Logs:Fixing Up
| |
|---|
| |
| RL Date: 1 January, 2016 |
| Who: C'ris, Telavi, Mivength, Solith |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: C'ris and Telavi talk weyrs and dates. |
| Where: Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr / Romantic Hideaway Weyr, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 15, Month 9, Turn 39 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Heavy, driving rain makes everything a wet and muddy mess today. |
| Mentions: Quinlys/Mentions, J'sae/Mentions, K'zin/Mentions |
  |
The rest of the bowl may be barren, grass barely surviving at best, but
here by the lake, it's brilliantly green in the warmer months: thickening
and thriving in the silty, boulder-dotted soil just before it transitions
to soft sand and thence to the cool, clear water itself.
A large freshwater lake fed by a low waterfall, it not only provides
warm-weather bathing space for humans and dragons, but has one end fenced
off as a watering hole for the livestock in the feeding grounds. The water
there is often muddier than the rest of the clear lake, whose shallows
drop off abruptly several yards out into deep water, and whose edge
undulates against the coarse-hewn bowl wall: here close enough to just be
bramble-covered rocks, there far enough away that a narrow land bridge
divides the main lake from a smallish pond. Between are several rocky
outcroppings that form excellent makeshift diving points, though only one
-- across the bridge -- has a set of narrow, slippery, quite possibly
tempting stairs. Everything is churned and muddy by the shore of the lake today, and that includes the two figures who might be causing more of a mess. Beastly is still a puppy, but the yellow (now brown) canine is much larger than he was when he first came to the weyrling complex, except with the same amount of energy. Today, C'ris has taken him from the complex to work out that energy and bond over a nice game of fetch, careless of the rain or the mud that has soaked most of his pants and splattered on his worn, blue sweater. "Ok, ready? Ready, buddy?" he's currently questioning, waving a ball teasingly even as Beastly jumps up onto him only to transfer more mud. And then he throws, and off the dog takes like a demon to chase it. Which would be fine, it's just that when that ball deflects off a rock and skitters to a certain greenrider's feet... Telavi becomes the ungrateful recipient of doggy pawprints. Rain-repelling leathers, it seems, do not extend their magic to mud. Her boots are already muddy, but now so are her knees and then her hands when she reaches down to contain the creature-- "C'ris!" she yells. "Beastly! Beastly, down. Stop. Play dead!" The last is what finally contains the creature even as C'ris starts jogging over. The canine drops immediately onto the group, rolling onto his back and panting happily up at Telavi like she should be impressed. Doesn't he look dead? "Sorry, sorry. He just gets excited, still, you know. Are you, uh, ok?" He reaches to fetch the muddy ball, so it doesn't tempt the puppy further, maybe. Telavi even goes so far as to toe the ball in C'ris' direction, a short tap that is controlled. "Look at him," the greenrider complains, and extends that foot like she'd step on the dog's belly, only it's really to rub that belly as she often does. "I'm all right. But," she looks between the dog and her leathers, and she sighs. Happy whines commence from the puppy, and a quick grin crosses C'ris' features too. "I'll get them cleaned for you, I promise. Just drop them off on my ledge, and I will make sure to get all of the stains out," he promises seriously. "After I get him cleaned up, first. Quinlys might kill me if I drop him off in her office in this state." "It happens," Telavi says, but not happily. "How are you even going to do that? Get him cleaned, I mean, between 'clean up place' and your office? Is this going to involve poor Mivength?" She switches feet so she can balance on the other foot and keep rubbing: not because she likes the dog or anything, says her turned-up nose, but just because... her boot... has something... caught on it. Or something. "I've got a bath in my new weyr, now. I'll bring him up just to get him cleaned, at least," C'ris admits, turning the ball between his fingers in a fiddly gesture as he watches Telavi and the puppy. That's right. "I'd forgotten about that," Telavi says, a sudden gleam in her eyes. Never mind practicalities about carrying, "Is it warm water, for poor Beastly's tender hide?" C'ris flushes at that answer, or perhaps the gleam or just--. But he answers, assuring the woman who doesn't care about the dog, "Yes, it's warm. It's a nice bath. Big enough to fit two and all." The woman who doesn't care and is definitely not rubbing his belly, still. "Lovely," Telavi decides. "It's just the thing. I could soak my feet, and rinse the mud off so you wouldn't have to take them in," as though she was going to let him to begin with, "and then you could wash Beastly, and you could tell me what you've been up to lately." A dimple might show there, ever so briefly. "I am so done with firestone for the day." "Oh. Uh, sure. If you want to come up--," starts C'ris, but he only ends with a smile that is offered to the greenrider. Then he'll clap his hand against his thigh, calling, "Ok, Beastly. Up. C'mon, you; let's get you cleaned before someone kills us both." Another little whine, but eventually the dog does wiggle out from under the attention to join the bluerider happily, following as he leads the way to the waiting Mivength. It will be quite the struggle to tame both dragon and dog to allow this ride to happen. Once Telavi has both feet properly on the ground, she dimples at C'ris-- also properly-- and a short while later, Solith shows up. Even if it's funny-looking, the way Tela keeps her legs out from the sides of that green neck to minimize getting mud on Solith, that won't slow her down; if she gets there after Mivength, it will be shortly after-- maybe he'll have time to hide a stray sock if he cares about such things?-- and if they get there first... that's good too. Mivength has no collection of socks, but he does have a pile of hides that seems to be his rather than C'ris'. That he shows up after, with no time to protect his ledge, only agitates the asshole blue even more. His metaphorical hackles are already up as he lands, a low growl caught in his throat and teeth bared at the green, but he holds still long enough for his rider to wrangle Beastly down, hugged in his arms. "Uh, you don't mind if she-- goes? Mivength can take you down, but he won't be happy with someone up here," he greets Telavi with, wincing. « If I wanted a green on my ledge, I would have invited one, » isn't kept quietly only to C'ris' mind, but left to spill over to Solith as well. Solith's wounded, but as yet only figuratively, the air gone abruptly murky about them as she draws back; there's nothing feigned about her hurt, nor about Telavi's ensuing sigh. "She forgot what he was like," swiftly-dismounted Tela says, which is in part admitting that she did or just didn't think. "I'll... here." She makes a swooshing gesture with one hand that precipitates Solith's leaping away, and hurries into the weyr. As Mivength curls up territorially on his ledge, his whirled gaze lifts to watch Solith retreat. And it might be a subtle, victorious amusement that follows her away, doing little to try to comfort the hurt that he's caused. "No, it's-- I should have taken one of the dragons on elevator duty. Sorry," is what C'ris answers, much more concerned than his dragon. Beastly yips, wiggling to get out of his arms, and it distracts the bluerider for a moment. He isn't able to catch up with the greenrider until after he's calmed the canine down, heading first to the bathing chamber. Not finding her, he turns to hurry back towards the rest of his weyr with a called, "Telavi?" "Over here!" Tela's gotten distracted, not by peeking around-- mostly-- but by the fireplace, to which she holds her hands for warmth, her jacket not yet removed. Solith, meanwhile, finds consolation elsewhere. "I should let them know of the miserable muddy fate they escaped," she half-teases of the elevator dragons, continuing as though they had never stopped but also not looking away from the hearth, banked but so much better than nothing. With a dog hugged to his chest, C'ris can't properly appreciate the heat of the hearth or the picture of the lovely young woman in his weyr. Instead, he only offers, "Right, right. I didn't think about that." A pause, before he adds, "Uhm, the bath is the other way. If you want before-- Well, I'm sure Beastly's going to make a mess when I get him in." Oh, the dog. Telavi gives the creature a disheartened look, sighs, and hastens all the way back out so she can go back in. "Maybe Mivength would keep him from getting in too soon?" floats after her, a hope against hope. "I can, you know, just hold him. Until you're done," promises C'ris. He hesitates over following the greenrider to the bath, unsure of what her plans are. He ends up only going as far as the fork in the tunnels of the weyr. "I have soapstone and some towels in there. And some body oils that-- Someone left. If you want to use them?" "Or that," Tela calls back, only then, with her jacket off and presumably hung up, the whiskey-blonde peers back. "What? No, it's not like that. You can come in, as long as you don't let go." Then she's off again, to do more or less just what she said she would, starting with rinsing her trous with a damp washcloth and then... then off go the high-laced boots and socks, and in go her feet. Soaking. With a happy sigh. C'ris drags himself into the bathing room awkwardly, likely glad that he has Beastly to occupy his hands now as he settles himself against the doorway to watch Telavi. "Right, well. If you do need anything, I am happy to grab it for you," he offers. "You're so nice," says Telavi, perched on the edge of the tub. Her trous are unfastened at the hems' seams to allow her having tugged them up just past her knees, but other than that, they might as well be in the living cavern. "Mmm. I don't know why I didn't try for this-- no, never mind. How are you doing, C'ris? Is Frostbite being good to you?" She leans over for that oil-container, too, why not. "That's what people say," agrees C'ris with a hint of a frown, but he doesn't try to argue his niceness or lack of. Instead, he only moves on with a quick, reassuring smile. "It's good. It's not as-- I mean, when I was with the plague wing, we were doing things, right? And now I feel like I am missing that, with just my regular duties--. But, anyways." He shrugs, shifting Beastly as he struggles. "How are you, Telavi? And Flurry?" "Imagine that," Tela murmurs, teasing, the more so for that frown; a few droplets of oil go into the water-- once she's sniffed the scent of that oil, and smiled-- and now she swirls them around with her toes. "I'm good. Flaming is always," she shudders, briefly. "But I see what you mean about how it isn't... as important? as urgent? as what you were doing then, I think. It's useful... but it's sort of 'same old,' isn't it?" "You don't mean the weyrlings, right? Because the weyrlings are important, you know," believes C'ris, concern softening his expression for Tela's answer. He might not catch exactly why she's smiling at the smell of the oil, not with his focus elsewhere. "It's just-- sweeps and drills. And sweeps, and sweeps. And watch duty." "I meant Frostbite," Telavi says truthfully, though her brows tweak in a little, just for a moment as she's leaning over to swirl the warm water a little more. "And more sweeps, and more sweeps, and the ground is so boring, or at least it's supposed to be." C'ris makes a soft noise of agreement, nodding. "Right, right. Well-- I mean, it's not like there's other things to do. I'm not even skilled in a craft to join that other wing, so," he points out, shrugging a bit. "Anyways. I will manage. It's not really so bad, really." "Would you want to be?" Telavi wonders. "Is there anything you've wanted to learn how to do? Even if you aren't craft level at it, that doesn't mean it's nothing," she says, a quiet fierceness appearing in her voice for a moment before she catches it, and it goes away. A questioning look settles on Telavi for that fierceness, thoughtful yet inviting, but C'ris doesn't press after the reason. Instead, he'll answer shamelessly, "No, not really. I don't-- My mom thinks I should try to make wingsecond, and that'd give me some change and meaning, but." He doesn't press, and she certainly doesn't volunteer. "'Wingsecond C'ris.' Hm. It's too bad," Telavi says meditatively, "that things didn't work out with Quinlys." C'ris flushes at that, mumbling something that sounds agreeable. And then he's on to, "I'm not really the leadership type. There might be some other option, like-- I don't know. I don't mind Frostbite, anyways." "With working with Quinlys," I mean," Telavi continues to muse. "It's not everyone who can work well with her, you know. She's an amazing woman. It helps to have a little... flexibility, don't you think? But that probably helps for doing fine with Frostbite, too, and it's not like a wing has to be your life or anything. It's what you do to be able to do the rest." "I know. I know she's amazing. We're-- dating," admits C'ris to the greenrider. "It wouldn't be right to date and work together, you know? And if it doesn't work out--." That isn't a happy thought, leading only to a faint frown as his gaze falls to Beastly for a moment. "Anyways, you're right. I just-- need to figure out the rest, I guess." "That is so sweet," Tela breathes, not-- to a discerning eye-- exactly as if she didn't already know. "You and Quinlys, I mean. I suppose dating is something different from just having fun once in a while," is the teensiest bit uncertain. "It would be awful if it didn't work out and then you were stuck there, I agree, but it was nice when K'zin and I were working together," mostly. "What do you want to figure out? Fixing up your weyr?" C'ris flushes further, and he counters in a soft murmur, "It would be awful if it doesn't work out, even without working with her." A pause, before he explains, "I really like her. I just want her to keep letting me, you know?" A self-deprecating smile flickers across his lips, as he adjusts Beastly once again and looks back to Telavi. "Oh, uhm, I am getting some furniture. The weyr-- Well, it was more for Quinlys' sake than mine. She pointed it out--. K'zin pointed out my lack of dating clothes. And well, uhm, I'm sure I am missing more. I don't know." "Fine, fine," Tela flaps a hand, but she's smiling at C'ris, really and truly. "Good luck," she says. "What kind of furniture? Is it just not up from stores yet?" She's smiling a little bit more at K'zin's name, and without even checking C'ris' wardrobe says, "Dating clothes, we can fix. And the rest! Does she like your mattress?" "She hasn't complained," is what C'ris answers with a hint of a grin breaking through, but he doesn't linger impolitely over that. Instead, he adds, "J'sae, one of the woodworkers in Tundra, is helping me find some and fix it up properly. From the stores, but--." "That's easy, then," Telavi says, once she's no longer primming her mouth so humor doesn't escape; "J'sae? He's the new one, isn't he? Is he fixing it, meaning it won't fall apart, or doing something more dramatic to it?" C'ris nods in confirmation for the identification, a smile lifting at the corners of his lips. "Yeah. I mean, we haven't found the right pieces, yet, but-- Fixing it up. Making it fit the space right and be the right style, you know? Not that I have much of a sense of style." He shrugs a shoulder helplessly, before he finally starts forward to the bath with Beastly. "You ok if I, you know, wash him now? If you want to help--." How could he think such a thing of her. Telavi, betrayed. "No, thank you!" the greenrider chirps, and funny, she's out of that bath and drying off and then about to apply a little more of that oil onto her skin. "Style. Hmm." She doesn't say much, not when she's trying to get her things and get out of splash range before the end of the world comes. It's smart of her, because as soon as Beastly hits the water, there's a struggle between man and well, beast. Mud and water get flung around the bathing area, and it's only after C'ris has been dragged completely into the tub as well that the canine calms down. "Sorry about that!" he throws to Telavi, even as he goes about stripping off his sweater without thinking about it. It was muddy anyways. "He's usually much better about baths, I swear. He just-- doesn't like doing them alone." Beastly barks as if to agree with that point. As long as he doesn't toss his sodden, dog-ified sweater on top of her, they're fine. Telavi backs up even further out of the zone, though she hasn't yet left; "I see," she says with concern. "Have you thought about... training him... not to?" As though this were an achievable thing. "I've tried," C'ris admits with a wince for his failure, hugging the dog back to himself in that bath to start scrubbing at him with soapsand. "But, well. He's bad about learning things that he doesn't want to learn. It's a process, you know?" One that he doesn't seem upset by. At least Beastly seems to have stopped struggling, with the bluerider in the bath with him and able to cuddle up with him. "Like weyrlings but not," Telavi says with a bit of a sniff. "Just wait until you have a... Do you have a son? Or a daughter or five dozen daughters or anything?" "No. No children. There was only, you know, one woman before Quinlys and she didn't want children," C'ris answers simply, shaking his head as he continues to wash his dog with easy affection. "I want them, though. Maybe one day--. What about you? And K'zin?" "No," says Telavi, in a way that might as well be a, no, except with more reverb. "I..." She swallows and then says more sedately, "No, I don't think that would be a good idea." "Oh." A pause, before C'ris asks gently, tone curious not judgmental, "Why not?" Even Beastly seems to still at the conversation, looking over to Telavi as he pants and allows himself to be pampered. That's too much attention. Telavi doesn't cross her arms, she can't and finish fastening up the hems of her trous so they'll fit inside her boots again, but, "I was pregnant once," those extra trips between don't count. "It wasn't good. Anyway, I don't want to and he doesn't want to," so there, you pregnancy-pushers of the Weyr. "Oh," slips out from C'ris' lips again, this time holding a swell of sympathy. And he forgets to keep bathing Beastly, arms only wrapped around the dog as his attention fixes on Telavi while he adds just as gently, "I'm so sorry, Tela. I think-- I think you would have made a wonderful mom. Not that you have to, but--." "Don't give me those eyes," Telavi tells him, or maybe tells them. She presses her lips together, only it's not a smile or laugh she's keeping down this time. "Pretend I never told you." "Sorry," C'ris only adds again, sincerely. Except he is frowning, too, and he can't help the softness of his warm, brown eyes. "If that's what you want-- I can pretend. We can talk about something else. The weyrlings? Or K'zin? How is he doing in Tundra?" He tears his gaze away from the greenrider to scrub at Beastly again, giving her a reprieve from him watching her, at least. "K'zin is doing all right," Telavi says promptly, a little too promptly. One foot moves backwards, but in the end she doesn't actually take that step. "He misses working with the weyrlings, though. They're at one of the good stages, instead of the 'not enough sleep' or 'could die just like that,' you know?" "Yeah. Until they start betweening, and then--." C'ris winces, but he doesn't linger over that. He says instead, "You miss working with him?" as he continues to focus on Beastly rather than intrude further on the greenrider who might run away at any moment. "We should all go out one night. You, me, Quinlys, K'zin." "I do-o," Telavi says, and right as she's about to explain those reservations, he gets that idea and-- and-- and she sparkles at him. "I think that would be very entertaining," she agrees. "It'll be nice, I think. All four of us, like last clutch," is what C'ris thinks, with a grin of his own. Which ups Telavi's to impish. Only, "The only thing is, getting off at the same time," she says. "Off work! Because that was the one hard thing when we did work together, because it's harder to get people to cover for both of us, not like in a wing where there's the whole crowd." "Right, right. Well, I'll talk to Quinlys and-- You know, whenever works for the two of you, I'm sure K'zin and I can make work," C'ris tells her seriously, only flushing a bit for her choice of wording. Or maybe that growing impishness. "Even if it's just a drink at Snowasis where you can be close by for the weyrlings." "Snowasis is so boring by now, C'ris. It is." Telavi sighs. C'ris, boring as he is, seems surprised by this. "Oh." He frowns a bit, and then allows, "You know, wherever you want to go, then. I'm sure we can work it out." "I think so," Telavi agrees with certainty, though she doesn't specify when. And, speaking of going, "I... should go check on a few things, too. Do you think he'd let one of the weyrlings come up, at least?" "Mivength can take you down. He's not-- He's not as horrible as he pretends to be, sometimes, I swear," C'ris assures her, attempting a softer, trustworthy smile. And there's a moment where his features take on the tell-tale look--. "He says he'll take you. But only you." Telavi bites her lip a moment, and the last part doesn't help given the widening of her eyes; "What do you mean, 'Only me'? It's not like there's anyone else, except you, and it's not like you're going until you have him done-- do you have him done?" "I still need to dry him. Don't worry! I'm not going to subject you to wrestling him back down to the bowl," C'ris assures with the hint of laughter, his smile amused. "It was just-- His way of being an asshole to me. Don't worry about it. Sorry. But, yes, he'll bring you." "And you're... sure you don't think a weyrling would do?" Telavi has to ask, even after she's nodded for the man and his dog. If she's used to certain dragons being assholes to their riders, that might show only in her lack of surprise. "I-- He's already said he'll do it. It'll just agitate him now if--," C'ris hesitates, not exactly a no as he finally releases Beastly, all rinsed and wet. That he bounds out of the tub is likely no surprise, to start shaking himself off. "All right!" turns out more like a squeak because Telavi, she's getting out of there. As long as Mivength takes it easy on her and doesn't act like a giant Beastly, she'll be gone. Mivength is surprisingly gentle and easy with Telavi. There's no aerobatic tricks, no asshole moves before he settles her onto the bowl, keeping still for her. That will be a surprise; she'll even thank him-- but regret it later, when Solith sniffs his smell on her and sulks. |
Comments
Quinlys (20:39, 3 January 2016 (PST)) said...
I am concerned at this possibility of double dating.
K'zin (09:18, 4 January 2016 (PST)) said...
I would like to second Quinlys' concern.
Also. I have questions. Such as... YOU WERE PREGNANT ONCE?!?!?!
C'ris, y u so good at getting women to tell you their secrets? Teach me~
Leave A Comment