Cheer Up! Do it Now! [Zen]

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Ts'kal was exhausted. True, he hadn't been a candidate, and true, he hadn't been left standing yesterday, but it was true that he'd had to talk to all of those who were. He'd reassured them that it wasn't their fault, and they might bond next time, and that they still had a place in the Eyrie. It had, quite possibly, been one of the most emotionally tiring things he'd ever done. Sleep hadn't wanted to come to him last night either, being chased away by thoughts of the heartbroken candidates. Amira and Evalyn and the others: all had been unhappy. On top of it all, Amira had been injured by the terrified Sradivaph, about which he wasn't happy.

Mine, it's not your fault. It was the hatchlings' choice, not yours, Aburoqaph pointed out. From his spot leaning against the wall of the canyon, Ts'kal lifted a brow. No, he agreed, but I could've done better with my speech. What was I supposed to say, Aburo? They were crushed. All of them. Especially Amira. I've never seen a smile that broke my heart more. Unhappily the candidatemaster slid all the way to the ground, closing his eyes against the bright sunlight. His rainbow snorted, and ever so helpfully rested his head across His' belly. It wasn't a light head, either. The rainbow might have been the Eyrie's smallest adult, but he certainly wasn't light.

Gasping, Ts'kal tried to shove his bonded's head off his midsection, and failed. Chirping, and very much pleased with himself, Aburoqaph settled even more firmly on top of His. Cheer up, or I shall squash you, he demanded. Most unfortunately, his rider knew that he'd do it, too - in his happy-go-lucky way, Aburo really had no morals when it came to making people happy. And, faced with the grim possibility of being squished by his own beloved simourv, Ts'kal chose the easy way out: he started to laugh. "Aburo! Aburo, get off me! I'm happy now!" he protested. As soon as the great head lifted off him, golden eyes bright with mischief, the rainbowrider twisted and grabbed his simourv's beak, giggling but all too serious. "If you threaten to crush me again, I'll...I'll... not be pleased with you," he finished lamely. Chortling with laughter, Aburoqaph lifted his head and Ts'kal along with it, and set His upright. All better, Mine! he trilled, and His laughed.

"Yes, Aburo - all better. Thank you," grinned the rider, and swept into a mock bow. Instantly his bonded began to warble with laughter, and, ruffling the nearest patch of bright feathers, the candidatemaster turned and flopped against his simourv's shoulder. They had nothing to do right now anyway - why not lie in the sun, where it was good and warm (stiflingly hot, even)? Heck, someone might even run into them here.

Entertaining these pleasant thoughts, Ts'kal slumped back against Aburo's shoulder, and closed his eyes with a great, newly contented sigh. Sad to say, but his simourv's forcible cheer-up methods generally worked, if only because his victims tended to fear for their lives. Exuberantly happy, and intent on sharing that with everyone, Aburoqaph didn't generally hurt anybody. But he always got them to comply and be happy. Rainbow to the core, the silly thing was always very...helpful, his rider decided was the right word. Not like he was generally a great help, but he tried, in his annoying and maddeningly cheerful way. He did, however, help his rider banish the unnecessary guilt of yesterday. It wasn't gone totally, but for the moment, at least, he felt better. "Thanks, Aburo," he murmured, very sincerely. Above him, the rainbow chirped. You're welcome, Ts'kal.

[maiwolf]

[/b]” And Weirph’s bubbly, happy, but slightly morbid laughter sounded in her mind, and then it stopped, and Weirph took her head away from Ol’ia’s hands, twisting away to look at something.

Ol’ia turned to, and spied just what Weirph saw, but Weirph was ahead of her in thought and in practice. The small rainbow raced, literally raced to the adult rainbow, and, before she was even three feet from Aburo’s tail, she pounced. In her awkward way, she was cute, but her words were anything but, Got it, got it, killed it dead! Too bad it wasn’t a koxi head! And her small beak tried to bite into the feathers of Aburo’s tail. Ol’ia, knowing Aburo wouldn’t do anything bad, raced up to the two, and wholeheartedly rammed into Ts’kal, a clumsy, happy grin plastered across her face as she hugged the man who’d helped her through candidateship. “Ts’kal, look!” She said, pulling away and standing a bit awkwardly three steps away from Ts’kal, and wondering if she should have hugged Ts’kal. Why not? He was not her teacher anymore, K’huna was, and she had to show him her gratefulness somehow.

“Look, Ts’kal, I bonded to a rainbow like you~” She continued, though with a lot less enthusiasm as when she’d hugged him, and a slow blush spread across her face. Weirph, that’s my name, but you already knew, didn’tcha? Weirph asked, looking up at Aburo with her purpley-brown eyes, laughter apparent in all three minds.

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Aburo wasn't paying any more attention than his rider, and was flipping his tail cheerily back and forth, immensely pleased that he'd cheered up Ts'kal. Now he had closed his eyes and was merely soaking up the sun, for once being quiet. He had no questions to ask, or comments to make, or even things to do. He was simply happy.

And then a tiny beak sank into the feathers of his tail (it didn't hurt) and the rainbow whipped one wing up and out, trilling excitedly to his assailant. Instantly he realized that it was the new rainbow, and gave a delighted scream, wriggling his tail madly in her grip. With equal morbid humour, he countered her comment, trilling. Koxi heads taste funny, he remarked, but the rest isn't too bad. Chirruping happily, he lifted the end of his tail so she'd have to balance on her hind legs to hold onto it, and reached a wing back to flick her with it. He liked the new rainbow! And he liked Hers, of course. Ol'ia had helped Ts'kal when he was hurt by the koxi! But both of them were all better now, of course.

Ts'kal might not be better for long, though. Ol'ia smashed into him like a freight train, and he gave an involuntary, extremely unmanly squeak as she hit him out of the blue. Still, he hugged her back without hesitation, and then let her go, grinning and blushing faintly. "I see that! I noticed at the Hatching too," he commented brightly, just as enthusiastic as she. Laughing cheerily, he stepped forward and clapped a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently before he released it. "Good job on that. Once she's all grown up, I'm sure she and Aburo will be delighted to terrorize the Eyrie together."

He did notice her blush, though, and raised a brow with a grin, tilting his head slightly. "What're you blushing for?" he teased, though he was sure he could guess. Guessing, it may be said, gave him some very wicked thoughts and soon he was blushing too, though he tried to hide it with a grin. Leaving Aburoqaph and Weirph to get properly introduced, he moved to stand next to Ol'ia and watched the two rainbows, one big and one small, with a laughing expression on his face. "She's sure cute," remarked the candidatemaster, and flicked his gaze to the new rainbowrider, still smiling brightly.

Aburoqaph, if he'd been able to, would have been smiling too. As it was, he merely chirped excitedly and, pulling his tail out of Weirph's grip, whirled around to smack his great talons against the ground. Lowering his face, he warbled to her in greeting, and fluttered his huge wings, clearly ecstatic to meet the tiny creature. Yup! And I'm Aburoqaph! You knew that too! Golden eyes meeting the hatchling's, he inched his beak forward until he could nuzzle her affectionately in greeting, and then moved back a little. Still his head remained on her level (in other words, nearly flat on the ground), and he chirruped. Weirph! We should play a game! he suggested suddenly, with exactly the same level of maturity as a newborn hatchling. Hearing it, Ts'kal cast his simourv a sudden narrow glance, and inched closer to Ol'ia in mock fear. "No, Aburo. Please, don't hurt us that way," he muttered, half under his breath. Ignoring him, the rainbow trilled and peeked at Weirph for an answer, clearly as eager as could be. He wanted to play! What fun was it being a simourv if all you did was sit around being boring? He was sure they could come up with a fun game that was fair for both of them!

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