The Green (eyed) Monster(s)
Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love. ~George Eliot
OOC Date: March 31/April 4, 2010
IC Date: Day 9, month 5, turn 22 of Interval 10
Who: G'brion, P'ax, Yyth, Pterath
Where: Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr
P'ax and G'brion flirt, and Pterath and Yyth get possessive. It doesn't end well.
G'brion is out for a walk with Pterath by the lake, the two of them enjoying the nice weather. Just now they're paused next to the stairs that lead up to the diving cliff. "No, you can't go up there," Gabe is telling his green, amused. "You're too little."
The shadow overhead is appropriately ominous, passing between sun and shore right over the weyrling pair below. Yyth lands, spewing sand upwards, and P'ax jumps down and begins stripping her straps off. << Hello, Pterath, >> greets one green to the other dryly.
Pterath rears up, startled by the shadow, but drops back to all fours when she sees that it's only another dragon. << Hello Yyth! >> she says in the bright and chirpy baby-dragon voice of hers. G'brion is grinning broadly as he trots over to greet the green and her rider. "Hey Yyth! Hey, P'ax. How's it going?" he asks, looking delighted to see them both.
"What, you greet my dragon before me?" P'ax complains, but he's grinning. He drops Yyth's straps on the ground and lets her wade out into hte lake water before he pulls his jacket off, pausing with one arm out to reach for Gabe's hair to ruffle lightly. "It's going. Sweeps this morning, bath time now. How are you and Pterath getting on?"
"She's bigger than you," Gabe retorts, and reaches out to hug P'ax. "Good, good. I ran into W'chek the other day and he didn't even punch me in the face," he mentions. "How are you?"
P'ax snorts a dismissal of that explaination and reaches out to fold Gabe into his arms for a moment before thrusting him back away again to look at him funny. "Well that's good, I can only break so many of his teeth a Turn. I'm .. fine. Had a nice breakfast with E'dre."
"You... oh." Some of Gabe's joy in seeing P'ax seems to dissipate, when he mentions E'dre. "Uh, how was that?" he asks, awkwardly. Pterath waddles over to get a closer look at Yyth. << Do you want to play? >> she asks the bigger green. She'll even let Yyth choose the game.
P'ax shrugs his shoulders. "Nice... I have to keep him happy, don't I?" He sighs and drops his jacket and then follows it with his shirt. "Will Pterath mind if you help me wash Yyth?" asks the older greenrider casually, looking Gabe over out of the corner of his eye. << Sure, Pterath, let's play. >> Yyth replies with a heavy sigh. << Let's play 'you find me a fish...and I'll eat it.' >>
<< Okay! >> Pterath agrees with a happy little wriggle as she waddles toward the water. << Are you going to catch the fish, too? I can't swim very deep. G'brion says 'when you're bigger' but he never tells me when that is >> she complains. Gabe tilts his head at P'ax, then looks over at his green. "I don't think so," he says. "She wants to go fishing. Uh..." He started to say something else, but got distracted, because P'ax is shirtless now, and, yum.
<< Why would I fish when you're going to do the fishing for me? I'll give you extra credit if you can find me a /dead/ fish. The smellier the better. >> Yyth sinks down into the shallows up to the shoulder and sinks her muzzle in to blow a few frothy bubbles. P'ax snorts. "Fishing, right." Perhaps unaware that his shirtless state is distracting Gabe, he compounds the problem by removing his boots and then his pants. In just his shorts he wades into the water and thumps Yyth's side. "You're a bitch. Be nice, she's just a baby." Not that either of them /like/ babies, but his friend's baby dragon is an exception to the sticky child thing ban.
G'brion just kind of watches P'ax with his lips parted, and it only belatedly occurs to him that he should strip down similarly, if he's going to help bathe Yyth. He kicks off his shoes and skins out of his shirt and pants, leaving them in a heap on the sand, and follows after the older greenrider. "Uh... where do you want to start?" he asks, his eyes still locked on P'ax rather than Yyth. Pterath recoils a little at the request for a dead fish. << But dead fish are yucky >> she protests. << Don't you want a live one? They are much wigglier and tastier. >> The little green wades as far out as she can go and keep her head above water - which isn't very far, yet - and waits for a fish to swim by.
If this was some sort of sitcom, P'ax's mouth would start describing exactly where he'd like to start with Gabe, in promising and lurid detail. But it's not, so P'ax just smiles and waves at Yyth's side. "Wherever you want, you've washed dragons before." He pulls a handful of sand off the bottom and begins working on her shoulder. << No, the dead ones are the best. They're less work, anyways. >> Yyth is lazy.
"This is so not fair," Gabe complains. "I have to stand here and look at you in your underwear and I can't /do/ anything. I wish they had magical dragon-food that would make them grow faster." Pterath, fortunately, is too busy watching for fish to pick up on his frustration - or maybe she's deliberately ignoring it. << No fish yet! >> she says, updating Yyth on her progress. << How about if I catch a live one and then kill it for you so you don't have to do any work? >>
"Would you prefer me to take my underwear off?" drawls P'ax, lips quirking. "Come on now, you've seen it all before." << If you're going to bother catching the live one you've already done all the work. I'd rather kill it myself. Get on that now. Maybe if you CALL them, they'll come to you. >>
Pterath didn't think of that! She reaches out little tendrils of thought, weaving them into a mental net, coaxing and cajoling any fish that can hear her to come see, come over for just a minute, she's not going to bite them into two pieces, REALLY she isn't! Gabe, meanwhile, is looking more and not less frustrated as P'ax teases him. "NO! No, I wouldn't. I'd prefer..." he doesn't elaborate on what he'd prefer. Instead, he turns away and splashes through the water toward Yyth's tail, so he can start scrubbing down there.
Never mind that Yyth is making fun of Pterath, she seems content to watch the naive green take her suggestion seriously. And hey, if she's getting scrubbed in the process, so much the better. P'ax smirks. "You'd prefer...?" he prompts, though the curve of his lips makes it clear he understands exactly what he'd prefer.
"
"Do I really need to tell you?" Gabe asks as he scrubs Yyth's tail with sand - maybe a little bit too hard, in his frustration. Pterath continues to call the fish. When it doesn't work, she starts making images of worms and little fish - surely THAT will bring them running! Swimming. Whatever.
"It's like word-sex," replies P'ax with a cheeky kind of grin. "You can make love to me with your mouth and you never even have to suck on anything." Besides, Pterath is occupied! Yyth, clever Yyth, is just holding still, one eye trained on Pterath, the other on the fish checking out her nose. And then -- SNAP. Bye bye little fish. << Squirmy, >> she decides, pleased.
Pterath deflates, disappointed that Yyth caught a fish before her. But then! A school of minnows is coming her way. SNAP! << I GOT ONE! >> she blasts excitedly. << I GOT ONE DO YOU WANT IT? >> She gulps, swallowing the water in her mouth, and then - waves of chagrin radiate off her. << Oh no - I ate it! I'm sorry!! >> Gabe, doing his best to keep a straight face throughout the fishing-drama, eyes P'ax sidelong, and makes a couple of naughty and rather creative suggestions for exactly what he'd like to do.
<< That's quite alright, Pterath. You keep your fish. It was too small anyway. >> Yyth goes back to stillness. P'ax grins at Gabe and his suggestion. "Hmm. How old is she now?" he teases.
"Three weeks, why?" Gabe asks, blinking at P'ax. Pterath is disappointed, all the same. << I will try and see if I can catch a bigger fish for you! >> she tells Yyth.
P'ax smiles and moves down Yyth's side and says, "I think I shall now be counting down the days with you until you get that weyr, Gabe." Yyth chortles, << Oh, sure, of course. Good luck. >>
Pterath's head swivels around, and suddenly a very indignant small dragon is splashing through the water toward Yyth. << What are you doing? >> she asks. << Why are YOU getting a bath from MY rider? That is not fair! He is supposed to give me a bath! G'brion! I want a bath now! >> "Ah, geesh, Pterath," G'brion grumbles. "I'll bathe you, just calm down - sorry, P'ax, I have to..." even as he's heading for Pterath, to meet her halfway, he's scratching and scratching at his arms, and reaching down to scratch at his shins, too.
P'ax flaps his hands, "It happens," he replies with a grin. "Thinking naughty thoughts, weren't you?" Since what else would set the little green off. << Clearly he likes me better, >> retorts Yyth, ever one to stir the pot. P'ax watches the scratching and clears his throat. "Gabe? You're going to take your skin off. If she itches, oil her."
<< HE DOES NOT! >> Pterath screeches at Yyth in fury, thrashing her tail and biting at the water in a spectacular draconic temper tantrum. << He likes me! JUST me! He wouldn't even pee on you if you were on fire! >> Now WHERE does she ever get these insults of hers? It's such a mystery! Gabe uses the lake water to rinse his arms and legs, and the coolness seems to help - he's rubbing, not scratching at this arms, now. "It's not that - she wants a bath, now. She's pissed that I was helping you with Yyth. Would you /stop/ that?" he scolds Pterath as he closes the distance and reaches for her head with a hand. "Half the weyr is going to hear you, and they're going to think you're rude and I'm an asshole for letting you be." Pterath hisses at him, that's how much she cares.
P'ax just...looks amused. "You're a bitch," he informs Yyth, but doesn't bother to appologize. It's just how she is. << He liked me first. He always will have liked me first. >> If dragons could smirk, Yyth would. P'ax does it for her as he quietly works sand over her hide. "You're going to have to learn to shut her out. I never did." And look how well that's working out for him. "What's one more rude green and her asshole rider, anyway? You like me and Yyth, don't you?"
"Yeah, but..." Gabe doesn't finish that sentence, as Pterath all but pounces on him when he comes near, pressing her body against his so that he nearly falls over. "Shhh," he says, hands on her headknobs, stroking her neck. "Shhh, it's okay." He closes his eyes and presses his nose against her head, soothing her. << Just because you were hatched first, >> Pterath sulks at Yyth, though the edge is taken off by her rider's reassurances. Still, she's not above trying to get the last word. << He likes me BEST and you can sit on it and rotate. >> That one, she's not even sure what it means, but it has just the right pissy tone she's aiming for.
"But? Nothing. Control her, or she'll control you. That's just how it works. do you like being hungry when she's hungry? Itch when she itches? Being overwhelmed by all of her emotions and having her overwhelmed by yours? Trust me, kid, it sucks and you don't want it." P'ax reaches for a new handful of sand. << Rotate? Darling, darling, we /must/ find you better insults. >>
G'brion sits down in the lake - good thing it's shallow - and Pterath climbs right into his lap, nevermind that she's way too big for that. His arms go around her again, and once again he buries his face in her hide, shushing her - the rest of what he's saying to her isn't verbalized at all. << Shut up, buttface, >> Pterath says to Yyth, but with less oomph behind it, as she's more interested now in curling her tail and her mind around her rider. Gabe stays like that, holding his dragon as best he can, for a long few minutes. Finally he lifts his head and looks around at P'ax. "Were you saying something...?" he asks, blinking as if he'd just woken up.
P'ax just rolls his eyes and huffs. "No." And now cranky, he turns back to Yyth. After a minute he huffs. Yyth yaaaawns and stretches carefully. << Buttface. I'll take it. We're going now. >> This seems to be for P'ax, she's turning in the water, even only half-scrubbed and meandering towards the shore.
"What? Why are you mad?" Gabe asks P'ax. "I'm just - she's only little, I'm just calming her down." Actually, right now, he's coaxing Pterath to climb off his lap. Inevitably, she steps in /exactly/ the wrong place, and he howls in pain.
P'ax shrugs his shoulders. "Because, I am jealous and petty and I hate being ignored. Have a good day." And at least, if he's a bastard, he's an honest one. He's wading out though when he hears that howl of pain. Maybe some part of him would like to keep going, just to be spiteful. Yyth turns back with interest at the sound though. << They don't like it when you squash that bit between their legs... but they make /great/ sounds. >> P'ax jumps just in time to avoid a similar fate when Yyth sweeps her muzzle towards his groin, and gets smacked in the nose instead. << Damn. 'll get us next time. >>
G'brion would probably have died laughing if he'd actually seen Yyth try to groin-stomp P'ax. As it is, he's dealing with the aftermath of his own groin-stomping. He manages to scrabble away from Pterath and raises himself to his hands and knees in the shallow water, gasping for breath, grimacing in pain, with tears leaking down his face. "Fuck," he says, and that seems to sum it up. Pterath fans her wings in agitation, apologetic and quite upset at her poor rider's condition. << That isn't nice >> she scolds Yyth. << It HURTS. >> Poor G'brion! She croons and noses at his shoulder, and he wheezes out, "'Salright, you didn't... mean to."
"Think I'm... okay," Gabe manages to say. He crawls out deeper into the lake so he can yank his shorts out of the way and splash water on himself. Finally, he struggles to his feet and walks toward P'ax, mostly recovered, although his face is still kind of pinched. "So. You were in the middle of storming off, I think?" But he's reaching for P'ax's hand; he doesn't want him to go. Pterath gives Yyth a big mental PTHBBBBBBT. << I don't like him to hurt. Why would you want yours to hurt? It HURTS. >>
P'ax watches with his head cocked, a position oddly mirrored by Yyth. It's creepy how they do that. "I was," he remembers, and turns like he's about to get right back to that storming off, but, alas, hand grabbed and he turns to look back down at Gabe, eyebrow raised. He relents with a soft sigh and squeazes G'brion's hand in response. "I'll get over myself," he promises quietly. "I'll get used to not having you all to myself." << That's the point. It hurts. >> Yyth scratches at the sand, a tendril of blood filling in her smugness. << Pain is beautiful. Only in pain can we be our truest selves. >>
G'brion looks at P'ax's face, making sure, and then nods, squeezing back on his hand. "Okay," he says. "I'll help, if I can. I'm sorry." He reaches out to pull the other rider into a hug, if he can. Pterath, meanwhile, takes a few steps back from Yyth, toward her rider. << Why do you think that? >> she asks, mystified and - even more - grossed out by the idea.
P'ax exhales softly, leaning his face into his hair and rubbing his nose lightly through it. "How can you help?" he asks, pulling back, chuckling a little -- though no joy appears in the sound. << It's true. Pain reduces every man to a primitive state. They are...more like the beast, running only on instict and survival. It's compelling to watch, to understand. >>
"Don't know," Gabe admits. "But if I can, I will." He doesn't want to let go, not even a little bit. He takes a deep breath and lets it out in what sounds much like a sigh. After a silence Pterath points out to G'brion, in a voice audible to Yyth << He can't hear you. >> And so, helpfully, she passes the mental litany of Don't leave, don't ever leave, loveyouwantyouneedyou loveyouloveyou on to Yyth. And then, deciding that perhaps she doesn't trust the green to pass on the message, after all, she reaches out to see if she can pass it on directly to P'ax, too - together with a ButHe'sMine reminder that has a sting to it.
Yyth's head cocks. No, she won't be passing that on. When Pterath reaches for HER rider -- and how dare she! -- Yyth does the mental equivalent of slamming the smaller green upside the head with a frying pan before attempting to insert her immense head between the two riders. MineminemineYOUCAN'THAVE! P'ax is too busy looking startled to react to being forcibly extricated from G'brion. Either he caught Pterath's message, or he's utterly confused by what's just happened. "I --" << We're GOING. >> and there's no room for arguement there.
Pterath shrieks in pain and fear and cowers behind G'brion, retreating into the tightest, most secure mental shell she can manage. Her rider clutches his own head and staggers back; he only narrowly misses falling over her. "What the fuck...?!" is all he manages to say. Having missed the part where Pterath tried to share his thoughts with Yyth and bespeak P'ax, he's totally confused, except about the fact that /something's/ wrong with her. So he crouches down again to comfort her and try to find out what's wrong, P'ax and Yyth totally forgotten.
OOC Date: March 31/April 4, 2010
IC Date: Day 9, month 5, turn 22 of Interval 10
Who: G'brion, P'ax, Yyth, Pterath
Where: Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr
P'ax and G'brion flirt, and Pterath and Yyth get possessive. It doesn't end well.
G'brion is out for a walk with Pterath by the lake, the two of them enjoying the nice weather. Just now they're paused next to the stairs that lead up to the diving cliff. "No, you can't go up there," Gabe is telling his green, amused. "You're too little."
The shadow overhead is appropriately ominous, passing between sun and shore right over the weyrling pair below. Yyth lands, spewing sand upwards, and P'ax jumps down and begins stripping her straps off. << Hello, Pterath, >> greets one green to the other dryly.
Pterath rears up, startled by the shadow, but drops back to all fours when she sees that it's only another dragon. << Hello Yyth! >> she says in the bright and chirpy baby-dragon voice of hers. G'brion is grinning broadly as he trots over to greet the green and her rider. "Hey Yyth! Hey, P'ax. How's it going?" he asks, looking delighted to see them both.
"What, you greet my dragon before me?" P'ax complains, but he's grinning. He drops Yyth's straps on the ground and lets her wade out into hte lake water before he pulls his jacket off, pausing with one arm out to reach for Gabe's hair to ruffle lightly. "It's going. Sweeps this morning, bath time now. How are you and Pterath getting on?"
"She's bigger than you," Gabe retorts, and reaches out to hug P'ax. "Good, good. I ran into W'chek the other day and he didn't even punch me in the face," he mentions. "How are you?"
P'ax snorts a dismissal of that explaination and reaches out to fold Gabe into his arms for a moment before thrusting him back away again to look at him funny. "Well that's good, I can only break so many of his teeth a Turn. I'm .. fine. Had a nice breakfast with E'dre."
"You... oh." Some of Gabe's joy in seeing P'ax seems to dissipate, when he mentions E'dre. "Uh, how was that?" he asks, awkwardly. Pterath waddles over to get a closer look at Yyth. << Do you want to play? >> she asks the bigger green. She'll even let Yyth choose the game.
P'ax shrugs his shoulders. "Nice... I have to keep him happy, don't I?" He sighs and drops his jacket and then follows it with his shirt. "Will Pterath mind if you help me wash Yyth?" asks the older greenrider casually, looking Gabe over out of the corner of his eye. << Sure, Pterath, let's play. >> Yyth replies with a heavy sigh. << Let's play 'you find me a fish...and I'll eat it.' >>
<< Okay! >> Pterath agrees with a happy little wriggle as she waddles toward the water. << Are you going to catch the fish, too? I can't swim very deep. G'brion says 'when you're bigger' but he never tells me when that is >> she complains. Gabe tilts his head at P'ax, then looks over at his green. "I don't think so," he says. "She wants to go fishing. Uh..." He started to say something else, but got distracted, because P'ax is shirtless now, and, yum.
<< Why would I fish when you're going to do the fishing for me? I'll give you extra credit if you can find me a /dead/ fish. The smellier the better. >> Yyth sinks down into the shallows up to the shoulder and sinks her muzzle in to blow a few frothy bubbles. P'ax snorts. "Fishing, right." Perhaps unaware that his shirtless state is distracting Gabe, he compounds the problem by removing his boots and then his pants. In just his shorts he wades into the water and thumps Yyth's side. "You're a bitch. Be nice, she's just a baby." Not that either of them /like/ babies, but his friend's baby dragon is an exception to the sticky child thing ban.
G'brion just kind of watches P'ax with his lips parted, and it only belatedly occurs to him that he should strip down similarly, if he's going to help bathe Yyth. He kicks off his shoes and skins out of his shirt and pants, leaving them in a heap on the sand, and follows after the older greenrider. "Uh... where do you want to start?" he asks, his eyes still locked on P'ax rather than Yyth. Pterath recoils a little at the request for a dead fish. << But dead fish are yucky >> she protests. << Don't you want a live one? They are much wigglier and tastier. >> The little green wades as far out as she can go and keep her head above water - which isn't very far, yet - and waits for a fish to swim by.
If this was some sort of sitcom, P'ax's mouth would start describing exactly where he'd like to start with Gabe, in promising and lurid detail. But it's not, so P'ax just smiles and waves at Yyth's side. "Wherever you want, you've washed dragons before." He pulls a handful of sand off the bottom and begins working on her shoulder. << No, the dead ones are the best. They're less work, anyways. >> Yyth is lazy.
"This is so not fair," Gabe complains. "I have to stand here and look at you in your underwear and I can't /do/ anything. I wish they had magical dragon-food that would make them grow faster." Pterath, fortunately, is too busy watching for fish to pick up on his frustration - or maybe she's deliberately ignoring it. << No fish yet! >> she says, updating Yyth on her progress. << How about if I catch a live one and then kill it for you so you don't have to do any work? >>
"Would you prefer me to take my underwear off?" drawls P'ax, lips quirking. "Come on now, you've seen it all before." << If you're going to bother catching the live one you've already done all the work. I'd rather kill it myself. Get on that now. Maybe if you CALL them, they'll come to you. >>
Pterath didn't think of that! She reaches out little tendrils of thought, weaving them into a mental net, coaxing and cajoling any fish that can hear her to come see, come over for just a minute, she's not going to bite them into two pieces, REALLY she isn't! Gabe, meanwhile, is looking more and not less frustrated as P'ax teases him. "NO! No, I wouldn't. I'd prefer..." he doesn't elaborate on what he'd prefer. Instead, he turns away and splashes through the water toward Yyth's tail, so he can start scrubbing down there.
Never mind that Yyth is making fun of Pterath, she seems content to watch the naive green take her suggestion seriously. And hey, if she's getting scrubbed in the process, so much the better. P'ax smirks. "You'd prefer...?" he prompts, though the curve of his lips makes it clear he understands exactly what he'd prefer.
"
"Do I really need to tell you?" Gabe asks as he scrubs Yyth's tail with sand - maybe a little bit too hard, in his frustration. Pterath continues to call the fish. When it doesn't work, she starts making images of worms and little fish - surely THAT will bring them running! Swimming. Whatever.
"It's like word-sex," replies P'ax with a cheeky kind of grin. "You can make love to me with your mouth and you never even have to suck on anything." Besides, Pterath is occupied! Yyth, clever Yyth, is just holding still, one eye trained on Pterath, the other on the fish checking out her nose. And then -- SNAP. Bye bye little fish. << Squirmy, >> she decides, pleased.
Pterath deflates, disappointed that Yyth caught a fish before her. But then! A school of minnows is coming her way. SNAP! << I GOT ONE! >> she blasts excitedly. << I GOT ONE DO YOU WANT IT? >> She gulps, swallowing the water in her mouth, and then - waves of chagrin radiate off her. << Oh no - I ate it! I'm sorry!! >> Gabe, doing his best to keep a straight face throughout the fishing-drama, eyes P'ax sidelong, and makes a couple of naughty and rather creative suggestions for exactly what he'd like to do.
<< That's quite alright, Pterath. You keep your fish. It was too small anyway. >> Yyth goes back to stillness. P'ax grins at Gabe and his suggestion. "Hmm. How old is she now?" he teases.
"Three weeks, why?" Gabe asks, blinking at P'ax. Pterath is disappointed, all the same. << I will try and see if I can catch a bigger fish for you! >> she tells Yyth.
P'ax smiles and moves down Yyth's side and says, "I think I shall now be counting down the days with you until you get that weyr, Gabe." Yyth chortles, << Oh, sure, of course. Good luck. >>
Pterath's head swivels around, and suddenly a very indignant small dragon is splashing through the water toward Yyth. << What are you doing? >> she asks. << Why are YOU getting a bath from MY rider? That is not fair! He is supposed to give me a bath! G'brion! I want a bath now! >> "Ah, geesh, Pterath," G'brion grumbles. "I'll bathe you, just calm down - sorry, P'ax, I have to..." even as he's heading for Pterath, to meet her halfway, he's scratching and scratching at his arms, and reaching down to scratch at his shins, too.
P'ax flaps his hands, "It happens," he replies with a grin. "Thinking naughty thoughts, weren't you?" Since what else would set the little green off. << Clearly he likes me better, >> retorts Yyth, ever one to stir the pot. P'ax watches the scratching and clears his throat. "Gabe? You're going to take your skin off. If she itches, oil her."
<< HE DOES NOT! >> Pterath screeches at Yyth in fury, thrashing her tail and biting at the water in a spectacular draconic temper tantrum. << He likes me! JUST me! He wouldn't even pee on you if you were on fire! >> Now WHERE does she ever get these insults of hers? It's such a mystery! Gabe uses the lake water to rinse his arms and legs, and the coolness seems to help - he's rubbing, not scratching at this arms, now. "It's not that - she wants a bath, now. She's pissed that I was helping you with Yyth. Would you /stop/ that?" he scolds Pterath as he closes the distance and reaches for her head with a hand. "Half the weyr is going to hear you, and they're going to think you're rude and I'm an asshole for letting you be." Pterath hisses at him, that's how much she cares.
P'ax just...looks amused. "You're a bitch," he informs Yyth, but doesn't bother to appologize. It's just how she is. << He liked me first. He always will have liked me first. >> If dragons could smirk, Yyth would. P'ax does it for her as he quietly works sand over her hide. "You're going to have to learn to shut her out. I never did." And look how well that's working out for him. "What's one more rude green and her asshole rider, anyway? You like me and Yyth, don't you?"
"Yeah, but..." Gabe doesn't finish that sentence, as Pterath all but pounces on him when he comes near, pressing her body against his so that he nearly falls over. "Shhh," he says, hands on her headknobs, stroking her neck. "Shhh, it's okay." He closes his eyes and presses his nose against her head, soothing her. << Just because you were hatched first, >> Pterath sulks at Yyth, though the edge is taken off by her rider's reassurances. Still, she's not above trying to get the last word. << He likes me BEST and you can sit on it and rotate. >> That one, she's not even sure what it means, but it has just the right pissy tone she's aiming for.
"But? Nothing. Control her, or she'll control you. That's just how it works. do you like being hungry when she's hungry? Itch when she itches? Being overwhelmed by all of her emotions and having her overwhelmed by yours? Trust me, kid, it sucks and you don't want it." P'ax reaches for a new handful of sand. << Rotate? Darling, darling, we /must/ find you better insults. >>
G'brion sits down in the lake - good thing it's shallow - and Pterath climbs right into his lap, nevermind that she's way too big for that. His arms go around her again, and once again he buries his face in her hide, shushing her - the rest of what he's saying to her isn't verbalized at all. << Shut up, buttface, >> Pterath says to Yyth, but with less oomph behind it, as she's more interested now in curling her tail and her mind around her rider. Gabe stays like that, holding his dragon as best he can, for a long few minutes. Finally he lifts his head and looks around at P'ax. "Were you saying something...?" he asks, blinking as if he'd just woken up.
P'ax just rolls his eyes and huffs. "No." And now cranky, he turns back to Yyth. After a minute he huffs. Yyth yaaaawns and stretches carefully. << Buttface. I'll take it. We're going now. >> This seems to be for P'ax, she's turning in the water, even only half-scrubbed and meandering towards the shore.
"What? Why are you mad?" Gabe asks P'ax. "I'm just - she's only little, I'm just calming her down." Actually, right now, he's coaxing Pterath to climb off his lap. Inevitably, she steps in /exactly/ the wrong place, and he howls in pain.
P'ax shrugs his shoulders. "Because, I am jealous and petty and I hate being ignored. Have a good day." And at least, if he's a bastard, he's an honest one. He's wading out though when he hears that howl of pain. Maybe some part of him would like to keep going, just to be spiteful. Yyth turns back with interest at the sound though. << They don't like it when you squash that bit between their legs... but they make /great/ sounds. >> P'ax jumps just in time to avoid a similar fate when Yyth sweeps her muzzle towards his groin, and gets smacked in the nose instead. << Damn. 'll get us next time. >>
G'brion would probably have died laughing if he'd actually seen Yyth try to groin-stomp P'ax. As it is, he's dealing with the aftermath of his own groin-stomping. He manages to scrabble away from Pterath and raises himself to his hands and knees in the shallow water, gasping for breath, grimacing in pain, with tears leaking down his face. "Fuck," he says, and that seems to sum it up. Pterath fans her wings in agitation, apologetic and quite upset at her poor rider's condition. << That isn't nice >> she scolds Yyth. << It HURTS. >> Poor G'brion! She croons and noses at his shoulder, and he wheezes out, "'Salright, you didn't... mean to."
"Think I'm... okay," Gabe manages to say. He crawls out deeper into the lake so he can yank his shorts out of the way and splash water on himself. Finally, he struggles to his feet and walks toward P'ax, mostly recovered, although his face is still kind of pinched. "So. You were in the middle of storming off, I think?" But he's reaching for P'ax's hand; he doesn't want him to go. Pterath gives Yyth a big mental PTHBBBBBBT. << I don't like him to hurt. Why would you want yours to hurt? It HURTS. >>
P'ax watches with his head cocked, a position oddly mirrored by Yyth. It's creepy how they do that. "I was," he remembers, and turns like he's about to get right back to that storming off, but, alas, hand grabbed and he turns to look back down at Gabe, eyebrow raised. He relents with a soft sigh and squeazes G'brion's hand in response. "I'll get over myself," he promises quietly. "I'll get used to not having you all to myself." << That's the point. It hurts. >> Yyth scratches at the sand, a tendril of blood filling in her smugness. << Pain is beautiful. Only in pain can we be our truest selves. >>
G'brion looks at P'ax's face, making sure, and then nods, squeezing back on his hand. "Okay," he says. "I'll help, if I can. I'm sorry." He reaches out to pull the other rider into a hug, if he can. Pterath, meanwhile, takes a few steps back from Yyth, toward her rider. << Why do you think that? >> she asks, mystified and - even more - grossed out by the idea.
P'ax exhales softly, leaning his face into his hair and rubbing his nose lightly through it. "How can you help?" he asks, pulling back, chuckling a little -- though no joy appears in the sound. << It's true. Pain reduces every man to a primitive state. They are...more like the beast, running only on instict and survival. It's compelling to watch, to understand. >>
"Don't know," Gabe admits. "But if I can, I will." He doesn't want to let go, not even a little bit. He takes a deep breath and lets it out in what sounds much like a sigh. After a silence Pterath points out to G'brion, in a voice audible to Yyth << He can't hear you. >> And so, helpfully, she passes the mental litany of Don't leave, don't ever leave, loveyouwantyouneedyou loveyouloveyou on to Yyth. And then, deciding that perhaps she doesn't trust the green to pass on the message, after all, she reaches out to see if she can pass it on directly to P'ax, too - together with a ButHe'sMine reminder that has a sting to it.
Yyth's head cocks. No, she won't be passing that on. When Pterath reaches for HER rider -- and how dare she! -- Yyth does the mental equivalent of slamming the smaller green upside the head with a frying pan before attempting to insert her immense head between the two riders. MineminemineYOUCAN'THAVE! P'ax is too busy looking startled to react to being forcibly extricated from G'brion. Either he caught Pterath's message, or he's utterly confused by what's just happened. "I --" << We're GOING. >> and there's no room for arguement there.
Pterath shrieks in pain and fear and cowers behind G'brion, retreating into the tightest, most secure mental shell she can manage. Her rider clutches his own head and staggers back; he only narrowly misses falling over her. "What the fuck...?!" is all he manages to say. Having missed the part where Pterath tried to share his thoughts with Yyth and bespeak P'ax, he's totally confused, except about the fact that /something's/ wrong with her. So he crouches down again to comfort her and try to find out what's wrong, P'ax and Yyth totally forgotten.