By Invitation Only (Slumber Party Thread)

[binker]

Pepsi, with his selection of pies in tow, plopped himself next to Raylin, preferring to take a seat on the floor rather than the bed. He was far more comfortable on the floor despite his time at the Weyr; beds were flimsy, their only usefulness being the fact that they were off the ground. He licked his fingers free of juice, wrinkling his nose at Freckle; stupid green thing. But he had pie, and he was far more interested in food than the little mandyr.

Still, as the game started to progress, he prodded Raylin's leg, looking up at the girl with confusion. "What Quest or Question?" He knew what a question was, but... Not a quest. But it seemed that it was something that allowed you to make someone else do something! Interested, he watched Farryl with interest, wanting to see just what it was she was going to do to the flitter. Maybe she could toss it in the air? That would probably wake her up...

[dragon]

Dorava looked at the sleeping flitter, and wondered about that quest. Either that flitter truely never woke up, or ... that was a rediculously easy Quest. Which, she didn't know. But the idea of it made her grin anyway. This should be interesting to see. Regardless of how it turned out.

She tasted her pie, and grinned. That was good. She munched on it peacefully, watching everyone around her and listening to everything that was going on. That little green mandyr was really being rude, again, and she wondered what it was that made the mandyr be so abrasive. What prodded any mandyr to be the way they were? Her gaze flickered over to where Val was perched on the ledge next to the flitters. He was dimunitive, compared to the flitters. And yet, compared to that Freckle, he was huge.

She looked at her pie again, and realized it was almost all gone. Well! Time to find some more ...

Val looked down at Freckle, thoughtfully. What to do about this? Normally, Val was a shy little creature, hiding from everything. But being called an idiotpest by a tiny hatchling? That wasn't something he liked. Flaring his bright blue frill, he chirped, before leaping off the ledge. Spreading his miniature wings, he drifted across the room to land next to where Freckle was. Keep no, no. No no no no no. Keep ... keep. Val, no, no. Keep. Keep Val, no ... no keep. The Salamander said, scoldingly. She would learn some manners! And calling her elder and idiotpest was not a way to go about things. He flared his frill again, at her, to make his point, before laying it back down. Considering the lecture done and overwith, Val wandered off, to go inspect something else. Finding the two kittens poking noses at each other, he poked his nose in, too, for good measure, and sniffed them both at the same time. Val keep? he inquired of the two kittens, no knowing that they couldn't talk.

Dorava watched her mandyr, and couldn't help but laugh. He still continued to not make much of any sense at all ... if any ... but he was certainly acting a lot more confident than he usually did. It was good for him, she decided, and was glad to see it. He really needed to learn a few more words, though. And hopefully he wasn't going to learn the word 'pest'...

[ladybug]

Burena waved at everyone and was about to say something when Saeo's green 'mandyr hissed at her, raising her frill. She flinched, taking a step back. "Uh, sorry for existing?" Why did every salamandyr hate her? She wondered why Freckle called her green. Mandyrs were such odd little creatures. Burry was beginning to think she didn't like them.

"Hi, Dorava," she said, sitting down beside the greenrider. Burry recognized her and Val from the river. At least Val was just shy, not mean. When Saeo announced their first game, she grinned. Quest or Question was fun, and she hadn't played it since she was a kid.

When Farryl was presented with her challenge, Burena laughed. She knew from experience how hard it was to wake up Laef. "Good luck, Farryl!" She grabbed a pie and munched on it, wondering what the weyrling was going to do.

[Rowana]

Farryl turned slowly from Saeo to stared at the green lump on the shelf that was Laef the fire lizard. This was certainly going to be a challenge, perhaps even impossible, but that was have the fun. She grinned in determination. "I accept!" she declared bold, rising to her feet and stalking over to Laef.

Farryl took a moment to think, tilting her head as she considered options. Though Laef and Tille were from the same clutch, the two couldn't be more different. Where Tille was excitably and full of energy, Farryl was sure she had never seen Laef so much as twitch. Sometimes it was hard to tell if she was even alive. Farryl decided to try the standard tricks first, but she doubted any would work. Laef was hardly a standard fire lizard

First she took one of the sweet meats from the pile of snacks and dangled it invitingly in front of the sleeping creature. Laef must wake up enough to eat everyday, so the question was whether or not she was hungry now.

[antinanco]

“Thank you, darling!” Ieoha practically squealed, giving Seao a warm hug in return for the warm welcome. Thankfully she wasn’t too strong anymore, otherwise Saeo might have gained a collapsed lung from the love emitted. Soon enough the hug was over though, since the crèchewoman didn’t want to delay the festivities. Plus, she wanted some of those pies for herself!

After a moment of deliberation she plucked two pies from the table and scuttled over to a seat on the end of the bed on Dorovana’s other side. As she offered one of her pies to the rider, she giggled, “Looks like your stock was running low. Care for another?” Then, without a pause for thank yous or you’re welcomes, she bit into her pie with gusto. It had been so long since she had had one of these! In fact, had the last time been back North? Well, no matter how much time had passed, or no matter where you went, bubblie pies always stayed the same. Ieoha quickly devoured her with this gratefully in mind.

“Ohohoho!” the auntie chuckled at the agenda, highly amused already, “Quests and Questions! I’m afraid none of you have a chance, I’m an old pro at this game!” She grinned and attempted to fold her boney legs into a pretzel squat, but found her body not nearly flexible enough, so she settled for sprawling out on the floor, mimicking Laef’s usual posture. And when she heard that her own flitter was inovled already, the old woman beamed. “What a challenge! I hope you’re up for it, Farryl.” Ieoha smiled mischievously. Certainly she knew a few ways to obtain the much sought-after goal, but she wasn’t talking!

Meanwhile, her mistress Laef the omnipotent was not hungry, certainly to Farryl’s dismay. No, Ieoha had fed her flitter her usual dinner (one of the only two times of day she usually woke up) along with the children before putting them to bed. “You’re going to have to try harder than that, dearie,” Ieoha teased, offering the flit up to Farryl, “And don’t be afraid of breaking her. She may look fragile, but she’s tougher than you would think!”

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[nightingale]

Freckle's first reaction to Val's scolding was stunned silence. He was scolding her? HE was scolding HER?! She wasn't the one who was sitting with fire lizards!! Something that might have been a high pitched growl tore from her throat as she jabbed her baby-sharp claws into Saeo's shoulder. NO BAD! VILEPEST BAD! BAD VILEPEST FRECKLE NO BAD!! She shrieked at an ear splitting volume, effectively driving her humanpet pluck her roughly from her perch and give her a shake.

"Freckle! Stop that this instant!"
Saeo told the little green sharply, holding her at eye level.
"You're going to render every single one of us deaf!" NOSTOP! NONONOIMIIIINE!! BADPEST GO! GO NOW! "He's staying and that's final! Now stop being such a wretched little pest and behave yourself!" Noooooooooooo! No mine mine mine NO! Saeo ignored her salamandyr's protests and tucked her against her chest to keep her from scrambling back up onto her shoulder and heckling Val further. Her attention then fell briefly on Farryl's futile efforts to awaken Laef. This might take a while...

"Alright, it seems that this quest may be of the epic variety. Raylin, who don't you choose another player while we wait?"

Her eyes went to the dark haired girl across the room. Raylin had never stuck her as terribly devious so Saeo wasn't sure what to expect, but it would be interesting to see what she dreamed up.

[Rei]

Raylin frowned and cast an eye out over the guests. Who would she choose. Dorava caught her attention and so she smiled at the woman. “Dorava dear, Quest or Question?” She asked brightly raising an eyebrow and adopting an innocent expression. She figured the green rider could use a bit of friendly interaction.

Vega crooned lovingly to his three greens. Nuzzling each, yes, even the sleeping Laef. He looked questioningly up at Farryl. Why was she trying to wake his pretty sleeping green? The horrible, ugly green frilly was forgotten. Let her hiss and shriek he wouldn’t pay attention to such a noisy creature not when he had three lovely greens to attend to.

((Sorry it is short Dx)

[dragon]

Dorava smiled at Ieoha, and accepted the new pie gratefully. "Thank you, ma'am." She said, with a nod, before picking a peice out of it with her fingers to eat, watching what was going on around her with a slight smile on her face. Exciting! The good kind of exciting, too! Rather than the bad kind of exciting! But ... let's not go there. She looked over at Burena, and smiled, before watching as Farryl tried in vain to tempt Laef out of sleep with food.

Tickled, she set her pie on her lap for a moment as she glanced over at Val to see what he was up to now. It was nice to see him so brave. Val patted at the kittens, who were by all rights already quite a bit bigger than he was. Curling up around one kitten's neck like a strange looking necklace, Val hummed into the kittie's ear while he poked his snout into it curiously, all four little legs grasping handfuls of fluffy fur. Silly 'mandyr. And the whole while he completely ignored everything Freckle had to say.

Keep?

Dorava looked over at Raylin with surprise when she called on her for participation in Quest or Question. She blinked, astounded, before grinning. "Question." She said, really curious to find out what Raylin had to ask her. She was happy to stay right where she was and eat pie, too, situated between two others who were being quite companionable. "Have at it, Raylin. What do you want to know?" She laughed, before poking another peice of pie in her mouth and licking her fingers.

[Rowana]

Farryl grinned at Ioeha and took the woman's advice to heart. "If you say so." She plucked Laef off the shelf and prompted plunged her into one of the pitchers of drink. She wouldn't let the little darling drown of course, but maybe the shock of cold liquid would have an effect. In the meantime, she listened in rapt attention to see what Raylin would ask Dorova. It would probably take all night to wake up Laef, if she managed it. Plenty of time to thing of some good Quests or Questions for revenge.

[Rei]

What did she want to know? The question was a good one and she eyed the other green rider. “Well…” she paused, this was harder than she thought. “Ok what is it like when Aonith rises? I mean how do you feel?” the question was one she had been wanting to ask since she impressed, since it was haunting her. The girl had heard bits and pieces here and their ,but not having candidate lessons had cost her weyrling group. Of that she was sure.

Asking a female she trusted was also loads easier than asking someone like the Weyrling master. Raylin waited anxiously, taking a small bite of her pie, as Dorava gathered her thoughts. Vega crooned anxiously to Laef as Farryl dunked her, spreading his wings his eyes whirling in deep yellows. Was Laef ok? Why was the human dunking her in such smelly water?

[nightingale]

Taking up an empty mug that might have once contained a late night cup of tea, Saeo made to ladle herself a cup of juice from the pot Ieoha had brought -only to find that Farryl was giving Laef a very cold bath in it.

She grabbed herself a pie instead.

Carefully stepping over sprawled limbs and torsos, she plopped herself down on the floor next to Pepsi. This was partially because it filled the gap in the rough circle the seated guests had formed, and partially because he was the only person that Freckle wouldn't scream at for being 'green'.

"Oh Raylin, that's a perfectly wretched thing to ask her!"

The girl laughed, breaking off a piece of crust from the edge of her pie and stabbing through a hole in the latticed top to coat it with blueberry filling. The remark was joking at best -she wasn't about to come to Dorava's aid unless she looked truly upset about having to answer. Slumber parties were all about awkward questions and partial nudity -at least the ones that she remembered were.

[dragon]

Dorava was slightly surprised by Raylins question ... and yet at the same time not at all. She could remember wondering the same thing, as a Weyrling. But she hadn't had anyone to ask. So ... even though it was a rather invasive question, Dorava aimed to answer it as best as she could. Unfortunately ... it was also revolving around a particular series of events in her life that she never really did clearly remember ... if at all.

Her brows bobbed for a moment, as she blew a soft sigh and rubbed her cheek thoughtfully. "Well... that's a very good question, actually." She mentioned. "But ... sorry if the answer is spotty. That's ... I don't ..." She blew another sigh. She wasn't embarrassed ... not at all. But she was perturbed at her lack of answer.

"Okay, well ... let me start by saying I don't really remember those times. Some do ... some don't. When a green rises ... when any dragon rises, really, the emotions they're experiencing, and the drive to breed is so very strong, that it tends to take over the minds of anyone bonded to them. Some riders learn to overcome this, and maintain some semblance of thier own minds in proximity, but that's rather rare. So ... when Aonith rises, I essentially cease being me, and start being her. I feel, sense, and desire everything that she does. She rises ... does her whole tag and dance rigamarole, deciding who to twine with. And when she chooses, so to do I. Though I have no say in the matter. Who I tangle with is always the rider of the chosen male dragon. Regardless of who that is, and what gender they are. For a span, humans cease to exist, and we're nothing but extensions of our dragons." Dorava explained, hoping that she was doing an adequate job and not frightening the poor girl out of her wits over it.

"We don't become ourselves again until after the flight is completely over. Usually by that point, both dragons have landed again, and have returned to the weyrs. It is at that point in which we discover who we've tangled with. People react in different ways to who they find there. Some see it as a game of chance. Some see it as a guaranteed shot at a lay. Some dread it ... others just plain don't care. It just happens. Me ... I have to admit I do have some preferences on who I find. But ... there's not much of anything I can do about it." She shrugged. "If you're wondering what it does to a psyche ... not much. It really can't be seen as rape, cause it's not. Physically, you can tell you've been laid, but that's about it."

Dorava shrugged. "Did that answer your question sufficiently?" She asked Raylin, in return, as Val warbled a worried sound over Laef. Was she going to drown in there?!

And with that, she figured now it was her turn. She turned to Saeo. "Saeo! Quest or Question?" She asked, with a pleasant smile.

[antinanco]

Laef awoke to a very unusual sensation. It felt like she was floating in a liquid, suspended upside down… almost like flying, but much more laid-back. Actually, she liked it. It suited her perfectly, especially since flitters could hold their breath longer than any human could. Slowly her lids closed over her slowly-whirling faceted eyes again, and by the time Farryl pulled her back out she was sound asleep. In fact, one could never even tell she had woken up in the first place, aside from the worry that numerous flitters around the room voiced. It was sweet. Almost too sweet. The flitter’s bonded narrowed her eyes suspiciously, wondering if her green’s maiden flight was coming up soon. She was long overdue, too, since her sister Lamb had had one at least a fortnight ago.

“Oh dear,” Ieoha giggled as even a cold bath failed to wake Laef up and brushed her worries away for another night, “Perhaps that’s too relaxing. Well, third time’s the charm! After that I’d just give up.” As Seao passed by with a bubbly pie instead of the drink she had been looking for, Ieoha added, “And don’t worry about the drink, Seao, she’s clean! I just bathed her this morning. If anything, she’ll just add a minty taste!” A joke, of course, but Ieoha scanned the room for the disgusted faces she had mischievously hoped to create.

For once, Ieoha settled down as the greenrider explained a sensitive subject. Well, sensitive for everyday topics. But this was a slumber party, meant to venture where everyday had never gone before! Turning away her attention away from Laef, knowing that she was in good hands, the auntie turned to Seao to hear her response. Not many people were left who hadn’t gone! Soon it would be her turn… An impish grin broke her face in half. Oh, she loved slumber parties!

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[nightingale]

Saeo offered the old Crechewoman a wry grin and a wave of her hand as Laef’s flavour was brought into question. It wasn’t that she was terribly concerned about the juice becoming polluted with flitter germs. It just seemed strange to be drinking what amounted to sugary bath water -especially when someone was still using it.

She had to admit that as she listened to Dorava’s explanation of greenflights, she was rather impressed by the young woman’s eloquence. However, she couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved knowing that she would never have to worry about Cherilith rising...well, of his own accord anyway...and there again was the unnerving reminder that when Peppeth or Ebolath chose to rise, she might very well end up bedding one of her closest friends.
It was times like these that she cursed her luck at having been born heterosexual.

“Hm?”

Hearing Dorava speak her name, the girl glanced curiously up from the surface of her pie. Oh, it was her turn to choose was it? She grinned impishly, savouring the scent of a new challenge heading her way.

“Question if you please.”

She chirped confidently, convinced that there was no question that could throw her way she wouldn’t be able to answer.

[dragon]

Dorava smiled slightly. She was glad that Saeo had chosen Question ... cause to be completely honest, the greenrider hadn't thought up anything to pose as a quest. "I noticed that you named your little feline there a most adorable name.... Elle, I beleive it is? It's most unusual. Where did you get it from?" She asked, curiously.

Val hopped around like a crazy mandyr at that point, flinging his head around in a sudden burst of gaiety that looked really weird on the normally shy mandyr. It was as if he had suddenly gotten quite tipsy on ... what, exactly? He hadn't ingested anything at all.

And in the throes of one such leap and twist, he missed the shelf entirely, and fell downward. Even after a squeak of alarm and spreading of miniature wings, the mandyr still went ~splat~ in the middle of Ieoha's pie.

Sitting up and blinking, the mandyr started swimming to the edge of the pie, trying to climb up onto the top crust but failing as the crunchy confection crunched and crumbled under the efforts, dropping him back into the pie.

~~~

It was about this time that all the talking and giggling just a few rooms down the hall that had really poked C'oar's curiosity beyond what he could really supress. And ... he might have tried for longer, if it hadn't suddenly infected Frosstyth too. The brown hopped up, off of his couch, and ambled down the hall.

Heaving a sigh, the big lad got to his feet and went after the dragonet. There was nothing for it now. Frosstyth didn't bother with pleasantries ... he walked right into the room and over to where Ebolath and Cherilith were sprawled. Flopping down with them, he rumbled happily.

Can I stay? He asked.

C'oar, on the other hand, stopped in the doorway and leaned a thick shoulder on the door frame, just in time to hear something about a Feline's name. Whatever.

"Sorry about that ... I couldn't stop him." C'oar mentioned. What else could he say??? There wasn't anything he could say to make that particular appearance less ... awkward.