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Post by tuathade on Jun 25, 2011 21:51:58 GMT -5
The egg theft had gone poorly for Arkady.
Oh, he'd gotten his egg and gotten away. The one he stole rested proud and shining among the rest. But he'd paid dearly for it. Lucky for him that he had Jessan to help him cut the crossbow bolt out of his shoulder, because Arkady did not fancy putting himself at the mercy of Jiruyno's tender ministrations. And even with that... Well, a cave in the middle of the jungle was neither the most pleasant nor the most sanitary environment for recovery. He'd been laid up with fever nearly since the bolt was removed. Only now was the ex-Harper regaining both his strength and his lucidity.
Still, in the dark of the caves he'd more or less lost all track of day and night, and it was in the wee hours of the morning that he wandered down to where the eggs were kept. He wanted to see them, wanted the proof with his own eyes that they'd been successful.
It seemed a silly waste, to spend so much time and energy over eggs that most likely wouldn't hatch... and even if they did hatch, they would not Impress to a broken mind like his. So why was Arkady, self-interested to the core, even bothering? He couldn't say. Maybe it was to stave off tedium. He was still recovering, not enough stamina yet to go out hunting all day - not the way he had before the big theft. That left periods of free time with little else useful to do except craft makeshift tools (which eventually made his shoulder throb horribly) or look after the eggs.
Besides. He had a soft spot for dragons. Always had. They were nice creatures. Pity that they couldn't hurt humans, it limited their usefulness, but... At the same time, there was something almost whimsical about it. Biggest, most dangerous predators on Pern, huge glaring weakness.
The man moved between the eggs with the slow, deliberate caution of one who was not steady on his feet, and knew it. He wouldn't be the one to hurt an egg with carelessness. After some deliberation, he settled down next to the Watch Your Back egg. Big fellow, wasn't it? Kind of lopsided-looking, but that was all right.
"Morning," he greeted the egg aloud. "Or maybe evening. Fucked if I know." Should he be talking aloud to an egg that probably couldn't hear him? Maybe that fever wasn't entirely gone after all. Or maybe he was just crazy. Either way, it wasn't like anyone else was around to hear, or care. And riders sometimes said that dragon eggs could hear thoughts - or something. "You lot doing all right down here?" He lifted his good arm and pressed a hand against the shell, trying to remember how they'd felt on the Hatching Sands. They'd been pretty warm, right? And the shell should feel good and hard by now, if they were healthy...
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Post by giftwrapped on Jun 25, 2011 23:00:24 GMT -5
Jiruyno didn't sleep. Ever. He hadn't slept much before his arrest, and since then the hours he spent with his eyes closed had dwindled to maybe two on a good night. There was no explanation for the fact that the Healer - when anyone bothered to look beneath the cold insanity - somehow managed to maintain his composure and work flawlessly. And yet he did, although nowadays he did so under a thin veneer of jungle muck. Nothing ever scrubbed away the entirety of the filth, but Jiruyno did what he could. He wished they could lead raids on the prison. Not major raids, but raids for things like soap and numbweed and mosstea.
But ah well. At his hour of the night, it was almost certain that he'd be alone in the hot springs. And he had been, until a voice startled him from his sulky musings and led him to clamber out, drying off as quickly as he could and making his way around to the eggs. He didn't trust the speaker - three months or not, Arkady was still Arkady, and Jiruyno was suspicious at best and nervous at most concerning the unstable man. He would much rather be clothed and on his feet with Arkady near than naked and reclined in a pool of hot water.
He was trailing his shirt in one hand, pants belted firmly around his waist, when he approached Ark. "They're eggs," he remarked lightly. "I doubt they listen very well."
Admittedly, he had never come in contact with them. The theft had been...distasteful to him, though he had gladly supplied the drugs used on the clutch parents. He had seen others stealing in to touch the shells, but he had never been interested. Dragons would not take a man with coldness between the ears like Jiru's. But among the insane, best to act similarly unhinged lest they turn on you for appearing too normal. And without another word to Arkady, he turned and laid a hand on the little blackish-gold Widow's Veil egg.
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Post by nozomi on Jun 26, 2011 10:53:13 GMT -5
For Arkady:
Watxh Your Back Egg immediately assaults Arkady, throwing its mental weight around like a pissed off wher showing dominance. You're all alone here, psycho! Then: approval, a rush of it. For the violence in Arkady's mind, the brute force of him under those pretend layers of grace. Hell, for scoring with a hot girl in the middle of the jungle! Mental high five, man, especially for the bloodlust.
For Jiru:
Organizeed. Obsessive. Probably damned territoral over what was his. Overlying the paranoia and worry over being alone, the Widow's Veil Egg approved of this, the never letting another take advantage! Lovely! But right after that - worry. A fragile shudder of upset. He'd leave too, wouldn't he? Find a better egg to touch.
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Post by nozomi on Jun 26, 2011 11:47:57 GMT -5
Machi did not want to touch the eggs. He did not even want a dragon. They didn't Impress to murderers or psychos, both of which he had in absolute spades. Jessan, however, insisted. She hadn't been paying him much mind since her whatever-he-was got shot (like a dimglow),, but once others came by, she told him to do it. "It's supposed to keep maulings at bay. I don't need you more injured then you already are."
"I'm fine," he'd told her, ignoring the fact his arm still hadn't fully recovered to a state of painlessness, or the fact that even the fashioned eyepatch couldn't hide the scars etched down the near entirety of the left side of his face, the way his lip curled slightly due to the scar there. "I won't even be at the Hatching."
"Go." She said again, so he had.
Once there, his face flushed with the heat of the hot springs, sweat dampening the shirt they'd somehow put together from one of Jessan's. His pants, jumpsuit based, were a dull reddish brown, a result of life in the jungle and caves. He'd lost weight. He didn't want to touch the eggs.
"I was told infants can hear from the womb." Machi stood behind the duo on the narrow stone ledge, small and pale against the dark rock. As ever, his voice rang flat, and nasal. The broken nose, mostly healed, didn't help. He ignored Jiru, edged past them with only a brief glance in Arkady's direction.
The killer knew of his sisters - whatever with the man, and did not approve. He'd kill her one day, when she lay prone and relaxed, or from behind when leaning into an embrace, or maybe something more dastardly then that. Machi would kill him first.
But not today. Tonight. That night, Machi crouched, and touched the Heros Call Egg with nary a flicker of an eyelash. Best get it over with, and not give any more of his time to Jiru's company. His skin already started crawling.
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Post by tuathade on Jun 26, 2011 17:07:10 GMT -5
The aggressive force of the egg in his head wasn't unwelcome. Let it rage, let it throw its mental weight around! He didn't mind. That just meant it was still alive in there. And that was good! That meant they were doing something right. More or less. And the following rush of approval made him grin and pat the shell, something like his old manic enthusiasm creeping into the expression. So absorbed was he in the egg, he didn't even notice Jiru's presence until the healer spoke.
If Arkady had known that he made Jiruyno nervous, he probably would have burst out laughing. Frankly, the healer made Arkady nervous. More than nervous. And at the moment, Arkady couldn't have hurt anyone, even if he wanted to. Still, that was the benefit of having a reputation, wasn't it! People thinking you were going to, oh, murder them or eat their eyes or whatever they thought about him. Meanwhile here he was, one arm more-or-less useless, probably a little feverish, good stiff push would knock him right over. But he was still Arkady. Which meant that no one messed with him. Oh yes, reputation was good.
He turned that brilliant smile on Jiru, spotting Machi coming in as well. (Machi was... different. They had Jessan between them. That alone was enough for a cold, wary truce - at least as far as Arkady was concerned. Don't kill family members of people you like, at least if you can avoid it.) "They understand more than you think," Arkady observed lightly. "Dragons, you know. Telepathy."
He got to his feet, hoping the slowness of his motion would be mistaken for deliberate nonchalance rather than unsteadiness. Making a Mockery egg was next, and the harper sat down next to that one too, stroking the silly mustachioed dragon's head pattern. "I like your style," he said softly to the egg, chuckling a little under his breath. Just because he had an audience wasn't any reason to stop talking to them. Words were important. Arkady would talk to a wall if he felt like it.
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Post by lithle on Jun 26, 2011 20:52:45 GMT -5
For Machi:
Another pair of vile hand on the Hero's Call Eggs shell? It was almost coming to expect such vileness. It flared up with hate, as might be expected. Yet, if Machi had been able to compare (and, obviously, he couldn't) he'd have known the response was no more violent than it had been for the thieves and dusters who'd touched its shell. Still, even if it hated everyone equally, that pulsing bloodlust and threat was hardly cozy.
For Arkady:
In response to Arkady's unstable charm the Making a Mockery Egg is a sullen, unresponsive rock. It is clearly aware of him, there's a sense of a mind there. But it is utterly unimpressed and unafraid, Arkady may as well be a servant bringing wine to some great lord. The egg apparently has better things to do than acknowledge him. Yet still, somehow, beneath all that, there's a sense that the egg is smirking.
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Post by giftwrapped on Jun 26, 2011 22:28:52 GMT -5
Jiruyno's expression turned slightly wondering at the egg's response to him, but his attention was momentarily focused sharply on Machi. It was good to see the young man on his feet. There had been plenty of time for recovery, but the jungle heat and humidity weren't good to injuries. And then...no, his attention was back on the egg. It...approved of him? But it thought he would leave it. "You're right," he remarked quietly, expression back to its usual blithe emptiness. "I am going to leave."
His fingers trailed from the shell of the black egg to his side, and for a moment, Jiruyno was distracted watching Machi again. He was healing well. Very well. And even if he was barely tolerating the healer's touch, Jiruyno felt accomplished. He had fixed Jessan's little brother. And for that, both Jessan and Machi himself were indebted to him. And someday when he needed it, he would cash in on those debts. But not now. For now, he contented himself with giving Machi a slight smile that sat badly on his face and turning his gaze back to the eggs.
He had no interest in any particular shell, electing to simply press his hand to the nearest shell - the Lurking Stare egg.
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Post by nozomi on Jun 26, 2011 23:47:58 GMT -5
For Jiru:
There is no hesitation from this egg - Jiru gets another form of approval. He is a creeper, a sneaky one at that. Even those flickers of approval doesn't keep the tide of disappointment at bay. There is something about him that the Lurking Stare Egg just does not like, and it intrudes on his mind with a rude mental 'huff' just to prove it.
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Post by giftwrapped on Jun 26, 2011 23:55:25 GMT -5
For a moment it seemed like - no, wait. There had been approval for a moment, thrilling through Jiruyno and bringing an expression of surprise briefly to the man's face, but then it was gone. And the dragon inside apparently decided it didn't like him...? And huffed and turned away? "....Hmph yourself," Jiruyno snapped, scowling at the egg as he snatched his hands back. Who was the egg to decide whether or not he was worth something. Admittedly, he understood somewhat why a dragonet would have done that. He was, he acknowledged, broken in a way that kept dragons at bay. But that was not the dragonets themselves rejecting him.
Jiruyno did not take rejection well.
He cast off quickly, for a moment returning to the Widow's Veil egg and stroking the shell slightly compulsively (was he returning to it to prove it wrong, or to offer it the reassurance that it would not always be abandoned? Jiruyno didn't know, though he would not have confessed to any sort of sentimentality if questioned). But he did not stay with it long, choosing instead to turn his attention elsewhere. The egg that caught his attention next was nondescript, laying at the corner of the clutch and silently. His fingers reached down and brushed the little shell, marvelling at the markings on the near-translucent shell.
Hello, Whirlwind Romance egg. Jiruyno is pleased to see you.
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Post by nozomi on Jun 27, 2011 10:11:01 GMT -5
For Jiru:
Hey bro! What's up?! The Whirlwind Romance Egg is pleased to meet you too! Uhm. Sort off? Dude - you know you're sharding crazy, right? The egg is totes impressed with Jirus dedication to healing and repairing the broken, but shies away when it comes to how those things became broken. Yeah, man. Go to, like, Watch Your Back or Jazz Hands or Heroes or something. Whirlwind wants none'a that.
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Post by tuathade on Jun 27, 2011 10:14:43 GMT -5
...Well that was disappointing. Such an exciting outside, such a tediously dull egg. "Boring," he told it out loud. "You're boring."
Well, no sense hanging around an egg with an inflated sense of its own worth! If it didn't want to waste time on Arkady, then Arkady didn't have any time to waste on it. There were better ones! He pushed himself back to his feet, chuckling to see that the skeptical healer had likewise joined him in addressing the eggs out loud. It sounded like the opening to a bad joke: three psychopaths walk into a hot spring full of dragon eggs...
No punchline yet, though. Maybe the Jazz Hands egg could help with that. He moved to the silly-looking egg next, tracing one of the hearts with one finger.
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Post by nozomi on Jun 27, 2011 18:02:34 GMT -5
For Ark:
Of course that egg is boring - Jazz Hands Egg concurs! Hang out with this egg, Arkady, it's just as bamf as you are. Yes. BAMF. The egg uses an acronym even in the shell. It's that cool. It throws soothing feelings at the poor drugged up darling, the knowledge that life isn't that bad. After all, he's touching a lovely, darling egg!
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Post by nozomi on Jun 27, 2011 18:51:03 GMT -5
Ugh.
Jiru watched him. Machi felt the stare boring hard into his shoulders, and the muscles tightened. Machi ignored him, continued to, but touched the egg anyway - only to feel the hate. Unlike some of the other outlaws, he did not jerk back, the anger did not flare towards the egg and its reaction. Plenty people hated him, and most of them had a damned good reason. His eyes continued to watch that hate-filled shell.
"Surprise." Machi said to Jiruyno's little snap towards the egg. "Even unborn creatures dislike you."
Oh snap! Or something. He glanced towards Arkady, Arkady and his declaration of a boring egg. Whatever. When Ark decided he didn't want to like the egg anymore, Machi moved to it. He pushed his hand down on Making a Mockery Egg. Maybe it would have less hate.
Probably not.
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Post by lithle on Jun 27, 2011 20:32:16 GMT -5
For Machi:
To Machi, the Making a Mockery Egg projects sweetness and light, the sort of fragile, wounded innocence common among certain young men he'd once kept company with. Poor broken thing sending nothing but love and admiration his way. And then, nothing. The sense of anything is gone like a flip of a switch, like whatever was there is gone, dead, never was.
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Post by giftwrapped on Jun 27, 2011 21:14:44 GMT -5
For a moment, it seemed like the egg was pleased with him - but then, again, the creature inside suddenly realized what he was and...backed away? Faranth...perhaps he was more broken than he realized.
Well. That was something, wasn't it. Jiruyno drew away from the egg with an expression of curiosity, shaking his head and sighing quietly to himself. Whatever the case was, he was done touching that egg. Instead, he moved away, allowing the attention-getting colours and patterns of the large Heroes Call egg. Everyone seemed to respond oddly to it, and even Jiruyno couldn't stifle his curiosity. Whatever it was going to do, he was going to listen to it. There was no hostility in his mind as he reached down and pressed a hand to the shell.
He was curious. Blank-minded except for that mild interest as to what was in the shell. The same attention that he gave to anything he found his attention focused on at the time.
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