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 Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 12:59 pm
Ten.
Rinfala wasn't sure whether to laugh or facepalm. So much for Mal's hopes of a small clutch...if they didn't move fast, they'd end up keeping more than just one. She, rather. Mal would probably make himself absent once they were that hard. At least Shim hadn't seen fit to mimic Aeron's bitey habits.
She had, however, amassed quite the little pile of odd objects, all light enough for a firelizard to carry, and every single one shiny. Crooning happily, Shim extended a delicate wing over her 'prizes' before sitting up to examine each and every one of her eggs.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:43 pm
While he would roundly denounce the very idea of it, Mal had in fact been considering quietly sidling off and letting Rin handle the rest of it. Ten eggs. In his head, ten tiny versions of Aeron danced around biting everything in reach which was, incidentally, quite a bit. They hadn’t even managed to get a good look at the eggs without Kia’s help! She was the only one who could get close to the nest without being bitten (besides Shim, of course). “So… ten eggs,” he said, almost mournfully. “S’van is going to get one and you’re going to get one, so that’s only eight more. That’s not too many.”
Judging by the tone of his voice, he was only trying to convince himself here.
Aeron crooned happily at his clutch, feeling quite pleased with himself for managing to have a hand in this. Of course, Shim had done all the real work. He just had to keep her fed and happy, something he was rather inclined to do anyway. He quietly waited until the Gold was finishing inspecting the eggs before doing his own inspection, nosing the eggs with a pleased squawk.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:39 pm
Rinfala watched the pair of firelizards for a few moments, thinking. "That's as close as I can count them. You really want to pry them off to find out?" The look she tossed Mal was incredulous. He seemed as worried about how many eggs there might be as he did about Aeron biting. Which fear would win out? "Of course, we could just leave them alone for now...never knowing..." Subtle, not really. Effective? She'd have to wait and see.
As Aeron inspected the clutch, Shim reached out her muzzle to root around in her shiny-pile. Extracting the bell from somewhere in the depths, she shook it at the eggs experimentally. Eggs had to like shinies. Everyone liked shinies.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 9:00 pm
Well, Mal knew when to back down. He held up his hands in the universal gesture for, ‘No, no, I’m sure you’re right; I’m not about to stick my fingers in that thing, since I’m rather fond of my hands and would rather not have them mangled’. It was amazing how many cultures were surrounded by enough blades----or angry animals----to need a gesture like this. “No, I believe you. Besides, Kia says there are ‘many, many’ and that sounds about right… So. We’ll have eight eggs to offer as prizes then, huh?”
Well, that was a good number, he decided. In fact, he rather liked it. “Let’s keep it closed to the non-Candidates, alright? I mean… it’s not technically against the rules, I know, but I don’t want to take a risk… at least advertising will be easy. Just let Nan ‘accidentally’ find out and in half a day everyone will know.”
Aeron looked on at the scene with an almost terminal look of fatherly pride on his face. This was his first clutch, after all, and he was determined to look after it properly. Over the course of the last few days, he had been collecting more and more shiny things for Shim. The collection now included a bit of a rock, a tiny mirror, a few shiny threads carefully removed from a tapestry… anything that glimmered, really.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:22 pm
"Hey, you're the Harper. I've got a decent enough hand...I can do what paperwork there is." Reading and writing were not the most obvious skills of a Beastcraft-raised Holder, but pedigrees of fine runners could go back for generations, and needed to be tracked with utmost care. Not for the first time, Rinfala wondered if the Weyrleaders had to do the same for their golds and bronzes.
"Well, we do need to see them so that we have descriptions. Otherwise, they'll have to pick themselves and then they WILL find out Aeron's the sire." A set look of determination on her face, the tall young woman moved towards the pair, starting to reach out a hand. "No biting."
Looking up at hers, Shim crooned and fluttered her wings. She didn't want to move yet, but she could very much see why hers wanted to be close to them. They were lovely and round and shiny and eggs. Everyone would love them.
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 2:07 am
“Yeah, I’m a Harper; I need my hands to play the flute and stuff.” Actually, he was more of a singer than an instrumentalist, but claiming the flute would be to his advantage right now. He moved to stop Rin when she reached out for the eggs, recognizing the look in Aeron’s eyes and, more importantly, the emotions emanating from the Bronze. “I… wouldn’t do that right now. If you really must, you can, but remember that I warned you.”
Aeron hissed loudly at the approaching hand, flaring his wings over his eggs. He was not going to abandon his new family to the HandMonster. The Bronze’s eyes whirled with red and orange, a clear indication of his willingness to battle. But Rin still wouldn’t listen! With a screech of rage, Aeron bit down on the offending hand, gave it a quick shake, and then backed off again. There was another warning hiss, a clear indication that he would bite harder next time; he hadn’t drawn blood this time, but it was a close thing. He had probably meant to and merely hadn’t been expecting the calluses on Rin’s hands.
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 4:36 pm
The screech that rang through the caverns might have belonged to a demon, had they existed on Pern. As it was, it settled for a furious Candiate to release it.
"FARDLING LITTLE SHITHEAD!" Hissing at the pain of the nasty pinch that Aeron's teeth had given her, Rinfala swung her open hand towards the bronze with a frightening intensity. "DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT AGAIN, YOU WHER-BRAINED EXCUSE FOR A LIZARD!"
Oh shells oh shells oh shells. With a frightened squawk, Shim ducked beneath the swinging hand, flattening herself over her precious eggs. Chittering anxiously, she shot a stream of soothing thoughts at Aeron. Stay down! Down, down, down!
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 4:45 pm
Actually, Mal thought the screech of rage would have been rather befitting of Aeron. He sighed and started to say, ‘I told you so’, but Rin’s next scream of obscenities had drowned out his voice. Well, he couldn’t say that he hadn’t been tempted to yell like that at Aeron from time-to-time… but trying to hit the firelizard was too sharding far. With a yelp, the Candidate tried to grab Rin’s hand saying, “Don’t hit him! He didn’t mean it! He really didn’t!”
Aeron was not impressed and only hissed more loudly and beat his wings. This was his family and he was not going to let the HandMonster take it away from him. But… Shim was asking him rather nicely. Obedient to her wishes, he pressed himself flat against the eggs, trying to cover and protect them with his wings. His eyes continued to whirl with red and orange as he let out another screech. He was not a happy flit.
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 4:57 pm
Rinfala growled and attempted to yank her arm out of Mal's grasp, but the Harper had a surprisingly strong grip. Seething, she forced her muscles to loosen. If he pulls that again, he will be screeching out of his vent, she thought grimly, doing her best to send Aeron a picture of a headless flit with a toothy tailfork. Aloud, she simply snapped, "Somehow, I have the sneaking feeling that he meant every last tooth of it."
Crooning, Shim laid her neck over Aeron's, rubbing her cheek over the top of his head. Hers got very very angry sometimes, but she was good. Hers would not hurt her eggs, not on purpose.
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:07 pm
Judging from the emotions emanating from Aeron, he had indeed meant it, but Mal chose to ignore this. He was only a little firelizard who was scared! That was all. And it had been an exciting day for Aeron; the Bronze was clearly over excited. Why, yes. Mal was scraping the bottom of the barrel to excuse his bloodthirsty little monster’s biting habit. He considered pointing out that he had warned Rin, but decided that this would only cause more yelling.
Once he was certain that the other Candidate had finished her screaming and attempts to injure small animals, Mal slowly let her go. “He’s just a firelizard trying to protect his eggs. Can’t blame him for being a little bitey.”
The attempt to send Aeron an image of what could happen to him failed. Like all firelizards, his mind was linked to Mal’s and that was it. Aeron grumbled for several moments, still not completely at ease with Rin being there. Oh, he’d be watching her in the future… he would be watching… he made a little questioning noise at Shim, asking if she was absolutely certain that the Screamer wouldn’t hurt the eggs.
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:35 pm
"I thought you said he was infamous?" Rinfala pointed out flatly, barely raising an eyebrow. She'd heard the name 'Aeron' a few times over the candidate's tables, and it was rarely with a good connection. Honestly, it made Rin wonder why she hadn't heard of the bitey little creature before. "Is he, or isn't he?"
No no, hers liked the eggs. She thought about big eggs sometimes, and the big flits that came out of them. She seemed to look forward to these very much, for some reason. They weren't half as glorious as Shim's eggs. Fluttering her wings softly, she scooted closer to Aeron.
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:48 pm
“Well… yes,” Mal admitted, because Aeron was indeed known for biting. “But he’s always had a reason. It’s not his fault that humans just don’t see them. Besides, he really has gotten much better about it in recent times! See? He didn’t even break the skin on your hand. He was just warning you and not really trying to hurt you at all.” Yep. It was clear; Mal would happily defend this vicious little creature to the very end.
“He even gave you a warning hiss. He’s gotten much better. Used to be, he didn’t even give off those.”
Very slowly, Aeron was reassured. Alright… he’d allow her close to the eggs, but it was only because Shim said so! It had nothing to do with the humans. Hm. Come to think of it, his human had been thinking about the big flit eggs too. Aeron snorted softly and shook his head. What nonsense! No one else would take his Mal away from him. Mal already had him!
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 7:05 pm
"If he were a runner, he'd be asking for gelding," Rinfala commented, giving Mal a long, suspicious look. An ill-tempered stallion rarely stayed that way for long, unless they were some sort of champion. Then again, you didn't get between a stallion and his mare. It was just a Bad Idea. "I guess he did warn. So did I."
With a happy little squeak, Shim favored Aeron with a nuzzle. Of course no one else would take theirs away from them, they were theirs. Other humans got the big flits, because they didn't have them.
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:50 am
Mal stared suspiciously at Rinfala as he attempted to figure out what she was getting at. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that ‘gelding’ had something to do with metal. Perhaps she was talking about those bits of metal that were always nailed to a runner’s feet or something… shards if he knew how that calmed a runnerbeast down, but that’s why he was a Harper and not a Beastcrafter.
“Then it’s a very good thing that he’s a firelizard and not a runner, isn’t it?” he pointed out the obvious, still a little miffed about her attempt to smack Aeron. “Anyway, I’ve got some thick gloves that we can use next time.”
The happy little squeak vastly improved Aeron’s temper. He crooned quietly, reassured once more. No one would take his Mal from him, not even those big flits. And if they tried, he would bite them too!
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:08 pm
"Maybe," Rinfala said, shrugging carelessly. In her mind, many things could be improved by making them more like runnerbeasts. They were highly intelligent, far more so than most people realized. Some people liked to keep them bred dumb and stupid, but the strains she always favored were boasted to be 'smarter than some people.' Not quite true, but it helped sell horseflesh. "One of these days you might get tired of those gloves."
Bite the big flits? With a squeak of fear, Shim ducked beneath Aeron's wing. Angry big flits were scarier than hers when she was angry! They would eat Aeron and then she would have nobody to protect her clutch and she'd be all alone and hers would be sad because she was sad. Aeron should just stay right here with her and her eggs and not bite the big flits and then they would all be safe and happy.
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