Up and Away [Regal Rises]

[Kitsuneko]

The sun was high and bright in an otherwise cloud-covered sky, and the beams of the sun were shining down over Rindell Island at noon. They also shone on the small, silvery shape of a sleeping fire lizard. She was curled up on the sand by the riverbank, tail curled around her body, but the young obsidian was beginning to stir. Regal's eyes opened suddenly, and they were whirling with red and purple. She was hungry. She needed meat--no, more than that...she needed blood.

Lucky for her the fire lizard was already beside a convenient source of food. She manage to snatch up a plump fish, and instincts leading her, drained it of blood. Though her stomach was full, her hunger was not yet sated. There was something else...With a hiss snarl, Regal leaped into the air and took flight. She screamed a challenge to any male within hearing range. This obsidian was ready for a mate, but only the best would win!

(OOC: NPC males welcome!)

[lore]

When Regal screeched her challenge, a plump bronze (known as Ribbon to the Weyrfolk that gave him treats) started awake, nearly tumbling down from the branch he was on. He righted himself a moment later, spreading his bronze wings wide to stabilize himself.

He hissed in irritation. What was that? Oh, an obsidian rising, flying past his tree. She wanted chasers! Well, Ribbon would oblige her, and he was sure he would catch her - he had surely won many such flights in the past, after all, though he couldn't remember any of them!

He launched himself after her, bugling his response to her challenge.

Babe, the king was here.

[Lark]

Virys was not a great bronze, or a fierce brown. He was no sturdy brown, or even a calm blue. No, he was an ebony, but what an ebony he was! The grey and black male uncoiled himself from his resting spot in the sun, watching as the equally dark firelizard launched herself into the skies above. There was something to do today! There was something to have fun with! Except it was really quite hot to be honest, and he was feeling kind of sluggish.

Did he really want to go after that pretty female? Yes. That answer would always be yes. That didn't mean he didn't grumble to himself about it though. His was off doing who knew what with that four legged No-Wing. So, that meant there was no one to keep him from chasing this girl into the sun. Right, so he had to spread his wings like so, and flap them to get into the air and then off he went! Trilling happily in greeting to Regal, the little male ignored the others, and he ignored that he was only a small fighter that was chasing.

This was his lady and he would follow her wherever she wanted him to!

[Akira]

Buster might have seemed lazy to just about everyone he had ever met, but that side of his personality was thrown to the wind when he heard a rising female’s screaming challenge. The large burly wood colored brown took to the air as quickly as his wings could carry him. He bugled his acceptance to the obsidian queen’s challenge. He might not have been much to look at or particularly athletic, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t give Regal his all, that didn’t mean that this brown would chase after her until his corn silk colored wings failed him and he fell from the sky. Which is exactly what he called to the glorious firelizard that was now holding his sole attention.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max was a tiny, energetic, and talkative firelizard, which he used to his advantage as he too joined the chase of obsidian Regal. He spun his light chocolate colored body in tight loop-de-loops beneath Regal as he sang to her. He was doing his best to impress the queen in an attempt to better his chances at success, but he knew he would have to work extremely hard to prove himself better than the two bronzes that had also decided to chase the obsidian. Max knew that he had his work cut out for him, but that just made this chase all that much more exciting for the spunky brown.

[pulp]

OOC: tossing in an NPC!~

Gills was tearing open a fish on the opposite side of the riverbank when the obsidian firelizard went into action. The lithe blue was still tearing into his kill happily when the other flit had wrangled her own fish and, oh, oh she was blooding it? Gills chirped up, alarm in his eyes. Oh but miss! Miss didn't you know? The meat was the best part, and those scales! Gills always loved scaled, he loves how they shone (and unluckily for his owner, Gills did love to collect the particular colorful bunches of fish scales). The blue warbled a bit, some sense finally filtering into his mind when the obsidian went darting off and a few number of suitors followed.

Oh! Oh so this was what was happening!

Gills chirped up, trilling out an answer to that challenge and zooming off to join the batch of suitors that were already after Regal. He was just as eager as the rest of them! Sure, he wasn't as large as the browns or the bronze, but shards, there was even an ebony chasing, so Gills figured he couldn't be counted out so easily. The blue warbled, twisting about and cork-screwing after Regal, see! He could be just as flashy! Well, perhaps that was a bit literal seeing there were bits of fish scales still stuck to his hide.

[Kitsuneko]

Regal hummed to herself in satisfaction as she continued to fly. She was already attracting males, and that made her happy. Even if she didn't know exactly why--it wasn't like she had done this before. She sneaked a glance behind her a few times as she flew.

Ooh, she had attracted a bronze, look at that! She crooned happily, and spotted a blur of dark hide like her own as a second male joined the flight. Oh, an ebony was chasing her. How cute. And now a pair of browns were following her as well, trying to impress her with their flying. She gazed at the two of them with interest. Regal's attention was drawn away from the two browns by her last chaser, however. Oh, shiny! She hummed appreciatively at the eye-catching blue.

The obsidian was still full of energy as she flew over the island--this flight was still far from over. She'd choose a mate eventually, but the males had to impress her with more than keeping up, first. She weaved back and forth through the air, following, more or less, the line of the river where she had started out. It was hard to tell at times, though; the sky was pretty clouded today, and she was climbing high enough now that some of the lowest ones were below her and obscuring the landscape. Regal flew on, unbothered. Hopefully her chasers would still be able to see her.

[pulp]

Oh this was grand fun! Gills was babbling with high-pitched notes of glee, twisting after the Obsidian as he seemed to follow the line of the river. Oh he liked that! The flitt corkscrewed a bit, enjoying the chase in itself rather than focusing on out-machoing the other contenders. Reasons to just fly were high on the list of things that he appreciated. Fish scales still clung to him, and shards the way they were reflecting the light bouncing up off of the river delighted him even more. See? His hide didn't naturally have any shimmer or shine to it, but oh Gills was smart enough to be able to have that without being some high-ranking color.

Sure, he might not smell like something too wonderful, they were fish scales, but hey, it was a give and take situation.

The blue sped up after Regal as she made her way climbing into the air, and being more of a sprinter build, well shards, he had no problem worming up through the cloudy skies afterward, warbling with that infectious good mood that seemed to be rolling off of him in waves. He so did like flying up in the clouds! Gills dropped a bit so he was beneath Regal, spinning and corkscrewing around while chattering on in some horribly butchered version of a Harper's song that he liked to try and imitate. See~ He could try to woo the lady with his excellent melodic voice. Well, it certainly sounded nice to Gills, perhaps the lady would simply appreciate the effort?

[Akira]

Buster growled softly at the smaller firelizards that joined the chase. Why was nothing ever easy? Oh well, it wouldn’t be much of a flight if things weren’t challenging now would it? The brown firelizard beat his corn silk colored wings quickly, doing his best to keep up with the Obsidian female who decided to climb into the clouds. It was starting to get a little difficult to see Regal, so Buster picked up the pace to keep himself close to Regal. He crooned happily, this flight had just begun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max trilled and crooned and did backflips in an attempt to gain Regal’s attention…and affection. Oh darn, someone else had impressed her. Oh how interesting! Max trilled happily as he climbed into the clouds, doing his best to keep his position bellow the obsidian queen. He sang to her, about nothing in particular really, but he sang none-the-less. There wasn’t much the small brown firelizard wouldn’t do to impress the object of his affection, especially if it meant beating out that lazy, no-good brown he shared a human with.

[corgi]

Persikat, glanced skyward, his bronze head tilting up at the sight of the queen and her many followers. He then looked at himself, quite critically really, because Faranath forbid that he not be presentable! How unbearable, look at that blue! Was that, the bronze grimaced while spreading his cream-tinted wings, did that blue have filthy fish scales on him?! How disgusting and absurd and all icky! To think he rolled around in his food, Persikat shuttered dramatically, making sure he emphasized his disapproval with a good shake from nose to tail.

All the other chasers were silly, wait!! A bronze, another bronze?! Persikat hissed, and almost seemed to stick his tongue out at the other King. He soon flapped as hard as he could, and embellished his approach with much showing off. He was a King and she a lovely Queen! Wouldn't they make a wonderful couple?

He rather liked that idea, and he sang it out in brassy notes to Regal. Your Persikat had arrived!!

[Kitsuneko]

It seemed like a long time to Regal as she continued flying and teasing her chasers. Certainly long enough for the sun to have changed position in the sky, when it wasn't hidden by the clouds, and she could tell she was starting to slow a little. She sneaked another glance at her chasers, considering them.

She appreciated the blue's sense of style, if not his smell--or his singing voice, for that matter. At least he was enthusiastic in his pursuit of her. The other two to really catch her attention were the two browns--especially Max, with his trills and his backflips. Surely he would make a good mate...On the other claw, that ebony was brave to chase after her at all, and there was something sweet about Virys. But then she was a sub-queen, shouldn't she deserve to have a proper king for her mate?

Regal did a loop in the air and gave a happy squeal. What was this? A second bronze had joined her flight, still strong and full of energy. He seemed determined to out perform his rivals, singing out to the obsidian. She welcomed him with a croon of her own, excited at having yet another chaser, even if it made her ultimate choice a little harder. She gave a croon of encouragement to all the males; this flight was clearly coming to close, but she flew on a little longer. Finally, though, her wings began to ache, and she knew it was time to choose.

It was a difficult choice, but she slowed her flight and circled with a croon. Bronze Persikat was in the lead now, and it was him that Regal approached with a flirty trill. He was a good choice of a mate, she was sure, and she paused long enough to let him catch her and officially end the flight.

[corgi]

The quote might say "the early bird gets the worm" but in this situation, being late was a good thing...!

Persikat had thought he might be too late, seeing as the pretty Obsidian had been flying for a while now, but that wasn't true. As Regal glanced back at the other chasers, the bronze had puffed himself up. Surely she wouldn't want that other Bronze, right, or that blue or... But Persikat didn't get to stew anymore. The obsidian sang back at him, and with a Queen's grace she let herself fall.

Happily, he covered the air between him and the Obsidian. The King and Queen now could dance away the night, Persikat thought, and gripping Regal, he cooed that very happy note to her...