(Untitled)

[punkass_drgnrdr]

Who: Lance Blackthorn [OPEN]
What: How to bathe your dragon.
When: Friday morning (04/06/10)
Where: Hostel yard

After the events on Thursday Lance wasn't that only one who needed a shower. Or bath. Whichever. Aerodactyl didn't exactly bathe and didn't really care about being 'dirty', but Dragonair had given him a Look when they finally knocked off the

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[polarisation]

Of all the things Sefton expected to see when leaving the hostel, someone having a waterfight with a dragon was not one of them. Almost warily, he pulled his headphones back to rest against his neck while he watched the spectacle.

However, he didn't intend to sit around and spy on the two all day, even if the dragon looked pretty dang awesome. Beginning to walk past, there was one thing Sefton didn't account for - the water in the grass. On a good day, his shoes had poor traction. Get them wet (but not soaked) and whatever traction was left simply disappeared.

Which would explain why, after only a few steps, he slipped, began pinwheeling ("Whoa-!"), and eventually lost his battle with gravity and fell forward onto the muddy grass. He sighed to himself, merely glaring in a vaguely forward direction. "Awesome."

[punkass_drgnrdr]

They both did notice Beem watching--briefly--at least, Lance did, and he might have said something except for the fact that Dragonair had just drenched him with a blast of freezing cold water. He was focussed on getting his revenge with a bucketful of soapy water and a scrub-brush when he heard Beem's flailing and turned around, slipping slightly himself and letting the bucket slosh to the ground, in time to see the kid fall.

It was unexpected and surprising enough, and he was in a good enough mood, that it drew an outright laugh from him, even while he leaned on one of Dragonair's coils to keep his balance. That was made more difficult when the dragon's body undulated, Dragonair moving, with a trilling snicker, to bend over Sefton. His head dipped low enough so that when he snorted it made the kid's hair ruffle--although he never touched him.

[polarisation]

Sefton flinched at the unexpected air on his head. He tilted his head back to look at the dragon with caution, curiosity and grumpiness. He wasn't ready to get up yet, with the dragon so close, and so simply stayed where he was on the ground. Thankfully, he had been repelling when he fell, and so much of the mud hadn't clung to his clothes or skin.

"Wh-what're you laughing at?" he muttered, annoyed, asking both dragon and tamer. He could feel his cheeks heating up, though the angle might make it more difficult to notice.

[punkass_drgnrdr]

A pity; Dragonair would have offered him a shower if he'd gotten dirty out of it. As it is the dragon just purred, and Lance chuckled again. "I'd think that was obvious," he said with clear amusement, wandering over to them and reaching up to pull on Dragonair's ear and move his head away, giving Beem some space. "Need to watch your feet. I would bet that half the fun for him is making everything so wet that people can't stand up on it."

Even he had to be wary. Especially when a tail lashed around to hit him across the back, making him tilt wildly with a yelp, threatening to go ass-first toward the ground--if he hadn't still been clutching onto Dragonair's ear. He caught his balance on the dragon, huffing and throwing him half amused, half grimacing Looks.

[polarisation]

With a petulant huff, Sefton sat up and pulled his legs in front of him. Muddy slush had begun to form from his knees down and Sefton wasted little time in brushing it off. "Sounds like fun," Sefton commented, then added, "'cept not."

When Lance was overbalanced, his attention was drawn to the flailing quickly enough. The smirk on his face was harder to hide than the embarrassed blush from earlier, if only because he wasn't trying as hard this time.

[punkass_drgnrdr]

Lance turned his expression on Beem, though it became more exasperation than anything else--mixed with surprised pleasure. He hadn't seen the kid come even close to smiling before now. It was good to see he was capable of the expression in some way.

"Go on then, laugh," he said in a dryly resigned tone, and yanked lightly on Dragonair's ear. "These cheeky dragons of mine, always trying to make me look bad." But he looked fond as he said it, and the yank turned to a stroke down Dragonair's head when the dragon nudged his chest, purring.

[polarisation]

Sefton rolled his eyes. Out of the corner of them, he watched the interaction. He couldn't exactly say he was jealous, but there was something there. He always felt a small twinge of it when he saw closeness in a relationship - genuine closeness - although he tried his best not to show it on his face.

"Sounds like he just wanted to play," Sefton commented idly. It seemed he had forgotten to actually stop his CD player, as tinny guitar music played from the headphones resting around his neck indicated. He didn't seem quite ready to get up or turn it off, though.

[punkass_drgnrdr]

Lance chuckled, turning back to Beem without letting up on his petting. The redhead certainly looked more relaxed than the kid would have ever seen him--except perhaps at the party. "Mmm. That he does."

Dragonair purred as if in agreement, nuzzling a little--but his ears had started twitching oddly, as if listening for or reacting to something vaguely sporadic in rhythm. After a moment the dragon pulled back with a growl, shifting to lean over the blue-haired teen, head cocked, ears still twitching--giving in to curiosity.

"He wants to know what you're listening to," Lance offered, probably superfluously, as he let the dragon's body run beneath his hands, still leaning on him.

[polarisation]

Sefton leaned back as the dragon leaned closer, using one of his hands to help balance him. The muddy water made it hard to retain a grip, and he slipped backward, but managed to keep himself from falling over again.

"Uh," he said, trying to recall what the music was, but coming up blank. Instead, he answered, "Something I got here. Don't remember its name."

[punkass_drgnrdr]

"He probably wouldn't recognise the name of it anyway. It's just the sound he's curious about." But Lance reached forward to pull the dragon back a little, give the kid more space. He'd told them Beem wasn't comfortable with close contact, but dragons would be dragons. Most of them--the ones he was familiar with, at least--were rather pack-like.

Ordinarily he would have offered a hand, but ... well. He did look down at the kid in mild amusement, though. "Having some trouble getting up?"

[polarisation]

"Kinda hard when you're crowded," Sefton huffed. Now that the dragon was out of the way, he pushed to his feet - carefully placing his hands out at his side to maintain balance.

After he was sure that he wasn't about to simply tilt over again, he pulled the headphones from around his neck and turned the volume up on the CD player. He got the feeling that a dragon's hearing was better than a human's. "He like music or something?"

[punkass_drgnrdr]

"Dragons have a very different idea of what it means to be crowded," Lance answered, and then gave out a startled laugh--the kind that's mildly patronising, as if there's something the person being laughed at should know. He didn't intend it like that, but that's probably how it sounded. "Sorry. Yes. The kind of dragon he is and their closely related cousins are very musical. Not sure they approve of modern tunes so much, though."

Certainly Dragonair was listening to the sounds coming through the headphones, head tilted. But then he snorted, apparently unimpressed, and lifted his head, drawing in a breath and letting it out in a resonating hum--as if to show Beem what real music sounded like. It began slow and deep before climbing and becoming full, leaving off on a lingering, hopeful note.

[polarisation]

Sefton looked as though he didn't appreciate being laughed at, while he moved into shrugging it off mere moments later. He listened to the dragon's showcasing and turned to regard Lance.

"You have to listen to that a lot?" he asked, sounding almost sorry for the guy. Of course, he was teasing, but it wasn't exactly in the most kind-spirited sort of way. He was still annoyed at himself for falling over like he had, so obviously it was time to take it out on the guy who insisted on talking to him anyway, right?

[punkass_drgnrdr]

Dragonair's ears went back to half mast, and without missing a beat he growled and squirted water in Beem's face. In a clearly huffy manner he turned in midair, flying over to coil up at the other end of the yard, head turned pointedly away from them.

Lance watched the dragon go without moving. "You insulted him." He glanced at Beem, looking surprisingly mild. It should, perhaps, be taken as a warning. "They take their music seriously. At the turn of the season, at dawn, in mating season--it's very important to them. It would have been less insulting if you'd merely criticised his intonation, instead of dismissing it entirely."

[polarisation]

The water to the face snapped him out of it. He could taunt and tease all he wanted, but the fact remained that Lance probably wouldn't be overly deterred by Sefton's attempts - his dragon was (thankfully?) another story.

Thinning his lips, and with a somewhat distant look in his eyes, Sefton opted out of turning to Lance and instead watched the sulking dragon. "Don't really care," he replied in a disinterested tone. It hurt, a little, to say such a thing (it hadn't actually been that bad), but Lance obviously cared for his dragon and maybe if he was lucky and got on their bad sides, Lance would stop trying to associate with Sefton entirely.

[punkass_drgnrdr]

Lance was used to being teased, actually. Used to being accused of being too serious and having people try to make him lighten up. There were, however, some things that were just rude to joke about, and teasing a dragon to his face about his lack of musical skill ... well, only an idiot did that. Especially right after Lance had just implied, if not stated outright, how important it was to them. That had been rather stupid.

"Not sure I believe that," Lance said, again mildly. "If you didn't care about people and how you affect them you wouldn't worry so much about your powers hurting them." Come on, kid. You don't really believe it's going to be that easy, do you? His dragons were their own beings, after all. Lance would grant that had been a stupid move and Dragonair would sulk for a while, but it wasn't a relationship breaker. Although the kid was lucky it wasn't Dragonair's twin he'd said it to--she held grudges. "You should apologise."