Difference between revisions of "Logs:Not Alone"

Bosom Buddies Weyr, High Reaches Weyr
The entrance to the inner weyr is narrow, and it features a series of hooks on the ceiling on which a large tapestry of intricately woven blue designs is hung across like a curtain, bisecting the weyr to separate rider and dragon quarters. Further in, along the outside curve of the wall, a storage closet has been hollowed out, its door hung with another blue tapestry, another commemoration for Ahruth; he keeps a modest wooden wardrobe there, presumably for clothes. Past that, the back lobe of the weyr has a rounded, smoothed white-stone fireplace decorated with more intricate carved designs that seem grown out of the rock as they support the broad mantle. On it rests a pretty multi-colored rock, shimmering with indigo, violet, and olive, and some other figurines and trinkets. Set in front of the hearth are a large grey couch and overstuffed armchair, both with colorful quilts, and a pretty rug and low table. Further back, behind an unfolded wooden accordion partition, the sleeping area is cozy with a couple of oil lamps on the walls for warmer light. The bed itself is large enough for two and made from some light greyish wood that makes for a sturdy frame. It's piled with blankets and quilts, a motley assortment of both, and plenty of pillows. There are a few other rugs and some wall hangings up, with some other odds and ends here and there from different places around Pern.

Out on the ledge, Ahruth rests. He isn't sleeping, he's alert, watching the sky and gazing down at the lake as the light from the day begins to fade. His wings shift against his back and he resettles his tail. Totally at peace and content. Inside, past his bright blue beacon of a body, E'sren is showing signs of just now getting in. Even though the dragon has relaxed into a nice repose, the rider is still stripping off his jacket, tossing it at a chair; it doesn't stick and melts into a leathery puddle on the floor. Unnoticed by him, as he's preoccupied looking down at his shaking hands. His fingers flex in and out of fists and he shakes them loose to get rid of the unsteadiness, then leans into his hands on the back of the couch, takes a deep breath.

Poor Ahruth, he's so relaxed. He's not going to expect the loud crash that's Ghislaith entering the periphery of his mind. She doesn't full approach him but she makes sure that he knows that she's there and she's coming to his weyr. Right now. The long, lanky green lands on the pair's ledge and allows her rider to dismount. Sabella practically scurries down off of her neck, unbuckling her helmet and tossing it onto the ground. "What part of my conversation with you about him pushing my boundaries made it okay for you to go and do the same kind of crap? Really, E'sren." She begins unbuttoning her jacket because even with the tinge of rage to her controlled voice, she's apparently planning on staying awhile? Women.

And really... he kind of expected it. Not in the way you know something is going to happen, but within Ahruth's awareness there was a grey smudge of premonition. And here she is. « Hello Ghislaith, » he meekly greets the green, and like any gentleman would he budges over to make enough room for her to keep her distance so she won't have to touch him, anticipating this as something she might appreciate. If she even stays. He also says, « She's coming in, » just as Sabella does so, so E'sren has at least a little time to wince inwardly. "Thanks." He straightens at the same time, squares his shoulders against her... whatever it is she's going to throw at him. And rolls his eyes. "Of course you already know. Why am I not surprised. I get why you ran from the room crying, he's really something else." With one hand dragging back through his hair he tries to come up with something more to say and shrugs a shoulder, averts his eyes to the floor.

Ghislaith, she'll never be prom queen. Not with that attitude. The green keeps her distance from Ahruth, her typically antisocial demeanor influnced even more greatly by Sabella's irritation. « Hello. » Tight, reluctant and full of a heavy, pregnant silence. Her rider pulls her jacket off and tosses it onto the ground by where E'sren's has landed. "You did not answer my question just now. This isn't about K'zin, this is about us." There's a good deal of finger jabbing at him and then at the space in between the two of them. Finally she just lets her arms fall to her sides and watches him. He's not looking at her and she looks as if she'd like to say something else too, but instead just bites down on her lip and focuses on some spot behind him.

She's waiting for an answer and he doesn't have one. Not yet. His other hand joins the first in his hair, grabbing fingerfuls of it and burying deep; he's squeezing his eyes shut too and his jaw is clenched. Just when it might seem like he's about to explode or just shatter into a million stony pieces he exhales through his nose and, with his eyes closed, speaks. "I'm sorry." And just like that E'sren moves his palms down to cover his face and scrubs at it, drops his hands and looks at her. And in looking at her suddenly it all boils up again and he gestures vaguely. "What am I supposed to do? When you're so upset that you're crying about something? Just be like 'eh, she's tough she can handle it'? If I'm not gonna help you then what good am I?"

Sabella lifts her arms and then lets them drop again, fingers wiggling and clenching helplessly at her sides. "You're sorry, everyone is always sorry. Aren't they?" She asks, taking a deep breath and exhaling it through her nose very slowly. It's probably more rhetorical than something that's addressed at E'sren spefically. It takes a moment or two before she finally turns back to look at him, watching the way that he drops his hands. "I can handle it. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that again. I'm a big girl, I take care my own problems even if they make me upset. I don't need a hero." The irritation is starting to fade even now, maybe it's the look on his face.

That doesn't help. It's almost like E'sren can't... understand. Not her, specifically, but... what she's saying? His dark eyes narrow and his forehead wrinkles. "So you want me to just... leave you on your own?" He stands there, away from her, but leaning ever so subtly in her direction and all tense across the shoulders. His lips part but nothing comes out right away. Then something does. "Sabella I'm... here. For you. And I get that you're strong, I know that. I see it every day. But you don't have to be strong all by yourself anymore. And I don't know about everyone, but I'm sorry that what I did pissed you off, but I'm not sorry I did it. I'm not sorry I stuck up for you, even if you didn't need it or me or... I'm not saying you need me. I'm just saying that if you're hurt or scared..." Words fail him and he trails off, and there's a pause, and then he just indicates himself with both hands.

"I want you to respect me when I ask you to stay out of something. Not go and argue with K'zin out in the bowl." It comes with a sigh of exasperation. But then Sabella takes another one of those breaths and finally just shakes her head. "Look. I know that you're here everyday. I just don't, I don't know how to deal with it. I'm used to being around a lot of people but being alone still. It's not something you can just shake off. You're hard to understand." E'sren. E'sren is hard to understand? Well, maybe to someone like her. He indicates himself and she bites down on her lower lip, easing forward a little and reaching out to catch one of his hands. To squeeze his fingers tightly.

It's a shrugged affair, that two-handed gesture at himself, and just before they both drop the one hand she reaches for stays, the other falls. E'sren curls his fingers around hers squeezing and looks at those two joined parts of them. At least there's that. He's hard to understand? There's an eyebrow lift for that. And he looks at her, serious face, and quirks his mouth. "I get that you can't just flip a switch. But as not used to not being alone anymore as you are, I can't not try to take care of you, lamely but... I have to do it, because to not do it... I'd have to be okay with just leaving you to whatever." Another shrug. "And I'm not." And maybe the grip he has on her hand loosense a little, in case she doesn't stay, she can easily pull it free.

He quirks his mouth. It's something to catch on to beside just the tips of his fingers. She tugs more tightly at them, pulling him towards herself. "You know..." Sabs starts off slowly, letting her own smile begin to perk up the corners of her mouth just a little. "You want to rush out and be my hero. But I can't seem to get you to kiss me for more than a few seconds at a time. Maybe I'm going to have to play the damsel in distress if it means you're going to come take care of me." She sighs wistfully, switching the tone of their conversation with ease. At least, that is if he'll let her. "Should I do more fainting and putting my hand to my forehead?" Which she does, enacting a very dramatic pose just for him.

With slow, shuffling steps he comes closer, obedient to that tug, still looking really kind of sorry and unsure, she might feel the shakiness in his hand. But he rises to her teasing and his grin is quiet and warm. "Damsel in distress isn't my favorite look on you," he replies, fond. Yeah, he'll let her. More than let. And right when she pulls that dramatic pose he takes the last step, closing up all that troublesome space from before that stretched between them. E'sren tilts his head down at her, smiles. "I know I've been... hm." There's no easy description that sums up all the times he's had an opportunity to steal little moments; to make out with her on the couch; to touch her beyond just holding hands and the occassional innocent this or that, or a close hug. So instead of trying to come up with something that would only barely suffice he just bends to a kiss. Usually he'd kiss her quickly, pull back; this kiss is not one of those kisses, and his other hand goes to her back to press her in against him.

"You know that you've been...?" Sabs repeats, trailing off just then. She waits to see if he's going to fill in the blanks for her or if he'll just let it hang there. His kiss now though, it's better than any words he could have possibly presented to her in this moment. She untangles her hand from his fingers and wraps one around his neck, the other going to touch his face. That press on her back might as well be an open invitation to press her body against him fully, giving in to the length of their lips together. So she's going to indulge in this contact, enjoy feeling E'sren pay her a little extra attention than he might normally.

Yeah she'll have to forgive him for just kind of letting that hang. To say she's allowed to take whatever liberties or invitations she wants is unnecessary, he's not complaining. And even now, when it's probably more likely that he'd pull away, give her a smile, make a joke... they haven't done this yet. This is new. And for all that he might have been gentlemanly, polite even, and taken it slow with her before, right now he feels her hands on him and the gentle press of her slender frame up against him and with confidence he uses that freed hand to take her hip and squeeze it with his long fingers. Months and months of being near her and unable to do anything about anything, and months on top of that for who knows how long before that, before Ahruth even happened, before Candidacy, all of that build up... It's like a light's gone on.

She's grown so accustomed to this, them. That when it goes beyond just a few extra seconds of fleeting intimacy, there's an element of surprise that overtakes her. It's just a spare moment that pauses Sabs, when his hand drops down and squeezes her hip. It would be an understatement then to suggest she's just pleased. Not if the smile that curves her lips against his is any indication, not if the slipping of her hand from his face and into his hair is any little hint. She's been waiting for this moment when E'sren stops being quite so gentlemanly and maybe takes some advantage of the situation. And she won't be discouraging the feel of his hand on her back, the pressure of his fingers or the length of the kiss.

Outside, Ahruth has been largely just trying to make himself as small as possible, an increasingly more difficult feat as the days go by and he gets longer and longer. And as the dragons have been arguing and rattling their chains or blowing their sand or freezing their seas, Ahruth listens and stares down at the bowl as if he might see them all gathered there. Later, he will tell E'sren Later. Give his rider this moment, safely stowed away with Sabella, and just in case the dragon puts up a subtle partition between them, to give him his privacy and to keep him from Knowing. Which is a blessing, and E'sren will be thankful later. There's a sudden heated urgency in the way his hands grip the greenrider in those two places they happen to be right now, but then suddenly he's tipping his chin down to break their kiss; he grins down at her but doesn't meet her eyes at first. When he does, his eyes are much warmer than normal. "I, uh-" his voice cracks so he pauses, then tries again, "Do you..." Kind of.

Ghislaith shut the windows, drew the shades and locked all of the doors when the commotion began outside. Dragons she never knew, golds she wouldn't remember even if she did. They're all hardly important to her. Sure they might be to her rider, but she seems to be plenty distracted currently. Sabs isn't a difficult sell on what's happening right now. The fingers that she's slipped into his hair find a grip and she tips her chin up to meet that intensity, to stoke the fires higher as she keeps her slender form pressed into his. A not so subtle reminder that she's here, right here. He breaks the kiss and she makes a little complaining noise for that, some flash of frustration for his desire to talk now. "No." She doesn't really know what he's asking, but if it has anything to do with stopping, no. And she pulls herself up to him to capture his lips again, the aggressor this time.

The quick disappearance of his smile suggests that E'sren wasn't asking if she wanted to stop, but might have been more keep going. So 'no' is obviously not the answer he was expecting. And if that's the case then understandably he's not expecting her to sweep him back up again, but then that happens and there might be a half-second where he's confused but he gets over it. He grins into it, his mouth curving against hers, while their world rocks a little bit outside. Later. At first the way he wraps her in his arms might just seem an embrace, but she might notice how he loses an inch in height when his knees bend just a little, and she'll definitely notice when he regains it and her feet leave the ground. He wants to take her with him over to the couch, and if he gets that far he also wants to lay her down on it in front of the fireplace, where some coals still smolder. And if he gets that far, he's going to join her too.