Late night, rummaging in the empty records room. Jo's present, but she's not alone. "...and I'm tired of looking," another female voice can be heard to say, almost petulant with the accented sounds of something getting shoved across one of the tables with the light weight of a map. "M'ron's got a game up in his weyr going, anyway," the female brownrider, none other than Kaitlin is saying as she leans against the table Jo is at while rubbing her eyes, pouring over a few unrolled maps with a sheet of hide to the side along with something to write with. "You know. He's got the good stuff. He's thinking of fleecin' enough to get me a dress. How about blowing this stuffy old place and join him?" The bluerider snorts at that before she answers, "I'll bet 3 marks that he doesn't end up fleecin' a single piece. Man's as subtle as a girl with her skirt down." She then looks up and waves fingers in a shooing gesture all the same before adding, "Go on, get out o'here, Kait. Have Jormunth keep Tac in tabs on what's goin' on up there. For entertainment purposes."
He was supposed to be supplying the drinks next time around, but there was no one up at Jo's weyr when Tsanth and his rider made their drop in. However dragons are a talkative bunch and so are lower caverns women. Z'ian enters the records from a less conspicuous entrance and hearing the bluerider's voice makes his way through the stacks. He's not so readily visible to the exiting Kaitlin and if he ducks down a different way from her when he hears her coming, well, a man has a right to not be seen by a potentially nosy woman. Yes? When she's definitely gone he pops his head out from around a corner in the back, quietly watching Jo as she rummages through hides. He's virtually silent as he comes the rest of the way out and leans against a shelf, pulling a glass bottle of clear liquor out of his jacket pocket and unscrewing the lid. The only real noise he's made so far.
Kaitlin, after trying again to convince Jo to go up with her and failing, finally gives up. "See you in the morning, then," is given with a lifted hand, high-tailing out of there as if she was afraid the very room was going to swallow her up. Just as well she didn't catch the bronzerider on her way out. Upon notice beyond that, the bluerider is in her customary black leathers and is in the process of pausing whatever it was she was drawing, getting to her feet and rolling up the large map while mutter a few words to herself that couldn't be heard. It's only once she hears that she's not alone that she says aloud, "Kait, I don' give a f-" and stops when she looks up and finds that it's Z'ian. Hands pause in their rolling of the map, that piercing gaze of hers taking him in, and then his bottle. Slowly returning to what she was doing, "Persistence, and liquor, just might get ya anywhere with me, bronzerider," she comments in greeting, her crooked smile almost infectious. "Tac tells me ya were by?"
"Don't give a fuck about what? Playing a game with M'ron who's going to fleece Kait enough to get her a dress?" Z'ian grins lopsidedly at her before bringing the bottle to his mouth, tipping it back and taking a long swallow. He crosses the room to her and hands their mutually shared drink over. "That sounded like it would have been an exhilarating time." The bronzerider sits on the edge of the table, his long legs allowing his feet to still touch the ground. He glances with a very casual and cursory curiosity at the hides that litter the area, turning again to look up at her. "Sorry for eavesdropping, was hard not to listen. And yes, we swung by. You weren't around obviously, because you were down here. Hope that I'm not persistently interrupting you with a drink?" He asks, flashing her a toothy smile.
With the map rolled up and sealed, Jo straightens and sends Z'ian a look for the first before she crosses the room to places it back in its proper shelf. The look is short-lived though, in light of that lopsided grin. "Not my idea of spending the precious few hours of the night I've got," she notes on the game in M'ron's weyr, shaking her head as she returns to the table and collects up the sheet of hide. "Besides, he sucks at the whole fleecin' thing. It's like watchin' a canine chase its own tail." Then Z'ian is there before her with that drink, and she takes a long pull from it and nods at its taste, satisfied. "I've got good, stolen glasses up in my weyr, ya know," she notes with a touch of dry amusement. "I've got what I came for, anyway." And she rolls up the large sheet of hide ad hefts it before him, sending the bottle back over and tries to catch her shoulders in a knock against his chest as she passes him. "Come on, she offers then. "Can't interrupt what's already done, darlin'." Jo's grin is full of bravado and sensuality, expecting him to follow her out of the room and towards to bowl.
"It sounded a lot like you sitting up there, wishing you were anywhere else while your friend hung on M'ron to get him to buy her clothes. I wouldn't want to spend the precious hours of my night that way either. Well, actually. I could see how it could be fun." Z'ian grins at her mischievously and lifts his shoulders. The bottle is received and he screws the cap back on, stashing it back in his jacket pocket. He's moved a bit by the impact of her shoulders into his chest and he laughs, canting his head to the side as she begins to walk from the room. The bronzerider exhales, "Yes ma'am." And hops off the table, following her along out of the records.
Jo snorts before she says, "And no strip dragon poker involved, either. Imagine my disappointment," adds in a deadpan voice towards the end of it. There's her laughter floating after her for his words, however, and then she's gone on towards her dragon. - Jo's weyr is a big contrast to Z'ian's own, with her own place being more or less sparse and neat. There's a large map of the north part of Pern gracing her back wall, and there's shelves on the sides filled with all sorts of things that clearly didn't have any Reachian origins. There's a clean table to the side with stiff-looking chairs, a potted plant at the center and a card deck. Her bed's a large affair that's neat as well, and there's also a sofa that looks far more comfortable and out of place in comparison to the rest of her things. One could almost say that the woman hardly spends time there. Almost. Jo heads on into her inner sanctum past the heavy deep blue and gold-threaded drapery with ease, shrugging out of her riding jacket to reveal her fitted cream top. She tosses the rolled up hide on her table and the jacket over a chair as she goes for one of the shelves. Over her shoulder, "So I recall that ya don' do risks," she notes, a touch wry. "Though, ya brave a knife and last time wanted to brave a kiss. Fancy a game?" Eyes flick pointedly towards the card deck as she approaches with two nice-looking glasses. "I could make it worth yer while. Heavy emphasis on 'could'."
"Strip poker? I was just thinking of ways to make it as uncomfortable for the two of them as I possibly could. Not fun for them, but a lot of fun for you to watch them squirm." When they arrive in her weyr, Tsanth settles onto the outside ledge where he'll keep her blue company with a flurry of conversation. Z'ian arrives behind her, slipping his jacket off and removing the bottle before tossing it over the arm of her couch. The liqour ends up on the table with the potted plant and rolled up hide. "I don't like to do risks that involve me becoming destitute. However neither do I live a flat boring life devoid of excitement. Significant difference." He pulls one of the chairs and stradles it, leaning his chin onto the wood. "Could? Is this just your way of working nudity into the evening somehow?" He asks, lifting an eyebrow and grinning crookedly as he reaches for the bottle. The cap gets unscrewed again and he slides it over to her. "What game do you want to play?"
"I was preferring the minus them part in that," Jo counters smoothly on the first, setting the glasses down on the table beside the bottle. As the drapery settles, blocking out the ledge, she briefly catches a glimpse of Tacuseth settling comfortably, seeming to be far more interested in his bronze companion than the going-ons of his rider's weyr. Jo returns to the topic of risks, exhaling her amusement with him. "I would promise to leave ya a mark-piece, at least," she vows, a hand going over her heart as she says it. "I mean, with an honest face like mine and all." She straddles the other chair at the table and reaches for the deck of cards, shooting Z'ian a look of challenge for his words on nudity. Deadpan, "Ya got me, darlin', but, I was thinkin' more along the lines of you missing yer clothes. Not me." She takes the offered bottle and starts to pour first into her glass, then his questions gets a brisk, "Dragon poker. Win two out of three and ya can have one thing of this place," and there's a pause, brow lifting at him. "I won't question, but....if it's one of my glasses, just know I'll be stealin' it right back by the end of the seven. That's the deal. Doesn' have to be a 'thing'." Reaching for her glass and taking a long drink before she then goes for the deck of cards between them, "Wanna see what yer made of, darlin'," she teases low, shuffling the deck deftly, cocky in her demeanor.
"You know, I trust you. I don't believe that you would lie to me about letting me keep at least a mark. With that honest face and all." She's rewarded with an amused and challanging look of his own. Z'ian reaches over and grabs his glass, pouring a generous amount into it. He slides it towards himself and takes a swallow, listening to her proposition with one uplifted eyebrow. "So wait, I'm probably going to be walking of here close to naked is what you're proposing?" He holds one finger up, "Or. I get to take... something. I better make it a good something or else this is hardly even." He levels her with a serious, considering look. "Deal. I'm sad to say that you're just going to see I'm a lousy player. At least I cleaned up before I came here." He flashes her a quick smile and takes another draw from his drink, pushing it off to the side and then sitting up a little taller in the chair.
Jo sends Z'ian that smile full of mischief at the first as she starts dealing them both some cards. "Ya shouldn't trust me," she notes on his words, that grin lingering. "Even an honest face like mine shouldn't be trusted." Once the cards are dealt, the first game begins and through it all, her silence heavy, she nurses her drink and keeps a lingering eye on the older man's face as if she could read the very cards he holds in his eyes. Considering something said on the deal as she vocally ups the ante, "So I'm sayin' it's get naked or take what ya want," is her blunt clarification, looking him in the eye. "Depending on what ya want, it can be fair. That's the risk, isn't it?" So she's back to draining her glass, refilling it, and rearranging her cards as she adds to his last, "If yer such a bad player, then why take the risk? Unless ya -want- to be naked in some woman's weyr. I know how ya bronzeriders operate." Yeah. Much can be said about blueriders, too.
Z'ian's somewhat more canny at playing the game than he let on. Granted, he's not Pern's Best Player but he didn't pick up these cards for the first time tonight. "I don't think that's the risk here. Actually..." He trails off as he rearranges the cards that are in his hand. "Actually, I think you're assuming most of the risk right now." He doesn't elaborate on it, instead he laughs when she makes the bronzerider remark, glancing up at her with a smirk. "Oh, very original. Maybe I don't care if I end up naked here, what's the worst that happens? I fly across the bowl afterwards with nothing on? Not a thing exciting about a nude man, girl. People like to look at naked women, not guys." He hazards a look up at her before he reaches for his glass again, swallowing the last of the remaining alcohol. When it comes time to end this first game, he lays his cards across the table to reveal a strong hand. He reaches over and grabs the bottle, refilling his glass and topping off hers.
Jo's watching Z'ian like a hawk, and seems far more interested in him and that bottle than the game at hand. It could be that she's just that much arrogant to think that anyone could beat her at anything with the cavalier way she briefly studies her hand and downs the contents in her glass. "Maybe yer assumin' I've got something to lose here," she counters easily, head tilting slightly at an angle. As to exciting nudes, "Depends on the man, don't it?" she quips, now studying her cards. "I think the women of the Reaches could do with some male eye candy, if ya ask me. I'd be doin' them a favor is all. Ya can call it doin' a service worthy of a rider." Light from the weyr's glows glint in her gaze at him, which then drops to that strong hand being revealed. Eyes narrow a fraction, and then she reveals her own hand, which is a lower one. "Beginner's luck," she announces, collecting up all the cards while Z'ian tops off her glass. That's all she says before she's taking a fortifying drink, shuffling those cards and dealing out for the second game. "Or. Maybe yer better at this than ya think, or are leadin' me to believe."
"Leading you to believe?" Z'ian rephrases and echoes, presenting the bluerider with an utterly innocent look plastered across his face. "With a face like mine?" He asks, pointing towards his mostly honest expression. When she puts her own hand down, he covers up his winning smirk by putting the glass right to his mouth and taking a drink. Quiet gloating. "Not exactly like that. I think having me remove layers of clothing is amusing to you, but you might be more interested in seeing what I did if I won the whole thing." He picks up his cards for the second game and arranges them, taking a hit for the first go around. "I suppose it does depend on the man. I wouldn't know about me, since I don't find myself attracted to well... myself." His eyebrows briefly furrow as he looks over the hand he's currently holding.
"Leadin' me to believe that I've got nothing to lose?" Jo banters back with slight bemusement, studying Z'ian all the more. "What, ya think that I'm in over my head. "Me"?" There's low laughter at that, catching that innocent look on his face along with his accompanying words to the fact. "Mmmhmm." She rearranges her new hand absently, nursing back more of the drink as she listens to him explain his side on the whole nudity issue. Her eyes only come up when he mentions where more of her interests lie - which was not getting him naked for all womenkind and her amusement. Considering something in the pause, "If I asked, would ya tell me what it was ya want?" she muses aloud then, studying every nuance of his face as Z'ian studies his hand. Draining her glass then, "No, not yerself," she agrees, "but I think I already know what does attract ya." She could be openly flirting at this point, her shoulders loose from their tension with the drink and the card play. And the word play.
"You don't have anything to lose? You apparently at least have a glass to lose since you said you'd steal it right back." He counters, before wrapping his fingers around his drink and then laughing. "You in over your head, that's something I'd like to see. Do you ever get flustered?" Z'ian asks tipping the glass back and studying his hand, not looking across the table too much right now. His thumb comes up to his mouth and he chews on the corner of his nail. He glances up at her, "If I told you what I wanted, what would be the point of playing this game? I think it would take away the fun and I get the feeling you enjoy this part just as much as I do." He flashes her a smile before he reluctantly folds a relatively poor hand onto the table. "And if your guess is 'you're attracted to women', you're on the right track. I like women very much."
Touche. "Ya mean, ya wouldn't want some convicted rider stealin' into yer weyr, tryin' to get back the very thing ya took?" Jo counters in like with feigned innocence. "Where's yer sense of adventure? And yeah, I can get flustered. I'd be worried if I do get flustered." Which she wasn't flustered now. She refills her glass and offers it to Z'ian, her dark gaze tracing the course of his thumb before that gaze gets transferred back to her cards. He was right, of course about the mystery of it all, and so the smile she sends is a real one since she's not going to deny it. Eyes fall to his poor hand, and the one she then reveals is a good one. "Last game before the last call," she drawls, collecting up the cards, her eyes on him. "One for one. Looks like we'll see soon enough." She shuffles the deck and deals his cards first before her own before she addresses his last with open laughter, shaking her head as she starts to look over her final hand. "Is that why yer not weyrmated?" she asks then, looking at him from her cards. "Yer place....didn' look like it had a woman's touch."
He laughs and shakes his head. "I don't think that's what I said. You want to come stealing into my weyr for glasses of yours that I took during a dragonpoker game, well. I'm just going to accuse you of looking for an excuse to come see me." Z'ian beams across the table at her, accepting the cards as they're shuffled out. He does the same as he did the last two games, shifting the cards around and making the necessary adjustments as they come up. Her question catches him offguard and he stops to look up over at her, he coughs up some uncertain laughter. "Uh, it was the reason one time. Other than that... It just hasn't worked out since then for me. As for my weyr, you might have noticed I didn't graduate from the barracks yesterday. It's not our first home. Haven't been a lot of women living leaving their touches in this one." It's all an awkward as hell explanation, but he lays it out there for her. Then he takes a long swallow from his glass, just about draining.
Jo barely snorts in return to the first, saying right back, "Like ya don' have any reason to come lookin' for "me"." She matches that beam before she rearranges her cards and finds a setting she doesn't change anymore. Z'ian's reaction to her question, though, gets that sliver of her interest, watching him as he explains. It's only after he's done that she breaks silence, noting smoothly, "Ahhhh, something that flusters ya, Z'ian. Makes me want to know the whys and hows of it, someday." Then, as an afterthought, "This is my first weyr, and I haven't the feel to move from it. Fits Tac and me. And I haven' had a weyrmate. Think I'd be a shitty one, with me gone so much." Pause. "Show me yer cards." She drains her glass and this time doesn't refill it, watching his face as if any expression was going to give the dare of the game away.
She retorts and he smirks, flashing her a broad grin before he returns to finalizing his hand. There's no thumb chewing this time around, just a few thoughtful motions before he finishes. He tilts his head to the side, smile more closed lipped on the subject of him being flustered. "Yeah, discussions of my personal failings do that to me." In another man it could be taken as something more defensive, but Z'ian's form is more flippantly self-derisive and humorous ultimately. "You'll have to pump more booze into me to get that story from my lips." He cracks a brief smile for that before continuing. "Unless your weyrmate liked having lots of alone time. Some people do. Don't rush into anything." That's his sage advice for the evening. His drink is done and he pushes the glass off to the side, spreading the cards out across the table and dropping his chin onto the back of the chair. It's a powerful hand, but not something that couldn't be blown away by another better one. His are down first, so he's watching the bluerider for her hand. "Your turn to show and tell."
Lips thin briefly on Z'ian's self-deprecation, the bluerider stating simply, "Who's to say it wasn't a failure, but a mere gamble lost?" Her gaze, more pensive, lingers on him then, perhaps trying to figure him out more than asking. To pumping him with booze, "I might, but then, who would know what I would say on my own shit, darlin'." As in, he wasn't the only one with personal failings, and the sage advice given seems to be taken with a brief incline of her head. "It would be cruel to subject myself on anyone," on the matter of weyrmates that's succinct. Dark eyes drop towards the hand revealed in the silence, her face betraying absolutely nothing. She stares for a moment, and then, at his last words, she lays down her own slowly - card by card. "Well, damn," she drawls, hooking her arms over the back of her chair as she arches her back and leans away. "Seems like it just isn' my night with this deck." Funny enough, she really doesn't look all that disappointed despite her words. Gaze shifts from the revealed hands to Z'ian's eyes as she states, "So. What will ya have of me?" Suggestive? Yes. Very much so. One couldn't call Jo a sore loser in this instance.
"There's some stuff in life that's a gamble. And then there are fuck ups." Z'ian lifts his shoulders as he watches her expression change. "I try to recognize the difference. Keeps me from doing the same dumb shit over and over again." Her acknowledgement of owning her own personal failures as well is rewarded with a snort and a quick laugh. "If I tell you one of my stories, then you're going to owe me one of yours. Your choice." His lips press together on the matter of cruely subjecting herself on others, he takes in a breath to say something before blowing it out without uttering a word. She's putting her cards down and he watches with a sharp eye. If he was expecting a particular outcome it doesn't register on his face right away. But his mouth does eventually curve just as he gets out of the chair. The bronzerider absently screws the cap back onto the bottle of booze before he puts one hand onto the arm of her chair, doing the same with his other, forming a neat cage. "What do you think I'm going to take?"
Jo pauses on words given on fuck-ups before she acknowledges the truth in them with, "Makes sense." She looks away with a short huff of laughter on swapping stories before she answers on that one, "I think that's all going to require a whole new unopened bottle." As in other words, it was certainly a possibility for another time. Right now, she's far more interested in watching Z'ian's reaction to his win, her own corner of her mouth lifting but a fraction as he stands. And then he's there before her, one arm on either side of her, the bluerider meeting that gaze head-on for his bold question with her. She lifts her chin and flows an open look over him, coming right back to those eyes before she answers back huskily, "Are ya askin' permission, or are ya gonna just take?"
"Yeah, it is." Going to require a whole new unopened bottle. "Your turn next time." Z'ian glances towards the stone ceiling of her weyr, thoughtful for a moment before he directs his gaze back down at her again. "No, I was just wondering what you were thinking." He lifts a hand and runs his fingers up her neck to her chin, to tip her face up to the right angle before he leans in. First he pitches his voice low and speaks into her ear, "I'm going to kiss you and then I'm going to go. I like that face of yours." She might feel the brush of his mouth as he smiles quickly, right before he moves and presses his lips against hers. His hand travels to the back of her head, tangling briefly with her hair before he pulls away, biting his lower lip as he takes a breath.
"My turn," Jo agrees easily before she feels Z'ian's hand on her neck, her chin. Her face is easily tipped, and his voice in her ear draws an exhalation of breath from slightly parted lips and a smile something crooked. Low, "I think ya already knew what I was thinkin', long before that game started, darlin'," is her words before his lips are on hers, and it's a kiss that's returned in kind - seeking a taste of him and almost demanding in the way her lips move against his. Eyes flicker close briefly as she feels his fingers in her hair, losing herself to it until all too quickly, he pulls away. Dark eyes open and she takes a breath to regain her composure, clearing her throat as she finds herself just staring at him. Then, "I like yer eyes." They're eyes she has to force herself to look away from, realizing that perhaps she's revealed far more of herself than she'd know. "Thanks for the nightcap," she gives, leaning back in her chair, the glimmers of a smile there. "I'll drop by, soon."
"But it was fun to play anyway." Z'ian confides quietly as he catches his breath. There's a certain reluctance to him as he releases his hold on the arm of the chair and straightens up. He chews away at his lower lip until her admission about his eyes, he laughs and glances down looking almost sheepish for him. Raking his fingers through his hair, he watches Jo for a beat before he smiles and takes that first step away. Then it's another and another until he gets to his riding jacket. "You're welcome. I'm looking forward to it." He shrugs it on and ducks past the thick curtains and out onto her ledge. Tsanth concludes his lively discussion with Tac begrudgingly so that they can take flight.
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