Please don't hate each other. {Dean, Haelyn}

[kthehuman]

Castiel's throat was dry. Now that he was thinking about it, it seemed as though his mouth had stopped producing saliva entirely. And what was that strange fluttering in his stomach? He suddenly thought he didn't want them to meet, and stopped halfway between where he had been and where he was going. Absorbed as she was in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed him just yet. He looked back at Dean, wide-eyed. Seraphim cooed from her perch at his shoulder, poking him in the neck with her nose. Then it clicked, and he placed these feelings as an unfamiliar emotion: nervousness.

What did he have to be nervous about? He was merely introducing two friends. Castiel took a deep breath and continued at a slower, more calculated rate. Upon reaching the small woman, he stopped again, his body going completely rigid. Seraphim purred encouragingly at him, nuzzling against his jaw line. He stumbled with his speech for a moment, but managed to swallow and get out a greeting. "Hello, Haelyn. I, uh...I want you to meet someone." Castiel turned his head, gesturing to Dean. "This is my good friend, Dean Winchester. We are from the same place." His eyes lingered on Dean, a familiar comfort in what was becoming a very uncomfortable situation; he returned his gaze to Haelyn, hoping for the best. "Dean, this is Haelyn, 'rider of gold Riklith."

[fassa]

For someone who rode dragons, Dean had expected her to be - well - taller than Nocta - and maybe even slightly broader like a certain fictional warrior princess, but then again, there weren’t any base comparisons back on Earth. She didn't stir when they approached, but the shimmery silvery blue firelizard on her shoulder did.

“Charmed,” Dean grinned after Castiel spoke, reaching out for a handshake, and Robin, now perched on Dean's left shoulder, continued gazing at Haelyn, assessing her new companion - his brother.

[Pocket]

Following her conversation with Carlton, despite her best efforts to alleviate the mood, Haelyn still found herself dwelling within her own thoughts. With a mug of refreshed klah, the goldrider had taken refuge at one of the tables towards the back of the cavernous room. Rime had woken in that expansive walk, and had since refused to fall back asleep. That hadn’t stopped the little blue from making such a fuss because can’t sleep and won’t sleep seemed to be cross-defined in his mind. She’d taken to petting the whining blue, idling sipping while her mind was a thousand lengths off.

She startled back into the present at a familiar voice, glancing up to the angel and another, taller, man. “Hello, Castiel.” She greeted pleasantly, standing from her bench perch. A slight momentary pause, her eyes flicking to Castiel at the mentioning of them being of the same place. They were from the same world? That was… As far as she was aware, none of the lost had known one another before coming to Pern. Questions itched at the back of her mind, though she buried the will to bombard the pair with them. Speaking of manners…

“Ah, forgive me, my mind’s been elsewhere lately. It might’ve taken a short trip Between.” With a smile, Haelyn shook the offered hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Dean. I hope your.. transition, for lack of better word, into Igen hasn’t been too difficult. If there’s anything you need, please let me know.” She turned back towards the table, motioning them closer. “Come, sit down.”

Rime perked his head up, the last whine dying in his throat as he noticed the newcomers to their little area. He wasn’t quite sure how to assess them, though he felt Haelyn’s regard for the shorter of the humanoids. His attention focused down to his siblings perched on their shoulders. His blue sister on Castiel’s shoulder he knew little of – but his brother on Dean’s shoulder… Rime let out a whine, flopping over and half burying himself in Haelyn’s shawl – all while small eyes glittered and never left his brother’s form. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

[fassa]

“Thanks- guess you could say it’s been an interesting transition,” Dean smiled, recounting the things he had to get used to since he arrived. He sat across the table from Haelyn, legs straddling both sides of the bench and rested his arm on the table. Haelyn seemed like an alright person, going by first impressions and the handshake. And with Castiel’s endorsement.

"Cas- Castiel here said you'd be the one to talk to with, uh, regards to what’s been happening lately and all the Lost showing up," he said, giving Castiel a quick glance.

Robin craned his neck, adjusting himself on Dean’s shoulder and keeping direct eye contact with his brother; yes, he remembered now - his first blood, shrinking himself into the safety of his human. He hissed and stuck a tongue out at the blue. It was a shame that his brother was such a coward, not at all fun to wrestle with. But he might be fun to tease, so he didn't bother to mask his affections, letting him know he tasted nice and soft like food. He glanced at his brother's human -- could he take them both on? It is tempting. Would their sister join in?

He can take them all!

Seemingly reaching a decision, Robin ceased his tail swaying and hopped off his human’s shoulder onto the table.

Dean narrowed his eyes at his firelizard, a crease forming between his brows, then looked to the burrowed form in Haelyn's shawl. Just what now? He groaned inwardly, somehow knowing even before it registered that Robin was looking for trouble. It was like his senses were tingling, his attention keened.

No, just no. Stop-

Dean moved his hand from the table in a not so inconspicuous attempt to gently but firmly hold down his flitt with his palm. Only to have had Robin bite back in indignation. By reflex, he withdrew his hand hastily, though the bite didn’t hurt much.

Robin flew upwards, scowling at them all from a beam above their table.

“Well, these firelizards are something.”

[kthehuman]

After Dean had settled himself, Cas sat down next to him, nearly touching his knees, facing Haelyn. He put his hands in his lap, regarding the others quietly. Dean's firelizard, Robin, seemed to be approaching Haelyn in a threatening manner - that's when he noticed that she had obtained her own firelizard. Seraphim noticed as well, and tensed on his shoulder, tail flicking. She sensed that Robin wanted to harm their brother, who was quite obviously scared; there was no way that she would tolerate such a thing! Luckily for him, his human put him back in line. She watched him in the rafters, though - he would not surprise her with an attack.

"Indeed they are," Castiel agreed about the firelizards as he shifted his gaze to Dean. "And yours seem to be a troublemaker, Dean."

[Pocket]

"I can only imagine." With a shake of her head, Haelyn leaned her elbows on the table. Her smile faltered slightly, though the rider nodded with more assurance than she felt. "That I am. At the moment, we've just been corraling the Lost out of the desert. With threadfall coming.." Suppressing a shiver, the short woman straightened her posture and smiled. "If there's anything I can help you with, please feel free to ask, at any time."

Up on her shoulder, Rime continued to watch his brother with focused interest, despite his mewling. His small frame froze as his green brother leapt down to the table, claws digging into Haelyn's shoulder enough to make the woman hiss under her breath. It wasn't until his brother flew to a higher perch that Rime leapt out of his hiding place -- unfortunately, unable to untangle himself from her shawl. The small blue landed with a rather high pitch squeak onto the table surface, keeping calm as he assessed his injuries before turning towards Haelyn and wailing.

The goldrider raised an eyebrow, sighing affectionately as she worked to free his small claws from the knit of the fabric. "Hold still, Rime." The blue snuffled and hawed, practically dancing away -- perfectly unharmed in any way -- from Haelyn's grip once he was free. He scowled up at his brother, chest puffing in a point to stand up for himself before moving to inspect the two new humans (and his sister) on the other side of the table.

With an affectionate sigh, the woman adjusted the fabric back to it's rightful place. "That's.. one way to put it, I suppose." She grinned to herself, which dialed back to a look of fondness as Rime peeked up at his sister. "Rime can be such a little drama king already. What did you name yours, if I may ask?" She directed the question to both of them, mug soon forgotten.    

[fassa]

Robin watched his siblings through narrowed slits, eyes glinting in the shadows, couched with his belly to the beam. His brother had put up a good fight earlier but made much unnecessary squeaking. And now he was putting on such false bravado only because he had the humans on his side. Just you wait, his tail seemed to say, swinging predatorily scraping the beam.

Dean knitted his brows lightly when Castiel, being Castiel, chose to sit close to him barely an arm’s length away - there was plenty of room on the bench - but Dean, blinking a few times, said nothing about personal space. Instead he shifted back a little on what space was left of on his end of the bench and turned his attention to Castiel then Haelyn, breaking into a grin.

“Robin, firelizard wonder,” grin subsiding gradually when he realised neither of them would get it. Well, at least it was a fairly normal name though given his disposition to attacking on sight, perhaps Rambo would have been a better suited name.

Haelyn's and Castiel's firelizards seemed more manageable, coiled up close to them. Castiel was right but Dean guessed he didn't mind that much as Robin had shown to be capable of handling himself. In any case, Robin had chosen to latch himself to him, as did Dick Grayson to Bruce Wayne.

Yeah okay, Robin was a good naming choice.

Dean glanced up at his firelizard, who stared back at him with alert eyes, pleased that his human had deemed him worthy enough to be a companion to grace him with this name.

Then shifting his gaze back to Haelyn, he leaned his weight towards the table as Castiel spoke before piping up, straight to the chase. “So how many people like me and Castiel have come across so far?”

[kthehuman]

Seraphim alighted down from her perch on Cas’ shoulder, landing next to her brother. She circled him, chirping at him a few times. She wanted to make sure he was unharmed. When it was decided that he was in perfect condition, she returned to watching the Troublesome One, Robin; she sat on her haunches, wings folded against her body, and held her head high to warn him of her gaze.

Castiel was unsure what Dean thought was so wondrous about his firelizard, but decided to file that away for later questioning. He smiled affectionately as his own leapt to the table. “This is Seraphim. She seems to be very...protective.” He scratched behind her eye ridges. She shook her head away from him, and he held his hand up in a manner that humans use to convey that they are "backing off." She cooed apologetically; she merely did not want to be distracted from her mission of watching her brother. He glanced up to where the Green was perched. having to focus intently to see him. “He does appear to hide fairly well...” he said mostly to himself. He glanced at Dean when he asked Haelyn about other Lost; he turned his gaze to her expectantly.

[Pocket]

With the swishing of his brother's tail, Rime gave an indignant huff. The blue straightened up, practically sticking his green tongue out at the other firelizard before turning away in dismissal. His attention focused on his sister, turning to keep a facet on Robin before chirruping at the blue that had previously hovered over him. In all the fuss with his green brother, he'd hadn't a chance to see Seraphim. 

Haelyn kept an eye between the firelizards, reflecting back on their short, shared history. If worse came, she could bother Riklith awake and ask her to intervene, but wasn't too inclined to do so until push came to shove. Plus, after all, siblings will squabble. 

At their revealed names, the dragonrider could only give a polite smile and try not to feel too lost on the origins of those unique names. They must have held weight in their homeworld, at least. "Wonderful names. I hope they serve them well."

The woman perked up slightly, biting her lip as she thought back. How many had been picked up, now? "... Twelve." She paused, doing a quick mental tally before nodding. "Yes, twelve. Most have been sparse picks, one or two here and there. Nothing like your gigantic group I found." She grinned at Castiel. 

"Yes, there was the five from that, Nocta's original pick up -- and I believe there was one more with you, when you came through, Dean?" That was eight. "A group of two, a single pick up, and then," She faultered for a moment, staring at the wood grain of the table. With a slight shake, she offered a sheepish smile. "Then there was the.. riderless dragon. Paarthurnax, I believe his name was." The thought of that concept still left her slightly off-mark. 

"We've tried finding some similar point the Lost share, but so far there's been none. Not even anything similar in pick-up points in the desert..." With a shake of her head, her hand came up to fidget idly with her shawl. "It's baffling, to be quite honest."