A Whisper on the Sands [Arsana/T'el]

[xena2009]

.....

[jack]

There is an egg, Mine.

Sjueth spoke matter-of-factly, his eyes still completely closed as he stretched out slowly on his ledge, seeming to be content to snooze away. But reluctantly he moved, sitting up with the smooth grace of a slumbering cat. Last to shift were his eyes, both of which slid slowly upwards as he gave a great, displeased sigh.
Mine.

He received a grunt from the pile of furs as a response, the curly-haired young man stubbornly refusing to move. Only a tuft of his black hair could be seen poking from the mass, and it shifted minutely as he attempted to squirm deeper into his own warmth. It was decisively less entertaining to sleep by one's lonesome when he knew there was a snuggly alternative several weyrs down. Unfortunately, his blond companion was less...approving of sleepovers.
It is proper to at least see it, T'elMine.

With a noise that sounded like a snarling growl, the man sat up straight in the bed, the furs falling to pool around his hips and showing off his bare chest. Abruptly, the rider wheeled on the dragon, his blue eyes narrowed in annoyance, but with little more than a grumble he rolled out of bed and shoved his bare feet into a pair of boots. One flight jacket later, the Ironrider shuffled over to the dragon, ruffling his own hair irritatedly as he quietly slid his belt around his hips, buckling it quickly.
"You owe me."
Sjueth snorted as he knelt, allowing the blackette to clambor into place. As if it is my fault that females lay eggs.
"S'perfectly logical; far as I'm concerned."

Sjueth left no room for anymore complaints as he wheeled on the ledge and leaped into the air, his wings snapping open to allow him to glide. They moved silently through the air, soaring to the hatching Sands from which they had been summoned. As quietly as they had lifted off, the massive Iron landed, his toes gentle on the sand. He knelt almost immediately, curling his tail about himself as he glanced at Vhreth distantly, his blind eye appearing on the side of his head as he looked at her, but then his attention was on the egg--curiously.

T'el slid from his dragon's shoulders with a thump, shaking himself absently as he shoved one hand deep into his pocket, shambling over to Arsana with one hand buried in his hair--rubbing his neck. "Evenin'." He murmured, looking blearily towards the egg, "S'just one? Mm..." It was hard to be even a semblance of polite, he thought to himself as Sjueth gave him an inner smack, when one was woken up from such a blond-filled dream...

[Nia]

M'kiru was awake and pacing around his weyr in a frenzy. "Shard it!" he exclaimed to no one in particular. Thauth was awake and watching him, giggling at the appropriate moments. It wasn't exactly a random exclamation, as M'kiru had been pacing around his room and cursing for quite some time now. Thauth watched outside of their weyr after growing bored with M'kiru. The Orange was Clutching. He should probably tell His. The Black glanced at M'kiru who was still raging out loud to his dragon who wasn't paying attention. She's clutching now,

[/i] Thauth said idly, and M'kiru spun around to face him.

What?! Why?! Because that's what female dragons do. Duh.[/i] Shut up. Should we go? If you want to.[/i] M'kiru thought for a moment, running a hand angerly through his blond hair. Sharding dragons! Sharding females! What if she thought... and what if they...! Well, they had, and it was a natural part of Flights... M'kiru couldn't help that... after all, Thauth flew sometimes. M'kiru climbed on Thauth and the two were off towards the Sands. They got there as Vhreth was clutching. T'el wasn't there. There was another dragon on Sands as well, a small one. A very small one. But she wasn't the one M'kiru had any particular interest in. He had Thauth land high up in the Stands, so they were hidden by the shadows. M'kiru leaned over the edge and watched, glaring at the Orange and the little figure that was probably whoever her rider was.

It didn't take too long for T'el and Sjueth to arrive. M'kiru clenched his fists in anger, but kept watching. Shard it! Who in their right mind would want that crazy idiot to win a Flight?! Sure, Sjueth was... relatively normal, but knowing the territory that came with it...! You're jealous![/i] Thauth exclaimed. M'kiru shot him a glare. No way! Why would I be jealous of... of... some stupid girl. Who cares?! he rambled back, though he immediately began climbing down the Stands towards where T'el and Arsana stood.

As he got halfway towards them he stopped, suddenly feeling hesitant. What was he doing...? This girl probably had no idea what she'd gotten herself into, and to be honest, M'kiru suddenly had no idea what to say to T'el. Congratulations? That was stupid, and M'kiru would never congratulate anyone in the first place. He could just stand there and look angry... but it wasn't T'el's fault. He was jealous. Incredibly, insanely jealous. But he didn't know what to do.

He avoided the other dragon on the Sands and decided to just keep walking towards T'el and Arsana anyway. He felt nervous. Angry. Embarassed? A bunch of stupid emotions he didn't feel like feeling. "....uh..." he started awkwardly, glaring quite obviously at Arsana, "Nice... egg," he said, voice obviously filled with sarcasm. He did not think the egg was nice! This was so awkward... what the hell were he and T'el anyway? Should he tell Arsana to back off? He didn't want to... not with T'el around, anyway. He still wasn't ready to admit anything towards T'el yet. He didn't say anything else, just made it a point not to look at T'el and instead eyed Arsana. What if she was... what if she was sharding pregnant?!

This was way too awkward. M'kiru really needed to learn how to think before he acted.....[/blockquote][/size]

[xena2009]

.....

[jack]

"Mm..." The blackette stared at the egg quietly, his eyes glazed over to make it obvious he wasn't entirely concentrating...or concentrating at all on the poor shelled creature. When it hatched, he would be intrigued. In fact, he'd probably be insanely protective of the little dragonet. But for now...it wasn't interesting. Distractedly, he accepted her greeting, but offered up no comment of his own, his eyes already wandering.

It was in this wandering that he actually missed the arrival of M'kiru, and whipped his head around at the sound of the blond's voice. Immediately, his expression lightened, and with a broadly hungry grin he licked his lips and sashayed towards the handsome rider. "M'kiru..." he purred, reaching out to the other gently, "Where have you been, hm?"

[fidelli]

Noyth was asleep when she landed on the sands. The reason? A'mor. The man had shamelessly carefully drugged the meat that Ripariath had brought for her, and with a healthy dosing of the suppressant and a carefully blocked off mind, Noyth had slipped off to slumber. She didn't look like it though - her wings were still mantled, but her head was tucked under the wing, laying next to her egg. A'mor had made sure that Ripariath was helping to guard the egg, and then waited.

It was night fall, and Vherth touched down on the sands. When the Rider, who had stepped down as foolishly as though she was not next to another nesting female, bowed, he shushed her harshly. "She's sleeping, please." He turned back to Noyth and his cot, scribbling the notes that he needed to take but wouldn't leave Noyth's side for. She would awake pissed enough - better he was there. He didn't pay attention to the old Iron landing, ignoring the former renegade. Everything was focused on his notes - he was doing a semi flitter mail course to get his Journeyman Healer's - he needed it, with how little Healer's had ever made it to Dalibor.

...And Noyth woke up.

It was a gradual thing, the waking of the Gray. First, it was her own awareness. Then, light as a feather, she shifted through Her's. She felt the remorse, the regret, the anger at the Orangerider, himself. She forgave him in a heartbeat - but there was another thing she could force her anger at. HOW DARE THAT ORANGE TOUCH HER SANDS! Noyth was small, but at her size, she was a brick wall. She may have been small, but the force that hit the Orange was a small pile of bricks.

OFF OF MY SANDS! The raging voice was forced through T'el, M'kiru, Arsana, and everyone else present on the sands. She used teeth and claws to rip into the skin of the Orange, snarling furiously. GET OFF OF MY SANDS! The giving of the flesh beneath her teeth was a fantastic feeling, and it was only A'mor - terrified that when the Orange gained back her footing the Gray would be hurt - that pulled her back. She landed lightly, with nary a scratch on her but her teeth and claws stained red, behind A'mor, huge wings flared out to stretch out and block the view of her egg. MOVE, VHERTH. If you must stay, move you and Yours against the wall, as far from Mine as you can. I will KILL you.

And the Gray was QUITE serious in her threat, as she growled quite loudly. Her teeth were bared, eyes whirling furious scarlet, threatening both the humans and the dragons. OFF THE SANDS. They were all banished to the corner - she wasn't moving from her center piece, and she would quite certainly kill Vherth if the orange didn't move. Meanly, A'mor was sighing.

"Noyth.... Vherth is going to need stitches." Get B'nyur to do it. The Rider only sighed again. "Noooo - Arsana, move your Orange and I'll tend to her."

[Nia]

M'kiru narrowed his eyes dangerously at Arsana. He didn't like her. How dare she think she... that she could... talk to him like that! Like they knew each other! Like she was better than he was! It made his blood boil, even if Arsana hadn't actually done any of those things. He clenched his fists in an attempt to keep himself from lashing out at her. He still had his blade with him... he could use it. Kill her right here. ....but that wouldn't be very good for him in the long run, so he managed to restrain himself. "Yeah, he's doing fine," he ground out in response. Obviously she hadn't caught on to his sarcasm. Annoying women!

He tensed as T'el approached. "Watching this stupid thing lay an egg," he growled, quite obviously still angry. About what? Hell if he knew. It wasn't like it was T'el's fault... but he still had to make it known that he did not like this Orange or her rider. He couldn't make eye-contact with T'el... was it out of embarassment? Awkwardness? He was just jealous, and inside, he knew it. It was annoying. It made his blood boil even more. Why was he jealous? Sharding... stupid....

But he didn't have much time to consider anything else, because suddenly the sleeping Gray he had been so careful to avoid... woke up. In a frenzy. It made M'kiru jump in surpise and latch on to T'el's arm out of pure instinct. Shards! That was loud! It took the blond a few moments to realize what, exactly, he was holding on to, and he let go with an awkward flail, turning several shades of red. "I didn't mean to do that!" he said to no one in particular, perhaps mostly just to himself to assure himself that no he hadn't done that on purpose, and that it was all the Gray's fault for yelling at him. He hadn't even done anything! It was all the stupid Orange's fault for clutching so close to another dragon. Shards... he didn't have Thauth here for protection, okay?! What else was he supposed to use to defend himself from the crazy Gray!? At least she was... relatively... calmer... now....

[/size]

[Admin]

Whiskey please, I need some whiskey please,
So bring me consciousness,
And kill my innocence,
Please lay your eyes on me.

Shove it! The new voice that thundered through the minds of the dragons present on the sands was louder than the others due to the weighty will behind it. It was accompanied by a dangerous, earsplitting, whiny hiss designed to silence the humans who were also present. Wings stretched wide, Kalith, the Queen who only shared her rule with her one golden daughter and her one mate and rightful suitor, descended upon the sands with eyes that flashed red in what light they caught. Her weyr was located right next to the sands, so she had inevitably heard what was happening, and she wasn't pleased. The sands were hers. Hers. It didn't matter who was on them. They were hers. Callistath could be on them and they were still the copper Queen's property. What right did lowly orange Vhreth and even lowlier gray Noyth have to complain? They should have been thankful.

You will share the sands. You will not complain. You will not, in fact, move if you do not want me to come and smash your eggs. A small amount of reason came to the Queen's voice as she settled on the edge of the sands. The reason came from her rider, who appeared like a stony wraith at the entrance. Her threat was empty, in a way, but she wasn't above making it. She wouldn't harm an egg. She had, after all, allowed orange Vhreth to clutch upon her sands. However, there would be consequences if Noyth or Vhreth decided to disobey her. While perhaps they might have been able to slip out of her rule on occasion in the concessions of normal Weyr life, the sands were utterly her territory, and she could force her commands while in that cavern. Eyes still red, she swung her head to look from Noyth to the bleeding Vhreth, making it clear she didn't want argument.

Anyway, she'd had to share the sands before, and her last clutch had been more than nine times the size of both of theirs together. If she could do it, they certainly could. The light briefly glinted across her metallic hide, showing off her lovely collection of tiny scars, gifts from her fight with Alizadehth. About ten feet longer than even Vhreth, she towered over all but Sjueth and she was a fearsome sight to behold. After a moment, she decided that she was done with her bit. She glanced at rider, relaxing her posture to recline in the warmth of the cavern for a brief time. Fajra looked over who was present. "M'kiru, why don't you leave? If T'el would like to go with you, he's more than free to do so;" she lightly said. She easily drew the names out of her memory. All of the others could be useful. The blackrider was just going to be a big nuisance around two brooding mothers.

((Xena says she'll get up edited posts in the next couple days.))

Bring me home,
I've got no plans for tomorrow,
I've got no plans for tomorrow,
I got no plans in sight.

[jack]

It would be a lie to say that T'el had been completely unaware of the slumbering Gray. No, he'd kept an absent eye on her the entire time he'd been there, but knowing full well that he'd be able to dash to Sjueth and disappear into nothing if he needed to. Vhreth would be the first thing targeted--it didn't matter whether or not she was the largest. Sjueth--standing very still and politely at the edge of the Sands--would be safe. So the Ironrider had proceeded to ignore her, and gave the same treatment to her rider.

But to say that T'el had not actually been surprised when Noyth moved to attack, was yet another lie. No indeed, the blackette had been quite shocked when the Gray's booming voice entered his brain. He was just a little less panicked and a little more protective. The dragoness rose with a roar, launching at Vhreth, and--as fingers curled around his arm--T'el wrenched M'kiru forwards and into his grasp. Eyes narrowed warningly, he clutched the blond close to his chest, a low rumble of a growl sounding in his chest warning anything that would come close. That rumble was repeated above him, as Sjueth moved to very gently curl a leg around the duo, guiding them closer to himself.

The fight was over quicker than expected, however, and with a pleased little smirk, T'el plopped his chin down on M'kiru's head and simply held him like that...even when the man began to protest and squirm. "Well I meant to do that." He replied with a chirp, nuzzling the other's head lovingly...or obnoxiously.

Kalith had arrived by this time, but T'el was paying her no heed. He'd let Sjueth play listening ear, and then he wouldn't get all the annoying "blah blah blah my shiny bigness blah blah" along with it. But as much as he was ignoring them, he did tune in when he and his pet were mentioned. Absently, he turned to look at Fajra, his expression unreadable. He wasn't entirely sure what the think of this woman...of this Copper-riding leader. As a suspicious individual himself, he couldn't help but think of some of her actions as suspicious. Welcoming Renegades into her home. Feeding them. Housing them. Giving them "jobs"--i.e. chores--and allowing them to live alongside not only seasoned riders...but children as though she had no fear of their loyalty. It was all...very strange.

"I'll be takin' ya up on that offer!" T'el chirped, ignoring his own thoughts as he spread his happy little mask over his face and pretended that he didn't have a doubt in the world about her. But his eyes were serious now, and he directed that suspicious, distrusting stare on her. He wanted her to know that no matter what she did, he would be watching. He would be wary. But! This was no time for thoughts like that. With a gleeful little smirk he scooped M'kiru up and tossed him over a shoulder, lazily striding his way off of the Sands. Sjueth followed slower, giving a soft, silent greeting and farewell to Vhreth. He ignored Kalith completely...but before she could imagine a comment...both dragon and rider were gone.