Logs:A Tough Act To Follow
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| RL Date: 15 June, 2014 |
| Who: Aishani, N'rov |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr, Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: After her 'networking', Aishani and N'rov spend turnover dancing, drinking, and discussing work, family, and labels. |
| Where: Monaco Weyr |
| When: Day 28, Month 13, Turn 34 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Oriane/Mentions, M'kris/Mentions, R'hin/Mentions, Jyani/Mentions, Ali/Mentions, Hattie/Mentions, Lilah/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Backdated~ |
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| There are two things Aishani has to do on Turnover and only one that she really likes to do - something of a simplification, as there are parts of the things she has to do that she likes, and so on, but she'd put it similarly, so. She has to make the rounds to maintain her connections at the Weyrs - for better or worse - which has turned into a whole gift-giving thing, and she has to be seen at enough parties in this turn's dress to warrant her weaver handing it over for free. And obviously, she likes to spend the evening with N'rov, preferably after the pressure is off. This turn, she's arranged things so her night mostly ends with her visit to Monaco - probably because staying south sounds better than going home into the snow and cold. Once done finding and speaking with Oriane, she's made her way from the crowded cavern out into the torch-and-firelit night, drink in hand. « Turn left, » says the amused baritone that's taken on something of N'rov's own tone, but then it's to Iesaryth instead of directly to her. N'rov's been providing an arm to walk around on, a sherpa for the gifts (to solemnly hand them over to Shani when they meet the recipient) plus the few items she's given in return, and generally well-behaved eye candy... at least until her more private sessions. « Thank you, » is the response, Iesaryth likewise flavoured with Aishani's sharper notes, but her essential mellowness reigns. Thankfully for N'rov, there's not even that much to carry, and private sessions are the exception rather than the rule. It's time for a party, and even she won't push, not tonight. She takes a moment to just breathe and take an uninterrupted sip of her drink before she turns left as she's told, finding her way through the edges of the greenery, the firelight beginning to grow dim. She's had the foresight not to wear heels. There's a series of instructions (walk this way, walk that way), but at least N'rov/Vhaeryth doesn't actually seem to expect her to hop three times on her left foot, even in flats. It's after « Turn around, » that there's a step behind her and a strong, familiar arm reaching to snag her waist and draw her back into that helpful greenery. Iesaryth is amused by passing those instructions on, floating along Aishani's own amusement edged with mild frustration there toward the end - a little anticipation. Shani knows she's about to be surprised (and there's few places to hide knives under her dress) so when that arm reaches out, her faint gasp is probably from that waiting; a little liquor spills from her glass, over her fingers as he draws her into the dark. It's a glass that N'rov endeavors to rescue, and drink from, but only after he's found her mouth. "All done?" His next question, "Good news?" She'll hand it over gladly - and after he's found her lips and she's kissed him in return, Shani's fingers are in her mouth, trying to get off the worst of it before she touches something. "Yes." Relief tangible in that one syllable. "And nothing bad. She likes me, I think. Right now." For now. Another drink's followed by N'rov's holding the glass until she's ready to take it back. "Right now, you say. Are you thinking M'kris is trying to turn her against you?" With a laugh, shaking her head, "No." Shani looks over her shoulder, as much as she can, beginning to grin. "I'm thinking I might decide I have something to say again and screw it up." She tests the tackiness of her fingers before taking the glass back, lifting it in a toast before drinking. "Here's to avoiding that." "You, something to say? Never." N'rov smirks at her. "I'll toast to not screwing up, but not to your not talking. Come on," and after one last stolen sip, he moves to usher her out of the foliage and back into the crowd. There's more dancing to be had. Smirking back - but tipping her head back to kiss his cheek after - Shani tells him, "Good enough. And I can only get so far on my looks, I suppose." She'll let him have the glass as they head back to the party, but only because there's more to drink along with the dancing - some of which has moved outside where there's air and space, near the bonfires. "As though that weren't very far," N'rov mock-admonishes her before they get back to the drinking, the dancing, and other dallying. When a woman comes around, offering flower necklaces that she wears so lavishly with her jewelry that they pretty well hide whatever she's wearing, she gets attention from the bronzerider; "Which of these do you want, Shani? The sultry red one, the demure white one, or the gold that's going to scatter pollen everywhere so you'll never be allowed to forget it?" Shani's in a particularly good mood, perhaps a little due to all three of those 'D's, but mostly the drinking. When N'rov stops the woman, it doesn't take her more than a moment to decide: "The red." She has something of a sultry smile for him before adding, "For the color. I'm all black and white - the others won't be as dramatic." And she does have a flair for drama. As she's waiting for her flowers, "I visited my family. I had to take Jyani yesterday." "We can't have that. The red, then," N'rov tells the woman, slipping her a mark-fraction once he's taken the time to pick out just the right one. Once he's turned away to drape it around his girl's neck, though, "'Had to'?" Lifting her hair out of from under them carefully so as not to dislodge blossoms, Aishani favors N'rov with a brilliant smile, winding arms around his neck. But not too close, flowers. "'Had to', so she was with the rest of the family tonight. I was on a deadline 'had to', but I spoke with my aunt about... everything." Like he'd told her to, not that she's about to add that. Even with her gaze as warm as it is now. "Safe and sound. Did it help?" N'rov eyes the garland with less concern for its safety, for all that he's the one who bought it, before dancing her off into the thick of things: not standing in one spot, not where they're easy to overhear, but moving. "I think so." Shani waits a beat, or a few - until N'rov's danced them back into the small crowd, most of which isn't really in the state or mood to listen to anyone else. Resting her head on his shoulder, lips conveniently near his ear, "What it comes to is... well, Priya says there's things I can't change and there's things I can. Better to put time into the latter than the former." "Logical woman, your aunt. But is she keeping in mind," N'rov says with a sharp grin and a glance, "that your definition of what you can't do is pretty narrow, and of what you can do more expansive than most mortals'?" Aishani has to allow a slight smile for that, dark eyes brightened, visibly pleased. Maybe not so visibly to just anyone, but obviously to him. "There is that," she agrees, a bit wryly. There's a time where there's just music before, "Maybe it's more along the lines of things I have to work around for now and things I can work with. Theoretically, if I do my job like a good goldrider and don't cause trouble, I get left alone. That ought to be enough." "Enough," N'rov begins, but then there's an elbow-happy adolescent storming through in tears, followed by a couple more in no better shape, and he swirls her out of the way as quickly as possible before resuming. Although he keeps half an eye on the trio in case they go for another run, mostly he's looking back at Shani. "Enough for what, though?" She can't help but watch them either, with morbid curiosity - Jyani's due for this sort of thing any minute now. What will Shani do with her then? It's there in the mild horror in her eyes, before looking back to N'rov, shaking her head. But sobering, "Enough. Enough for me. Enough to accept. But I can't stop wanting more. Everything." A pause, then a touch moodily, "And when I try, people come and poke at my ambition. As if I can... will things to be different. I've tried that. Trust." "The problem's when that 'everything' cuts at the rope you're balancing on," N'rov says, the dry assessment tinged with warmth for her, allowing that change in her expression to pass for now. "If you ever did get everything, where would you be?" She considers that for a long time, considers him and that warmth before, "Bored, probably." With a wry little smile, aware of the irony, "What's wrong with reaching, though? Settling would be easier. Make life easier. But I can't do it." N'rov's is a slow, deepening smirk. "Just the word I was thinking of." Even with the crowd being less disruptive at the moment, he skips the opportunity for fancy footwork in favor of continuing their conversation. "There are a lot of things you could reach for, which makes me think. You know how Fort's kitchens still aren't great; is there a way you'd like your place to run differently, any improvements to be made? Or would you rather make your mark by commissioning a gigantic mural of your face, let's say, to oversee all those poor souls running laps of a morning?" At that smirk, Shani has to smirk back, telling him, "I'd still find things for you to do, don't you worry." Her fingers drift up the back of his neck to run into the short hair there lightly as she arches fine brows. "Where did that come from? And... I worked at making improvements, I think I did make some, with the craft representative and all. I don't know if any ideas I have would be taken as anything but part of a grand plot, though." She shrugs it off, adding, "The mural, though..." "You would, would you." N'rov's tone may be sardonic, but it's also indulgent. He bends his neck enough to make it more convenient for her, briefly glancing lower before his gaze rises once more. "It probably came from the state Fort is in, and from seeing what Ali's done and learned at Southern. Yes, Ali; that and what she can't do yet, since she has to do the whole 'don't worry, Southern will be Southern, we won't change everything' reassurances. You know." Lowly, with promise, "You know I would." Shani just grins slowly in return, fingers moving as slowly, since he's done her the favor of bending and all. Meeting his gaze with her own, she only quirks her lips in response to his explanation, but -- "There's so much that all of us can't do because it's the way it's always been done. It's always bothered me. It can't be easier coming in from the outside." It's the closest she'll get to expressing actual sympathy, but it's something. Wryly, "The real issues will come once it's all settled." This time, N'rov's slow grin has more to do with surprise, the sort that heightens appreciation. Rather than call out that rare quasi-sympathy and endanger it further, he draws her into an easy turn. "They will." A few beats of quiet later, quiet amid the music and the people around them, "They should have more faith. If you're going to engage in some grand plot, it would be dragonlengths more dramatic than remodeling the latrines or what have you. Standards." After that turn, Shani leans in to kiss him; it's necessarily short with the dancing, but still tender. "It'd be easier if she weren't new," she says afterward. As she follows his lead, eyeing a overheated pair nearby puffing through the dance, she shrugs easily. "They should, yes. It's difficult to want to do more than I have to in the meantime, though. Even remodeling the latrines." The idea makes her wrinkle her nose a bit though, ew. As if it'd be her. "It's also not as dramatic an end goal as showing up the 'Reaches for your father." With that, N'rov finally asks, "What were you thinking, back when that kid was crying by? Reminiscing about the days when that was you?" He must be teasing her, and yet his voice and expression hold only mild inquiry. With a little sigh, "What is, really? It's a tough act to follow. You can't really take it down a notch from there." Shani purses her lips, shaking her head a little. His questions have her giving him an eyeroll though, a light slap on the back of the head. After a smirk, "I was thinking that Jyani's like to go through some of that any time now. I'm not sure that I want to deal with it, but I don't know that she'd like to go back to the caravan full-time. They might want her soon, though." Yeah, N'rov is laughing now, although when the music pauses and the overheated couple finally leaves the dancing area, he follows suit. At least he gives Shani the first glass of the bubbly. With his gray gaze somewhat more serious than his words, "Why, so they can put her into a skybroom girdle with a lock?" Shani's not laughing, she's giving N'rov the side eye, but there's a brightness in her gaze she can't manage to hide, and the faintest lift of her lips. She takes the offered glass gratefully, for all that she only sips slowly for now. "Mmm. Ha, no. Because she's not afraid of dragons or dragonriders and knows how to deal with both. It's not something everyone can do." A pause before, meeting his gaze. "I think they miss her too." "It isn't," N'rov agrees with a twist to his mouth; she's seen how his own family hasn't adjusted to Vhaeryth, much less Iesaryth, despite all the times the pair has visited. The twist doesn't last, though, not when her gaze finally returns to his and he steadily returns it. "Could be, they've had enough of losing people." Her. "Going to steal her away before anyone asks if she wants to Stand?" "Particularly in our caravan." Aishani's family has a similar lack of adjustment, with some of her relations simply unseen when they visit, with little to no explanation. N'rov's suggestion is one she wants to dismiss, but she doesn't let herself, just shakes her head a little to murmur, "I suppose they might see it that way. And... I don't know. I don't want to make her go if she doesn't want to." And perhaps Shani might miss her a little too. His nod seconds hers, giving the situation a moment of silence. Then, "Going to ask her? I advocate the 'roll her in a carpet and haul her off' technique, myself. Protection against the knives." N'rov's tone is tongue in cheek, but his expression is relatively sympathetic for one whom the girl in question used to claim she can't stand. Shani has to laugh, shaking her head, her hair still somehow stick-straight in the humidity. Sheer will. Drinking again before answering, "Maybe I should, just in case. But I will ask her, when it comes down to it. It's not like they won't be telling her they need her right now. It's not as if I can easily replace a minion either." Pursing her lips, she sneaks a glance toward that sympathy, then changes the subject before she gets misty over her surrogate little-sister. "I met one of Hattie's new goldriders." Fort is Hattie and vice versa, after all. "Not one of that quality," N'rov agrees by way of backhanded compliment. More fully tongue in cheek, "And how did that go? Was she suitaby impressed that you're a full goldrider and she, a lowly weyrling?" If she's going to talk, he'll drink, but in no hurry. Heavy on the tragedy now, "It's true." Shani sighs, tilting her glass to clink against N'rov's in a silent toast to her minion-cousin. After nearly draining it, "Mm, perhaps. I am suitably impressive, I suppose. Lilah. She came to congratulate K'del, I imagine they'd met before? She seemed... interesting." A loaded word. "'Interesting'?" comes with an amused lift of N'rov's brow. Shrugging diffidently, "Interesting." Shani's gaze shifts to sweep the crowd, the dancers as they start into the next number. "Like there's a lot going on that she's... not making evident. A tension one has when one has a lot to hide." Not that she'd know anything about that. Eyeing her glass, then looking back to N'rov with a faint smile, "She knew who I was when I mentioned you, though." "Funny that you'd notice." N'rov reaches to adjust a flower in her garland, if that's not just an excuse; he looks up from it, then, that much more amused. "Are you surprised?" Finishing what's left in her glass and handing it off to a conveniently passing tray, Shani's cheeks are a little flushed, either from the alcohol, or the adjustment to the red flowers. "No, not surprised to be 'the girl' or your girl. I never know what to call you, though. None of the options work for me." What does work for her is slipping an arm around his wait to move in closer, even if they're not on the dance 'floor'. "Is that what she called you. 'The girl.'" N'rov grins, white against his dark tan, and pulls her closer yet. "Sounds like a challenge for you. What have you come up with so far?" The flowers are less of a concern at the moment; Shani lets him pull her in, lets them get crushed between them, scent suddenly heavy in the warm air. Grinning slowly in return, her hands on his shoulders, "Once she figured it out. And you're hardly a boy, but 'my man'? Really." She wrinkles her nose. "'Boyfriend' doesn't work either. And we don't live together." So weyrmate is out. "It's a problem." "If you're going to say 'my man,'" N'rov enlightens her, "you'd better say it with a proper drawl." He illustrates. "Mah mahn." Then his nose twitches, and he glances down, for the moment controlling a sneeze: from the flowers, not the appellations, though he does say, "'Boyfriend' sounds like we're about thirteen. How about... 'the only bronzerider across Pern who can begin to pretend to deserve me.' Too long?" The champagne could be blamed for the fact that Shani just straight up giggles at N'rov, but it's likely more the way he deepens his drawl, then nearly sneezes; their proximity. She doesn't kiss his nose, but settles for his cheek, lingeringly. Afterward, "Doesn't it? I can't say it. And though that is true, it might be a little long, yes. And any abbreviation would have to make it obvious." Lips brushing his jawline this time, "Just 'mine' seems a bit possessive." Not her, never. "Can we go soon?" N'rov notes, "You said it earlier. Probably you used up your quota." He doesn't touch her hair, not when that might conceivably cause it to frizz in public, but he does grin at her. "Completely inapposite, I know. As for going, I suppose we could... if you're sufficiently persuasive." He lifts his glass in toast, or challenge. With a little sniff, "I said it, but not in a way that I meant it." Shani only draws back enough to curve a smirk at N'rov as he lifts his glass, shaking her head again. "Sufficiently persuasive in public. You want me to have a worse reputation." Not that, by this time of night, anyone's really paying attention to the trail of kisses she's making down his neck, if her hands disappear under his shirt or not. Or if they are, it's dark anyway, and Shani doesn't seem to care. N'rov, it seems, stands corrected. Good thing he's also appreciative, even if he does finish off his glass and set it down before it can spill on her... with an eye toward steering her back to the dancing area, hands or no hands. Not that easily dissuaded, Shani is easily steered eventually, but she's a little less persuasive as soon as there's more people and light. After a sound that's very close to a whine, "You tell me to do something, then you make me have to stop." She aims big eyes and a pout up at him, clearly wounded. That's persuasive enough that N'rov leans to kiss her and her little pout, too. But, amused, "You're a creative woman. I'm sure you can come up with something." "Creative. Wait till I decide I want you to be creative," Shani murmurs after that kiss, a promise and a threat all at once. She follows him when he straightens to add a kiss of her own to his; up on her toes to make them closer in height, gentle and urgent all at once. Her hands haven't completely made an appearance yet, still warm on his skin - her fingers drift down to his hips, easing just under the waistband of his trousers. Lips to his ear, she whispers, "I want these flowers you bought me to be the only thing between us." "I'm completely uncreative," N'rov asserts mendaciously. "It'll never work," which doesn't mean he hasn't a slow grin that only deepens for Shani's later words. Not just her words; he tilts his head just enough to find her ear in return, only it's not to whisper. Not until, "That's exactly what I had in mind when I got them for you." "Lies," murmurs Shani immediately. She's had proof otherwise. After a kiss just below his ear, her voice rich with her own smile, "Is it? I'm glad I didn't pick the white, then. You should tell me these things. Then I can think about them the whole night before we go home. You'll have to forgive any impatience on my part, though." "Because I'm the forgiving sort." N'rov bends a stern eye on his girl. "As well as uncreative." He might even claim he's not wicked at all, despite how he places a hand over one of hers; "And you'd be thinking about all that with Oriane? Well, well." Still and all, with neither of them minded to deny her success, it's not long at all before they depart for a substantially less crowded celebration. |
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