set this ballroom aglow [mandyr/flit hatching]

[Rei]

Mavenath turned his head from Terilyn as a voice bespoke him. Ah Morreliath. Rumbling thoughtfully he replied. Yes I am here to watch the hatching. I trust you and yours are well? Flicking his green gaze back towards the hatching he crooned. Oh look a few have hatched Crymine. But Cr’oph’s gaze was on something else. What in Faranth’s green Pern had the healer done to his hair. Gazing in open astonishment at R’wign his mouth gaped for a mere moment before a flash of green caught his attention. Salamandyr….“I thought this was supposed to be a firelizard hatching.” The red head mused out loud. Drat. What if he impressed one of the horrors? That wouldn’t be good. Weyrlings where banned form mandyr hatchings. Then again this hatching had been announced as a firelizard one. So the fault clearly did not sit with him.

His young bronze rumbled at that thought. Of course not. Jingth announced it as a firelizard hatching. We could leave but there are firelizards here and I rather think it would be rude. Momentarily torn Cr’oph shifted from foot to foot. What to do. Before he could answer that question Mavenath’s tail curled about his ankel. We will stay of course. I think one could come in handy. Plus manipulation is always an option if you do impress a mandyr. Most are quite vain I am sure we can control it with teamwork. Comforting.

~~~~

Terilyn fussed for only a moment as Mavenath pulled away then something else caught her attention. Wide hazel eyes scanned the hatching area and she giggled. They where just her size after all and they spoke. In fact there where a lot of things speaking around her and the baby wasn’t sure what, or who exactly, to focus on. Clapping her hands once she cooed obviously content. So much going on!

Pandorath had wiggled up to get a better look at the hatching and he added this hum to the firelizards. As the first mandyr was spat out onto the ground he crooned uncertainly. Oh the blue had been to mixed clutches before but he was well aware of how his disliked the mandyrs. Oh well nothing for it now. Dipping his midnight blue head he nudged his in the shoulder. Was his ok with staying?

F’lyn leaned back into his dragon’s head. He had gone pale. Salamandyr. Where was Piper when he needed him? Didn’t firelizards and mandyrs dislike each other? Pandorath gave an affirmative and crooned reassuringly. “We’ll stay Teri wants to stay and I don’t want to listen to her scream right now.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Morreliath’s rider, S’kor, and lifted a hand in greeting.

~~~~

Feyrianth’s green eyes whirled a happy blue as Jingth said they could be friends. Oh. I am so happy we can be friends even if I am not very shiny. I am sorry I did not introduce myself. I forgot. I am Feyrianth but you can call me Fey since we are friends now. Fluttering her four wings she wiggled closer to Jingth and tried to lick her neck. Obviously too short she settled for the closest patch of hide she could get. Her new gold friend was oh so very nice. Content for the moment the small green almost jumped as Trilaranth bespoke her. If it was possible to explode with happiness Feyrianth certainly would have. Oh clutchbrothermine Tril. Mine indeed wants one of the little ones. I suppose yours does to? So many good friends in one place.

Erilena watched the interaction between her dragon and the others for a moment. Content that Feyrianth was safe she almost jumped as someone spoke to her. Wide eyed she turned to Nephele and a broad smile lit her features. “Thanks Nephele. I would hug you if my hands weren’t full.” Making a face she gestured to the large bowl of meat she was carrying. “I figured people would forget and I don’t mind sharing.” Gesturing to her four winged dragon she smiled. “That’s Feyrianth and she is quite the social butterfly, as you can no doubt see.”

The hatching was going fast she realized a few eggs had already hatched. The sight of mandyrs was scaring some but she fought the nervousness. “Um Neph. Why exactly are weyrling’s banned from owning mandyrs? I never heard.” Suddenly the green weyrling wished she wasn’t holding a bowl of meat. But who could she pass it off to? Out of the corner of her eye she saw a absurdly dressed figure and an idea blossomed into her head. Perfect.

“Nephele follow me.” Erilena took a firm hold on the meat bowl and flounced over towards Dmitri. “Oh hi! You look well dressed.” The girl gave him a disarming smile before suddenly thrusting the bowl of meat into his hands. “There I knew you where missing something! Perfect. One can’t obtain a mandyr without meat after all.” Giving another wide smile and a wink she whirled around Nephele, successfully putting herself out of range of retaliation. Score one Erilena.

[Avu]

She would have repeated the question (in whole) had R’wign not been completely distracted by Riaren. Meira tilted her head slightly, looking down at Riaren; she didn’t want to burst the Healer’s bubble or anything, but Riaren certainly didn’t look like he knew what he’d just said. The baby was just excited at being cooed over. He giggled and smiled widely, grabbing at his father’s hair, and offered, “Nahhhhaah?” It made his daddy happy when he made sounds, right right? So the more sounds he made, the better. Yes. It made perfect sense and – and why was his daddy doing that…? Riaren blinked in confusion, eyes intently on R’wign as the brownrider began his attempts at peeling off his Salamandyr. He didn’t even notice M’ta’s approach, so intently was he focused on his father.

His mother, however, did notice and the look on the brownrider’s face was enough to make her flinch and she dropped her gaze, trying not to actively squirm; only the knowledge that if she took a step back she’d run into R’ven kept her from doing exactly that. His words made her shake her head, completely distracted from R’wign’s attempts at scraping off his Salamandyr onto R’ven (if she’d known about that she’d be a little less concerned about something as trivial as running into him). “I wasn’t alone,” she responded softly, though whether or not the words were even audible was debatable, given Roxie’s screeching and everything else happening. “I didn’t – ”

So hard to explain. Always so hard. If they’d been in a less public setting she might have, but as it was…as it was, she didn’t want to because she knew it would upset M’ta even more. She didn’t go off ‘alone’ (read: with just Jingth) just because; she didn’t constantly request his company because she hated the idea of his being hurt because of her, if anything did happen. Doubtful that logic would fly, though.

Being shiny is not everything, Jingth replied, though her mind was only half-concentrating on the small green cuddled up to her in such a familiar manner. It’s lovely to meet you, Fey. Sounded so informal, for knowing her such a short time. My name is Jingth, and Mine is Meira. And speaking of Hers…Behruth’s was upsetting her, tsk. Jingth flipped her tail slightly, anxious; her gaze fell on R’wign and his odd performance momentarily. Distressing. Her slaves were being so strange. She’s over there with the brownrider with pink hair and the hatchling worm and the angry one.

The Slowdance Green twittered one last time to Imp, leaning forward to coo coquettishly at him, before the gnawing in her stomach proved too much to handle. She hurt and flirting and attention would not fix that (amazing as it seemed, since flirting and attention fixed everything else). So – what? She had to find someone to make the hurt go away, and then she could go back to flirting and getting attention. Yes. That would do nicely, her plan. The Slowdance Firelizard paced to her feet, her pace silky; she paced across the ground and then tilted her head, cooing sweetly at her audience before, with a dainty flutter, she took to wing. Corkscrewing through the air, the Slowdance Green slithered through the crowd. One wingtip brushed across Cr’oph’s shoulder, playful; her tail slid along Nautic’s cheek; and breezed by Dmitri, orbiting his head once.

But that was just to get attention. Neither of the three was Hers. The Slowdance Green, aware that the Proposal Blue Salamandyr was watching her, twirled again before she landed, very daintily, on R’ven’s shoulder, fluttering her wings prettily before she hissed at R’wign and his Salamandyr. The human was fine; the green was not. Away. Shoo. Shoo shoo. This male was Hers. Though she would gladly take the other human male too. That would be a very acceptable apology.

Crazy greenlings, announced the disdainful Proposal Blue. The Salamandyr had finished his preening, and stood up, flicking his tail and wings out to gain attention. Crazy greenling fools. His opinion on his clutchsisters clarified, the Proposal Salamandyr proceeded to flounce through legs and past feet, nipping defiantly at Erilena’s ankle in passing and hissing at Nephele’s foot. Crazy fools, he said again; if he was aware that Mimic was trailing after him curiously, he gave no sign of it as he leapt onto S’kor’s foot and coiled around the bronzerider’s ankle, insisting, Me, crazy, greet /me/. His Majesty demanded a proper greeting, after all.

Back at the clutch, the Nighttime Egg split cleanly down the center, and out rolled a faintly chubby, dark brown Salamandyr. Immediately, he planted his forepaws down to stop his ungainly tumble, flared his frill experimentally (the tiny size made him immediately slick it back against his neck again and his eyes took on a momentarily annoyed pink whirl), and flapped his wings once before – oh. The sound of hysterical shrieking reached his ears and the Nighttime Brown Salamandyr tilted his head. Eyes narrowed, and then he threw back his head and loosed a very loud, very shrill shriek in return – a sound that was decidedly intended to be a mocking reply to Roxie’s cries. The sound was loud, completely shameless, and dared rebuttal before he tilted his head and sneered, Oh, hi, crazy~ directly to Roxie. If Salamandyrs could smirk…

Meanwhile, right on cue, as if the Nighttime Brown’s shriek had caused it, the Hidden Fire Egg cracked at the top and wiggled; a flash of blue hide was briefly visible. Clearly the occupant of the egg was struggling. Or just hadn’t decided to come out yet.


01. Candlelight Egg
02. Red Rose Egg
03. Red Wine Egg
04. Black Dress Egg – Green Salamandyr Vex, Impressed to R’wign
05. Hidden Fire Egg – Cracking; blue hide visible
06. Kisses Egg
07. Nighttime Egg – Brown Salamandyr, mocking Roxie
08. Slowdance Egg – Green firelizard ???, Impressed to R’ven
09. Silk and Velvet Egg
10. Eternal Love Egg
11. Proposal Egg – Blue Salamandyr ???, Impressed to S’kor

[Avu]

Slowdance Green
Name-
Species- Firelizard
Color- Green (#8AA37B)
Age- Hatchling
Looks to- R’ven
Appearance- The best way to describe this green would be feline-like, for her body is distinctly like a cat’s – whether or not this is beautiful lies in the eye of the beholder; she’s a slender creature, and about average for a green, neither big nor small for a firelizard of her color, she has a long, kind of lean body. Very sinuous, is her body; she likes to twist when she flies or even walks, as to better show off her lightly-muscled frame. To emphasize her likeness to a feline, her eyes are almond-shaped and slanted, very similar to a feline’s, and her head knobs are almost pointy like a mammal’s ears rather than a dragon’s head knobs. Her tail is very active, too, flicking around almost constantly to express more adeptly than her eyes her mood; if anyone wants to figure out whether or not this green is upset, the best place to look is directly to her tail – even when she’s asleep, it will be constantly on the move. Her wings, too, twitch in her sleep – and lovely wings they are; long and graceful, but quite proportional to her body.

A pale shade of olive-like green covers her hide – a rather unimpressive shade, though it’s not really ugly – it’s just unremarkable. With her wing membranes almost the exact shade of green, perhaps a shade or two lighter, it’s possible for her wings to blend in entirely with her body if she holds them just right, giving the illusion of having no wings. As if to help them camouflage even further, as well as to further explore how closely a firelizard can resemble a feline, forest green rosettes are sprinkled liberally across her wings and her back, though they fade into nonexistence towards her legs, neck, and legs. On her face, tabby-like markings appear in the same forest green – most apparent of all is the “M”-shape between her eyes, characteristic of many tabby felines. There is also – debatable, is this, about whether or not it adds or detracts from her resemblance to a feline – a long stripe that starts at the tip of her nose and follows her spine all the way to the tip of her tail.

Personality- Can you spell “flirt”? – this green is flirtatiousness personified, and this is the side of her that people will mostly see. She has a sense of poise, does this green, and uses it to her full advantage. A sensuous creature, she is; she’ll often move in a way that is fully intended to catch and hold the attention of any male nearby. All too often does she graciously accept a male into her “inner circle” – which would, if she had her way, include every single male firelizard in the Weyr – by way of coquettish crooning, flicking of her tail, and purring. Shameless, she is, and this green will often rub her entire body along any given male’s without a second thought, even if their mate is already in presence. Extremely arrogant in the sense that she could not possibly understand why any male would prefer another female over she, is this green – and when such an idea is suggested, she’s not in the least threatened. If they can’t tell she’s prettier and better, it’s their loss, it is.

Something that does agitate her, however, is when not a single male is looking in her direction. These males can be firelizards, whers, dragons – even Salamandyrs, for she has an inexplicable fondness for the smaller creatures. Possibly it’s because queens are supposed to be larger than the “lower” colors and she feels as if she is the queen in comparison to them. Whatever it is, this female will never reject or protest to the company of a Salamandyr, and will even go out of her way to seek it if she becomes agitated – and her agitation is not because of jealousy; it’s because of confusion. Why – why would they ever want someone else? She simply doesn’t understand it, and that makes her positively frantic. Hers or another male are the only ones capable of making her feel better after such a snub, for, while males are all very well and good, she is certainly a darling when it comes to Hers, and the attention of Hers, as long as it’s being dutifully doted upon her, is the only thing that will ever, ever restrain her from seeking out the company of her lovely males.

~*~*~

Proposal Blue
Name-
Species- Salamandyr
Color- Blue (#339BFF)
Age- Hatchling
Looks to- S’kor
Appearance- This Salamandyr isn’t funny looking. Of course he’s not. He’s just a little…imperfect, that’s all. Let nobody suggest that he looks funny. But he does, in the end. This blue is small, small to the point that the green Salamandyrs in his clutch all dwarf him. The most noticeable thing about him, easily, though, is the fact that his frill is tiny. Absolutely, ridiculously miniscule in proportion to the rest of him – meaning that even a white would cringe to be its owner. It doesn’t help that his wings are enormously oversized, too, emphasizing just how small his frill really is; said wings will easily carry him through shorter glides if the desire strikes him. His body, however, is just another set of oddities. Extremely short, rather chubby legs have been applied to a serpentine body. His tail is long, but there are ridges that run down its length – ridges that are choppy, irregular, make it look just slightly off. His head, too, is not entirely appealing, with bulging ‘bug’ eyes and a slightly squished-looking snout, as if he’d run face-first into a wall one too many times. He’s not quite cross-eyed, fortunately…

His color, however, makes up for this; it’s quite attractive. A rather bright blue, it’s not quite light enough to be considered sky blue, but certainly that is the closest a description can get. Very cheerful (unlike its owner), the blue doesn’t gleam or sparkle, but it has its own appeal – and its own uniqueness. Unlike most Salamandyrs that have spots down their back, this Salamandyr doesn’t – instead, he has stripes. Three long, dark blue stripes run from the back of his frill to the tip of his tail, setting off his hide nicely. They’re quite thin, each about half a finger’s width, but their length makes this blue look even longer than he actually is. Stripes of the same color mark his frill, all of them the same width and length, and completely straight, but spaced irregularly to give him a slightly lopsided, endearing look.

Personality- Goofy. Playful. Undignified. These three words are ones that this male absolutely loathes. He’s always ridiculously serious and jokes shoot right over his head and are generally met with glares of intense disapproval. How dare they find humor in things. How dare they. He can get extremely offended when hilarity ensues around him – not because he doesn’t like seeing others happy, but because he’s frustrated that he can’t and likely never will understand jokes. Such an upsetting event such as prolonged humor will send him into absolute fits of fury, shrieking insults and hissing. For one who never understands jokes, his grasp on sarcasm is very good indeed and combined with a fantastic memory for words and phrases, this blue’s mental berating is something that nobody should rightfully want to be on the receiving end of. Unfortunately, given that he lectures very enthusiastically, he also likes to broadcast, so that not only does the offender receive a tongue-lashing, but so does everyone around them. And such lectures are very, very carefully delivered, too, in order to shame the other. Name-calling, insulting, jeering, mocking: This Salamandyr knows just how it’s done.

When he’s not preparing for a lecture or in the middle of a lecture, this blue is most often found stalking around grandly as if he were ten times bigger. Arrogant, he is, and is prone to chattering disparaging comments and inserting his stuffy, typically very pompous opinion where it is neither needed nor desired. He can’t seem to keep quiet when it comes to what His is doing, if he’s there – which he often will be; this blue likes to sit on top of his person’s head so that he can see what’s going on and make sure that nobody’s joking around. He clearly thinks very highly of his opinions and ignores any suggestion that his input may not be wanted – anything that’s going on within a twenty-foot radius is noted and always commented on unless this blue happens to be distracted at the time. Because he’s just so fantastic, you know; everyone should know what he’s thinking, when he thinks it. And if they laugh at his opinion, he’ll just calmly shun them, since clearly they don’t know what’s right when they hear it…but woe betide them if they’re foolish enough to joke about it…

[rii]

A commotion, all at once. R'ven was distantly aware of Meira a step behind him, but his attention followed the hatching. His original revulsion toward the salamandyrs had made him miss the sight that there were firelizards appearing as well. But the commotion was happening behind him, not anything to do with the baby lizards at all. R'ven partial turned at the tone in M'ta's voice. His eyes narrowed upon finding the short man's anger focused on Meira. So this was the one that had been telling her to stay out of the forest.

Whatever R'ven might have been about to say, got cut short when R'wign attempted to rub to the green salamandyr onto him. No, no. R'ven turned away before the little lizard could even get close to touching him. That's when the flitter arrived, landing feather light on his shoulder and rubbing so fondly against the side of his head. R'ven's expression quickly softened to something of surprise – just as the olive-green spit a hiss at the litttle green salamandyr. Well, at least he agreed with her opinion, he wanted that thing away from him.

Then the hunger was felt, along with it came a series of images of the meat being passed amongst the hands of strangers. Laying his hand lightly on Meria's shoulder, the smith gave it a light squeeze of assurance before he stepped away to hunt down one of the bowls. There in Erilena's hands – er, now Dmitri's. R'ven came up, stepping along side Dmitri and plucking out a few pieces of meat to feed to... ah, he would name her later. Hazel eyes looked curiously from Erilena, Nephele, then finally to Dmitri. He lightly flicked at the floppy brim of the feathered hat, peeking under there to make sure it was indeed the harper. The green on his shoulder fluted merrily, her tail coiling out toward Dmitri.

"Hey.." the words ended in an amused smile that smoke all to clearly that R'ven wanted to say something regarding the harpers current wardrobe. Instead he nodded a greeting at the green weyrling. "Hi Erilena."

Yes Feymine.. and.. it seems he has attracted a flyer. He likes those and not the little ground worms. The brown shifted to his feet and moved over to lean against the legs of his. Long tail curling around the limbs as he looked up at the green firelizard. Upon spotting him, the green fluted merrily, diving down to land on his head. Such a handsome brown. Her tail curled around his headknob as she peered into one of his his whirling eyes.

[Ember]

Erilena's smile was returned on a much smaller scale but returned nonetheless. The girl eyed the much bigger bowl than what was in her own hands and shook her head in amusement. "That is an awfully large bowl. More meat may attract more pests though," she said half -seriously. More salamandyrs would certainly be a bad thing. If she wasn't mistaken there was a rider in the weyr with two of the pests, or so the rumours would have her believe.

Nephele obligingly looked towards Feyrianth and smiled slightly again. "She looks like quite the sweetheart. Nuoth came too. She's over there. Perhaps we should introduce them afterwards?" she suggested. They both had greens and they would probably get along as well as she and Erilena did. It wasn't like Nuoth disliked others or anything. Perhaps Feyrianth's social butterfly behaviour would help her get to know the green she loved so much.

The greenweyrling winced slightly at Erilena's question. It reminded her that the girl probably shouldn't be at the hatching if salamandyrs were involved, not with Feyrianth practically just hatched. "Well, salamandyrs are said to bond as deep as dragons. That alone may upset a young dragon, but the main concern is how quickly salamandyrs mature...them Running when a dragon is so young might cause them distress." Nuoth was getting old enough that she wouldn't be quite as worried for her but...she didn't want a salamandyr really.

The young woman followed Erilena curiously. She was led to a rather interestingly dressed person. She watched Erilena give the bowl to the guy and dance around to the other side of her. Er, what? Now she was caught in the middle. Nephele turned a quizical glance on the other green bonded before looking back at Dmitri. She smiled as if she felt a little awkward (she was, which made the acting all the more believable) and said, "Er hello, don't believe we've met." And then there was another. They all knew Erilena, huh? She gave R'ven a slight nod but didn't say anything to him right away but she noticed the green firelizard that had hatched earlier.

[Tashe]

He knew that feather. Where had he seen it before? It was simply killing him because he could not remember. If he could place the feather he could place the person beneath it. R'wign's fit over impressing distracted him, and because of it he lost his train of thought. It took him more than a few moments to finally recall the memory, and a few more moments to convince himself that he wasn't hallucinating and that the other Wherhandler was actually wearing the hat. Weaving his way through the other people Nautic snuck to the very outside of the group, circling around so he could pop up unsuspected by Dmitri. He paused as the Shadow Dance Firelizard let her tail trail against his cheek, and watched as she circled around the other Wherling's hat. That boy was odd. Though he himself shouldn't be talking.

Creeping up, he stepped out from directly behind his roommate to stand on his left. His hand crept slowly up and tugged gently on the brim of Dmitri's headgear, nose crinkling slightly. "Should I believe my eyes. The Harper is up and about." He let the hat go. "It looks like you're planning on both a frosty, cold and a bright, sunny day. That or you're planning on robbing a story teller's caravan. Either, or." He turned to face the hatching, although he had moved to hide slightly behind Dmitri so the big floppy hat obscured his vision some. "Can you believe it, there are Salamandyrs in this clutch. Talk about a surprise. Well, you being here is a big one in itself. Did you come for a flitter? Or did you come to stare at girls?" Nautic didn't know exactly who the other Wherling had been looking at before he arrived, but it was in the general direction of a few girls.

He tugged on his own scarf as he let his eyes sweep across the gathered crowd, picking out the faces of those who had impressed while he had been occupied in sneaking. The Brownweyrling seemed to have impressed the pretty little Green that had touched him earlier. Good for him. And the Blue Salamandyr had impressed to another man, his name Nautic did not know. He shifted back and forth, Dmitri's presence reminding him that Nautsk was all alone in their appartment... well, unless Dmisk was with her. But that was even worse in the Wherhandler's opinion.

--

What was this now? Tilting his wing, Azaran banked left and circled lazily over humans who had gathered together. A hatching? He focused his gaze even more and realized that it wasn't just a Firelizard hatching, but a mixed one. He debated for a moment and would have left the wormthings and Flitters behind if not for Roxie's scream. Making another sharp bank, the Bronze swooped down and trilled uncertainly at the Green as he hovered near by. Had one of the nasty worms attacked her? He saw no Salamandyr on Roxie herself, but there was one on the... chirped in confusion as he recognized R'wign. But, he was the Brownone... now he is... pink. The Pinkone? Maybe. Yes, that was what he would call Roxie's human now. He was no longer Brown! He didn't know Humans could change their colors.

Shaking his head he dropped down onto the nearest branch and trilled at Roxie again, brushing her mind with his own. Did she need help? See, he was here now. He would help Roxie. Azaran had missed all of the Pinkone's Firelizards, seeing as the Pinkone often ran away from him. He sometimes ran into the others, but he missed Roxie the most. She was his oldest friend, plus, he liked flirting with her. Azaran gave a chirp, and tilted his head.

[Requiem]

Ignoring pink-haired weirdos, theatrics, broadcasts and other silly distractions, Dmitri's gaze was focused on Erilena when she seemed to notice him as soon as he did her.

The handler jumped as a voice suddenly came from his elbow, glancing down at his roommate. "And not happy about it, either," he agreed, stifling a yawn. "My attempts at highway robbery aside, Dmisk apparently felt you'd been gone too long." He wrinkled his nose mildly. "I came to be certain you and Yoalla hadn't come down with a rare wherhandler disease that results in the crazies...and I'm staying for a flitter." And Erilena, but why would he admit that to Nautic?

Of course, maybe Erilena's notice wasn't entirely welcomed, seeing as how it ended with a ridiculously large bowl of meat in his hands. He blinked down at it, then cocked his head slightly at her in clear questioning. A salamandyr. "Oh, yes. That's why I dragged myself out of bed at this unwholesome hour, to attract as many menaces as possible with a gigantic bowl of meat." The bowl which now was propped lightly on a hip so that he could loosen the scarf enough for his lips to be seen as he spoke. (And so the material wouldn't get in the way.)

Cue green firelizard circling his head. He flinched back slightly, eyebrow rising at Erilena as if to say, See what you've done? His gaze shifted to the other girl, and he smiled with that slight sleepy edge that softens everything. "I'm sure I'd remember meeting you," he agreed silkily. "Dmitri. Harper and recently graduated wherhandler with a blue who worries too much and sends me to collect greenhandlers despite the evil sun." He frowned pointedly at the sky, tsking. "Erilena and I competed...an excellent storyteller. You'll have to ask her to tell you one sometime. Although I think she must be a bit bitter, considering she's trying to land me with half a dozen nuisances." His tone was clearly teasing, and he winked at Erilena.

Only to find a rather large hand snaking into his vat of meat, while an equally large face intruded under the brim of his hat. He wrinkled his nose and pointed directly at the man's face.
"Not a word. I've always burned easily and months without seeing the sun doesn't improve that."

His attention refocused on Erilena, and he casually tossed a bit of meat at her, since she was using Nephele as a buffer. "You'll regret this trickery, Lena. What mandyr could resist a girl smelling of meat?" He began winging the chunks at her, and if some sort of missed and kind of landed on Nephele - or in her hair - well...so be it.

---

Without once breaking eye contact with Meira - or losing the irate expression - M'ta left off scratching behind Grouch's eyeridge and cuffed R'wign lightly on the ear. "Stop being an ass," he growled at the man. "You're upsetting her so bad I can feel it." Through his anger, which meant everyone else would be feeling it as well, including Riaren. That should get R'wign to stop being so dramatic. It wasn't as if a green salamandyr was the end of the world.

Arguing with him? He didn't know what was more irritating...that she was cowering or that she was backtalking while cowering. This whole 'avoid conflict but still do whatever the shards I want' routine was getting old fast. "Not alone," he echoed quietly. "Jingth is a gold, yes, but she's a hatchling. Further, she's too big to reach some places, and don't you think people would take the obvious...like a gold dragon...into account? T'rid had a full-grown bronze on his side. Shards, Ka'rys is one of the hardest people to sneak up on, yet alone successfully attack, and he's in the infirmary right now with a split skull. Why do you think I get so sharding upset at you? The only reason R'wign doesn't ream you regularly is he knows I will. Do you think he likes the fact that you consistently put yourself - and his son - in danger? I thought you had more common sense than this! And I'm sick and tired of the demure little act you pull before you turn right back around and do it again. Don't you understand that this is my job? I'm under orders to make sure nothing happens to you. Yes, I'd probably do that anyway - which is most likely why they assigned me to you - but how am I supposed to do my job if you won't do yours? You have an obligation to the weyr...if not to your friends and the father of your child...to keep yourself safe. What part of that is so hard to understand?"

All stated at a deceptively calm, quiet decibel. He'd taken to stroking Grouch in his agitation, and his face still made his anger all too clear if his words didn't, but at least he wasn't shouting in front of everyone. Small mercies.

Well, Behruth hadn't planned on coming to the hatching (an angry ShortyHis never made him particularly comfortable, even though he fully understood and even agreed with his rider's anger, since he was very fond of Jingth and Hers too!) but Checkoth's announcement bore investigation. The small brown wound through the air, landing neatly not far from his clutchbrother. Where? Oh, I see her. Do you see her, pretty sky shiny? The forest shiny? he queried to PMS, who had gotten a ride on one of his foreclaws. The little blue bounced excitedly...though truthfully he was probably just as happy about all the fun activity going on as the new addition to their massive family.

[Rei]

Mavenath flicked his tail tip in interests and the little green flitted past his. To bad she didn’t end up bonded to him. Instead she chose Trilaranth’s bonded. Shame but at least his brother had gained one. It would make it easier for him to examine it. Yawning the young bronze lowered his head to his forepaws. Hatchings where said to go quick. The young dragon passed the time by examining the crowd with interest. People watching was his favorite activity after all. One learned more watching than listening most times after all. Dramatic where these humans. Especially the one with the odd colored hair.

Cr’oph merely blinked as the green bushed his shoulder. It thought it was charming no doubt. He found it odd that he didn’t disagree with her. With the other hatchlings all impressed his eyes fell to the chubby brown who just hatched. The mandyr’s deliberate mocking of the screeching green drew his attention. Mandyrs sure seemed to have louder personalities than flitters. They where definitely more annoying as well. To be fair though anything that talked had the ability to annoy the red head.

~~~

F’lyn held Terilyn tighter and breathed a short sigh of relief as both the green and blue mandyrs impressed. Salamandyrs where something he did not want. Most of them (at least those he had accidentally met) where just plain nasty in temperament and Terilyn was loud enough for him, thank you very much. His little girl however was not in the least put off by the mandyrs. No she had her gaze riveted to them as they hatched. Following her gaze the blue rider froze as the brown rolled from his shell. Another one. Faranth help him.

Pandorath quickly circled his neck about his bonded in an attempt to sooth. His should not worry. Mandyrs where trainable to some extent just like flitters yes? Even if they did obtain one perhaps it would be like he Mimic? The Mimic was very nice. To bad Mimic is in the minority. You could probably count all the nice mandyrs with just one hand. Shifting Terilyn he nervously eyed the rest of the clutch. How many more monsters did it contain?

~~~

Feyrianth wiggled happily her bright blue eyes proof enough of her obvious delight in her new friend. Jingth. It is a pretty name and your looks very nice as well. She has a hatchling? It is very cute. The four winged green’s eyes scanned the small grouping of humans. The brownrider with the pink hair was obvious enough, but the angry one drew a small nervous chirp from her. Oh he does look so very angry. Feyrianth did not do well with anger and she ducked her head to hide it behind Jingth. Her new gold friend looked nervous and Feyrianth couldn’t blame her. If someone was mad at hers she would be nervous too! That cemented her decision to leave Jingth alone for the moment. Instead she turned her complete attention to Trilaranth.

Peeling herself from Jingth’s side she instead flopped down against her brown brother. She is so very cute. What will you call her? Feyrianth cocked her head as she examined her brother’s new "hat".

Erilena nodded in response to Nephele. Getting their greens together would be a good idea. Feyrianth loved new friends and she wasn’t picky. Well unless they where bronze. For some strange reason bronzes scared her and made her as jumpy as a grasshopper. Her attention focused on the wherhandler/harper as he spoke and she hid a giggle behind her hand as he spoke. “Well when I asked for meat that was what the drudges so helpfully thrust at me. I am sure I could find a more gigantic bowl if you need one.” As Dmitri shifted his attention to Nephele she shifted to catch a peek at the hatching clutch. Another mandyr…. The green rider was brought out of her reverie by the wherhandler’s praise. Despite her attempts to prevent it, a blush colored her cheeks.

“Oh come now Dmitri. I’m not that good, and if I wanted to saddle you with a dozen nuisances I’d just buy you a pair of felines.” Winking she began to giggle but it turned into a squeal as the bluehandler began to fling meat, of all things, in her direction. Warding off his less than perfect aimed shots she darted behind R’ven as the smith approached. Hiding behind his considerable bulk she smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “Hi R’ven. I see you have managed to obtain a flit. Congratulations.” Erilena hazarded a peek around his side and narrowly missed taking a chunk of meat to the face. Eww.

Feyrianth watched the flying meat with interest and lowered her head to pick up a chunk gently. Raising her head she offered it to the flit on Trilaranth’s head. Silly humans they are wasting good food. Would you like some little green? I am afraid it is slightly dirty but still edible. Her blue eyes shifted to focus on the silly meat throwing humans. Hers sure attracted some interesting people.

[Avu]

What had once been amusing was quickly turning into confusing. Riaren squirmed slightly in his mother’s arms, cramming one fist into his mouth uncomfortably as he stared at his father, blinking in anxiety. It had been funny to watch him hop around but – but he felt so sad. That the sadness was the Salamandyr’s and not his own did not register on Riaren. The baby wiggled again, crinkling his nose, and twisted, trying to bury himself against Meira. Make the sad go away…maybe he noticed the Salamandyr, maybe he didn’t; Riaren certainly was watching R’wign’s attempts at scraping off his new pet most intently. The baby whined softly, looking from Meira to M’ta in obvious confusion.

She didn’t notice, though. Not R’ven’s touch to her shoulder, nor Riaren’s distress. Part of her was grateful M’ta wasn’t actually yelling. The idea of Riaren getting hurt rankled more deeply than anything else, but this time Meira didn’t say anything – because she knew it would more than likely be useless. Three dragonlengths downriver from the Main Hall – you could still see the Main Hall from there. People in the Main Hall could see them, definitely Jingth if not her, too. Completely safe, no, but was anything ever completely safe?

/I/ would not let anything happen to you, Jingth commented testily. You weren’t anywhere I couldn’t reach and I could take care of /people/. I don’t think ‘ruth’s could kill a dragon by himself, either, and I could call for help as fast as he could. Feyrianth was more or less ignored save for a vague, absent croon; she watched the green toddle over to Trilaranth silently, twitching her tail in quiet irritation. If only Hers would say something. Jingth couldn’t make her, though, and she didn’t want to bespeak someone else. Hrum.

Meat girl? Too easy. The chubby Nighttime Brown tilted his head in the direction of the flying meat before he darted off towards it as quickly as his feet could carry him – not very, considering his baby fat. One of the dropped pieces was snatched into his forepaws and he crammed it into his mouth before flashing his frill at the gathering. Not trickery. Fooled crazy. /Too/ easy. His words were construed to be as mocking as possible before he grabbed another piece of meat and crammed that into his mouth as well, flicking another piece at Dmitri with his tail before he scurried away. The ache in his stomach had been mostly filled, which took away from his urgency; that meant he could wander around and have his fun, yes?

Onto R’wign’s foot he leapt, the same foot so recently deserted by his green sister, and coiled around his ankle with a show of mock affection before he nipped at what skin was visible. Meatfool. Another leap took him off, snaking between M’ta’s legs and through the crowd again. He snaked halfway up F’lyn’s leg and actively hissed, eyes whirling in amusement. Baby, baby – who want /baby/? Silly human; didn’t he know Salamandyrs were much better than fat little meatfools?

Meanwhile, back at the clutch, the Eternal Love Egg gave a sudden, violent thrash, toppled over, and smacked against one of the tree’s gnarled roots. It was still for a moment, and then it gave another drunken teeter and fell onto its side, allowing a bronze firelizard to crawl from the smashed depths of his egg. A low, almost inaudible, creel issued from his mouth as he nudged curiously at the offending root before the Eternal Love Bronze tilted his head to slowly inspect his surroundings and – baby. Babybabybaby! No, two babies! Babies babies babies HOW ADORABLE. The eternal Love Firelizard threw himself into flight, flapping his wings as hard as he could to keep himself aloft until he could reach one of the two babies in question.

His brother was busy with the other one, so he would take this one! The Eternal Love Bronze planted himself shamelessly onto M’ta’s shoulder and leaned over to coo at Riaren, blissfully oblivious to the fact that he was still covered in egg goop. The rewarding smile made the bronze’s eyes whirl even brighter before he tilted his head. He was…he was hungry. If he was hungry, that meant the baby had to be too, right? Of course. He’d go find His and get His to feed them both.

Launching himself off of M’ta, the Eternal Love Bronze swept low through the crowd, dodging legs as well as he could until he reached the location of the flying meat, took a quick glance around, and dove, snatching a piece of meat out of midair effortlessly. It was swallowed before the bronze beat his wings, coming to land on Nephele’s shoulder so he could gingerly pull another piece out of her hair. He loooved her, she was maaaade of meat. Just made of it!

Crazy brotherling, sneered the Nighttime Brown as he left F’lyn to coil around Cr’oph’s ankle and lick the bronzeweyrling’s skin possessively. Crazy. Want meatfool. Who want /meatfool/? Nobody wanted a meatfool. So why had his brother chosen one? Silly silly; at least he had his not-meatfool~

Meanwhile, back at the half-Hatched clutch, the Hidden Fire Egg gave another twitch, a crack growing – and a blue wing was immediately stuck out of the hole that was produced. And there the egg lay, occasionally twitching as the wing flapped repeatedly, wiggling around the other eggs in a comical dance until it smacked into the tiny Red Wine Egg, which didn’t crack – it spun on its apex and twitched violently, a loud hiss emerging from within.

01. Candlelight Egg
02. Red Rose Egg
03. Red Wine Egg – Twitching around.
04. Black Dress Egg – Green Salamandyr Vex, Impressed to R’wign
05. Hidden Fire Egg – Cracked; one blue wing showing
06. Kisses Egg
07. Nighttime Egg – Brown Salamandyr ???, Impressed to Cr’oph
08. Slowdance Egg – Green firelizard ???, Impressed to R’ven
09. Silk and Velvet Egg
10. Eternal Love Egg – Bronze firelizard ???, Impressed to Nephele
11. Proposal Egg – Blue Salamandyr ???, Impressed to S’kor

[Avu]

Eternal Love Bronze
Name-
Species- Firelizard
Color- Bronze (#BBBD61)
Age- Hatchling
Looks to- Nephele
Appearance- This bronze is not incredibly large, perhaps a consequence of having a Salamandyr for a sire, but he certainly isn’t small either, settling right in the middle of the ‘average’ range for bronze firelizards. However, contrasting with some of his clutchsiblings that look just a tad off due to the mix of genes, at first glance, this bronze is…perfect. A muscled, elegant body with a long, whippy tail, a proudly arched neck and a regal head; wings that are neither too small nor too large and have a tendency to flick open to emphasize a point; short forelegs and longer hindquarters for pushing into the air with. And he is perfect. Except for one thing, the only thing that sets him off from other firelizards: The fact that, on either side of his neck, are two little flaps of hide – thin, tiny, almost unnoticeable, but definitely there: Frills. This bronze has limited control over them, and can lift them to ‘display’ with when truly agitated, but most of the time they remain flat, practically invisible.

As it happens, this bronze firelizard’s color will, without fail, be the first thing that comes to mind. He’s extremely pale for a bronze, his hide an odd mixture of gold and green, flowing across his hide in metallic shimmers. Definitely vibrant and certainly capable of sparkling, this firelizard’s wings will often send bronze rainbows skittering across the floor when open, for instead of just the simple bronze shade, his wing membranes swirl in all different shades of bronze, ranging from a decidedly mossy green-bronze to a bright orange/gold-bronze. Along his back, mossy-green stripes are interwoven with spots, much like those on the back of a “chromatic” Salamandyr, ending just above his rump near his tail. Down the front of his neck and chest runs a gleam of what’s without a doubt pure gold, wriggling down awkwardly from the right corner of his jaw to streak down his neck and end under his left elbow.

Personality- Quite surprisingly given the reputation firmly established by almost all bronzes, this firelizard is a very quiet one. Expect no arrogant strutting to and fro for this bronze. Actually, expect very little of anything from him. No, he’s not lazy, and he’ll certainly move around, but he’s silent to the point where most will likely expect that this firelizard is actually mute. And yes – most will also dismiss him as being lazy, too lazy, certainly, to be any sort of intelligent, seeing as he prefers to cling to his person’s shoulder all day as opposed to flying around and flirting with queens or any such idea. Instead, he prefers to direct all of his attentions on his person; let there be no failing of confidence with this bronze around! Very encouraging, gentle, almost motherly, he is. This is displayed most prominently towards His, but if anyone else seems in need of an ego boost, he’ll certainly be willing to send a few warm feelings towards them. Babies, younger creatures, and smaller creatures (this includes Salamandyrs; this bronze is incredibly patient with them) are favored by far, but that’s certainly not to say he’ll ignore the larger and older.

This firelizard is very intelligent, and certainly will be easy to train; he’s cooperative enough that he’ll be willing to indulge his pet human in quite a few matters and run a few errands for His here and there, though he’ll always prefer to be safely curled on his pet’s shoulder. So much nicer that way, isn’t it? He’s very observant, too, noticing little things more than the larger picture. This can, of course, cause a few sticky situations sometimes, but fortunately those times will be rare. His instincts – decidedly more on the maternal side than the paternal – can also get him into a few sticky situations; it’s not every mother that takes kindly to a random bronze firelizard fussing over their offspring, after all – nor is it every (or rather, any) queen dragon that will allow a bronze firelizard unfamiliar to them curl up on their eggs. Yes, he knows that he’s not wanted sometimes, but they’re babies. Babies! How can he resist babies?! Truly, definitely impossible…

~*~*~

Nighttime Brown
Name-
Species- Salamandyr
Color- Brown (#240D00)
Age- Hatchling
Looks to- Cr’oph
Appearance- Large for a brown, this Salamandyr comes quite close to matching many a bronze of his species in length. In length only, though, does he carry the elegance of a shinier creature, for in width…this brown isn’t elegant. He’s pudgy, a noticeable layer of fat clinging to his stomach and sides. It won’t deter him from too much, be it climbing or gliding but it does make for some comical jiggling when he’s running his fastest or bouncing up and down. The rest of his body does its fair best to make up for such an error, however; his head is shaped carefully, artistically enough, though his frill is embarrassingly small in proportion to the rest of him and will rarely be displayed if he’s got anything to say about it. His wings are there to make up for it, though, being positively huge – large enough that he’ll actually be able to fly and glide for an impressive amount of time and distance. Said wings are often doubled up as a frill; if firelizards deal without one, surely he can too.

In color, this Salamandyr is a reddish brown that has been darkened till he could almost pass for being completely black. However, his hide is also verging on metallic and the result is a creature incredibly dark with vivid reddish-brown highlights. A shade of brown that’s even darker than his ‘base’ color runs in twin rows of spots down his back between his wings, ending almost an inch down a very long, serpentine tail that doesn’t quite fit with the rest of his chubby form. This creature would look downright intimidating, so dark is he, had it not been for mask. Yes, the mask. A spray of brown, pale enough to pass for tan, stretches across his face, lopsidedly including his right eye and excluding the left. It touches the end of his jaw on both sides, and does not include his muzzle – it honestly looks like a half-face mask designed specifically for Salamandyrs.

Personality- Spiteful, temperamental, and uncooperative. Three words that fit this Salamandyr perfectly. In a sense. He’s not physically aggressive, and not prone to fits or anything of the sort (which he’ll probably label as ‘stupid’ or something of the sort), but he certainly isn’t the perfect, sweet Salamandyr. His favorite place to be is sitting right on top of his person’s shoulder, where he can’t be ignored when he snarks. And snark, he does well and very often. Whether be it mimicking the words of other people or just outright taunting them, there’s no denying that this Salamandyr takes an unholy pleasure out of discomfiting others. He’ll ‘accidentally’ repeat something that someone’s said in front of the one person that it should not be said in front of, or inform someone that His loves them when that’s absolutely not true, or whatever else it might take to make humans flail around. Considering that this brown is incredibly intelligent and will likely know quite a collection of words helps, too. And yes, fortunately enough his targets are limited to humans and humans alone, unless another species is presenting a target he simply cannot pass up.

Generally, dragons and firelizards are shunned, as completely and without fail as if they honestly didn’t exist. Salamandyrs are regarded with an impatient tolerance, but nothing more. Further, this brown seems to have absolutely no affection for any but His, and even that is debatable at the best of times. He’ll be loathe to Chase unless a green Salamandyr (under no circumstances will this brown ever, ever even look twice at a firelizard, however attractive) actually takes her Run straight past his nose and even then, should he be the lucky winner, he won’t be loyal. He won’t have any feelings of fondness, nor of possessiveness, only a cold aloofness. They just don’t matter to him, and any Salamandyrs who attempt to bespeak him or make friends will be met with sneering mockery on his behalf. He’s very much the antisocial loner. Let no fool think that they’re close to him at all, or he’ll make it very clear they aren’t. So presumptuous of them, is it not?

[Ember]

Nephele watched the exchange between Erilena and Dmitri with interest. What was this now? Flirting and everything. She smiled indulgently at his comment, though it wasn't nearly the same smile that Erilena had seen. At the explanation of how they knew each other she blinked in surprise. "You entered too, Erilena? That must have been the one I missed." The disappointment in her voice was genuine; she wished she had been there.

While the others continued to exchange greetings and congratulations, Nephele turned her attention back to the clutch - or at least attempted to. Meat hitting her in the side of the head foiled that attempt. She glanced at ther harper and then snorted in something that sounded suspiciously like amusement as a chunk landed in her hair. When you had a dragon to feed meat didn't bother you so much.

One thing to be said about hatchings, they were never boring. The last one had salamandyrs and kittens causing a commotion and this time it was a meat fight. Nonchalantly the girl grabbed a piece out of her bowl and tossed it at Dmitri with relatively good aim. She threw things when she got angry so of course she would have good aim. That was when she noticed a bronze hatchling snatch a chunk out of the air. Skillful little thing.

Then of course it landed on her and pulled a piece of meat out of her hair. "Oh. I am not made of meat," she told the bronze. The idea was amusing though. She supposed she owed the harper for his poor aim. The girl reached into the bowl and pulled out several bits of meat that she slowly fed the bronze. He ate them gladly but...the baby. The baby was hungry too. "At least finish eating first. He's fixated on some baby or another." The last bit was added for the benefit of the others as she shook her head. Quirky creatures.

[glamourie]

Riaren’s cooing might’ve distracted R’wign if he wasn’t midflail. He always loved the responses his son offered him; it made him feel like he was doing something worthwhile and had some purpose in the world. But… Riaren was not the center of his attention for the moment, sadly. His glee at the sound of ‘dada’ was temporarily replaced by the very real anxiety of having a salamandyr attached to his hand. And she didn’t seem eager to let go, no matter how much he flailed. By the time he got one little leg attached, the others were latching on again, and she was tightening her tail around his fingers anxiously to stay put. Of course, the fact that she was absolutely tiny (full grown green salamandyrs being just over the length of a finger and babies being significantly smaller) didn’t help; he had to be careful not to hurt her because something told him that would be very bad for him (and R’wign didn’t hurt people or animals intentionally anyway). Her upset was noticed, but R’wign didn’t immediately react to it; he couldn’t really tell where his own and the critter’s began and he was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that she’d picked him. No.

He’d probably have continued fussing if he hadn’t been cuffed on the ear by his weyrmate, and as it was, he spun around and gave M’ta an irritated look. That momentary pause gave the little green the chance to bolt up his arm and onto his shoulder (Roxie’s screaming still ignored) and she lovingly rubbed her body over R’wign’s neck and jaw. Hissing in her direction made her turn her head before she tilted it, looking decidedly amused. Yes, wickedly amused. Lovemine, I do. Yours, do not want. Better, mine is. Silly, silly. Prettier green flyer, I have. The salamandyr’s words were directed to R’ven’s new green – but when Roxie heard them, her screaming came to an abrupt halt. Thoughtfully, the firelizard turned to eye the salamandyr, as though to decide what she thought of her. Hmm, hmm, hmm. The salamandyr ignored her, rubbing on R’wign lovingly, and Roxie’s relaxation started to diminish some of the panic he felt. Some. So hungry, lovemine, preciousmine, please... Please…?

Azaran’s arrival was all that was needed to clinch Roxie’s transition into a good mood. Fluting adoringly, the green rubbed herself all over the bronze firelizard, clearly displaying her affection for him. For the moment, she also didn’t alert Hers to his presence. Not yet.

Riaren’s fussing was enough that R’wign was distracted from the salamandyr on his shoulder – and his distraction managed to distract her from the hunger building up inside. The little green leaned forward to coo down at the baby, a low croon escaping her; she didn’t know what that squirmy thing was, but Hers obviously loved it; she could feel the love he felt looking at the child and his upset for it being upset. Little croons escaped her, trying to make the squirming stop. Then Hers would be less upset and he’d feed her. Her eyes whirled anxiously at the baby. Stop the fussing.

M’ta’s rant was, for the moment, ignored. So was the salamandyr. R’wign leaned forward to gently remove Riaren from Meira’s arms – not really caring if she wanted to hand him off or not, really. She’d suggested that he take him and he intended to do just that. He gingerly took Riaren and held him against his chest, rocking him quietly; at least if he was holding Riaren, the baby wasn’t in the line of fire for M’ta’s blatant anger. The bronze firelizard hatchling wasn’t noticed. R’wign gently rocked Riaren, trying to calm him down, his face gently brushing the baby’s cheek. Poor Riaren; he had to be so confused. R’wign took a step back, primarily to keep the baby away from angry!M’ta and upset!Meira. Not exactly his idea of a good time, and he was betting that Riaren didn’t like it any more than he did. Poor thing.

SquirmOurs? the little green inquired curiously, to no answer. That was okay. She could pluck information from his mind. Loves you, squirmy does. Loves you best~

Ignoring the salamandyr still (he was operating under the belief that if he ignored her she’d go away), R’wign looked up at Meira. M’ta’s comment about Riaren stung him as much as anything else, and he narrowed his eye slightly. “He’s right,” R’wign said with a definite edge to his voice. “Being by the river alone isn’t safe, and Jingth can’t keep you safe from everything. If you need proof, I can show you the scars I have all over my torso. I got them about half a dragonlength from here, and I had both a brown dragon and a gold dragon, as well as their riders, there. It took an entire fighting wing to save our skins and I ended up lucky – Z’hin’s arm was completely mangled. If you don’t care about self-preservation, that’s fine – I can’t make you. But I’d rather our son not get killed because you want to wander around the river with a target painted on your back. I think until you start showing that you care about your well-being, Riaren should stay with me – at least I like being alive and mostly unharmed.” He didn’t wait for a response to that, though. R’wign chose that moment to turn and start milling through the crowds – Riaren in his arms – toward the dragons.

He wouldn’t stand by it; he just wouldn’t. He couldn’t. But he was upset at the idea of Riaren being endangered, it made him want to scream at Meira but M’ta was doing a good enough job of that for them both. He understood wanting to wander around and do things – but if she wanted alone time, she could go somewhere safer, like the archives. The river was out in the open, and that made it dangerous.

R’wignmine – you’re going to upset –
I don’t care.

The brown squirmed slightly, obviously put off by the upset his rider was experiencing. He hated fighting. His head bowed and he curled into a tight little ball, not responding to Behruth. Angry R’wign was scary.

[Tashe]

"Well Dmisk was right." He nearly whined. "There are Salamandyrs in this hatching. I wouldn't have come if I knew, and I am crazy because I'm staying. Though I think Yoalla is on a whole 'nother level of the crazies. But thats normal." He rubbed the back of his head with a sigh, but his musings were distracted when Erilena and her little group joined theirs. Peeking around Dmitri, he watched quietly as his friend interacted with them. Nautic knew only one of the three, and he offered R'ven a smile, thought whether or not it was seen was questionable. Twitching as the Wherling began to toss meat at Erilena, Nausi squawked and fled to stand behind the next nearest person. He did not need that stuff on him. R'ven got a green and look! The other girl just impressed a Bronze because of the meat.

Creeping closer after a few moments, Nautic tugged at Dmitri's sleeve. "If you thought just the bowl was going to attract the babies, tossing the contents everywhere isn't going to help at all." Bouncing on his heels, he finally offered the other three a wave. Then proceeded to hide once again behind Dmitri. Although he wondered if that was a safe idea anymore now that the Wherhandler was having a little too much fun with the chunks of meat. Nautic considered moving before he too was drawn into this little war of theirs.

---

Spreading his wings as Roxie joined him he fluted at her, glad for the fact that she was now in a better mood and that she hadn't been attacked as he had feared. Nuzzling her as she rubbed against him, Azaran crooned. She was okay, right? Folding one of his wings against his body, he used the other to hover it over Roxie. Not wanting to drape it over her while she was moving. He trilled as he watched the baby Bronze flutter around before choosing his Human, wondering if he was that small when he Impressed his own Human. The distraction was momentary, nothing short of something special would keep his attention away from Roxie for long. He cooed affectionately.

[rii]

R'ven lifted his hands up to the finger pointed so threateningly up at his face. A mischievous curve on his lips at the harper's words. "I didn't say anything." Wanted to, but he wasn't cruel enough to wander up to Dmitri and start poking fun at him in front of the two girls. He looked at the reast of their small group, returning Nautic's smile (he remembered him as his bunkmate and once fellow candidate) It wasn't like Dmitri needed any extra help earning negative attention. The smith tilted his head, blinking as Erilena took refudge behind him. It amused him that he had just moved away from the last female that had done exactly the same thing – if shielding from different things. "Thanks Eri–"

Splat.

"Really Dmitri.." R'ven picked a glob of meat off his chest and handing it down to his flitter. He was a pacifist. Or, at least R'ven tried to keep himself on such a straight a narrow path. He was, after all, only human. A tiring look of patience briefly settled on the harper. Honestly, he had watched the story between Dmitri and Erilena – was the harper going to resort to pulling her hair once he ran out of meat to throw? Tch.

So many males around. The olive green arched upward to show off her sleek frame. She spun in a tight circle on top of Trilaranth's head, long tail trailing like a ribbon behind her movements. She stopped upon noticing Feyrianth leaning against the handsome brown of hers mindmate. Shoo, shoo, the flitter chittered at the big green. Oh, this one was offering her food. At first the fire lizard turn her head up at meat. Hm, but she was hungry.

Changing her mind, the flitter plucked the meat from silly four-winged creature and munched contently. Trilaranth resisted the urge to shake his head as the juices dripped along his snout. Instead flicking out his tongue to clean it off. What would you call her?

Lifting her head, the fire lizard spotted the bronze on Nephele's shoulder and took wing. She landed on top of the girl's head, meat still in her muzzle. With a draconice rumbling purr she regarded the perched bronze. He tail curled down to brush along his neck. R'ven arched an eyebrow at the sight. "She's quite the flirt.. "

[Requiem]

"You do that, and it's war," Dmitri told Erilena sweetly, meaning every word of it. What was he going to do with a bunch of mangy, tempramental felines? Besides which, they'd make his apartment stink up to high heaven. Felines were not olfactorily agreeable creatures.

Nautic's upset over salamandyrs didn't seem to phase Dmitri any. He didn't see what use one would be, but he'd hardly throw a fit over one deciding he looked like the perfect person to torture. After all, most were naturally obnoxious, and by their mere presence alone could send people into fits. That had it's benefits when half the other wherhandlers - and not a small number of the dragonriders - liked to engage in not necessarily so friendly picking at him. So he wouldn't complain, though a firelizard would most certainly be preferred. Thus far his meat flinging seemed to be working, however, as the bronze firelizard Impressed to Nephele. Score one for the harper!

Flicking the meat off his cheek (Nephele apparently had far better aim than he did) Dmitri glanced down at the brown salamandyr. "Those nasty fliers are quite easily fooled, aren't they?" he responded to the brown sweetly, the tone of his voice all friendliness. He smirked slightly as it ran off. Good luck to whoever Impressed that little snarker. He wasn't about to pay attention, however, given he still had an Erilena to...Nautic's words interrupted his thoughts, Dmitri sparing only a glance for R'ven as the smith grumped at him.

He cocked his head to one side, smirking. "Ah, but you're all here to help break up the little terrors." And, because it would amuse him to see the little fussybritches Impress - Nautic was the reason he'd been shooed out here in the first place - he took a handful and dropped it on the wherhandler's head. "There we go. Don't worry, Nautic...salamandyrs are choosy, to hear it told. It's firelizards that will come just because of meat." He winked. And, really, if Nautic Impressed a firelizard, what was the likelihood he'd Impress a salamandyr out of the same clutch?

Just to spread the love around, Dmitri winged a bit at R'ven's nose. Ended up clipping his ear instead, but that was still a win.

---

He'd noticed R'wign taking Riaren, and was in some way grateful, as he hadn't intended to upset the infant. Meira's lack of response was hardly gratifying, though. This would be the third time he'd caught her out...the second time since receiving orders to protect her. This would also be the third time he'd had words with her over it. Highly unlikely it was only three times; M'ta wanted to give Meira the benefit of the doubt, after all, and had left it up to her to contact him. Clearly that was a mistake. Nor did he have any real means of keeping tabs on her without physically being there himself. PMS was not reliable like that, and Jingth certainly wasn't taking responsibility for her rider and contacting Behruth, whether Meira wanted to or not. (It wasn't uncommon for dragons to go against the wishes of their riders in order to benefit them. Which meant she must somehow believe she was enough. She wasn't. Golds couldn't command people, and even if they were always close enough that no one could possibly sneak up on her, M'ta couldn't be the only one on Pern who could throw a knife with any accuracy. And felines were a concern. They didn't listen to anything but their own instincts.)

Before he could say anything else, though, R'wign interjected, bringing M'ta's brows up. It surprised him enough (though he knew that R'wign felt this way) the healer was voicing it, that the steam he'd built up just zipped on by leaving him tired and a bit put out. When the bronze landed on him, he flinched to one side, willing it away. No firelizards, please Faranth. One had been more than enough for him. He still felt an aching emptiness over Jabari, when he allowed himself to realize it. Fortunately, the bronze left him without Impressing. Maybe he should follow R'wign...though he wasn't at all sure he supported baby-napping. Much as he'd never say as much to his weyrmate, Meira had more time to devote to the baby, and that would only increase once she became a full rider. It was natural he stay with her.

Although M'ta really wouldn't mind having Riaren around more. After all the rest of this blew over. (He hadn't intended to upset R'wign more, and felt that he had by opening his mouth.)

Waiting until R'wign was out of earshot, he rubbed at the headache building up in his temple. "That's the problem, you see. You can't be trusted." He released the squirming Grouch, his anger all but fizzled. "Is it necessary to put someone on you constantly? Is it really necessary? Meira...one way or another someone's going to watch your back. It would be much easier for everyone if you cooperated. I really, really dislike being lied to - however indirectly - especially when it puts people I care about at risk. One more time. One. If this happens again, I'm going to whoever I need to, and they'll put someone on you constantly because you can't be trusted to ask for protection when you need it."

He glanced toward his weyrmate. "And I'll talk to R'wign." An olive branch, of sorts. He didn't like being this upset at Meira.