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 Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 12:56 pm
Mal tried to start up a sentence several times, but it sort of got worse each time, even in his mind. I… h… no… Eventually, he just gave up. Fine. Let her assume what she wanted to assume. Fardling girls and their fardling rumors, always making up things instead of seeing things as they were. ‘Sweetie’, grumblegrumble…
The change of conversation was something he looked forward to and, when it came, jumped eagerly onto the new topic. “So… we can definitely expect more than two then? Oh, hey! We could ask the dragonhealer! There’s a new one around. He’d know how many eggs we can expect.”
The owner of the shiny-thing-on-faces scratched his head slightly. “Hey, ‘Sey? Where did my spoon go? I thought I asked you to watch my food so no one would take any of it…” the rest of the conversation was lost to grumbling.
Aeron let out a curious little squawk, watching the shiny-things-on-face curiously. They were extremely shiny, but he could sense a man who would be happy to swat him. Not only that, but there were two other firelizards nearby him, a Blue and a Gold. Another Gold. Aeron considered his chances of survival if Shim so much as saw him glide close to another queen and decided that he’d rather live.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:30 pm
Men. They really never knew when to give up...even when they did. They always gave that little sullen look like THIS IS NOT OVER. A pleased little grin at having gained the upper hand on her face, Rinfala quirked a brow. "A new dragonhealer, huh? Sounds like an idea to me. Got an idea what his name is?" Mal knew he existed, so he had to know that much, right? Who would settle for just 'that dragonhealer?'
Face-shinies had company? Face-shinies had a GOLD! Was she looking over here? Did she want Aeron? OH SHE TOTALLY JUST LOOKED OVER HERE. Screeching in righteous fury, Shim rose onto her hind legs, flaring her wings in a threatening display of dominance as her eyes descended into a murderous shade of red.
Wincing at the piercing shriek, Rin whipped her head around to face the battle-ready gold. "Shim. NO. BAD. NO FIGHT." Holding her flit's gaze, she narrowed her eyes in silent threat.
With a piteous little 'but she wants him' creel, Shim curled into a tight little ball.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:39 pm
“Yeah, his name is… His name is… his name is!” Mal gave it several attempts, trying to get his voice above that sharding horrible screeching from the lizards. Eventually, he just gave up until Rinfala had told Shim to shut up. “Yeah, his name is Cordel. He’s pretty easy to find, normally around the Infirmary.” Mal had always thought that dragonhealers healed mostly dragons, but… well, some people just didn’t know how to rest.
Pyrite turned her glorious face towards the loud pair and gave a very distinct sniff. Why would she want Shim’s raggedy young Bronze? She, Pyrite, queen of the skies, had a far more handsome and experienced Bronze at her beck and call. When she flew out, her queenliness brought all the Bronzes to the Weyrbowl and they all quite agreed that it was better than Shim’s.
If firelizards could facepalm, Aeron would have done so. Instead, he mostly worked to reassure Shim that, no, he was not, in any way, shape, or form, thinking about that other Gold. Why would he? Shim was right here and she was clearly far better. He attempted to drape a wing around the balled form of the Gold, trying to comfort her.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:02 pm
"Healers spend their time anywhere else?" Rin snarked, attempting to slide her hand towards Shim in comfort and approval. She'd probably be bitten for her troubles, but intent was almost as good when it came to firelizards. Limited telepathy was nice like that. "I guess we should find this Cordel, then. It would...really be a shame if it turned out we wouldn't have enough for a true prize pool." She tilted her head and winked. "It's got to be worthy of a Keroon derby!"
Handsome and experienced? Shim had never met this bronze, so he had to be old, grey-tipped, and snaggle-toothed. If Pyrite thought that was a prize, she could have it. Yes, it. Something Pyrite had couldn't be a real bronze, not when she barely looked gold! Shooting these venomous little half-thoughts at her newfound rival, she huddled under Aeron's wing defiantly. Sparing a short croon for the outstretched hand, she turned her head to rub it against Aeron's neck.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:14 pm
“Dragonhealers do,” Mal pointed out. “They normally stay around the ground weyrs, where injured dragons actually are. And I wouldn’t try petting her right now… Aeron’s glaring at your hand like it owes him something and that usually means he thinks you owe him a bite to eat.” He still wasn’t sure if he wanted lots of eggs or not. On one hand, they were eggs! And baby firelizards were adorable. But, on the other hand…
"We should... probably not tell people that Aeron is the father of this clutch," he said slowly. "That would probably dissuade people from trying at all."
Aeron hissed at the hand. He was in a generous mood and decided that he would give a warning before trying to bite it. Being a relatively intelligent creature-----ie, he knew enough not to look up during a rainstorm-----he made no attempt to get into the fight between the Golds. That sort of thing would get a Bronze killed. Clearly, he had to get more shinies for Shim. That would take care of everything.
Oh, that other Gold! Pyrite screeched her own insults right back, pointing out that Shim’s Bronze was big and stupid and, most of all, young! And at least Pyrite wasn’t a showy glim-glam. Glass sparkled more than diamonds because it had more to prove, after all, although Pyrite couldn’t really form these thoughts. Her owner simply patted her on the head, telling her to shut up and go cuddle Song. Sending a glare that plainly said, ‘This isn’t over’, Pyrite went to cuddle her own brave and bold Bronze.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:24 pm
"They do, huh?" Rinfala pursed her lips at this news. "Good thing he's not the usual, then. And if Aeron bites this human he will learn the same lesson as the last runner to try it." The warning look she gave Aeron wasn't pretty, but she withdrew her hand. Shim had taken notice of it, and that was enough. "He will not interfere with her care, if he wants to share in the treats." Bribery. Yum. "...He's that well known?"
Batting her wings with an 'and stay gone!' shriek, Shim settled back down with a decidedly smug expression on her little firelizard face. Her shinies were safe, her Aeron was safe, and she needed another shiny. Shinies were far better than annoying little queens that thought they were better. Hmph.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:35 pm
“A runner bit you, huh? Haven’t you ever heard, ‘don’t feed the messenger’? They only learn from that, you know. It’s like feeding a Harper. Feed them once and they’ll never leave you alone.” Mal couldn’t resist bringing this in. It was just… well, he couldn’t very well leave a line like that unsaid, now could he? He was fairly certain that Rinfala was actually referring to runnerbeasts and not the actual runners, buuuut… this was funnier. “Yeah, Aeron is pretty infamous. We’ll just let people imagine which Bronze might be the father of this clutch.”
“So, let’s go find Cordel and ask him how many eggs we should expect. I don’t want to be surprised later.”
Aeron crooned comfortingly to his queen, once again trying to reassure her that she was indeed far lovelier than that other Gold. But he didn’t say this too loudly, because that other Gold would someday Rise and he didn’t want her to hold this against him. Oh hey! They were going to the Infirmary! That place had lots of shinies from what Aeron recalled.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:36 pm
"A smack to the jaw teaches one as well as the other," Rinfala retorted. "Especially Harpers, they need to be deflated every now and then." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Although I don't know what Harpers have to do with it, unless you mean our 'singers' here." Shrugging, she looked Aeron over. "He's healthy looking, at least. Don't know that they won't guess if he sticks to her like that, but you can hope."
Rising from the bench, she stretched. Ugh...she'd been sitting long enough to get stiff. Ow ow ow, stretch...there. That was better. "Yeah, let's go. C'mon Shim, let's see the nice man?"
But Shim didn't want to go anywhe--shinies? Lots of them! Shinyyy...doing little mini-laps around Rin's head, the gold chirruped encouragingly at Aeron.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 8:54 pm
“Nah, Harpers are even worse than flits.” Mal ought to know from experience, after all. “We’re noisier and have the wonderful ability to know exactly when someone is making baked treats. It’s a class at Harper Hall, you know. Very important talent to cultivate in young Harpers.” Well! Now that he was finally recovering a bit of his natural good cheer from all of that… Flight… stuff… Mal was feeling decidedly good about this.
Really, how big could a clutch be? “Come on, Aer! Listen to your lady-friend. We’re going to the Infirmary.”
Aeron was a bit hesitant to leave the shinies behind. After all, he had collected them just for Shim… in the end, he seized the spoon in his mouth (Mal would not dare take it away from him) and picked up the bell in his front hands before joining Shim in her orbit.
~.~
“It could be as many as fifteen. I’ve heard of larger clutches…” Cordel said with a slight shrug. “Since they’re both young, I’d expect about eight or please get that firelizard away from those jars!” the last part was a snap as Aeron had been speculatively looking at one of the smaller glass jars. The dragonhealer got up and fussed around, trying to protect his precious herbs from the firelizards.
Oh Faranth… Mal could only hope it wasn’t too many eggs. On one hand, that would be a lot of prizes. On the other hand… well, the father was Aeron! Pern only needed one of him.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 9:03 pm
"Fifteen?" Rinfala's brows rose in shock. "Would I have to worry about keeping her from flying too much, if she got that big? I don't want her to strain something..." You didn't ride a pregnant mare past the second trimester, after all. Once their belly became that swollen, you could do serious damage by adding more weight. It was unnerving to worry about this in a creature the length of her arm.
Shim did not think the 'nice man' was so nice. He kept yelling at Aeron, and he wasn't letting her obtain her rightful shinies! Screeching loudly, she favored the dragonhealer with a whirling red-eyed glare. The message was clear: leave alone what is mine!
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 9:13 pm
“Mostly she’ll be able to look after herself. Golds have very good mothering instinct. Speaking of which, you should worry about her nesting site. Try to create a sandbox in front of a fireplace, if you can. A big one, since this might be a big clutch,” Cordel said, reluctant to look away from the glass bottles and jars even for a second. And the noise was starting to grate on his nerves as well; he did not like loud noises in his Infirmary.
And now there were two screeching firelizards, as both the Gold and the Bronze were making a racket. He glared at both of them, fixing his decidedly icy eyes on them. He was not happy. “Get them out of here before they disrupt the patients. They need all the rest they can get.”
Mal did his best to keep Aeron quiet, but it wasn’t doing much good. When Aeron wanted to be loud, he would be loud! Wary of upsetting the Healer further, Mal suggested, “Hey, let’s just go and try to find a sandbox for them. Or something…”
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 9:25 pm
Sensing the challenge in the 'nice man's' eyes, Shim reared up on her haunches, batting the air with her wings as she released a tinny bugle. She was a queen! She would not have strange people look at her like that! Adoration, fear, anger, but challenge?! Hissssssss...
Clamping down hard on the mental tie between herself and the flit, Rinfala favored Shim with a glare of her own. "Down. No fight." Only when Shim reluctantly pulled her gaze from Cordel did she relax, looking back at Mal and the dragonhealer. "She's not usually bad with people," she offered by way of apology. "Big sandbox...got it. Or we'll have it. Shim?" Rising, she jerked her head at the door. "Let's not keep anyone up any longer."
Grrrrrl...Aeron had promised her lots of shinies, and here they were. But they were not hers! Flicking her tongue out in what might be perceived as an extremely rude gesture, Shim decided that Aeron would just have to find her better shinies. Somewhere else, where there wasn't a mean man that yelled at her Aeron.
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:45 am
The Healer was far from impressed by the display of tiny rage; he had seen it many times before, especially on his patients. Firelizards rarely appreciated his efforts to keep them healthy. “I’m used to it. Flits usually don’t like dragonhealers much. And keep the box someplace warm. The eggs will need heat to hatch.” Of course, he figured the parents would be able to supply most of it. Golds were very good mothers… he wasn’t certain if Bronzes were any better than other males, but, judging by the look of this one, he’d do what he could.
When the pair had left, the dragonhealer settled down to work.
Aeron was not happy either. He wanted to get his queen some shinies! Well… he would do better in the future, he promised with a croon. He would get her only the best of all the shinies in the Weyr, because she clearly deserved them.
“Right… well, I’ll help you find a box and we can just get the sand from the shore,” Mal offered. “And then you can contact me when there are some eggs? It should only take a few weeks…"
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