaticath's simply-stated but undeniably appreciative reply to her mate's reassurances. It could rarely be stated of the gold that she was intentionally rude. Unintentionally... it did happen, on occasion. But far be it from Hepaticath to act undignified with anyone save for SavitriHers or her Ciceroth, since Ciceroth was her playmate, mate, pillow, and partner in general silliness. She trusted him to not blabber to the whole weyr how ridiculous she could be at times. He had not told about the evil little tree, had he? No, of course not. Ciceroth would never do something like that.

The queen shifted again on her couch, craning her neck around to rub her head against her egg-swollen abdomen. It itched and ached, no matter how much attention SavitriHers paid to her hide. It was hardly the human's fault that the eggs were large and taking up so much room, Hepaticath reasoned. Still, she rubbed her head more enthusiastically against the itchy spot in the hopes of relieving the discomfort. Bad, bad eggs. She would have continued to lament about the bad eggs, but Ciceroth was offering a reply to her hopeful sort of question. If you are lounging, then I do not want to bother you, but... Yes. But. There was always a 'but.' Would you want to lounge on my couch here...? There is plenty of room. I am not comfortable. the queen confessed, irritably flicking her tail as her renewed efforts at scratching the itch failed to resolve the problem. Evil eggs.

Savitri could sympathize with Hepaticath's predicament. She had rather mournfully discovered that morning that, after months of a thrice-daily regiment of salves and creams, she had gained what could only be termed as stretch marks at the sides of her belly. They itched horribly, and Savitri had slathered on the salves most generously to avoid a recurrence of the itching or a worsening of the blemishes. Vain, Savitri was not, but that did not mean she wanted to further mar her already-battered body. The young bronze Risith had already scarred the upper portion of her torso, and making the lower half of it match was... well, she just didn't want it. Hopefully, Ka'rys wouldn't mind the new additions when he got a glimpse of them. Perhaps she was sleeping clothed--or partially so, at least--tonight.

"I'm sure Hepaticath asked. It's hard to be mad at her right now, though," the goldrider confessed as her pale eyes locked on her weyrmate, permitting herself to look him over. The Turns had been kind to him, kinder than they had been to her, at least. Such was the lot of a woman, though. Bearing children aged a person. "Do be sure to thank Ciceroth for me, though," she added dryly, rolling her eyes as she sensed Hepaticath's vague and buried delight over Savitri's predicament. Stupid gold. Always amused when Savitri was interrupted at her work. How am I supposed to get anything done with him here? I can't stop staring at him. she grumbled mentally at the gold, dropping a hand to pet the feline that was perched on her belly.

Just in time did she realize the hand was covered in ink smudges, and both hands promptly took a detour to scrub themselves idly on the loose, old pair of pants she wore. Pah. The pants had enough ink and dirt smudges on them already. It was the reason she wore them for such days as today. A little more ink wouldn't hurt them. "I wasn't... I'm not addicted to... or..." she tried to bluster out in her own defense, though Ka'rys's expression made it clear that he would never believe her. Ugh. Bronzeriders. She caved and just gave up, huffing out a sigh of frustration that awakened Vira and set the little feline to purring again. He was probably frustrated with her, Ka'rys. If their roles had been reversed--and ooooh, but the thought of him pregnant with a belly nearly out to Rukbat was a gleefully, evilly wonderful one at that very moment--she would have expressed annoyance with his working habits too. "I'm not sure what Kaegan is up to right now. But she has her duties, and I have mine, and just because I'm about to explode in every direction and probably collapse this stupid chair does not mean I can't work."

That came out a little petulant, Savitri noted belatedly, so she tempered it with a weakly apologetic smile, gazing with open adoration at the man that leaned against her desk. So close. So tempting. If it weren't for the fact that she suspected that he would lock all her parchments away and tie her to something immobile, she would have been positively and unreservedly delighted by his presence. Now she was just... delighted. And frustrated. She couldn't get anything done.

Of course, all the purring on the other side of the weyr was becoming distracting as well. Fish had, after failing to capture Ka'rys's attention for some much-deserved love, been about to wander off when another one of the weyr's many feline residents arrived. The silvery female was immediately appeased by this and stood still, head cocked to one side and tail flicking almost lazily back and forth, to watch Reggie strut his glorious self over. The female purred loudly and kneaded her forepaws idly at the stone floor, her eyes fixated on the male feline. Such a handsome creature... and large, especially in comparison to lithe little Fish. One paw lifted, batted lightly--and with claws retracted, of course--at the male's face. He wasn't going to bite, was he?

Had Savitri noticed the behavior of her feline, she might have been slightly concerned. As it was, the goldrider's gaze was firmly fixed on her weyrmate's mouth as he leaned down closer to her to speak. "If you can rival yourself, then I'm impressed," she murmured, momentarily distracted from her fixation by a sudden cease in the purring as Vira leaped away from her to go sulk on the bed. Apparently, the baby disapproved of the purring, and Savitri's faced flickered to a grimace for a moment when another kick of dissent pushed out the top of her belly. "Shush, you," the goldrider muttered aimlessly at the offending infant before returning her attention to her thoroughly-kissable bronzerider.

So absorbed was she that she, at first, failed to notice the parchment theft. Her back straightened, and she closed the distance between them, very gently moving her lips over his. "A massage sounds nice. But... I have to finish this before I lose my thoughts while they're in order. Perhaps... later?" she added as she pulled back, tossing in just enough of a suggestive note in her voice to offer something rather naughty. Hopefully, he'd agree because, yes, ink smudges--she still had no idea they were there--were just so sexy. Who could resist? "After I fini- Rys!"

Both hands made a futile grab for the parchment. "Rys, I'm not done!" Too little, too late, she thought grumpily. Shard the man.

[glamourie]

Ka’rys wondered vaguely what Kaegan did do. Perhaps it was annoyance with the fact that his weyrmate seemed to work day and night (despite his protests, and he was not alone in that irritation), or simply frustration with Savitri’s refusal to accept that she couldn’t do everything the same way, he wasn’t sure, but he found himself wanting to throttle the Senior Weyrwoman more and more each day. Not that he’d ever been terribly fond of Kaegan, nor was Ciceroth terribly interested in Millieth. She was from Benden and for better or worse, she had abandoned her Weyr. Abandoned. Ka’rys had a distinct sense of duty, it came with his raising at Fort, and abandoning her post, no matter how miserable it was, seemed cowardly to him. Kaegan, in his mind, was a coward… and her gold was inferior to Hepaticath, and she’d been inferior to Aslath, though Ciceroth had greatly preferred Millieth to the former Senior Queen. (Given how Aslath treated Ciceroth, it was unsurprising that he preferred Millieth -- but Ka’rys did not think highly of any queen who’s hatchlings had a strong chance of coming out with a potentially life-threatening birth defect, something that Hepaticath’s babies would be blessedly free from). He was predisposed to not be fond of Kaegan, and… making Savitri work (and it was easier to blame Kaegan than Savitri herself) just made it worse. Huff.

Tuning out Savitri’s excuses, Ka’rys reached up to smudge one of the ink smears on her face with his thumb. His hand came away with black marks on the edges, but he didn’t appear to notice (or rather chose to ignore that). He could distract her, he could, and he would if that was what it took. No matter that he had things he needed to be doing. He wasn’t Senior Weyrleader and by no stretch of the imagination did he intend to cover K’roi’s backside. He was not going to do it. He’d do his job, which was the same as ‘Weyrsecond’ and not ‘Weyrleader.’ Hmph. He wasn’t lazy. He just was not about to be coerced into more work and it irritated him that his weyrmate seemed eager to do that as well.

He held his hand up, deliberately keeping the parchments out of Savitri’s reach, and angled an eyebrow up suggestively. Her suggestive tones and words went ignored as she reached for the parchment and he smirked slightly at her before leaning forward to brush his own lips over Savitri’s nose. It was a gentle touch, probably more so than he usually offered, and most assuredly affectionate. He let the smirk fade into a playful smile. Not very many people couldn’t reach his hands, even when he held them high above his head. He was used to being one of the shortest individuals in a room. S’rei was nearly a head taller than him, though he was taller than most. The amount of people in a position of power though who were around his height was minimal at best. Savitri was one of the few shorter, comically enough… and he had no intentions of returning the parchment. None whatsoever.

“Not a phrase any man likes to hear,” Ka’rys teased, his smile widening just slightly. Suggestive? A little. Just a little. “Is work truly more interesting than me…? I’d think that I’m far more fascinating than -” He glanced up at the parchments, “- records, or whatever this happens to be. It’s not going anywhere, but I might have to relocate if you keep implying I’m not worth your attention. Come now. Don’t neglect me.” He was so not very good at the playful flirting thing, but he was trying… really hard, actually. Savitri seemed to prefer that over his gruff, unemotional behavior, and he was trying to meet her half-way on things. Sort of. Only her though. Everyone else got ignored -- Ka’rys wasn’t friendly, and he never would be. Only a fool thought otherwise. But if training himself to be more outgoing with Savitri kept them from bickering, he could do that. It just meant he was more testy with everyone else… but strangers had it coming.

At his feet, Reggie gave a low purr and moved his face away from being batted, almost as if in alarm. His ears flicked and he flicked his tail back before moving to properly circle Fish. His right ear gave a twitch and then he rubbed his whole body against her, in an undeniable show of affection. Behind him, the feline waved his tail, and he crouched down low before pouncing off - oblivious to Vira’s presence entirely. He looked over his shoulder at Fish and mrrowed low in his throat, baiting; wouldn’t she chase him?

Ciceroth, outside, gave a low croon in response to Hepaticath’s words. He didn’t move initially, instead lifting his head to look toward the hatching grounds in what could only be described as a sort of nervous posture. He shifted, awkwardly, and flipped his tail. Ka’rysHis was busy so he couldn’t ask him whether or not it was a good idea, but he did wonder. Hepaticath did not normally make offers just to rescind them, and she wasn’t the type to throw tantrums usually, but -- but it upset him. Very, very badly, in fact. Not her offer, but memories. He remembered Aslath and that he’d only been allowed near her on minimal basis. Not offensively, were her actions meant, but it was hard to be so blatantly ignored… and then have an offer made by the most recent queen he’d caught. And he didn’t entirely know how to react.

Nevertheless, after a second of thought, he did manage to pull himself to his feet and flare his wings awkwardly. It took him a moment to level out before he took to wing and flew inside to sweep up and land on the couch next to Hepaticath with a low croon of greeting. It is a big couch, he reasoned thoughtfully, nosing about it as though to investigate. Does it bite then? Oh, he had a good idea of why she was uncomfortable, but -- far be it from him to confess that. Much better to pretend not to know. Then he didn’t have to apologize.