Logs:Aftershocks

Aftershocks
"You've been talking to that, that hairy gardener, haven't you. That is so unsexy."
RL Date: 7 April, 2013
Who: Telavi, Solith, Alida, Ilicaeth, K'zin, Rasavyth
Involves: High Reaches Weyr
Type: Log
What: Telavi's trying to get her hair clean, Alida's tending to her lifemate, K'zin is keeping the blood flowing. There's talk in jest of busting K'zin up more that doesn't sit well. Telavi follows K'zin back to his alcove and they have a conversation full of shocks and revelations, some of which blow K'zin's innocent mind!
Where: Dragon Infirmary, High Reaches Weyr
When: Day 11, Month 6, Turn 31 (Interval 10)
Weather: Warm sunshine and cloudless skies make for a beautiful day and pleasantly warm evening. A breeze tempers the heat with no humidity lingering in the air.
Mentions: Meara/Mentions, Aishani/Mentions, Jo/Mentions, Barnabas/Mentions, N'ky/Mentions

OOC Notes: NSFW This log started on 6 April 2013, and got paused and finished on 7 April. It follows a few hours after Logs:Bathing Bedlam.


Dragon Infirmary, High Reaches Weyr The vast cavern has much the same odor of redwort and numbweed as the human infirmary, though here it's seasoned with coppery ichor rather than the iron of blood. It's also laid out similarly though on a much more massive scale, its walls lined with a number of places for patients, in this case large dragon couches recessed into the floor for ease of access; nearby cots provide space for riders. Tucked into the western curve is a huge circulating pool of warm water, by which are kept vats of oil. The healers' duty station is a counter on the north side of the room, a checkpoint before the storage rooms behind it that are now shared with the human infirmary, hosting supplies that are as neatly labeled and carefully scrubbed as the rest of the infirmary. The senior dragonhealer has an office there as well, and human-sized double doors have recently been built as a direct route to the human infirmary, while opposite a wide winding tunnel leads to the east bowl. In many ways, it's a reprise of another episode in the baths, to the point where there's even a warm pool for dragonets to soak in when permitted. There's Telavi, trying to get her hair clean. There's K'zin. There aren't any one-armed dragonriders, but there is Alida. What's different: their dragonets are here too. It's blood, not muck, that's being cleaned out. And... it's in the healer zone. And there's an Ilicaeth, who's currently in one of those warm pools designed for therapy, the blue dragonling appearing rather chipper, given his painful bruisings and stretched muscles. A cold pack remains upon his swollen chin, pressed onto the ground outside the pool, said chin resting upon it, his heavily ridged eyes spinning a mellow blue. And beside him, seated upon a chair, is his right-hand slave, Alida apparently not wasting any time while they're both in here...the young woman studying her history papers. On occasion she looks over at Ilicaeth, sometimes offering him a casual-looking touch to his closest headknob, to which he gives a rare croon. K'zin's been thoroughly checked out and is being encouraged by the healers to walk (keep blood flowing to his bruised leg) alternating with a cold compress to reduce swelling. He's on a walk rotation. He's still shirtless, which makes things a little nippy, but at least someone got the poor bronzer some pants. His back has been redworted and numbweeded once healers were satisfied there wasn't any more sand in the scrapes. His walk brings him towards where Telavi is scrubbing. "How's the damage this time?" His baritone is soft, there's concern there but also just the tiniest bit of amusement. Rasavyth is curled up in the couch they've assigned to the pair for their stay, dozing. K'zin lifts his chin in greeting to Alida, but really, they've been here together, this whole time, in different spaces, the greeting is practically silly at this point. Ostensibly, Solith's getting iced too, a quarter hour on her wings and a quarter hour off, rinse and repeat. It's just that her tail likes to sneak into the warm pool by Ilicaeth too. That ice is cold. Telavi, gowned in a healer robe that's comfortably large, isn't kneeling this time but rather sitting cross-legged as she works, and she has to tilt her head quite a bit past a tangle to look properly upward. "I think I have all your blood out," she says acerbically. "You're laughing. I can tell. Are you going to bleed on me again?" Is he all right? Her eyes narrow slightly, searching. Pointless, mostly, yes. But still, it's been a span of time close to an hour, and Alida's kind-of happy to be distracted from her homework, the blonde lifting her head to note Telavi's scrubbing and the condition of Waki's back after he inquires after the greenie's hair. The bronzer's chin lift to her evinces a low grunt from the guard, who soon enough looks back over to Ilicaeth for a moment before she slowly rises, and sets her studies aside on her chair seat. To nobody in particular is mumbled, "My ass is falling asleep..." Telavi's following words of bleeding inspiring a rasping chortle from the now idly pacing bluie. As for Ilicaeth, even though he can't move his head to see Solith, he can certainly hear her tail enter the pool waters, feel it accidentally touch his haunch on occasion. And so, with the boredom only children can exhibit, the blue makes a game of the situation, his own tailtips occasionally slipping out of the bath to flick water playfully over at the green. Oh, the source of that blood? There's a bandage over K'zin's nose, some bluish-black bruising sneaking out the sides and there's a little heal-helping salve on the split upper lip. Those, too, have been being subjected to cold compresses. "If I did bleed on you again, it would serve you right." K'zin quips in response, tone lightly teasing. "But I promise this time I would aim for anyone but your hair. Not that you gave me much choice." He glances to the hair in question. "Do you need help?" What is he, a hairdresser? Maybe he misses his own long hair just that much. "He's alright. He's only pretending to sleep because he doesn't want to talk to me." K'zin smirks a little. "He doesn't like that I thought of something he didn't. If he was really trying to sleep, I'd wake him. Healers orders." He flicks a glance to Alida, the guard's comment not lost on him. "I'd offer to help you with that, Alida, but I've already had my nose busted once today, so..." His grin is impish. "I'll stick with: thank you for scrubbing my back off." It probably would serve her right. Still, "I don't like having to worry about you," Telavi informs K'zin, if after a quick smile Alida's way that's not just entertained but relieved: it's not their talking that's bothering the bluerider, then. While Solith absolutely starts playing along with Ilicaeth, only her tail and the related muscles moving while the rest of her maintains a serene-seeming pose, Tela tacks on further, "And no, I do not need help." Right before admitting, "But... I'd like some. Just don't cut anything, please?" K'zin thanks Alida. Telavi doesn't thank anyone, yet. "Suck it up, Rasavyth..." Alida rumbles over to the 'sleeping' bronze, her lips twisted into a slight smirk at Waki's words of having out-thought his lifemate for once, the blonde then looking over at her blue's and Solith's little 'bored' game. Smirk. "Why go fer the nose again when it's already busted?" the guard notes with a hint of humored malice to K'zin, a little motion of hers implying a knee to the groin, instead. "Welcome, toots." At this point, she's just walking around to maintain her circulation, to keep from being bored to death, those incisive green eyes flicking all about, and back over to Telavi and company at times. "So, don't?" K'zin suggests, as if it were just that easy. "Or, just don't put yourself in a position where I feel like I've got to come to your rescue? Or just make sure that when I am rescuing you from yourself that you stay away from my nose? You'd have to worry a lot less." At least he would. His tone definitely has humor in it. It's easier to talk about serious or emotional topics with humor, right? He crouches down, wincing a little as it changes the use of his thigh muscle from the usual, and places a light hand to the back of Telavi's shoulder, smile then mores serious and reassuring, "I'm a big boy. I'll take care of the consequences of my own actions." It's meant to be reassuring, but somehow it comes out not quite right. He kneels then, behind Tela, his hands carefully reaching for her hair. "No cutting," He assures. This sounds better than what he was saying before. He glances over Telavi's shoulder to Alida and makes a face at her dark humor, before seeming to remember: "Did I tell you that I'm going to put your teaching skills up against Jo's? For sparring, I mean." "So I should go with Alida's suggestion instead?" Telavi wonders out loud, the bluerider the recipient of her teasing glance, though it sobers as she checks back over her shoulder: no, perhaps not entirely reassured. She does hand back the comb and turn back, though, leaning her hips back against his knees even as her shoulders roll forward into relative relaxation, her head tipped forward. Her hair's that long, waist-length, that it's still an easy reach. Now and again she glances through what's fallen forward towards Alida, tracking the woman's movements even as the other two talk. With that small wince from Waki comes a chuff from Ilicaeth, Alida translating for her blue as she approaches the hair washing crew once again. "Ilicaeth offers his apologies for accidentally whappin' you one." A look towards that tagged thigh of the bronzer's presages a low, "How bad's the bruising?" To Telavi's comment is wryly noted, "If ya do, always make sure ta' nail his nuts three times. Some guys c'n take one hit, and a few c'n even manage two." Apparently the third time's the 'charm.' Nothing like a little Guard knowledge out of left field. And then K'zin's speaking of Jo and sparring, Alida looking guarded (ha) for a moment before she slowly paces back over to the tail-flicking Ilicaeth to stroke one of his headknobs. "No; you didn't. Learnin' from her, too?" Unlike Alida, who's bound by keeping most of her specialist knowledge secret, Jo is not. K'zin's expression is mockingly unamused. "I'd rather you didn't." This is deliver dead-pan, but then he's back to grinning. The grin isn't without an undercurrent of discomfort, but he's hiding it well for the moment with his smiles and humor. The comb begins to run through her hair, working from the bottom up, careful when he gets to tangles to work them out with the tines of the comb without too much jerk or pull. His attention pulls away from the task at hand when Alida apologizes, "Oh, wasn't his fault. Don't worry about it. It's gorgeous though. The bruise. Really a sight! It tops my list for most impressive bruises I've ever had." His eyes flick to her, "You-- are sometimes really unhelpful. Ball-busting is not a topic to joke about." He does look distinctly uncomfortable for a moment, and he's already in pain. Not nice! He changes the topic quickly with a shake of his head, "No. I mean I'm going to spar with one of Jo's students. See who's teaching comes out on top." He grins at Alida. "I might even make a bet on it." "I'll take that into consideration," Telavi reassures, only to pipe up later, "You really think he'd take three, Alida? I'd think two would do. Also, it sounds like he wants to compare bruises." What with Ilicaeth getting so much attention, Solith swings her head around to try and get some too, the glowlight's shadows deepening her hide towards a bluer green as she extends her muzzle. Her rider relaxes more and more with the motion, with the movement of the combing, with the care that's used. Less guarded, at least a little. "Do you like bets, Alida?" An opulent smirk is all for Waki when he makes with the whole uncomfortable schtick when Alida speaks of jewel-smashing, the crusty woman then giving him a mocking little bow...which apparently causes Ilicaeth to chuff in his form of laughter. A moment for an exchange between the bluepair is followed by a thin smirk, the palest-blonde noting in spritely fashion to the bronzer, "'caeth says he thinks human male junk's foolishly placed. Human female and dragon anatomy got it right." A small bob of the blue's head likely indicates his outer agreement. A further look at the young man's helpful grooming of Telavi's hair seems to inspire some thoughtfulness, but soon enough, 'lida's commenting back to the greenie, "Dunno. Use three, no matter what, ta' be safe." Back to Waki: "Depends on how much Jo was willin' ta' teach 'em...and how much she knows, too. She was around Guard training, so she might've picked up enough ta' function akin ta' one well enough." The sound of steel and dark humor mixed in the ex-holder's voice might suggest she thinks she'd hold some small, tactical advantage, but Alida's not speaking of such. A shrug is offered to the youth's words of his potential bet, her gaze then swinging over to hairy-headed Telavi, to whom is finally noted, "Depends. I tend ta like calculated ones." "Hey, come on now." K'zin's schtick turns out to be less of a schtick than a true discomfort as he places Telavi's comb down where she can reach it and with a grimace pushes himself up onto his feet. Thinking about damage to the family treasures doesn't sit well with him, especially not now. Especially after his near-heroics of the day and the amount of pain he's now suffering through. "What'd I ever do to either of you?" This is voiced in a calm tone, but his expression makes it clear that he's feeling ill-used by the girls ganging up on him. It's been a long day and he's got to stay awake through the night, too. His nerves are definitely fried. None of the rest seems to give him reason enough to stay, and he begins the return trip towards his own alcove. The 'sleeping' bronze's eyes have unlidded and his head is raised. If a dragon could give the shame on you look, he'd certainly be giving it now, as is, it's a stare coupled with whirling eyes that are calm mixed with annoyance. Tela's not immediately roused from her relative lassitude, not by the click, only belatedly by K'zin's standing at all. She does stop fiddling with the leather lace about her wrist, though, to retrieve the comb and hold it loosely in her hand, eyes lifted to Alida in question. She exhales. It's enough to even distract Solith from her would-be huff at Ilicaeth's rider's not having taken her hint to rub her head as well as his, and when Telavi stands, it's to walk over and remove the ice from her green's wings so they stretch comfortably once again. To Alida, once she's near, "I'm not surprised, about the bets. I'd like to hear more about guard training, sometime, it's not as though we ever had one." That the girl knew about, anyway, nothing that was above-board. And then, after rubbing Solith's head and jaw some herself, she turns around again and pads after K'zin, this time. Not that she says anything. He's not one like her, so Alida lays off prodding Waki anymore, the woman shaking her head about a wry little twist of lips, then peering at the 'waking' Rasavyth and his stare at the two womenfolk. If she's affected by it, the guard's apparently staying mum about such, given that she blithely strolls back over to Ilicaeth and checks his ice pack. A look over to Telavi catches the greenie's peer in return, the pale-blonde shrugging once then replying to her fellow weyrling, "Couldn't tell ya' much. Craft secrets, 'n such." A quirk of head to the other female's following of the bronzer eases into her lift of reading materials and a lazy sit once again on the chair, the guard easing back into her history studies, much as before. And soon enough, a dragonhealer is returning to check up on Ilicaeth, the blue groaning softly as he's coaxed out of the warm bath and towards his nearby night couch...Alida following along, and paying full attention to the blue. Gonna be a long night. With injured leg once more in need of icing, K'zin's pace back to his own couch at the opposite end of the room isn't a quick one. Every other step is making the grimace stick further on his lips. He doesn't stop until he reaches the cot, apparently oblivious to his follower, or at least too bent on his mission of pain relief. Under the bed is a tray with more ice and he sits on the edge of his cot, picking up the compress wrap left there to fill it with fresh melting ice. Then Tela is noticed. His hands continue, but his brown eyes turn attentively up to her face, expression fairly blank now. So Tela chooses to sit on the edge of his cot, too, her free hand automatically sweeping the robe out of her way as though it were a skirt, and sees what he does with that. K'zin takes a deep breath as he leans down to pick up another handful of ice, plopping it into the compress and then shaking his hand in the air: cold! He lets the breath out then and turns slightly, angling towards the greenie. Skillful hands fold over the compress onto itself and then set it in the proper spot on his thigh, wrapping the long trailing pieces a couple of times loosely, just enough so it doesn't slide off. "Sorry. Did I leave before you were done busting my balls?" As soon as the words are out, he tastes foot and regrets them. "Sorry." This apology is more genuine, and he winces. "That wasn't-- I'm sorry. What's up, Tela?" At least now that he's rebuked himself, he doesn't sound hostile, but he does sound weary. Telavi's gotten out her comb again, and she retrieves another narrow section of her hair and gets to work, from above her ear this time. Like him, she teases the ends free of snarls first. "I like to think," she has to say first, her voice quiet, "that if we did, you'd really notice. I'm sorry, too. I can't speak for Alida but I can say that I thought you were... joking, about being bothered, the way people do." She doesn't seem troubled by Rasavyth's nearness, but then, from Solith's point of view, they get on well enough. And it's not as though she's ever known one without the other. "It's really hurting you, isn't it." "Notice you busting my balls?" K'zin questions, brows rising, expression touched with confusion. "I'm pretty sure I couldn't miss it if I wanted to." He leans down to pluck up more ice and this is deposited into a second compress. "Well, I wasn't. It's not a nice thought. You know how good it is to think about someone you like touching-- well, there? It's the same degree of bad to think about damaging things." He shudders a little. "And it's been a long day. And it's going to be a long night." He sighs lightly. Then he's looking her over while he folds up the second compress. "Are you okay, T? I mean-- you're not hurt badly, are you?" "Talking about it and... hold on that. Well, not literally. Not the 'hold onto the bad thoughts,' either." Tela keeps combing, and just like so many other things, the tangle comes out better when it's addressed bit by bit instead of her just yanking on it. Her voice is even quieter. "Just scrapes, mostly, so I'm all right. I like to think I would have been even if you hadn't... jumped in, that I'd have been able to run free, but I just don't know. And yes, I was going to thank you for that, just," again there's that brief ellipsis of a pause, "not right there. I want you to know that, K'zin." K'zin's expression might be thoughtful, but it's kind of hard to tell because K'zin leans forward to press the second compress onto his face. His words are intelligible, but muffled after that point, his head tilted to the side a little so one eye, can at least watch Telavi. "Not in front of other people, you mean." From the sound of his tone, that doesn't all together please him, "But you're right. There's no way to know. You might've been fine, and you might've ended up more hurt because I did what I did." His shoulders shrug in a small move. "You don't need to thank me. You're one of us. I'd've done it for anyone." That might not be entirely true, but he's trying to make it seem less praiseworthy. "Why did you do it, anyway? Step in there, I mean? They're big." He points this out as if it weren't obvious. "Not exactly. Alida..." Through her hair, through her work, Tela scans in the direction where the girl with the white-blonde hair had gone. "It's a little different. And we were in the after-crash, too." He has his face-shield, she has hers, but she glances sideways through hers at his. "I don't know, really. I don't know that I thought about it. Maybe I thought I could make a difference, that they'd listen? I've gotten in the face of mean drunks before, and they aren't mean." Just more massive. "Which doesn't mean... were you always tall for your age? Or were you ever one of the really little ones?" "I was average I guess. Still am, really. But I was always the smallest in my family, except for my little sister and brother. The four older ones I had always made sure I knew how little I was by comparison." The tone in which this is delivered speaks of a lack of closeness between him and those particular siblings. K'zin quiets then, waiting for the rest of whatever thought path she was on to find its eventual end. She doesn't say, 'That's hard to believe.' It's not her main path, but what Tela does say is, "Do you still hear them, saying that? I'd have liked sisters, brothers even... but not like that." She's taken to braiding that portion of her hair now, swift motions of her thumb separating out the even smaller portions, moving them back and forth quickly and neatly. It isn't anywhere near done, it could take the whole night to do it all, but at least this will get part of it out of the way. "I like knowing... there's a woman like Alida out there, you know? Maybe I could have done that," though she sounds hesitant, "but there are other things I wanted to do instead, that I still do. Maybe, if you were average, you never got picked on like the little kids, or I've a friend, he's hulking, but he keeps being bothered by people wanting to take him on because they want to prove something, to take him." It's not the endpoint, yet, but it's further, and she glances back at the other weyrling to see how he's doing. "I know what it's like to be picked on." K'zin's visible brown eye flicks from Tela to where Alida had retreated to and back. "Before candidacy-- before weyrlinghood even, I had only one friend. I mean, I was friendly with lots of people, and make a lot of people laugh because if I'm laughing too, that makes it better, right?" His shoulders twitch upward, barely perceptible. "Whenever I speak to my brothers, which isn't often, especially now that I'm dead to them and all that, I was always made well aware of my short comings." All of this is answered in a fairly matter of fact way, with a few words emphasized here and there. K'zin turns his head, burying his face against the compress. Something muffled comes out that sounds like it could be, "What's all this got to do with not wanting to thank me or whatever your point is?" Or something similar. Wait, "Dead to them?" Telavi's got a lot more emphasis and a lot less matter of fact-ness. At least she drops back quieter for, 'One friend?" though there's still that strong thread of surprise... that could be flattering under other circumstances but now, possibly not so much. It's a practiced gesture to unfasten the knot at her wrist and at least secure a chunk of hair with the braid so it doesn't come undone, the work of a moment, and then she's leaning to try and catch his expression. Only there's that compress in the way, so she leans a little more and she could brace off his other leg but what if that's hurt more than he's realized too? So instead she reaches further and braces off the rail of the cot past his knee, which requires enough spine-twisting to put her in the infirmary for considerably longer if this goes wrong, but at least means she shouldn't lean on something that's going to hurt. Shouldn't touch. Hopefully. If the only view she has right now is what would have been up his damaged nose, still, "Look at me." "Yeah." K'zin confirms both with only a shrug. Rather than take on the hefty topic of his home life, he chooses the matter of friendship. "You know N'ky, right? He was Nicky before. His green's Cailluneth?" The twenty-odd of them have been living under the same roof for a while now, but that doesn't guarantee more than a passing knowledge of a person. "We met at Smith back when I was-- well, thirteen I think? We've been friends since. Of course, we only'd see each other when we had classes together and since I did most of my training here, I've spent most of my time with Journeyman Thraland and the forge." He seems not to find a particular problem with this. "It's probably why I haven't kissed many girls. The whole not having really any friends around. But I swing a mean hammer, let me tell you." His tone lightens to make the joke. "I like having friends now, tho..." He trails off, because now she's leaned across him, and it's just now that he's really noticed; to be fair, he has a compress blocking a lot of his sight. He lifts the compress away from his nose and lip, letting it sink down in his hand to his lap. His chin tilts down and brown eyes dutifully gaze into her blue-green ones. He's silent, waiting, looking not at all sure what's going on. Her vantage point though, does give her a good look at the discolored flesh that peaks out from under his nose bandaging, and the raw-red look to the split upper lip - not a terrible split, nothing requiring stitches or anything like that, but it doesn't look very pleasant. If Tela wants to know about his big brothers and a whole lot more, if she has questions along the way, if all those questions are brimming in her eyes... at least she doesn't interrupt, and listens. Though when she finally should speak, there at the end, there's simply a distracted, "Thank you." Because she's looking, closely, at the injuries the ice has revealed, one by one, nose to chin to eyes that might not have been split or banged up but don't look bright like they had been all the same. She's careful to control her breath, even, as though that might knock him over and not just because of the lunchtime chili, either. "I don't know what I should say now," she admits. "I know most of what I want to say, and I know some of what I want you to know, and I know a few of the questions I want to ask which, I should warn you, are really more than a few, but my uncle always said not to go over hard things when you're sick or tired or hurt or hungry or mad, not that I usually listened to him, and I hate waiting, but maybe I should just start with how maybe it's a little like what you said, getting people to laugh, because you have to get people to bel..." She drops her head a moment before looking back. 'Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.' If he hasn't stopped her, doesn't stop her now, "I don't know what you want to know, either. Alida and me, some of that's about us, not you, even with your name in it. And I think I got used to your being able to handle a lot. And I won't flutter, not for real. And what I didn't want to tell you was, I was going to tell Meara what you did, and, and give you the credit, even when we don't know just how much difference it made, because it made a different difference that, that you did it, and I thought that would make things better, that was the other way I was going to. Thank you." K'zin, as it turns out, is a pretty good listener. Especially when there's a girl leaning over his lap, looking up at his busted up face (it's gotta be good for sympathy points, right?). The thing about a girl being leaned over his lap is that girls don't always get this close to him; not because he smells bad or anything, it just hasn't come up much in his life. So like a beast of prey in the sights of a dragon maw, he's frozen with a peculiar sort of rapt attention as Telavi speaks. Meanwhile, the gears in his brain might be starting to smoke as he tracks through the questions: what is she doing? What should I be doing? Am I doing something wrong by doing nothing? What's she looking at? What should I be looking at? Does she know that gown is just a little see through? Something -- or someone (once more pretending to be asleep) puts his brain back on the right track after letting it run so far afield and he catches the majority of what she says either because K'zin was listening, or he was. Once she's finished, he's taking a breath, trying to calm the blush that arrived when she uttered those two special words at the very end. "Honestly, Tela," He begins, looking a touch uncomfortable now that he's been thanked in earnest, "I-- I was just trying to help. You don't need to thank me." He chews his lower lip a minute, "That makes two of us who don't know what they should say now. You can--" He hesitates, before taking a play out of (gasp!) Aishani's playbook, "You can ask me anything you like. I can't promise I'll answer everything. But you can ask." A self-conscious hand finds its way up to push through his dark, straight locks. He doesn't comment on a lot of the specifics because, as he said, he's not sure what he should say. Perhaps more importantly, he's not sure what he shouldn't say, and Sensei is sleeping. Not that he smells bad this time, maybe, anymore. Maybe. Tela's started to look at her fellow weyrling in that 'Were you even paying attention?' sort of way, so it's likely a good thing that K'zin starts in with some talking, and the 'ask me anything' is always good for appeasement. "I'll remember that." Which is to say, though her voice doesn't sound ominous the way it surely could, she's not taking it as a one-time deal. She has that look like she's about to go on, but something about the quality of his gaze has her first glancing down, then belatedly sitting up enough to flick the vee of her robe that much more closed. This time, when she resumes her lean, it's not fully committed for all that she's back to reading his expression. That might have something to do with how she's set her hand, not on the rail of the cot, but high on his thigh. Does that hurt? And what about when she leans that much more, so it takes that much more of her weight? And then there's when, though she doesn't move any of the rest of her hand and still she's looking at him, her thumb slides in a slow, deliberate arc towards his inseam. He is paying attention, yes? K'zin smells like redwort and numbweed. All very infirmaryesque smells. Whether it's good or bad likely depends on how you feel about Healers and infirmaries. The nod of his head would indicate that he doesn't object to her taking the 'ask me anything' as a standing invitation. At least until recent times, he hasn't had much of anything he's wanted to or needed to hide from anyone. The moment that she follows his gaze and starts making adjustments, his eyes politely avert, blush touching his cheeks. Looking up and away has him then surprised when he feels a hand. A hand unsettlingly, but also excitingly closer to the jewels of so much debate earlier, on his uninjured leg. His head abruptly tilts down to stare at the fingers there. It doesn't seem to hurt him. Nor even when more weight is applied. His breath catches slightly as the thumb makes its move and brown gaze flicks back to her intent one. The expressions on his face while all this goes on are best likened to an intent student, both in awe and delighted by the subject matter, and yet, also not fully trusting it. Either there's doubt in the motive or doubt that he mightn't just be in some hopped up dream state, hallucinating this all. He is definitely paying attention. On the couch, lids have snuck away from Rasavyth's eyes, and he is watching intently, though there's no other movement from the bronze. And he has been paying attention, if he knows not to blindly trust it. "The thing is," Telavi murmurs very softly, and her hand stays right where it is, surely not pressing any fingertip more than another, warm pressure that doesn't currently seem inclined to move either closer or away, "I don't want to give you the idea..." This might start to sound like that traditional 'I don't want to give you the wrong idea' precursor to a Holder boy not proposing right before he tries for a grope. Except, her voice staying low and giving more of that warmth to her words, "... that running off grumbling is going to get a girl chasing you down to give you attention," and maybe it's not just imagination that she's leaning enough to the left to press just slightly more with her thumb and forefinger, attention, "...and apologies in the future." Possibly this is Telavi's idea of pillow talk. At least, her voice continues to have that quality that implies that it could be, and her smile, just now, is just for him. "Because I would be doing a disservice to all the women," the people, "in the world if I let that go by. So you can see my dilemma." Gulp. It's embarrassingly audible in the small space between them. That certainly doesn't help the blush in his cheeks. K'zin really doesn't know want to say here. It shows on his face. This is like so many moments in his life where the right words might bring great things, if only he had any clue what the right words were! He keeps his baritone hushed; what is said here is between the two of them only, and not meant for the ears of the healers or other occupants of the infirmary. "I find-" He begins, and his tone is a little raspy until he clears his throat gently, "I find that more times than not, I'm the one doing the chasing. I don't have a knack for doing it well, only clumsily, but-- as for girls chasing me... I haven't a knack for that at all." Beat. "As far as I'm concerned, you can rest assured that I know this is a onetime event." Then his brow furrows, "But just so you know," He leans his face a little closer, the conviction of his next words providing a bolster for his boldness. "I wasn't looking for any girls to chase me down and give me attention and apologies, though those things are all quite nice, and I wouldn't object to any of them happening again." Then a little closer and his expression goes deadly serious, "And don't think I don't know that you didn't follow me all the way down here just so I'd finish combing your hair." He lingers just long enough to look convincing and then is leaning back with a cheeky smile that then causes a little wince for the way it pulls his split lip. "Ow." That close, and it's lucky that he's taller than Tela so he doesn't have to look up her nose. It's only in that she relaxes infinitesimally now, when K'zin's cleared his throat and his own voice is still low and quiet the way it is, that the lingering tension becomes more apparent than it had been beneath the velvet ease. There's no helping via interrupting to begin with, but there's also no move to conceal most of her reactions: perhaps the way her dimples show for a moment, knack, is less openly amused than it might have been if she weren't being careful with his vulnerable circumstances, but there's the lift of her brows when he leans further forward and she just doesn't give way and still he continues that's a prelude to a smile. "Good," she says, not quite gravely. "I feel well-informed, and trust that it won't be difficult to remember." And further forward and she does sit up a little straighter, nails digging ever so slightly into the even weave of the fabric, though she's starting to look entertained again even before he gives it away. Not that Tela doesn't wrinkle her nose at him for good measure. "And look, you lightened things up quite nicely!" ow or no ow. To play along, there's mock offense again, "Does that mean you won't?" followed by, helpfully, "I can get up, you know. That would probably make it easier." "Well, yeah," K'zin answers, his voice a touch at a more casual conversation volume now. "You'd have to sit up..." His head tilts a little, and the humor (despite the ow) has come right back, "Otherwise, I might accidentally brush-" Maybe he's not so dumb after all? He does well enough with the double entendre, "- something other than your hair." A suggestive look flicks downward to the V of the infirmary gown, and brows wiggle very slightly, suggestively, "And you wouldn't want to give me the idea..." He quotes her, expression still maintaining its provocative mask, "...that combing your hair is going to get me that kind of attention every time." That's it. That's all the steam he's got, he cracks a smile. He can't help it, but at least he hasn't busted out laughing yet. Of course, Telavi also hasn't crossed her eyes at him yet. "Oh no," she says, ever so horrified. "We wouldn't want that." She doesn't so much as glance towards her robe, though then again, she's busy giving him a last pat before sitting up... and wringing her hands, which just happen to be right in the way. "None of those things." She flips her partly-done hair over her shoulder for effect. "Not for any old combing. It would have to be exceedingly thorough, and I might come up with a few other requirements along the way." Yay, K'zin isn't broken! "Requirements?" K'zin queries, laughing now. His hand plucks up the comb she had abandoned and shifts to be facing her a bit more. His face compress is forgotten on his thigh (where the other sits), so apparently it's not hurting so bad just now. He makes a turn around gesture with one finger swiveling in the air, prepared to tackle the task once more. "So what you're saying is, you don't want me to get the idea that I can leave all mad and girls will chase me down and give me attention and apologize, but you do want me to think that if I thoroughly brush your hair and do some other things for you, I can--" He hesitates. His innocence requires it, before he plunges on, "-touch your tits?" This is delivered with the phrasing of Bones, probably because Bones is the only one he can think of who would be so bold as to phrase it so directly. Telavi's started to pivot, but now she gives K'zin this look, brows forming a distinct vee. "You've been talking to that, that hairy gardener, haven't you. That is so unsexy." K'zin laughs at the reaction, "So you're saying if I'd said it prettier and less directly, your answer might have been different?" There's a beat. "Besides. I'm not sexy. Never once in my life have claimed to be." Oh, but he could be. The raw talent is there - the looks, the humor. Rasavyth knows, and is watching the interaction intensely. But the teen doesn't have nearly enough experience to be suave, yet. "What I said was unsexy or that I talk to Bones is unsexy?" K'zin queries, wishing to clarify. So he was! "Of course it would have been different, I wouldn't have any cause to think of... all the... no." Telavi, extra shallow today! Scowling probably doesn't make her prettier, either, and that's before she crosses her arms. "I had tonguing more in mind, actually. Which technically is touching, so don't even start with me there, but specific is better." Sometimes, not just on essay questions. K'zin would be concerned with Tela's reaction to Bones. Really. He would care. It would give her points in his book or not. But girls have this magic way of making men not care for anything but one thing: the most important thing. "Wait. What?" K'zin practically jumps back. Okay, so it's really more of a lean, but it's comedic all the same. "Tonguing? Like--" He glances inappropriately to the subject under discussion. "You can-- do that? It's--" He's having trouble forming a proper logical query. "How?" His tone is a little demanding, as she's suggested that people do something only he, the innocent, has dreamed of doing (and probably thought people would find it weird). "The book doesn't mention--" He starts and then trails off blushing. All that jumping-or-is-it-leaning and the unfinished sentences and out-and-out shock should really lighten Tela's mood considerably, and quite possibly they do, but she's still with the scowling. "Well, no, they're not that big or saggy, I can't quite reach, which is part of the point." Then, advancing, "What book?" K'zin's mind boggles. It's like to explode and make a mess all over the infirmary any moment now. All things considered, this is the place appropriate for discussing anatomy and what one should and should not do with it. Apt. "Wait, wait, wait!" He demands, "You would-- you've tried to--" His face is a mixture of shock, confusion, and the delight that comes with opening a turnday present. "So I would-- and you'd--" He can't put words together at all. All of this on K'zin's part has Rasavyth's sleep act failing hard. The bronze is seized in a fit of draconic laughter, chuffing and rumbling and just generally having a really good laugh at the expense of his poor rider. "The book." K'zin answers dumbly, his brain still on the other topic, not censoring anything coming out of his mouth. "The one I got from the healers so I would know what to do when -- when I get a weyr. When mating flights happen." She might as well have had him hypnotized as he answers that question. Maybe she does... As long as it's just his mind! "Maybe," Telavi says primly as she gets up, possibly to get out of range of any explosion at all. "If I wanted to." She doesn't say, 'if he wanted to.' Her glance flicks past him to his dragon, the beginnings of a reluctant smile quickly squashed before she looks back. Lowering her voice to compensate at least a little for the distance, "That doesn't sound like a very helpful book. Do you have it with you?" Because he'd totally have carried it with him when he went off to wash his dragon, in the lake, where it is wet. Yes, thankfully only his mind. He does, however, casually shift the face compress higher onto his lap. Ice, ice, baby. His body tenses briefly at the shock of the cold, but that helps. "No. It's-- it's in my press." K'zin responds, starting to find his way back to his usual quasi-intelligent presence of mind. "At the barracks." As if that was necessary to add. He's looking quite thoughtful then. "It isn't especially helpful. But it's not like I really know a lot of people who could-- would-- tell me about it more-- in depth." He blushes. "I figure there's going to be a whole lot of awful the first time I try, and then I'll get better." He chews his lower lip a moment, before offering up her comb as it looks as though she's going to be making a departure. "I guess the trick is to find someone knowledgeable, patient, and willing to tell me what I ought to be doing." His press. Telavi's brows twitch, though it's not like that's anything unusual for this encounter. "You can show me later," she decides, twitching at her robe once more before relenting enough to walk over and take the end of her comb, not actually taking it the rest of the way from him, just a minor tug. "Use it or lose it," she says with a nod down at the article in question, but distractedly so, because... suspicious. "You... sound awfully flatter-y all of a sudden." Across the way, footsteps, some healer's continuing his rounds and likely to check on them soon, but she's still looking steadily at K'zin. "I do?" K'zin's surprise is sweetly genuine. From most, especially most whose lifemates happen to shine in the way K'zin's does, this would most definitely be a play. But the simple, sad truth of the matter is that K'zin's innocence is so reaching, in this area, that he really and truly was just processing out loud, not meaning to direct it at Telavi. He blinks up at her, surprise re-doubling along with his blush as he figures out what she must think he meant. "Oh. Oh! Oh, Tela, I--" Flounder. "I didn't mean-- I mean, I was just--" He's trying desperately to explain himself, but the boggling is back: "Are you all those things?" He can't help but ask curiously, brown eyes perhaps regarding her in a slightly different light. The comb is again forgotten in K'zin's hand. This time, the twitch is her hand stealing that comb from his. "Thank you." Telavi gives K'zin a dubious look, her mouth twisting up to one side in a way that really does want to turn into a laugh, but she's not letting it. Really? He's asking that? Now? What does he think? "Now is a good time to focus on surviving," Tela replies piously, just loud enough for the approaching healer to hear. "Just think, we'll be flaming soon." The healer gets a sweet smile once she 'notices' him with 'surprise,' and a murmur that she'll just get out of their way. Tonight she'll comb her own hair, thank you very much. And no, she's not patient at all. The healer might think K'zin has brain damage the way that he stares after the departing Telavi. He knows something went wrong somewhere, but he hasn't the faintest idea where or how. Rasavyth, whose eyes whirl swiftly with on-going merriment, receives a piteous look. "Where did I go wrong?" He begs of the bronze, who surely knows or at least guesses cleverly enough. But then the healer is upon him and there's a whole new set of worries to deal with as he begins his pokes and prods to see progress. The curtain is drawn for some degree of privacy as K'zin is instructed to remove his pants - to check the bruise of course, but the compress on his crotch? That gets a look. K'zin's expression for anyone watching as the curtain closes screams Help me! whilst his cheeks flare his embarrassment for all to see. What a day.