
Xanadu Weyr - Shore of Lake Caspian
The cliffs that run along the shore come and go, various weyrs nestled along the tops of them or dug into the walls, but eventually they recede enough to expose a beach. The white sand echoes the rise and fall of the cliffs with a multitude of sandy dunes, endlessly creating tiny valleys that are constantly demolished and rebuilt by the frequent arrival or departure of dragons. The dunes smooth out as the gentle slope approaches the edge of the deep blue water. The sand darkens, and a shell here and there stands out for children to collect.
The beach narrows to the southwest, leaving a path barely wide enough for dragons in single file before cutting in to a smaller, more sheltered cove. The sands are the same white, the waters the same blue, but they're calmer and more tranquil, more protected from the winds that ruffle Lake Caspian and the currents that tug beneath the surface.
Rough, wide stairs lead up to the meadow above and the road that runs along the top of the cliffs, passing through the fields and heading for the river mouth that can be just barely seen from here. The largest of the staircases up the cliff is located near the docks that jut out onto the peaceful blue waters.
Ahhh springtime. That glorious sime of the year where Rukbat begins to shine just a little brighter. When the weather turns warm and the flowers begin to grow. It's such a lovely spring day in Xanadu. The sky is near cloudless with just a few whispy whisps of clouds passing overhead. There is a nice breeze blowing through the air rustling the grasses beyond the beach making sure that while it's warm a person doesn't feel too hot. In short all is right with the world. Or is it? What have those breezes blown into Xanadu this afternoon. They have blown a S'ndri! Fleee! Flee for your lives! Hide your women and children! The man in question is presently walking along the beach enjoying the waves lapping at his feet. He's dressed in a simple pair of swimshorts and has a towel wrapped over his shoulders. He's dry so he hasn't been in the water for awhile at least, but given his glances out to the sea he's thinking about it. There is a blue dragon resting farther up the beach. He looks bored to be honest, but if S'ndri is aware of this he isn't showing any signs. Nope. He's focused on the sun, beach and water.
Hello, S'ndri! I'm the Doctor. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! Okay, so Risali is not a doctor, especially not one in a whimsical blue Police Call Box, but it wouldn't be that far-fetched to tell people to do equal amounts of running as apparently is warranted for S'ndri when the tiny woman is on the scene. As it stands, she is on the beach for exercise. So, funnily enough, she is running. The weyrling is weighted down by the POSITIVELY MEDIEVAL WEIGHTED VEST of some horrible sadist's imagining - and it looks like she's been at it for a while. All of her hair has been pulled up and tied off in the messiest of buns at the back of her head, she's sweating and gross and can't seem to suck in a decent breath, and just to her left (with growing-but-not-yet-fully-grown maw beneath one of Risali's elbows) is a queen. A queen who has patches over her eyes, and cannot see, so is presumably using her lifemate as a guide for Where Not To Step. « I know you hate it, minion! But just think! Once we improve your running short distances to running long distances, we just might outlive - oh, I don't know - everything! And that is badass! You can't be a badass if you get caught all of the time and -" No, that's not your imagination. The pulsing echo of too-loud bass that sends your thoughts rattling is Leirith; that excited tempo of party-party-party! drums is the queen, and Leirith projects it to every unfortunate soul around whether they are dragon, or human, or BOTH (which is not possible, but LET HER HAVE THIS ONE OKAY). "This is my fifth lap, Leirith." « You're disappointing me again, minion! » A beat. « Okay, we're best friends again. Keep running! » WUMP. Right into S'ndri, apparently, because that is what happens when you turn to glare at your queen and your footing goes all wonky because you're in the sand and WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS ANYWAY, RUN-ON SENTENCES FTW. "OI!" Indignant shrieks, because surely Risali was the one wronged. And even if she hasn't taken Thinking-About-Swimming man down with her, well… she's taken down herself. And Leirith might have almost stepped on them, but only almost so it doesn't count.
S'ndri might have, casually mind you, out of the corner of his eye…no not even the corner. The FULL on EYE saw Risali coming. His radar for women is strong. He quickly notes that she is sweaty and gross, but what are such trifles to a miracle worker like S'ndri? They are nothing. He sees to the beauty underneath. Or at least thats what he tells all the women he meets. He decides he will play this all suave and casual like so he continues to walk along the water and not look at her. Because not looking at women tells them 'hey I'm attractive and you want to spend all your time with me'. This has the unfortunate side effect of leaving him open to such things as being run over by the woman he wants to speak too. He has his breath knocked out of him with a single 'whoooosh' and he falls sideways onto the sand. This wasn't /exactly/ how he wanted to introduce himself but he can't argue with the results. Here he is laying side by side with the chick he saw running up the beach. Oh yeah. S'ndri has scored again! This all takes a few moments to process. There will be initially pain, then surprise, then a smile on his face. The smile is the one that will stick cause ya know lady next to you and not getting stepped on as a bonus. This is a good day! "Hey." he says trying to act like that didn't happen. Just brush it off. Brush brush, "You picked the right spot to crash." Metaphorically speaking and literally as well. If Cenvath is paying any attention to any of this insanity he doesn't show it. He just keeps looking off into the water. Le sigh. Bored.
Oh. My. Faranth. Risali is sucking in air like it's going out of style and - did S'ndri really just say what she thinks he said? Risali's already pushing herself up to sit, grey eyes slowly coming up from her hands (which she was using to brush excessive amounts of sand from her person) to the bluerider in question. Grey holds green for one, two, three and… yeah. That's a squint at first, as if she isn't quite sure that she's looking at a person, and then a scowl for the maybe-suave-but-maybe-not-suave-enough man she's just winded. Most women might grapple with apologies, and trip over themselves to give him a hand up, all while giggling at his BOLDNESS and using their hands to wipe sand away from him just to be closer. Risali? Well… she looks like she might murder him… or at least set him on fire if she were one of those mythical mage things you hear about in stories. She's not (lucky S'ndri), so instead of human combustion, she simply sits there for an almost awkward amount of time dripping sweat at him. "No." That's literally all she says, though she repeats it again emphatically as she moves to regain her footing. "No." No he did not? No that didn't just happen? NO WHAT? Leirith? She is all amusement, reaching out to the blue in his boredom with the wubwubwub of her overly-excitable mind. « Waheeeeey! Our minions just crashed into one another and mine won! I mean, maybe she didn't win, win, but she totally won! »
What really qualifies as 'most women' anyway? Every one is a unique delicate creature that must be wooed in a manner proper to her nature. Tis only a matter of finding the right approach to wooing 'her person' as it were. We must be posh after all. Boldness is a fantastic word that encapsulates S'ndri very well. At the moment S'ndri is very much in touch with his inner boldness as it were. If S'ndri is offended by the sweaty sweat being dripped at him he doesn't show it. You may not like him but the mans got some staying power. He might move if she barfed on him, but we aren't there just yet. And as for the murder in her eyes. PFfft. Tis yet another trifle. He survived Catwin on the beaches of Half Moon and she is waaaaay more scary that Risali. Least so far. There is always room for personal growth. He'll just stay put on the ground looking up at her, "I know. It's so hard to imagine that you ran into me like this. It's just so overwhelming that words have difficulty forming." he'll quickly move to his feet and hold his finger to his lips, "Shhhhh. Don't try to speak my beautiful goldrider. Just bask in the moment." If there was any sign he got any of what she was throwing off it doesn't show. The blue is drawn away from his thought stupor by the sound of 'da wubs' He'll shift his head from the water toward the gold, « She didn't win. She lost. Trust me. » For he knows his 'minion' well. The winds of the rolling great desert will blow sand along as he speaks, « Mine likes females too much. » Cenvath tolerates but seldom approves of his riders flamboyant behavior.
Faranth, but he just keeps going, doesn't he? And while S'ndri speaks, grey eyes lock with green, Risali's expression slowly devolving into what can only be described as disgust until — there it is. Risali is blushing, honest-to-Faranth blushing. Red blossoms on her cheeks, and draws her brows in; Risa's lips pull thin, her chest continues to work double time, and somehow the weyrling looks more furious than before, not less, as she draws back from him with a half-stumble that lands her back against her gold. "Does that ever actually work for you?" she manages between labored breaths. Leirith, meanwhile, meets the blue's statement with more of that amusement, laughter somewhere unmasked with those drums and persistent bass. « Mine is fierce! You will see. » But she doesn't doubt his minion's ability to be steadfast in the face of danger. Her mind plays in the desert of his mind, bursts of sound that form shapes like a kaleidoscope in time with her voice. Curiosity, then. « Is there a reason to like females more? Garouth chases them. I don't understand. It seems silly! You could be doing something more badass. » And where her mind permeates his, the sands take shapes of dragons in a flight - though it is clear this is a memory projected to her, innocent of its true meaning.
Going and going and going and going. Just like the duracell bunny. S'ndri is very bunny like. Hippity hop. Hippity hop. S'ndri is sort of adept at reading expressions. Women just seem to make the oddest faces to him, both good and bad. Disgust is an expression he knows all too well. He gets that one /alot/ but blushing is also one he gets. He likes blushing more. Way more. The furious part he will continue to brush off. Brush brush. Happy thoughts. S'ndri can't help but let a smirk cross his face, "Oh yeah. Just the other day." S'ndri is occasionally sucessful. "It's working on you isn't it?" he raises his eyebrows to go along with the wide, stupid grin. Cenvath's dunes continue to shift and roll as if a great worm was moving beneath them. The ignorance that permeates her question is an irritant to him, like a grit that gets stuck in a gear and brings the whole thing to a crashing halt. « Yes. There is a reason he likes females more. » The blue will intone solemnly. He himself likes females. In fact he was a badass and caught one just last week! Go Cenvath! So the topic is somewhat apropos. He takes in a great dragon breath and lets it out, « Do you really lack this knowledge or are you attempting to play with me? » he asks. The temptation to explain is strong in this blue. Oh so strong and he isn't sure he can not give her the big of information she seeks.
And there Risali is, in a weighted weyrling vest, sweating from running too much (not enough, if you ask Leirith), trying to catch her breath, and still somehow S'ndri is not deterred. Not by looks of disgust of scathing comments that bring his already questionable success into question, not when she's feeling as far from attractive as humanly possible, and all because Risali is unsure of how to handle advances made by men. Men she's just met, no less, and can't back away from any further, because she's already hit the wall of her lifemate behind her. She tries anyway, as if maybe she can become one with her dragon and stop this entire thing from happening. Where is K'vir when she needs him? WHERE IS D'LEI? "WORKING ON ME?!" Ohp. And there the tiny once-harper goes, furious as she steps into S'ndri's space like she can intimidate him with her complete lack of height and very big personality. One finger goes right into his sternum with accusation, and she leans forward to hiss, "You fucking wish, pretty boy." Leirith is either immune to or ignorant of any apparent irritation borne from her lacking knowledge; in fact, the queen merely chases after the dunes that shift and roll, making imprints of herself by wubwubwubing so much sand into things that are fun. « Lacking? » comes with laughter, and perhaps… confusion, though it's muted beneath the vibrancy of the little queen's personality itself. AND THERE SHE GOES. Taking off blindly in search of the blue and running into EVERYTHING ON HER WAY. Don't worry, the eyepatches will probably be coming away from her eyes soon (very, very soon). « I have everything that I need! And I am always trying to play. »
Garouth is the shadow, he is the night! Okay, no, he isn't. He's a bronze dragon, though his hide is brindle with dark and metallic patterns. He arrives in a sweep from the south, sweeping along the shore and slowly descending at a steady drop of altitude that makes him loom closer and closer. First the dragon becomes visible! Then, the rider on his back, D'lei carried along by his bronze. Then? The actual expression on his face, with a frown that… might be from seeing what's going on? But then again, it might just be from concentrating on keeping the approach precise and controlled even as he nears the other dragons. Garouth's wings cup, bringing him to a stall before his clawtips touch the sand - and the wind sweeps past, accompanied by the cold mental breeze that is the touch of Garouth's mind to find first the gold - she was kind of running toward him instead of actually heading to Canvath - but then on to the blue as well, a curious touch to Cenvath even if the cold of his thoughts swirls for longer around Leirith, winds playing around her to go with his greeting as D'lei swings down from his bronze's back and…. steps forward. "Hi there!" he says, with a bright sort of look on his face and his gaze focused, apparently, on S'ndari. Though it's not like Risa's far away from the bluerider!
S'ndri is just FLIRTING. Goodness gracious. Heavens to murgatroid. Cheese and crackers. Some seem to make out like he is some vicious predator who will pounce no matter what. In fact it's RISALI who is getting physical. She knocked HIM over. She is now POKING him. All for the crime of saying she's beautiful and that his compliments work. The horror! The unabated terror. Risali is still not as scary as Catwin. Not. As. Scary. Still he has no desire to cause her stress or upset. He likes to have fun. FUN. S'ndri back away when she pokes him, "I think you need to calm down a little bit. I haven't done anything to you." And he is begining to feel very sorry for any man that has anything to do with this woman. And oh look! Almost as if by magic there is one of them right there. S'ndri will offer him a slight smile since he's just polite like that, "Hello." Cenvath is taken aback by this golds lack of restraint. My what do they teach in these schools. The sand dunes will do their best to fill in the golds imprints upon themselves. Since he doesn't know what else to do he begins, « Fine I'm going to tell you the basics of dragon reproduction…» It would have been a very scholarly speech with the correct terms and none of the salacious comments that often go into flight lectures. Cenvath is a gentledragon and a scholar. His class is very rudely interrupted by the arrival of Garouth. His dunes will quickly absorb the the cold and warm it, « Sit down I will teach you as well. »
Oh yes. Leirith senses the cold wind and THUMP. Well now she can feel Garouth, because she's crashing into him (thankfully once D'lei has already descended because WHAT A DISASTER THAT COULD BE), and then curling up in the sand like she totally meant to do that. She might even slightly pounce the bronze as she lays down, but… it could have been an accident. Just a little lapse in her ability to gauge distance or something, surely. « I have found you, Garouth! » And maybe he found her, but it doesn't matter; bass and drums beat at Garouth's mind with exuberant joy, turning the cold wind into music that might be wind chimes, but is far too crude for that. And as distracting as Garouth may be, it doesn't stop Leirith from watching the sands in Cenvath's desert cover up her art… for what little good it will do him. She just simply… makes more of it, with a wubwub here, and a wubwub there. HERE A WUB, THERE A WUB, EVERYWHERE A WUBWUB. Then she stills, the bass and drums a hush of persistence in the background as she considers the words and… « Reproduction? » Risali's wince is probably partially because of Leirith's sudden booming in her skull, though her attention remains on S'ndri as he steps back and acts innocent and - yep. Risali isn't deterred, she's leaning down to gather sand in one hand and flinging it at the bluerider. "You're telling me to CALM DOWN?!" And there is D'lei, who is (as of yet) unacknowledged because Risali is about to commit murder. "I dare you to say that to me again." And yeah, she's totally stalking forward like she's gonna PUT HIM THROUGH THE RINGER. FIGHT HER. Or… you know. Run away. Or catch her? SHE AIN'T AFRAID OF YOU.
D'lei will just have to walk AROUND Leirith. The supiciously here despite not being able to see where she's going (YET) Leirith. It's okay, he can do this. Garouth tilts his head to bump his muzzle against the un-sorry gold who… is not nearly so little anymore, now is she? There are some furrows in the sand where she pushed him back, just a bit. (Only because the sand is soft. He was not daunted! (Neither is she.)) The bronze rumbles to her. « You have. » Or something close to it, anyhow! The sound of … ice creaking, but melodic-like? Is that it? … is carried by winds that retain their cold even as they move to Cenvath's mind, like the desert's night without trees or clouds to keep the heat of the day when the sun's gone once more. Garouth's mind makes no attempt to linger with Cenvath's, only maintaining an interface enough to talk, a connection where puffs of air dart about to warm and cool in turn. « Reproduction means making eggs. » he answers Leirith, matter of fact. Dark shadows sweep to loom over the gold, the bronze addressing his thoughts past her, to Cenvath. « I do not recognize you. What is your intention? » Which, D'lei probably could say the same, but. "Sooooo." He walks closer, angling partly around them to come up toward Risali's side of this… let's be generous and call it a conversation. "Risa. What needs to happen to not have murders?" SERIOUS QUESTION.
Catch her? Oh my! On the first date? How incredibly forward. Oh so risque. S'ndri might approve if he weren't on the verge of being murdered. Death by flirting! Who knew that was a thing. Cenvath remains undaunted as much as Leirith is. The sands move in his desert creating a subtle hissing sound, along with the faint sound of metal scraping on metal. « I am Cenvath. My intention is to spread knowledge. » That sums it up very nicely into a neat little package doens't it. Cenvath is a scientist, as much as a dragon can be. And Garouth is impeding his lecture. « Yes it does. Now if you will both sit still I will explain further. » It is possible they are both ignorant. S'ndri is in a position where he feels the need to explain himself so he will focus on the rational party present. Which is most likely D'lei, "I was just here. Minding my own business and she ran into me. I told her she was beautiful and flirted a bit. And now she's all…" S'ndri motions toward the crazy woman, "I just told her she was beautiful and she flipped. Would she rather I told her she was sweaty and stank?" Yeah. Risali. You are STANKING it UP. Thats what he get for being forgiving and nice. Maybe insults and abuse would have worked better? Nahh. Probably not.
SOON SHE WILL HAVE EYES. And hasn't Garouth been teaching her to scent the wind and follow the dips in sand anyway? Listen, don't question it, okay. Semantics. WHO NEEDS THEM? Not Leirith, who thinks she is still dainty (thank you very much). And perhaps a lot more graceful than she actually is. « I always will, » she reminds him, though there's another hesitance at the mention of egg making. The little queen is running circles in both male dragon's minds, as if she can pick up a hint of what she doesn't get from one or the other. She knows there is a piece missing from the puzzle. She just… doesn't quite understand what that missing piece is. « I was an egg once! » Oh well, she's no longer curious. It's probably boring adult stuff anyway. Or… at least she wasn't, until Cenvath made it interesting again. « Explain? What more is there? » She's upbeat, but she's… curious. Risali, on the other hand, has exactly zero of her lifemate's cheerful demeanor in her; in fact, she is unswayed from murder until D'lei speaks, and then those grey eyes flash onto him, causing her temper to flicker and then flare anew. "So help me, if you get in my way, you will be next, bronzerider." And okay. Maybe S'ndri didn't do anything worth murder, but this is Risali. Risali whose default mode is angry because angry is the only way she knows how to be multiple emotions at once: flustered, annoyed, flustered. FLUSTERING IS A WEAKNESS. SHE AIN'T NEED NO MAN. And oh Faranth, but S'ndri is opening his mouth again and for a moment Risali is rooted to the spot as her attention whips back to him and she trips over her own inability to formulate a coherent thought through her rage. "I. YOU. ARROGANT - EX-FUCKING-CUSE ME?!" Yeah, she's reaching pitchy decibels with that shrieking, and she's reaching up to tighten the knot keeping her hair in check so it doesn't get in her face when she BREAKS ALL THE RULES to take out ONE MAN. "I'm all WHAT?" She's lunging for S'ndri if he doesn't duck away, or if D'lei doesn't stop her - but let's be honest. Do you want to stop that? If she's successful? Well, she'll just give him a good hard shove, of course. Right in his chest.
« We do not require your lecture. » Garouth's shadows shift, carried along by Leirith's figure-eight race through their minds. The wind follows it, the rumble of thunder and the flicker of lightning carried with it to make pulses of light and sound that incorporate Leirith's bass into them as they makes a dopplered throb from that circular motion, muffling other sounds… because this one is JUST THAT AWESOME? Possibly. (Really, what other possibility could there be?) This is definitely not a ploy to muffle the ears of not-so-small-anymore dragons! Not at all. After all, they have no reason to be curious about boring adult thi- yeah, thanks Cenvath. So Garouth speaks up again, and tells Leirith the missing piece because if someone is going to do it, by Faranth, it's going to be him in a responsible fashion and not some stranger blue who he doesn't even know. « Eggs come after a mating flight. » GASP. Leirith's parents HAD A FLIGHT, ONCE. « If a gold or green wants, she can have a mating flight where the males chase her. » Sure it's not 100 accurate, but… let's not get into the inevitability of the adult hormonal cycle just yet, okay? Besides, being chased is boring because Leirith is a chaser, right? RIGHT? « If she's a gold, she has eggs afterward and has to watch them until they hatch. » SO BORING. You are so not interested, Leirith. JUST, NO. Garouth is doing his best to be both matter of fact and… dull. This is a thing, it happens because adults are weird, it is not something to be cared about (up until it is, but, pfft, like that'll ever happen). D'lei? Well, he cares about there not being murder, but he also cares about there not being a him murdered, and while he doesn't look afraid of Risali, he spreads his hands as he meets her gaze to show how he has no stabby knife and also he's not going to stop her. He looks to S'ndari again, with a mild-sounding, "Don't think she appreciated that flirting." He will explain this thing that is apparently hard to grasp. He'll even offer useful advice! "You could apologize." Though, that's when Risali finds her voice/ and yeah okay the time for apologies is Maybe Just A Bit Past. D'lei… does not stop her. He looks to the sky for a moment, his expression like, 'Shards, how long are we going to be sitting in offices getting lectured this time?' and then looks back to Risali and S'ndari to keep an eye out for actual murders about to happen, because those, he'd really rather stop. Maimings, even. He's not okay with the number of explanations those are likely to take. But shoving? Yeah, he's just going to watch that with a general-purpose frown, that's all.
Cenvath is unimpressed. His lecture would have been just as boring but more complete. This bronze is an inefficent teacher. The sands just whip along the ground shifting the dunes as they go. He'll listen to Garouth's thoughts on this but clearly boredom drips from every bone in the blue's body. He was trying to be nice! Even nicer than S'ndri was being and look at what has become of it. No good deed goes unpunished. « That is a very basic outline. » he intones at the end of it. « I suppose it will suffice. » Though Cenvath can't help but add, « I was attempting to reduce ignorance and minding my own business. I'm not sure that I don't find you to be rude. » His interactions with Garouth haven't reached the level yet where he can make a valid determination based on evidence. But he's more than willing to share thoughts on the data gathering in progress. Speaking of things that are in progress. Weyrling goldrider shoves Ierene rider. See the report at 10. S'ndri finds himself shoved and no one likes that. Especially since it sort of hurts to be shoved in the chest. "Obviously." he says to D'lei. No she didn't like it. Shame too since she is sorta pretty, but no amount of pretty fixes this. A woman is allowed to be crazy so long as she is equally hot. And Risali just crossed over to the wrong side of that diagonal. The Risali Diagonal. "I'm out of here." Yep. Not worth it. S'ndri will turn and start walking away without a further word. Cenvath stays put. He isn't mortally offended yet. Though he's working up a good level of annoyance. Thats something anyway!
WHAT IS THIS? Leirith is temporarily enraptured by the lights, but not nearly enough, and suddenly she is learning things that have the gold, for once, silent. Or, well as silent as she can be. She's still making shapes in desert sand, attentive despite, forcing Garouth's shadows to dance like the lightning and the thunder that were not quite enough. Finally, she stills, as if maybe she's not quite there except she has to be because those drums are still beating out a rhythm in cheerful cadence. « Why can't we chase? » she asks - and that is her only question. There are so many plot holes to be filled up, but Leirith is not interested in the logistics of what mating is, or how it makes eggs, or why it seems taboo. She's more interested in finding out why it's never the other way around. After all, this is just a game… isn't it? One that adults think is fun. For some reason. And then… Garouth? Rude? Leirith is back, observing the maybe-insult with humor as she tells Cenvath. « Garouth is not rude, » a beat, for effect, and then, with much enthusiasm, the sound in her mind becomes heavy, expanding, demanding, sending lightning cutting through the sands of desert with such intensity that it generates more heat and turns pieces of desert to brittle glass. « He's a badass. » UNLIKE S'NDRI. YEAH BOY YOU BETTER RUN. For what it's worth, Risali doesn't chase the man down; au contraire she stands there and watches him go, bringing her arms over her chest to hide the fact that she's trembling - and then she turns to face D'lei. Is she upset about tipping the wrong way on the hot-or-not meta ratio? Probably not even a little bit. So one, two, three steps take her to the bronzerider and THUNK. That's her forehead finding his chest, fingers catching in the fabric that protect it. "Thank you," she breathes, though she doesn't say for what. And Leirith? Still amused. « I told you mine wins. »
« Because nobody has yet done it. » That's Garouth's answer for Leirith's One And Only Question. It doesn't happen because it hasn't! Because… well, because no gold or green has yet had the urge and force of mind to tell all the men that they had better run and she'll take whichever of them flies farthest. Maybe Leirith will be the first! It's not like it's utterly impossible, from Garouth's point of view. There is flying, and somehow A Mate Is Picked and then (LA LA ADULT THINGS). Does the direction matter? Maybe not! Does it matter if he's rude? Apparently not - or at least, he doesn't seem at all upset by Cenvath's preliminary findings. Maybe the blue does find him rude! Who is Garouth to say? He is bronze, not blue. Garouth, not Cenvath! Even if he did interrupt the incoming lecture to substitute his own vague outline of one, that doesn't give him the ability to say what Cenvath thinks. Really, he did a terrible job even of the lecture, didn't he? According to the blue, anyhow. Garouth seems a bit amused himself as Leirith comes to his defense and 'splains some things with a sonic boom furnace blast. In its wake… a breath of cold to Leirith. « People can have different opinions. » A lumpy rock, casting its shadow in one direction as a perfect circle and in the other as a weird squiggle depending on which angle a light rotates around it. A demonstration on perspective! And D'lei meanwhile is just standing there watching and being useless… or… not, actually. Because while he is standing there, and he doesn't move until Risali turns back to him - and then, only to wrap his arms around her as she leans in and thunks his chest with her head (like Leirith to Garouth), her gratitude would… seem to imply he's not actually useless, even if all he's doing is standing there with arms around and watching S'ndari walk away.
Cenvath is going to have a splitting headache if he stays here. The great worm of the desert will show itself if there is anymore thruming, thumping, or bumping. The desert is the great oasis of peace and is being disturbed and bothered by this. He will raise up to his claws and say « If his ass is bad I would recommend he see a healer. There are pills and ointments for that. » He will shake the last of Xanadu's beach from his body with a quick shake, « Yes they can. » he will say to Garouth. People can and do have differing thoughts. His demonstrations are largely ignored, just as Garouth ignored his lecture. This has grown to be more than he wishes to deal with. « She might have. » is the one concession the blue will allow them. D'lei might be better than S'ndri for her. Though one will never know. Cenvath will spread his wings and lift himself to the sky and be gone.
« But I love you, Garouth! And he was wrong! I will not let others be wrong about you. Never. » And while Leirith's words may be insulting, the little queen is… not. She's merely upbeat, unaffected, unrepentant, confident in her correctness. « I thought Cenvath would enjoy knowing the correct answer! » Since he, of course, has come to share knowledge. RIGHT? But she is amused at the blue's words, as if he purposely misunderstood her, answering only with laughter that is far from cruel and simply… enjoying his special brand of really dry humor. That was supposed to be funny, right? Right. But she is no longer interested. She learned something new! « I will chase you, Garouth. » And, yeah. The gold is probably totally going to tell the men dragon to fly far and fast, because she's going to do the catching if anybody is going to be caught. BOOOM. THEN THEY CAN WATCH THE EGGS, OR SOMETHING. Okay, maybe not but SHUT UP LET HER HAVE THIS ONE. Still, she nuzzles a little closer into the bronze and exhales with enough force to kick up some sand. Risali? Yeah… the tension eases from her when D'lei's arms come around her, and the tiny woman leans into him more, sliding fingers from tunic or jacket or whatever until they're around his middle and she's giving him a real hug. She is shaking, but it's simply the remaining vestiges of her very, very excessive anger - nothing that needs attention, and it slowly dissipates too. When it does, the once-harper is drawing back enough to catch D'lei's face between her hands as a thousand questions pass behind grey eyes and go unvoiced. Instead, she gives him a smile, the kind that says she's happy to see him, just before she's catching one of his hands in hers and interdigitating their fingers. "Walk with me." Because she is tired of running, and there is plenty to see in the beach when you walk hand-in-hand and slow enough. Like interesting rocks! Lots, and lots of interesting rocks. And blue dragons that go bye bye. « She always will! » will chase him. Leirith picked Risali for a reason.
What is rude, anyhow? …yeah no, Garouth is not even going to try to tackle that one. He's not 100% sure himself, he is definitely not going to try to get it into Leirith's head. HEY CENVATH, COME BACK! EXPLAIN WHAT RUDE IS!!! …okay, he doesn't actually shout after, but he does glance to watch the blue go, though he makes no further comment to him. « If we knew why he thinks what he does, we could explain better. Like knowing where the herdbeast is before you hunt. » Not that Leirith has ever charged and pounced at the wrong thing because she thought her minion was looking at a different pen than she was. NOPE. That shadow of a young dragon demonstrating how to fail at pouncing is clearly purple and, more to the point, not gold. It is an IRIDIUM dragon. Shut up, they do so exist. As of NOW, that's when! So yeah, that's how it works. Garouth rumbles, tilting his head to nudge at Leirith as he makes those affectionate noises - and, beneath their rumble, the wind-carried words, « And I love you. » Which does explain the cuddles! And someday? « I will fly far. » Look, he doesn't make the rules of flights, and he's definitely not going to try to enforce them. If the glowy lady says run, you run. Fly. Whatever! The point is, he's adaptable… at least, right now when the idea of Leirith's flight is a distant someday and the stir of her hormones hasn't yet even begun to make its mess of his and confuse both their brains. When that distant someday comes? They'll find out what actually happens. D'lei keeps his arms around Risali, unspeaking - though once S'ndari is gone, he tilts his head down to have a better view of the goldrider, watching her with an expression that's… something like pensive, at least until she looks up. Then he smiles back to her, and nods as he twines his fingers with hers as he turns so they can take a walk, along beach with rocks and bits of seaweed and fragments of spider-claw shell. So much to look at! So many rocks.
Aww, I'm a horrible sadist!! :) Hey, could be worst, least it's not still rocks in a backpack…. (T'lon)
I reject your reality and substitute my own.