Darien and Megmentenith

This is insane. Darien acknowledged the information the logical, and often ignored part of his brain offered. He then dismissed it in favour of cheering as the hatching finally started and his friends began to be claimed. He smiled to himself. It’s just like a dance at school, one group hangs around the walls waiting for the people in the middle to pick them up, only this time the people picking them up are dragons. Somehow, drawing the comparison to something he was used to made Darien feel better. The only difference, aside from species, is that he was used to being one of the people in the middle opposed to one of the people on the wall. He smiled to himself, getting more and more excited from watching Candy, Sammy, and Michelle impress.

As always, the logical part of his mind offered information he didn’t want. The knowledge that they were on their own hit him like a ton of bricks. For the first time in their lives, they were deep into something that their parents couldn’t bail them out of. It was a scary thought, and gave Darien major feelings of responsibility. It was during one of these moments of adulthood that a bronze/black dragon, obviously equipped for the water, made his entrance into the world.

Within seconds the bronze/black had gotten himself into a fight with a brown who had hatched at the same time. Darien couldn’t help but smile as the two fought, considering they looked just like his siblings and him when they were much younger. Darien’s father was strong in the belief that physical wrestling was good for siblings, as long as nobody got seriously hurt. It took a while, and a broken bone, before he realized that it would probably be a good idea to teach them democracy as well. By that time, Joel and Rosie were old enough to consider wrestling childish and Darien was old enough to realize he’d never win against them. The brown and bronze/black were beginning to have more than just a little disagreement and the fight got more and more violent.

Darien, his head filled with nostalgia and a new-found sense of responsibility, decided it was his job to step in and stop the fight. "You’re not going to impress any of us with that behaviour!" He used his powerful, official sounding, lifeguard voice. Only when he heard his friends snickering did he realize he might be over-doing it just a tad. Not only that, but the pun on impress was just awful, as Sammy and Mark would both point out later.

The large water-suited hatchling raised his head and shook that sand from his snout. He headed towards Darien, his long wings/fins dragging on the ground behind him. I am sorry. That will not happen again. Unless he tries to snap at me again! Darien inhaled sharply as he felt the creatures mind reach for his. The voice startled him for a moment, but it quickly passed into amazement as the bond between the two was solidified.

"Now Megmentonith..." Darien wasn’t sure exactly where the name had come from, but he was positive that was his new lifemate’s name. "That’s not how you make friends..." He was thinking of making Megmentonith and the brown apologize, but the other hatchling was nowhere in sight, and Megmentonith demanded food.

Darien smiled at Kyosei, but she didn’t return the grin. She was beginning to look just a little bit worried. Darien shrugged and led Megmentonith towards the food. "You know you shouldn’t gorge yourself..." Darien wondered how much baby dragons were supposed to eat.

The dragon’s eyes whirled blue and Darien assumed that was a good thing as the emotions he was getting from his young lifemate were making him smile. Especially not before we swim, huh?

Darien realized that Megmentonith must have read his mind, as there was no way anyone two minutes old could possibly know that. "How did you?"

Telepathic link. The dragon continued to eat. I have a feeling I’m going to be teaching you a lot.

Darien laughed. "And I thought I was the responsible one."

Megmentonith laughed.

So what do you think? The bronze/black was obviously pleased with his performance.

Darien shivered, the iciness of the water seemed to have settled in his bones. "C-c-c-c-c-cold!" He stuttered.

Megmentonith snorted. It’s refreshing! The still-growing water monster gracefully slid onto the beach. I hate spending so much time lounging around inside! I feel like a fish out of water with the others. His eyes whirled green, letting Darien know that he thought his pun was pretty funny.

Darien continued to shake. "Bad Meg, bad. You should have impressed Sammy."

The dragon smirked. He was already taken by the time I hatched.

Darien glared. "C-c-c-c-cute." He sneezed and began to head back to the Weyr. Most of his friends had been moved to Adanuk Weyr already where Weyrwoman Magika had agreed to take all of them. Jeremy and his lifemate had been forced to hang around the Healing Den for special training. Darien spent most of his time with Sara and Nisabath, another aquatic dragon, and R’yle, T’ran and Miarra, Adanuk’s resident swimmers. He and Kyosei had unofficially called it quits. The girl was acting more aloof and self-righteous since her impression to Chuingadak and Darien never had time to see her anyways, what with Megmentonith spending 90% of his time in the water. He sneezed again. "If I catch pneumonia and die..."

I’ll between myself. The dragon struggled to move at the fast pace Darien was setting. Darien slowed down and reminded himself that although he was freezing, Megmentonith was not really equipped to move quickly on land. Why don’t they move the shardin’ Weyr closer to the ocean?

"Because it’s made of rock and is very heavy." Darien returned to Megmentonith’s last statement. "Can you between?" Darien had heard of between, a kind of teleportation the dragons could do, but his bond had never shown any interest in it.

The aquatic bronze/black shrugged, or at least tried to. He’d obviously picked up some bad habits from Darien. I dunno. I never tried.

Darien felt like smacking his lifemate in the head. "Well don’t you think it would be a good idea?" He sighed. "Sheesh! You keep complaining about the Weyr being so far away and you might be able to reach it with a thought!"

It’s just... The dragon searched for the right words. He knew that it wasn’t a good idea to try betweening without a Weyrling Master, but he also wanted to give it a try. He just wanted to make sure, if they got in trouble, that he was on the record as saying it was a bad idea. We could get in trouble...

Darien pulled himself onto his bond’s back and gripped his fin-like mane. "If we appear in our weyr, no one will ever need know. C’mon!"

The dragon snorted as he focussed his attention like he’d seen his siblings. ’Don’t give into peer pressure’ he tells me.

"I’m not your peer, I’m your rider."

Think about the weyr, and think warm thoughts.

Warm thoughts? Darien rarely spoke to Megmentonith with his mind, feeling expressing himself vocally was much more normal, yet as he was concentrating deeply on his weyr he didn’t think to speak out loud.

This might be cold... Before Darien could respond the world disappeared.

Dari? Rider-mine? Are you okay? The bronze/black was being a lot nicer than usual, mainly because when he’d appeared in the Weyr he was sure his rider was dead.

"C-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-cold!" Darien spat the word out, wrapped in blankets sitting next to the fire in Celeste’s healing cavern.

His lifemate smirked. I told you to think warm thoughts.

Darien glared at his lifemate. "C-c-c-c-c-cold!" When they’d arrived safely in their weyr, Darien’s wet skin had been covered with a layer of ice.

So I’m guessing we don’t try that again for a while?

Celeste smiled. She never admitted to being a HAD, but it was suspected of her. Michelle insisted that she was a psychic, not a HAD, as she obviously knew what everyone was thinking, not just the dragons. "Feeling any warmer?" She put a hand to his forehead. She was a really nice woman, and the ten from Earth enjoyed her mothering on more than once occasion. "I don’t think you have hypothermia, you weren’t there for long enough."

"L-l-l-l-long e-e-e-enough." Darien accepted the hot drink she offered him, something the people here called klah or something like that.

Umm, Dari? The bronze/black raised his head from the dragoncouch where he’d been lying.

"I’m not talking to you." The frozen man continued his warm drink.

That’s okay, you don’t need to say anything. I just thought I’d mention your flit egg is hatching. The dragon was amused. Now that he knew Darien was going to be fine, he could get back to treating him like normal.

"My what is whating?" Darien often ceased to make sense when he was excited.

Flit egg hatching. The dragon smirked. Want a lift between to our weyr?

Darien wrapped himself even tighter in the blanket before heading off towards the kitchens at a dead run. He reached his room, warm for the first time in the last few hours, and noticed that the egg had already rocked the clay jar it was sitting in right off the hearth and it had shattered. The egg was sitting in the spilled sand, rocking violently. Darien grabbed it just as a brown head forced it’s way out of the egg. The impression was made quickly as the flit was obviously hungry. The feeling of the flit’s mind joining his and Megmentonith’s was unique, not as powerful as his bond with the dragon, but strong in it’s own way.

Can I name him? The bronze/black was nuzzling the brown flit who snapped to defend his meal.

"You got to name yourself." Darien let the brown flit crawl into his arms as he continued his meal. The blood from the meat felt disgusting, but the flit’s claws quickly numbed the ickiness with pain.

Did not! The black/bronze sounded insulted.

"Alright, who named you. I certainly didn’t."

I don’t know, I just knew my name. Like you knew your name when you were little. Megmentonith snorted. And what did you mean by that crack about ‘certainly not naming me’?

"I meant if it was up to me I would have picked something a lot shorter than Megmentonith." The brown flit had finished eating the meat and mauling Darien’s arm and was now snoring peacefully.

Megmentonith snorted. And Darien’s so much better? At least you can call me Meg for short. I call you Dari.

"And what’s so amusing about that?"

It’s a food group.

"Meg is a girl’s name!"

The flit woke up, glared at both of them and creeled loudly. Darien was forced to end his argument with his lifemate and calm the little creature. "Fine. What’s his name?"

The dragon grinned. Tasukeru.

"Gah!" Darien coughed as the dragon surfaced and wished desperately he could free an arm to rub his nose. The water that had been forced up it during Megmentonith’s last dive was actually quite painful. Note to self: NOSEPLUG!! He inhaled quickly before the bronze/black water dragon dove again.

Aren’t you supposed to hum or something? Megmentonith leapt from the water and bugled. The other water dragons around him gave him a wide berth. The gigantic dragon could easily knock his smaller companions out of action, especially when he was fooling around.

You try humming while you’re fooling around! Darien heard T’ran’s shrill whistle echo through the water. Head back.

Megmentonith sighed. I know...time’s up, everybody out of the pool. The bronze/black changed directions quickly, causing Darien to start humming quickly to save himself from more pain. Whenever the rider was getting out of breath, the dragon would leap from the water. Megmentonith never seemed to get out of breath.

"Lunch time." T’ran pointed to the sun. "Let the dragons eat whilst we feed ourselves."

"Good plan." R’yle headed up to the Weyr quickly and on foot. All the water-riders knew better than to between when they were still wet, now.

Darien let T’ran, R’yle and Miarra get ahead of him while he waited for Sara. His longtime friend was wringing out her hair and Darien thought she looked more and more attractive every day. She had a beautiful tan from long, hard work in the sun with her Nisabath, and he did already spend 80% of his time with her. He sighed as he decided to head up without her, not risking accidentally leading her on. He had to admit he liked her, but he was still Kyosei’s man. Even if Kyosei seems to ignore me, even if she’s spending more and more time hanging out with her wing and her wingmates, even if her dragon seems to hate me... Darien continued to feel sorry for himself as Megmentonith caught his dinner and the brown Tasukeru popped in to inform his friend that he was hungry as well. Darien was in no mood for the playful flit. "Shoo! Go bug Megmentonith!" The flit seemed hurt, but followed the advice as soared down to the beach.

Darien began to wish he hadn’t sent the flit off, he was feeling even more alone that usual. His pace was slow to match his depressed mood and the sun was beating down hot on his shoulders. He sighed and put both women out of his head as he joined Candy, Jeremy, Rebeka, Sammy and Mark for lunch. He didn’t know where the others were, aside from Sara, and was quite frankly pleased that he didn’t have to face Kyosei. As he sat down across from the pink-haired goldrider he began to think of her relationship with Jeremy. They’d been quite close before they came to this new world, but had fallen apart soon after they both impressed. They were still good friends, nothing could break ‘the ten’ apart, but they both had had other partners since the move. Maybe we just have all become such good friends that we don’t need each other in that way anymore... The logical part of his brain assured him that this made good sense, even if it didn’t explain Rebeka and Sammy. They were sitting beside Candy, hands intertwined. Only a few seven-days ago Enzeruth, Sammy’s dragon, had practically thrown himself at Genetaskath, Rebeka’s dragon, and both of the riders had followed suit. They got teased amazingly by Mark and Candy, but the two seemed pleased with each other.

Would you like me to throw myself at Nisabath? Darien was still surprised every time Megmentonith burst in on his private thoughts.

Can’t you warn me you’re listening in? Darein was feeling very moody and quickly became very involved in his lunch, tuning out Candy’s wonderful gossip about the Junior Weyrwoman.

Megmentonith laughed. Rider-mine, I’m always listening.

Well it’s damned annoying! Darien knew he was being miserable on purpose. Not wanting to risk snapping at his friends, he excused himself quickly and headed back for the beach. Tasukeru met him halfway, but seemed afraid to land on his shoulder.

You do realize you terrified the flit. Megmentonith had taken quite a liking to his little brown friend and often took it upon himself to make the flit’s feelings known.

Darien sighed, amazingly annoyed, and whirled to face Tasukeru. The flit cringed. Darien sighed again, but this time a much more heartfelt, apologetic sigh. "Tas, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you and I promise I’ll try to behave myself."

The flit roared at him, a pale comparison to the noises Megmentonith was capable of, and shook his head in anger.

Darien couldn’t help smiling. The flit knew how to get what he wanted. "I’m really, truly, deeply sorry, beautiful Tasukeru, and I would be honoured if you would ride on my shoulder."

The flit chirped, letting his master know that he was graciously forgiven and dug his claws into Darien’s shoulder knots.

Why don’t you ever treat me like that? Megmentonith was playing at being seriously offended.

"Because you don’t fit on my shoulder!" Darien bad mood was being banished by the bright sun and the realization that he, Megmentonith and Tasukeru had the beach all to themselves.

Megmentonith bugled, racing the waves, showing off for his rider. I will catch Nisabath if you want me to.

Darien laughed. "Because that would be a great way to end it with Kyosei."

The dragon bugled again as he splashed his rider. Do you really want me to chase Chuingadak? I don’t think he’s really my type.

Darien splashed back, even though his tiny wave was next to nothing against the amazingly bulk of Megmentonith. "I don’t think you could catch him."

The dragon roared. I could too! There was a moment of dead silence as the vain dragon finally realized what he said. Darien broke out in laughter, collapsing to his knees in the shallow water. The dragon snorted moodily, but couldn’t help smirking. His sense of humour got the better of him. Told you I’d do anything for you rider-mine.

The two almost killed themselves laughing. "If Chuingadak ever heard that..."

Darien impressed Megmentenith at The Healing Den.
Tasukeru is a special Halloween flit from The Healing Den.
Read about him on earth.
Background from All Hallow's Eve Backgrounds.