Become the Hunter [Keith]

IC Time: Autumn 11 AL
IC Place: Dining Cavern.

Zachary was so angry neither of his green flits gave him the time of day. They blinked between and went to wait out his dark mood, snuggling together in some unnamed dark and warm place. Well, that was fine by him. Zachary wanted to be alone. Sulkily, he stalked the corridors and the empty places of the compound, pumping his legs to work out some of his rage. Somewhere in the logical part of his mind, he knew he couldn't really lay the blame on Thatcher for his current emotional condition. You just didn't fall into bed with someone and then expect a commitment. If you acted like a whore, you'd be treated like one. He'd heard that line so many times in his dark past, it came to him like a mantra.

If this was the way of the world, he was just going to have to learn to get along in it, and he wasn't going to be the whore anymore. He wouldn't be used anymore, he'd be the user. With this new purpose in mind he made his way briskly and determinedly towards the dining hall in a semi-conscious reenactment of his meeting of Thatcher. It was earlier in the night this time around and there were more people eating and talking. He went to the sideboards and took a piece of bread and a mug of something warm and sweet as he surveyed his options, looking for a mark of this new sexually predacious version of himself...

ooc: Just to be clear, this is chronologically after the thread(s) between Zachary and Thatcher.

Dinnertime once more. And just in time; Keith's stomach growled as if the thought had cued it. Humming quietly to himself, he joined the throng of people in the Dining Hall. There weren't so many now; there were still a decent amount of people eating, but Keith purposely skipped the busiest time of the evening, to avoid the massive queue of people - and the added bonus of not having to wait as long for food.

He took a plate, quickly piled it, and sat down at the nearest empty table he saw. One hand tucked a perfectly-styled curl of mousy brown hair out of his heart-shaped face, while the other fingered his fork. To be honest, he was feeling slightly lost these days; there just didn't seem to be much to do, or to look forward to. Both hatchings had come and one, and he hadn't Impressed to either; he tried to keep his heart up, but it was a bit of a hit to his already-far-from-highest self-confidence. The Geneticists had let him Stand....but they'd turned out to be wrong about a lot of things, hadn't they?

Maybe they were wrong about him, too. Maybe he really wasn't worthy of Standing; maybe he'd never Impress. Was it him? Was there something wrong with him?

Wrong words; Keith winced as the memory flashed through his head, his father's coldly angry voice as he glared down at him: "Loren, what is wrong with you? After all we've done for you, given you only the best, this is how you repay us!/" And then the other, the horrified voice of the boy he'd once crushed on...." You're what? Dude, what's wrong with you? You stay away from me!"

He sighed; he hadn't been plagued by such memories for a while, but as his sense of restlessness impeded on his life, they started returning; with nothing to focus on, his mind drifted to the past. But the past was somewhere Keith didn't want to be; the past was a place of pain and betrayal.

He sighed slightly, frowning pensively down at his hardly-touched food. So much for being hungry. Well.....maybe, if I can't Impress a dragon, I can get a firelizard, he mused, trying to keep his spirits up and succeeding somewhat. Or a dragonet. They were supposed to be easier to impress, the hatchlings going to whoever had food for them. He'd really like to have one, he decided; they made for good companions. Next time there's a clutch, I should try for one/

Feeling somewhat better and fantasizing about owning his own firelizard, Keith ate slowly, letting his eyes roam aimlessly around the Dining Hall. After a few minutes, his own overlarge blue eyes caught the eyes of another, also roaming, deep, soulful brown eyes that caught his own, and held them. After a moment he realized what he was doing - staring at a complete stranger - and hastily pulled his gaze away; it was surprisingly difficult to do so. A soft blush suffused his skin as Keith looked back towards his plate, appetite fading for the second time that night.

Zachary narrowed his eyes as the other man looked down. As he had told Thacher, it was true that he wasn't a... particularly good judge of who may or may not be open to his advances, but it was difficult to miss the significance in the look the other boy cast his way. He noticed Zachary. There may even already be an attraction there. He didn't need to look for his mark- his quarry had found him.

He schooled his features into something a little less like a scowl of concentration and a little more friendly and solicitous. He made a sheepish half smile as he crossed his way through the milling diner's to reach Keith's table. The other man looked thoughtful and concerned, which was to his advantage. He could directly adapt Thatcher's strategy- listen to him and then make his advance.

"Hello," he said, his plate of sweet bread and mug of Klah in the other. "Do you mind if I join you?" His voice, when he spoke, bore no hint of the calculation in his brain. It was his normal soft, deep, and yet still somehow very vaguely feminine voice.

Keith picked at his food, pushing it around the plate with his fork more than actually eating it. He bit his lip, still embarrassed at being caught staring....Or at least, he must have been caught; he had looked right into the other man's eyes. He quickly cast around to remember his previous thoughts.....firelizards....he'd been thinking of firelizards. He tried to focus his mind on those again, but it was hard to concentrate. Giving up, he took a sip of his juice, abandoning trying to eat.

"Hello. Do you mind if I join you?"

Keith jumped, nearly choking on his drink. He looked up, straight into the already-familiar dark eyes. The man, undeniably handsome with his dark good looks, was standing right over him. But....why was he here? What did he want with Keith....to tell him off? But he didn't sound upset or anything.

Still, he could hardly say no - and part of him had to admit he didn't really want to - so he agreed slightly hesitantly, "Um - sure." His voice rang out higher than the othe young man's, slightly feminine in its naturally high pitch. He scooted down the bench in order to make room for the man - not that he really had to; there was a seat open opposite him, but it had been an automatic gesture. After a moment of awkward silence, in which he had to wonder why he was sitting with a stranger anyway, and, again, what was wanted of him, he added softly, "I - I'm Keith."

Zachary froze for several long moments. The body language of the other boy, his scooting over on the bench despite the ample empty space... it was exactly the same he himself had shown when Thatcher first approached him. He was forcibly reminded of his own apprehension, shyness, excitement, and for a moment his own intentions nauseated him. How could he take advantage of the unsuspecting young man, making him feel used the same way he had felt used when he'd learned that he was little more than some agreeable exercise for Thatcher.

But... the night with Thatcher HAD been fun. The kind of fun he hadn't had in a long time, and if he didn't follow through with learning to play this game he might never have again. And the other young man- Keith it was- he was so sweet looking. He couldn't help but be attracted.

Recovering, he smiled again to mask the thoughts whirling in his head and sat down across from Keith, caressing the mug of klah in his hands just to give himself something to do. He held out one of those hands, warmed by contact with the mug, and offered it in a handshake. "Hi Keith, I'm Zachary. It's nice to meet you." Without meaning to, he lingered over the handshake, holding on to the other man's smaller one for slightly longer than was absolutely necessary. He withdrew when he realized what he was doing. Hey- he wasn't hopeless at this. That was most certainly flirting.

It was a long moment before the man reacted, and Keith stared up at him, nervous and slightly confused. Wasn't he going to sit down? Or had he decided he didn't want to? During the moment of awkward silence, the other boy had an odd expression on his face - indecision? Or was it something more?

Then the moment passed, and he was smiling gently again; the next moment he had sat down across from Keith - so his scooching over had been entirely unnecessary, he realized with some chagrin. The man labelled himself as Zachary, and Keith shook his hand; he noticed that Zachary held on even after he'd stopped shaking, and he squirmed the slightest bit under the contact. But then the darkly handsome man had withdrawn his hand, looking quite, well, normal, and Keith had to wonder, disconcerted, if he'd imagined the way Zachary had lingered over the handshake.

"Nice to meet you too," he said quickly, to cover up the moment. Not wanting anymore of the silence - as each one seemed to be accompanied by something confusing - he cast around for a suitable subject, and settled on the first that came to mind. "So....are you a candidate, or-?" He stopped, not sure what to add after the 'or'; just a colonist didn't seem very tactful, after all.

Zachary couldn't entirely repress the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth at the question, though he tried not to let his lingering disappointment and self doubt show outwardly. On the positive side, broaching that somewhat delicate subject took him down a peg, further weakening his resolve to catch Keith in his net like a romantic predator. "Y...yes," he said somewhat awkwardly as he settled himself in more comfortably. "I... I suppose I am. I mean I was, I stood at the last hatching. I was afraid I wouldn't be a candidate much longer because people were so upset by the mistakes the geneticists made. I thought they might start over. I've heard that we will get another chance, though. I guess you are a candidate too?"

Just as he'd finished talking, his flit Caroline came out of between right above their table. She circled twice and landed as at the same moment his other green, Marli, appeared and settled quietly and gently on his shoulder. Carolina seized an enormous section of the sweet roll he'd been nibbling and plopped down on her rather plump bottom right on the table. Munching, she looked Keith up and down quote boldly, her oddly marked eyes blinking slowly at him as she contemplated him. The two greens had only been waiting for Zachary's mood to settle before coming into the dining hall for a snack. "Um, these are my flits," he said somewhat sheepishly- mainly because of Caroline's ever strange behavior. "That one's Caroline, and the quiet one on my shoulder here is Marli."

Keit winced at the awkwardness in Zachary's hesitant answer; he'd momentarily forgotten that to be a candidate now, so soon after the hatching, meant failure. Which meant he'd momentarily forgotten about his own failure, which wasn't such a bad thing. Well, I guess we can wallow in misery together, he thought, lips twitching slightly with the urge to smile. No, his littler inner voice was right; he should stop grieving, there'd be other chances (his inner voice always patronized him till he realized he was being silly).

He blinked in surprise at the other candidates' thoughts; was he right? Would they get kicked out, as it were, because of the Geneticists' mistakes? But they'd been allowed to stay Standing even after the first Hatching. He certainly hoped he'd get a dragon; though sometimes he thought the reason he wanted one made him selfish. When he thought about dragons he should be thinking about how, if he had one, he could help fight Thread, but he didn't; in fact the thought of Threadfighting sort of scared him. Instead he thought longingly of the way dragons were supposed to love you unconditionally...about the strong loving bond between dragon and human...and how much he wanted that, so that he could be sure that no matter who he was or what he did, someone would still love him.

Selfish, maybe. But he couldn't stop himself from thinking it. Hoping it. Because all the people he'd ever loved had either turned away from him, or been taken away: his parents, his crush, both turned their backs.....his childhood friend Anna, his boyfriend Timothy, both stolen by different means....He just wanted a true friend that wouldn't live him. And from what he'd heard, that is what being with a dragon was suppose to be like.

"....candidate too?"

Keith refocused guiltily on Zachary; he'd gotten distracted and hadn't heard the whole question. Oops. But it was rather clear from what he had heard that Zachary was asking him if he was also a candidate. Keith gave a quick nod and a quiet "Yes," in assent. He didn't have a chance to say more, because in the next instant two firelizards had popped out of nowhere.

The candidate's eyes visibly lit up at the sight of the firelizards, both green, but still different. One was a green with a bluish tinge that looked almost fat in a way; the other was more average-looking, a uniform green color. They were both, in Keith's opinion, beautiful. The green one landed on Zachary's shoulder, while the other promptly stole his sweetroll, and ate it while staring boldly at Keith' he had the feeling he was being examined closely. The effect of her piercing stare along with the blue marks above her eyes that looked like a fancy woman's eyeshadow was quite amusing, and made Keith giggle.

"Marli and Caroline - they're beautiful," he nearly gushed, smiling; the appearance of the firelizards seemed to have thawed much of his shyness. "I'd love to Impress a firelizard - they look like they'd make such great pets."

Keith, Zachary realized, had a smile that could melt your heart. When his face lit up at the presence of Caroline and Marli, Zach found himself catching his breath. When the other man actually giggled his stomach did an odd little flip that landed it way up far closer to his heart than any stomach had a right to be. Sure he was attracted to the young man, but there was something unutterably sweet and unguarded about him that made the feeling a little bit, well... a little bit more than that.

To conceal the strange new thoughts and sensations going through his mind, Zachary hastily picked up the bit of his sweet roll not already claimed by Caroline, first placing a small tidbit in his own mouth and then distractedly handing a small nibble to the quieter flit on his shoulder. “They are... something else,” he agreed as the sweet, delicate green on his shoulder trilled a thank you and gave his finger a little nudge with her nose. As if to act in a counterpoint to her sister, ungracious Caroline stood up, sprayed crumbs from her mouth as she rid herself of them, and trundled determinedly over to Keith. She stuck her nose right in his face and looked at him more closely. In a few short moments she'd made up her mind about him, and she leaned all of her weight hard into his chest, demanding immediate and decisive attention. She wanted scratches, and she'd get them if she had to sit on Keith's head.

“Yeah, uh, sorry about that,” Zachary said as Caroline crowded him. “They can also be really big handfuls, at least she can. She's an odd duck... she either loves you, or she hates you, and she tends to make up her mind about new people pretty quickly. She's decided to love you, I see. I... am not sure if that's preferable. She'll consider you her property for the rest of her life. Good luck with that,” he said with a quiet, honey-toned chuckle as she tried to climb Keith's shirt.

Keith completely missed anything that might have shown of Zachary's inner turmoil; his attention was focused on the bluish firelizard, munching on the sweetroll. Her actions made him remember his own food; he picked up a roll of his own - unexpectedly at the same time Zachary reclaimed the part of the sweetroll that Caroline hadn't stolen. The simultaneous movements made him smile, a motion directed at Zachary this time rather than the greens.

Marli's trill was an unexpectedly sweet sound, and it made Keith wish once more for one of the dragons' smaller cousins. "Something else," he echoed with a small grin, blue eyes drawn once more to Caroline as the oddly-tinged green stood up. He watched with raised eyebrows as she marched over to him, and suddenly he had a muzzle in his face. "Apparently."

He let out a rather undignified yelp when the green suddenly let all her weight fall on him, nearly toppling off the bench; that he had not been prepared for. Once he'd recovered ,though, he chuckled, reaching out to tickle Caroline's head. "What was that for?" His hand moved down to scratch between her headknobs, as he'd seen others do with their pets.

He glanced up at Zachary as the other candidate made to explain, and smiled. "It's all right, I don't mind. Good to know I'm loved?" He raised the end of the last statement into something that was almost a question, raising his eyebrows and smiling a crooked grin; he was unaware of how cute the gesture was. He found that Caroline didn't like his attention away from her - of at least that was the impression she gave off, trying to climb up his shirt - and looked back down at her. "So I'm yours now, huh? I suppose I can live with that - as long as you promise not to rip my shirts to shreds, stop!" he added, carefully unhooking her taloned feet from his shirt, then looking down at it critically. He liked this shirt.

He was distracted completely from the firelizard's antics by the sound of Zachary's laugh. It was a sweet thing, that reminded him of honey and warmth and sunlight and.....A vivid face flashed through his mind, one entirely different from the one in front of him: a smooth-faced lad with deep auburn hair and sparkling green eyes.....So different from Zachary's dark hair and eyes, but then why did they suddenly seem so inexplicably alike? Keith's heart ached for long-gone Timothy, suddenly revived in his mind, but that didn't stop his stomach from flipping when he forced himself to refocus on Zachary, shaking his head slightly without realizing he was doing it. He was caught for the second time that night by the man's dark gaze, and found his brain at a sudden standstill, at a loss for anything to say.