Growing [Open]

[Missa]

You are sad again, MineZaddy? Maiath crooned lightly as she nudged her rider, who was sitting, absently waving a long piece of grass back and forth for Scuttle - who was cackling like a mad thing and chasing it while Crystal looked on in disdain. Though the violet was still sweet tempered and affectionate towards Hers, she'd learned very quickly not to let Scuttle pull her into any of his ridiculous games, like running on the ground, back and forth after a piece of grass.

Startled by the green's comment, Zadari's green eyes darted up to look at the pale little green, confusion briefly darkening her eyes before she smiled,
"Sometimes I forget how perceptive you are, Maiath." She murmured, lifting her free hand to rub the green's nose lightly. For all that she was sweet natured and perceptive though, Maiath was not easily distracted, so though she crooned quietly at the touch, she nudged Zadari again,
What bothers you, MineOwn? She murmured and Zadari turned her head away.
"It's nothing, really. It's just. It's nice out here, and it just reminded me..."
Of Sitath? No matter how old she got, Maiath didn't resent the haunting memory of the other blue in her rider's mind, she knew that her Zadari loved her more than anything in the world, knew that with every inch of her soul, but she also knew that there had been another once that she had loved and lost.

"Yeah... We used to do this. Just sit here, and play with Scuttle... And I'd just listen to his heartbeat, like I'm listening to yours right now." She mumbled, green eyes briefly darkening with pain before she shook her head and smiled up at the green, she wished Maiath was more involved with other dragons, but she accepted that Maiath was shy, quiet, everything that Zadari hadn't been. Wasn't. She was still coming out of the shell she'd built herself, slowly emerging was the person that she used to be, and it was thanks to Maiath.
"Hey, Maiath. Whatever happened to that brown that caught you?" Zadari teased, and if a dragon could change colour, she would have been pink.
I don't know. He might just not want to talk to me. So... Shush up Mine.

Laughing at the green's retort, Zadari petted her hide lightly and then yelped as Scuttle's teeth sunk into her boot, not the grass she was waving around.
"Scuttle! You scuttle brained little--" Reaching for the blue just as he bolted, Zadari instantly got to her feet to chase him, leaving Crystal and Maiath to watch.

[Shori]

“I’m not tired,” Lawl’t said simply as he looked up at the large blue dragon that stood before him as he crouched towards the ground with his backside resting upon his heals. Detectith had only distracted him for a moment, but that moment was more then enough time for the falling leaf that he had been watching intently to hit the ground. ”I missed it,” he spoke again as he continued to stare at the leaf that now motionless on the ground. Lawl’t didn’t seem to be annoyed though. In fact, his face and voice seemed to be completely void of emotion altogether. ”My condolences for your lose mine. I still say you should sleep though… You had forgotten to do so last night and I know you humans need sleep as much as we dragons,” the voice of his dragon spoke to him through his mental link, but Lawl’t didn’t seem to be paying him any attention again as the leaf was picked up by a gust of wind and started to spin in the air. ”Lawl’t mine… Are you listening to me at all?” he heard the voice speak to him again and he gave the simple reply of, “No,” to the dragon as he stood up and followed the leaf deeper into the Weyrbowl in his odd slouched walk.

Lawl’t heard Detectith grumble in irritation and could feel jealousy leaking from the dragon as he continued to follow the leaf that he was examining. ”It’s a leaf, Detectith.” Lawl’t said simply as his black eyes continued to follow the leaf, not even taking the time to look at the blue dragon that followed. ”I know it’s a leaf, LawMine. But it is a very annoying leaf. May I crush it?” the dragon replied to the young man through the mental link. The weyrharper found this a very odd question to be honest. He had never known his dragon to be possessive like this before. It seemed almost odd. Especially over something like a leaf. The fact was, Lawl’t needed this leaf to continue his research on the wind currents. He had learned much from studying this one leaf for most of the day. He had learned that the wing was blowing mostly to the south, he had learned that the wind current was dipping and rising very swiftly causing the leaf to spin on occasion as it drifted up and down with the wind, and he had also learned that the wind would often cut it’s self off and cause the leaf to touch down. It would make no sense to be ride of the leaf as long as he could still study it.

As the leaf touched down on the ground and, Lawl’t stopped and turned his head to look over at Detectith and said flatly, ”After studying this leaf for many hours, I have deducted that your attempt would no more then cause a gust of air to hit the leaf and lift it off the ground before you can actually manage to get it under your paw. In other words, your attempt would be a completely futile waste of time and effort. However, if you find it still necessary to do so to make yourself feel better, feel free to attempt. There is only a one out of ten percent chance that you will succeed and if you don‘t I get to continue my studies. I have no complaints.” With this, Lawl’t turned his head back towards the leaf and crouched down to sit on his ankles again. He could hear the distinct laughter of a woman somewhere in the distance, but he ignored it as he rested his arm on his left knee and lifted his hand towards his mouth. Puting his left thumbnail to his lips and leaving it simply to rest there, Lawl't waited to see what his dragon would do.

Naturally, Detectith took up the challenge to see if his bonded was in fact right. With a bugle of challenge at the leaf, Detectith started to charge toward. It was at this point that Lawl't, who had been ignoring the laughter, heard the laughter closer then it had been before. Looking away from the leaf and the dragon, Lawl't looked towards the where the laughter had come from to find fire-lizard flying in their direction with a young woman close behind it. They were still a bit away so he didn't worry about them as he started to turn back towards his dragon. But before he could actually turn all the way, the dragon let out a bugle of triumph to complement his challenge. "I have won, Mine! The menace is crushed! Now we do something I want to do. No more leaves!" he heard the dragon as he finished turning the rest of the way to find the dragon sitting in the place where the leaf had once been. He had to admit that he had never expected the blue to sit on his enemy. It was effective and a intelligent move though. Then again, effective and intelligent always seemed the path Detectith always took.

"Interesting," was all he Lawl't said as he watched his all to proud dragon continue to site on the leaf. "What do you want to do then," he continued to say seeming to be completely unfazed by his lose in this challenge. He watched as the blue looked around himself for a moment, then he watched as the dragon's head stop and a low rumbling sound seemed to come up through his throat. Lawl't couldn't help but feel like he was about to be pulled into something unpleasant with that amused sound the dragon had let out. He knew the dirrection the dragon was looking in had been where the girl and the fire-lizard had been and probably still were. He had a feeling that his dragon was about to get his revenge on him. And he knew he was right as he heard Detectith's voice say, "You need to make some friends, Mine. How about you go over there and talk to that girl for a little while I watch the fun?"

Lawl't didn't say a word to the dragon in return as he stood up form his crouching position and started his slouching walk toward the girl he knew his dragon was talking about. He could still hear the rumble of dragon laughter behind him as he went and he couldn't blame the dragon. He knew this was bound to be a disaster waiting to happen. That's how most social interaction were between himself and other people. At least they would be even again though. It seemed to be fair enough in Lawl't's mind so he had no complaints. As he stepped closer to the girl, Lawl‘t took in his surroundings to figure out were exactly the leaf head lead him. He was not surprised to find his surroundings were very near Crystal Lake. Then again, it was hard to surprise this young man with anything. He knew that his old object of obsessive study had been leading him in the direction of the lake. He was bound to run into it eventually. He had not expected his goal of interest to be a woman though. Not everything went the way they were expected to though. He knew that all to well.

It didn‘t take him long to reach the girl playing with her fire-lizard. However, he decided to watch as she played with the little dragon like creature instead of disturbing her. He always found such activities interesting to study. He never participated in them though. He didn‘t understand the use of such play. It didn‘t seem to have much of a purpose other then embarrassing ones self. He knew that if he were to try and catch a fire-lizard, it would surely not be the method this girl was using. He would have laid out a well thought out trap for it and waited until the perfect moment to spring it. Running around like this girl made no sense to Lawl‘t at all. Crouching once again, Lawl‘t took his normal seating position on his ankles and waited to be noticed.

((Well, I was dead tired and working on two post at once when I was writing this and as you can probably guess, I accidently mixed the laughing from the other post into this one. I do plan on fixing this. I am just to tired at the moment and can't seem to get my brain to work properly to read through all of it to find the stuff I need to fix. I promise I will fix it when I wake up though. Please forgive me and sorry for the wait.))

[Missa]

It may not have made sense, it also may not have been dignified, but Zadari could care less. She wasn't a rider that cared for her appearances, especially since, in her mind, she'd faced death, and she'd turned her back on it. She'd learned to love again, pieced her heart back together, and so why shouldn't she celebrate? It made Maiath happy to see her laugh and play with Scuttle, even with Crystal when the violet deemed it appropriate to play. That was all dependant on mood. For the briefest moment, Zadari felt completely free and... happy, healed.

Until she saw the blue. Skidding to a halt, Zadari's breath instantly rasped in her chest as her heart squeezed tightly, painfully and her throat closed. Maiath let out a low croon of worry, but Zadari shook her head, motioning for her to stay there as she fought the problem she'd been facing for turns. Blues. Flitters were hard, Shards, she had Scuttle didn't she. Dragons though... Dragons were just pain embodied. Sitath had been a blue. Not this blue. Not this blue, Zaddy she mumbled to herself, drawing as strong conclusions to this in her mind as she could, this blue was lighter, Sitath had been almost sapphire in colour, and unique, his blue hide had been spiderwebbed with ice blue, breaking up his hide like cracking ice. He'd had a bounce in his step, he'd walked like a feline, body low to the ground. He'd looked at her and she'd felt her heart swell. It wasn't him.
No. It's not. Maiath is here though. It was a very pointed reminder and it startled Zadari into laughing.

"Of course dear heart. You musn't let me forget that." Maiath giggled, pleased she'd made Hers laugh, and then glanced at the blue shyly. She wasn't very good at conversation, and it seemed His was there to observe Hers, not talk, so she could assume that the blue was like that too. What if he thought she was fat though? Should she turn so she wasn't side-on to him? No she shouldn't, he could talk to her if he wanted...
H-Hullo... I... I'm Maiath. Mine is ZaddyMine I mean, Zadari.

There was a pause before Maiath turned her head to look at Zadari, worry colouring her eyes,
That man is watching you.
"He's what--?" Whirling around to face L'awlt, it was hard to tell if Zadari was creeped out or amused, her expression mediating between both before she shook it off and planted both hands on her hips, if anything, Zadari was certainly not the type to be intimidated by anyone,
"Who're you? I'm Zadari of Green Maiath, the flitts are Scuttle and Crystal. If you don't want to be annoyed to your grave, don't pay any attention to Scuttle. Even negative attention encourages him." Shrugging one shoulder as she pointed out the blue rolling on the grass, Zadari felt a thrill of pleasure as she realised it was the first time she hadn't had to pause before giving Maiath's name on the end of her own.

[Shori]

As he watched his rider walk towards the girl, Detectith moved from the leaf he had just crushed with his backside. Turning his head towards it, he gave it what sounded like a scuffing sound before he moved a little closer to the scene he was about to watch and laid down upon the grassy lawn. It was then that his presence seemed to catch the eye of the girl who had been playing with the small blue fire-lizard. She stared at him and he stared right back. He could see that something was wrong as she stared at him. It was something about the odd expressions the humans seemed to take on. He couldn’t quite pin this one though. It was something that his rider had never show before so he had yet to experience it. He had seen it a couple other times in humans before, but he could never understand it. As she continued to stare at him, he started to wonder if there was something wrong with his hide. How could that be though? He had just gotten washed and oiled the day before this. He knew that his hide was in prime condition. What else could it be though? What else could make the silly human look at him like that?

Detectith turned away from her to look himself over in confusion. He didn’t seem to find any oddities in his hide though. Maybe it was something behind him? The dragon looked and saw nothing out of the ordinary. He snorted again as he turned his attention back to the girl only to find her laughing. It was obvious that whatever she saw she found funny or maybe it was something else that was making her laugh. Whatever it was, he hoped that she wasn’t laughing at him. He didn’t see himself as a funny dragon, but who knew what some humans considered funny. For all he knew, she could have thought the color of his hide was funny. If so, then he certainly didn’t like the fact that she was laughing at him. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for him to make his speak to this odd human? Then again, if she was as odd as he thought, her and his were a perfect match and would probably make for good friends indeed.

---

Lawl’t silently watched the girl from the place he had picked as his own and he watched as she stared at his dragon. He could feel the confusion leaking from his dragon and he watched the dragons strange antics as he tried to figure out what she was staring at. He probably would have found it funny if he was the type to find things funny. However, he was not the time to find things funny. Lawl’t saw amusement as a waste of his valuable time and he never wasted time when he had a chance. Instead of examining the his own dragon, Lawl’t put most of his attention on the girl. He had heard her breath catch in her throat. He heard the green’s croon. He saw the shaking of the girl’s head as he suspecting her dragon was trying to help her with something. Something that seemed to have caused all of the symptoms the girl was currently showing. He found himself wishing he could see her face at the moment, but her back was turned to him. He had a feeling he knew what was going on though. All of the symptoms he noticed added up to one conclusion, the girl had gathered pain from the very sight of his dragon.

Lawl’t could only gather two conclusions to her possible problem. One, she was afraid of blue dragons, or two, she had lost one and re-impressed to the green he had noticed not to far from her. Either of them were possible. But as she started to laugh he decided that it had to be the last conclusion. She had once been a bluerider, her dragon had died, and she had re-impressed to a green dragon. He found the thought all together fascinating as he always found re-impression. He had to deduct that the girl had a strong heart to survive the death of her dragon were as many just killed themselves to be rid of the emptiness left behind from the loose of the dragon. He was curious about her. He found himself wanting to study her. Maybe this making friends thing Detectith always talked about wasn’t such a bad idea occasionally? Either way, he found her as a acceptable and interesting new project.

---

”She isn’t a project, Lawl’tMine. She is a human girl,” Detectith grumbled at his bonded as he caught on to what his was thinking. Even though his Lawl’t was human himself, he seemed to think that humans were nothing more then projects for him to study. It was a odd though. Dragons didn’t think of each other as projects. They thought of each other as a family of a sorts. After all, dragons were always related in one way or another. This was a thought which all dragons were born with. He was guessing probably to prevent the possibility of us warring with each other. It didn’t seem to stop some dragons now and days though. He really didn’t care as long as he wasn’t dragged into the fighting though. The only thing he was interested in fight was what he was born to fight. Thread. Of course, helping his bonded solve his little mysteries was fun. He didn’t mind doing that. He did mind however getting scratched up a dragon whose pride got the better of them. All and all, his point was it was silly to think of the girl as a project. He wasn’t going to force the subject on Lawl’t though. He knew his bonded well enough to know that he would think whatever he wanted to think. If this human was a project in his eyes, then she most certainly was a project. Detectith didn‘t usually approve of such thoughts, but there was nothing that could be done about it. It was just best to leave it alone.

As he thought this, he turned his eyes to the green dragon he had yet to examine. She looked familiar, but he couldn’t seem to remember her name which probably meant they had never actually met each other officially. He was sure that he would have remembered the name of such a radiant beauty as this green though. He seemed to tilt his head to the side incuriosity as he looked upon her. Though he was not the most social of dragons, Detectith found himself interested in speaking to the young one. Luckily, he didn’t seem to be the only one to think it would be nice to talk. Where as he would rarely start a conversation on his own, the little green looked to him and started speaking to him. The first words were very sloppy with pauses and repeating of syllables. It didn’t seem to bug the blue dragon though. He listened to each of her words and considered the possible reply he should give. He decided to keep it simple as he said, ”Hello Maiath. I am Detectith and the silly one over their crouching is my Lawl’t. He finds your Zadari fascinating…” he had thought it best not to bring up the project part to the dragon for fear she would be insulted. He certainly would be if someone called his a project. Not everyone was him though. He was him and no one else could take that away from him. Of that he was sure and proud of.

---

Lawl’t watched the interaction between the two dragon using this peripheral vision. He didn’t know what they were talking about, but then again he tended not to really care about the affairs between dragons. They had there things they talked about. It wasn’t any of his business until he was brought into it. He did notice when the green turned away form Detectith and turned to it’s rider. He knew they were talking about something, but this wasn’t any of his business either. That is until she spun to face him. Lawl’t didn’t bat a eyelash as he stared at her staring at him. Her expressions seemed to change between two distinct things as she stared at him. As if she didn’t know what to think of him. He didn’t mind though. He lifted his hand and put the tip of his nail between his teeth as he waited for her to say something. He was examining her to put it plainly. She was pretty. But she looked much younger then she expected her to be. Especially one that had once been dragonless and had re-impressed. He had seen her red curly hair before, but it seemed to frame her youthful face just perfectly. She had sprinkles of freckles on her face and her lips were full. There was no doubt that her frame was the shape of a woman though and she stood no more then two inches shorter then him. He found her… interesting? Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as he thought it would be?

She started to speak and he listened to her words carefully as he always did. Her name is Zadari, her dragon is Maiath, and her fire-lizards were Crystal and Scuttle. he thought to himself to make sure that he didn’t forget it. He didn’t seem to pay much attention to the bit about the blue fire-lizard though. He didn’t care how annoying the flit was. It wasn’t his to deal with and he rarely found himself annoyed with anything. He didn’t believe it was necessary so he didn’t do it. It was as simple as that. It was odd to see the little fire-lizard rolling around on the ground like a canine. How such a creature could be related to his Detectith was beyond him. Detectith would never roll around on the ground like that. He was more then sure of that. Then again, he knew that fire-lizard intelligence didn’t come close to dragon intelligence. They were simpler creatures. Their small heads left little room for greater intelligence. This was probably why he never considered getting one himself. He didn’t know if he could stand owning such a stupid creature unless he was studying it. But there were many fire-lizards in the weyr. He could easily find someone who would be willing to let him study theirs though. Why have one of his own?

Lawl’t took the finger from his mouth and turned his black eyes back to the young greenrider. Then he stood up and put his hands in his pockets. He still slouched forward as he always seemed to naturally do. He stared at the girl for a moment longer before he said, "Journeyman Harper and Dragonrider Lawl’t of blue Detectith. I have no fire-lizards because they lack intelligence and I see them as a perfect waste of time. Though I would be interested in studying them possibly. Scuttle has no chance at annoying me. I don‘t get annoyed…” He didn’t mean to be rude or anything of the like. He just didn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t say what he thought.

[Missa]

Delight crossed Maiath's mind as the blue responded, and then straightened a little at the mention of Hers. Yes, hers was rather fascinating wasn't she? Maiath had always thought so, even when she'd been very little, though she didn't really remember those times as much as she once had. She only knew Hers had always been there, and always would be if Zadari had anything to say about it. She wasn't usually very good at talking, but the blue, Detectith hadn't made any mention of her small stutters, and that gave the green confidence to continue the conversation.
ZadariMine seems to find Yours amusing. Though whether that comment would be welcome or not was unknown, and Maiath simply plowed on,
It is good to make Mine talk to others, she tends to spend a lot of time with myself and the flitters.

That was true, but then Maiath hadn't really encouraged her to leave her alone either, she was a dragon that would never tire of having her rider around. Would never push her away even if it was for her own good, she simply couldn't do that to her Zaddy. For whatever reason though, Zadari's mind was filled with sheer amusement, though whether it was directed at the blue rider or at the situation, Maiath didn't know.

Right up until the part about the firelizards, Zadari was interested and curious about Lawl't, the way he spoke, the way he stood, the way he looked, but he moment he mentioned the fire lizards and "lacking intelligence" her green eyes flashed angrily and her lips thinned,
"Well despite you not getting annoyed, I wouldn't want you to feel like you have to endure their presence considering their 'lack of intelligence', after all, humans must be so much smarter than creatures who have a collaborative memory, can transport themselves to any place any one of them has seen and are related to dragons." Voice dripping with sarcasm as she spoke, there was absolutely no way of missing the fact she was insulted and angry at the implied insult to two of her dearest partners. Crystal may not have been with her as long as Scuttle who had ultimately helped her with seeing blue dragons to the extent she could even smile at the man's blue, though it was strained now.

Worried about Zadari's anger, Crystal winged her way over, settling on the woman's shoulder and lightly trilling as she flickered rapid images to her. The man, Zadari smiling and then the man again, and Zadari angry, layered with confusion and worry. Without even really meaning to, she lifted a hand to lightly pet Crystal, attempting to reassure the small creature even while she really wanted nothing more than to rant endlessly at this man. How could he not think saying flitts were stupid would insult her when she had two of them?
Oh dear, I am sorry Detectith. Mine is easy to anger. Hoping the blue wouldn't be offened, Maiath moved closer to her rider, letting out a low, and what she hoped was soothing, croon,
I am sure he didn't mean Scuttle and Crystal, Mine. Only that... Other flitters lack intelligence. Though you must admit, sometimes one must wonder about Scuttle...
When he needs to, Scuttle is as intelligent and switched on as Crystal. I don't care for his attitude either, "study" them? Is everything just a... A.. Project? It was evidently no good, Zadari was insulted.
"And just to add to that, if you don't have a flitt, how can you say they have a low intelligence? When you've never been inside their minds, or see how they work. Crystal and Scuttle are more intelligent than most of the people I've met."

She'll calm down eventually. Please don't take offense, I was enjoying speaking with you. Was the rather shy addition of Maiath's voice tacked on the end.