A Noisy Lunch

[Sparrow]

Jerglith was busy sunning himself on the ledge outside his weyr, happy as a clam, so Aleyi had headed down to the lower caverns for a little lunch. Brooke, back to her usual self now that her eggs were gone, sat on Aleyi's shoulder (the tables were much too dirty for her regal paws) and made Pip hand her bits of food to eat. The Green occupied herself by making a game out of taking as big a bite as she could manage from whatever she was giving her golden overseer, and Tuck watched. He was good at that.

Aleyi picked absently at a meatroll, her mind more on the possibilites now opened to her since they had all graduated. For a while now, she had been considering just visiting home, showing off Jerglith and maybe giving rides to her brothers, maybe seeing what had become of Brookelev... a lot could have happened in two Turns anyways. She was curious.

Jerglith was going to stay until the Barreds flew though, he couldn't possibly chance missing their Flights. And Aleyi was pretty sure she had heard Threadfall was coming up... even if she had been trained for that, it still seemed scary. So, for now, she was stuck.

Annoyed by His' unusual silence, Tuck suddenly chirped loudly and tackled Pip. The Green chattered and soon the young pair of flitts were tumpbling around the table. Brooke had been busy picking her way around the bit of her meatroll Pip had touched (Green germs were very dangerous things), but abruptly dropped the morsal in Aleyi's lap when she saw her two wards weren't doing just as commanded.

Aleyi rolled her eyes; with these three, she was never going to have any peace again. This is your fault Jerglith.

While they're occupied, you should come up here. The sun is very warm. The Blue's speech was sleep-slurred, but he was apparently still keeping some track of Aleyi and the rest of his little family.

Tempting. Aleyi laughed. But the cooks wouldn't appreciate the Bluerider abandoning the three crazy fire-lizards in the kitchens, and neither would Brooke. The little Gold made just about anything she wasn't included in hardly worth the risk

[ShadowReine]

"Stare, stop!" B'can pretty much barreled into the kitchens in hot pursuit of a green firelizard.

The green decided the best place to go was behind Brooke, trying to use the gold as a shield.

"Oh, Shards, the place is full of...hey there, Aleyi. Are those all yours? It seems there are way more than three."

They were making enough noise for an entire flight, it seemed, especially as Stare was now joining in. Guess followed him, and then dropped to a B'can shoulder. HE was a well behaved firelizard, a very nice brown, who would never, ever get into the kind of trouble that green did.

"I'm tempted to just go hide behind my dragon.."

[Sparrow]

Brooke turned to stare at the new Green with an obvious amount of shock- did it really think that she had any plans to help it? Greens were nasty creatures. Instead, Brooke set to squawking angry orders at Tuck and Pip- they had to deal with this new flitter. The pair were only too obliged though, and cheerfully started chattering to Stare, happy to see someone else likely to play with them.

Aleyi just watched, it was hard to not just sit and stare at fire-lizards sometimes. They were so weird. Especially hers. B'can's question made her actually make use of where her focus currently lay. "No, I think that one Green is yours." It had better be, Aleyi was almost completely sure she hadn't been cursed with two Greens.

You could always come hide with me, like I just suggested... Jerglith rumbled and Aleyi grinned slightly at the coincidence of B'can's words. Maybe she could just get up and leave, now that there were two Greens to distract Brooke she had a better chance of getting away unnoticed... for a little while.

Aleyi glanced up at B'can's much more obedient fire-lizard instead and grinned. "You're lucky you at least have one flitter behaving, not even Brooke can manage that."

That earned a harsh glare from the Gold, but Brooke had other things to deal with than Hers just then.

[ShadowReine]

"That's what I was afraid of."

Stare took off after Pip and Tuck, chittering loudly enough to possibly drive people from the room.

"Yeah, aren't golds supposed to set good examples?" Guess just struck a pose, well aware that he had been complimented in some manner, if not sure exactly how.

"Of course, browns are supposed to be well behaved. I actually expected to Impress a brown dragon, you know." Had there been no tans, he presumed bronze or brown would have chosen him. Tan was, of course, perfect in every way. "But these new colors keep showing up to confuse us!"

[Sparrow]

Aleyi laughed. "I think Jerglith was right in being afraid of fire-lizards when he was little." Even now, he still preferred to avoid them. But at least he had learned to tolerate their company- and had big dreams of having a Blue flitter named after him, even if the Blues seemed to hate Aleyi. It would be bad if she had these three but also a dragon that shied away at the sight of flitts.

Pip took Stare's volume as a contest, and immediately set to chatter louder than her fellow Green. Tuck got a better idea and bugled, shrill but plenty big. Brooke glowered at the three smaller fire-lizards, but soon got distracted by the Brown that had to act like was better than her. Uh-uh.

Aleyi raised her eyebrows at the Gold, then shrugged. "Golds are supposed to be Golds, and expect everyone to follow their example since it's obviously the best." No matter what Brooke did, she would think she was doing the world a favor.

As B'can continued, Aleyi turned to give her own Brown a long look. "You know, I don't know if I believe that. I've met some pretty nasty ones." But then again, many were nice. "I guess it just depends though." Tuck was just a Green in a Brown's body, Aleyi was sure. Some were so curious that they had to try out being male or something... and then got stuck.

"Really? I always thought I'd get a Blue... and then I did!" She grinned. "But yeah, they do. Especially with that last hatching... wow." Jerglith was happy to see no Greens added to the ranks of dragons, and, of course, more Barreds. The Skies he wasn't so sure about, they would probably get to big. And the other males? "Jerglith's not looking forward to extra competition though, once those new males mature. Think Apolloth will have to worry about them?"

She didn't really see Teals or Charcoals chasing queens, but the haughty Tan definitely would.

[ShadowReine]

B'can hrmed. "I don't think the charcoals would have a chance at a queen, but the teals look like they'll be about brown size, so could at least snag a violet, with luck."

He shrugged a bit. "Of course, Apolloth will want to chase that big blue female...whatever they're calling them...so I suppose it's fair. And Jerglith should relax, there's so many small females now that he'll get a look in somewhere, I'm sure."

Blues were a different...league from tans, but they had their uses. There were things blues could do that tans couldn't.

[Sparrow]

"With luck," Aleyi agreed. From what she had seen though, the Teals seemed quite a bit like Greens, and she doubted any queen would want that as a mate. Maybe that was what Tuck was really meant to be. The Brown glanced back at her, seeming to realize that she was thinking about him but not knowing really why. Soon Pip was dragging him eagerly back into whatever they were doing though.

"I think they're Skies." They looked like it anyways, with their midnight backs and cloudy bellies. "And yeah, but Jerglith just likes to worry. There're plenty of Barreds now though." She rolled her eyes. What had led to his decision that they were the only females he could possibly chase Aleyi would never know.

A new question suddenly popped into Aleyi's head, "You'll be graduating soon, won't you?" Kelth's first clutch hadn't come that long after Nayarath's. They'd get out of the barracks just in time for Nayarath's Flight, probably.

[ShadowReine]

B'can nodded. "Fairly soon. I sort of hope it's after Nayarath rises, though, simply because I don't want Apolloth to strain a wing going after her. Of course, he's hoping the opposite. Or he might just refuse to care."

The tan was close on mature enough to chase now, and the graduation was a formality for humans. B'can was supposed to stop him, but could he?

At least he probably didn't have to worry about Apolloth *catching* Nayarath. He'd have a better chance with the violets or the younger gold. Nayarath? She was older, cannier, more stamina, and while Apolloth was a large tan...

[Sparrow]

"A few of the dragons in my weyrling group didn't care they weren't graduated when Kelth Flew." Aleyi shrugged. "You scared he might win?" Wuith had almost won Nayarath's last Flight anyways, it was possible another Tan could. Of course, it wasn't likely a dragon who was barely old enough to chase would win, especially not a Tan.

"It's nice being out of the barracks though, even if we have to worry about Thread and Flights and stuff now." Maybe the barracks would have been nicer if there hadn't been quite so many dragons in there, but that couldn't really be helped unless someone had plans to stop the queens from Flying.

[ShadowReine]

B'can shook his head. "He won't."

He ignored his dragon's protestations in his mind and continued. "He needs practice before he has a chance at snagging a gold. I'm not worried about that yet. Besides, you know, the mindset of the Weyr affects these things. Nobody's going to want me as Weyrleader."

In a few Turns, maybe. But he was fairly sure that Apolloth would not catch the Senior until his rider was ready to deal with that. "He's more likely to snag one of the violets, anyway. Maybe he'll throw even more new colors if he does."

[Sparrow]

Well, that was faith in one's dragon. But Aleyi got where B'can was coming from with that. "I guess." And she couldn't really say that she didn't not want him as Weyrleader, but she definitely couldn't see it.

"Probably." A Tan had caught a Violet now anyways, but not a Gold. "And maybe, that'd be cool. I like the new colors. Not as much as Blues though." She laughed. Definitely not as much as Blues.

"Do you think we'll start seeing the new colors in fire-lizards?" Aleyi didn't want any more, but it would be pretty neat to have Skies, Teals, and Charcoals flying around.

[ShadowReine]

B'can considered. "I would like teal firelizard...but then, I should probably stick with the two. Especially the way Stare is acting right now."

He glared at the green, who completely ignored him, setting off in hot pursuit of a random firelizard.

"Greens. How do people handle green *dragons*, when the smaller sized versions are crazy enough?" He knew he had a point. Apolloth might have a Rukbat-sized ego, but he was a relatively sensible dragon. And male, which B'can was very glad of.

He had not wanted a green or barred, that was for sure. "I wonder which of the smaller females Apolloth will try to practice on first or if he'll wait for a queen."

A barred would be good practice, and at least most of them were ridden by girls.

[Sparrow]

Aleyi laughed. "Sometimes I wish I'd stuck with one, not that Tuck and Pip aren't cute or anything... they just get annoying." Wherever Stare was going, the pair were following now. Tuck had to get ahead- when he wasn't being ordered around by Brooke, he was the leader.

"I really have no idea." It was hard to say how glad Aleyi was that she hadn't Impressed a Green. Blues, especially Jerglith, were so much better. She wouldn't have needed to have anything to do with Greens at all if that second flitt hadn't come crawling onto her foot at Spunky's hatching.

Still, she did like Pip... sort of the same way she liked Brooke, which wouldn't be described by most as liking.

Aleyi shrugged. "I couldn't say, I just know that Jerglith has his life planned out chasing Barreds." Her Blue was sort of crazy too, but at least not in the hyperactively insane way Greens were. He could just get kind of obsessive.

[ShadowReine]

"What, he's above pursuing greens?" B'can quipped.

Maybe he thought that it would be 'worth' more to catch a barred, with them being a little bigger.

"I'm just glad I got the color I did. Quite happy with the big guy. Well, long guy. He's kind of lanky, isn't he."

He had been thinking Apolloth would fill out, but the young tan remained quite lean. Not that it mattered, what mattered was how well they flew together.

"You know, it would be really weird to be a rider of one of the larger dragons then have to get on somebody's green..."

[Sparrow]

Aleyi laughed. "Apparently. I think they remind him of flitters, and he's not too fond of them." She wasn't sure if a Green dragon's insanity could really compare to a Green fire-lizard's, but they were a whole lot bigger, and that seemed to make up the difference.

"Yeah, just kinda." Aleyi shook her head. Apolloth was handsome in his own way, but she preferred Jerglith's more average build.

"Probably, although I doubt I'd feel as much difference." Jerglith was big for a Blue, but he was still a Blue. He definitely couldn't compare in size to Tans or Bronzes, and Aleyi imagined that was what B'can was referring more to.

[ShadowReine]

"Jerglith's a pretty good sized blue, though." He had indeed meant the tans, bronzes and, yes, the queens.

"And I don't think Apolloth will care, although he's determined, I think, to catch a gold one day." B'can knew which gold he wanted him to catch...

...and which he emphatically didn't. Not for a few turns. "I hope none of the blues chase Nayarath. I think she's fed up with that stupidity. No offense to Jerglith."

[Sparrow]

"Yup." Everything about Jerglith was just perfect, anyways.

"Well, if he keeps trying I guess he could sometime. Wuith almost caught Nayarath, anyways." Almost wasn't quite good enough, but L'han had eventually ended up Weyrleader, if only by a default sort of thing. And then Wuith had caught Kelth. That sort of made up for it.

Aleyi nodded. "Jerglith already said he was never going to; Brooke is already too much for him." She laughed. Golds in miniature were plenty bad, and it wasn't like a Blue was ever goint to catch a queen anyways.

"Anyways, if Brooke's anyone to judge by, Golds don't like Blues chasing them at all." She had experience, and Aleyi and Jerglith had spent the flitters whole fligth pitying the poor crazy thing.

[ShadowReine]

B'can nodded. "Well, seriously, a blue's not going to sire the best clutch. So, of course they're going to chase them off. Some golds don't even tolerate browns chasing."

Voluspath didn't even want tans, but Apolloth would convince her, would show her he could keep up. He had to. The idea of somebody else junior weyrleader at Brylorea's side... Dragonriders weren't supposed to be jealous and flights were one thing.

But there was a certain tendency for goldriders to stay with their flight partners and while he could handle Brylorea not being able to be faithful, he did not want to lose her.

Yet another reason not to want to catch Nayarath! Kelth would be another matter. Shador was incapable of keeping to one bed anyway, she wouldn't be likely to ask him to stay...

[Sparrow]

"I really can't see a Blue catching a Gold anyways. Seriously, Nayarath is twice the size of most of them." It would just be so awkward. And Brooke had tolerated Browns, she was sort of friends with one of them anyways. In the end though, he had lost.

"I'd like to see if Barreds clutch though, then the smaller males will have a chance." Whether that was a good or bad thing was questionable though- anyone could see that Blue flitter fathers still ended up with offspring crazy as their mothers. At least most of the Barreds weren't quite as insane as Greens though.

It would be a while before they got to find that out though, the Barreds seemed to be taking their time getting around to Rising, and then everyone would have to wait and see past that.

[ShadowReine]

B'can hrmed. "Yeah...but I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. We need more dragons, but if we got too many, it might be hard to feed them all."

He contemplated that. "Makes you wonder what all of the new colors mean. There's those black and red ones too. Those are quite attractive."

A shame that, from what he heard, the charcoals were all grouches.