Difference between revisions of "Logs:Anniversary Surprises"

She was waiting for them in the lee of the tunnel into the weyr. It had to be the lee because though the spring was nearly to summer, the evening air still carried a touch of chill when the breeze blew across the ledge that would make her state of relative undress uncomfortable if she stayed out in it too long. But when Reisoth landed, Tayte stepped out onto the ledge, careful not to trip in her heels. Nearing the bronze pair, her hands settled lightly on her hips in a pose for display. It was hardly the first time she surprised him in lingerie, but she didn't usually come out on the ledge to greet him in it. Maybe the reason for that has to do with the smell only Reisoth will catch: that of another dragon, and not a local one according to the subtle details of the olfactory clue.

Even though the view is quite nice, H'vier seems confused by Tayte's presence on his ledge. And maybe not even so much her presence but her state of dress. On his ledge. When he's had Other Things on his mind. At least he doesn't have another woman with him this time. "Tayte," he says once he's got feet on stone, looking at her very nice breasts more than her face. Oddly, though, he doesn't seem as happy as usual to see them like this. "Who brought you here?" Evidently Reisoth has noticed the leftover presence of another.

Not as happy, woe! Tayte blinks a few times. This is perhaps why she sounds distracted when she says, "My friend, Tisa." She's looking up at him, concern starting to show despite the pretty mask of cosmetics that's been painstakingly put in place, just for him. "Did you have a bad day?" She asks, seeking to lean up onto her tiptoes and let her arms encircle his neck, even trying for a 'hello' kiss.

His arm moves reflexively to wrap around her waist, her wonderfully bare waist, when she puts her arms around his neck. And H'vier is all too willing to meet her for a kiss. "No. Nothing like that. I wanted to see you, actually." Just, you know, not like this. Well, that's not true. He wants to see her like this very, very much. "You look amazing. Did I forget my turnday again?" Not that he ever does that.

"No." Tayte's smiling up at him now. Kissing is reassuring, so is the familiar positioning. "It's our other anniversary. Not the one we celebrated last month. But the other one." Because everyone needs more than one? "I thought we could do something special." The dimples come out to play as she gives him a look that counts as more than a little mischievous.

"I don't know how you remember all of that," says H'vier, probably more fondly than his initial reason for wanting to see Tayte should really allow. "I like the idea of something special, though. Especially if it involves you in these." As he says it, his hand slips down over her rear end, pulling her hips more firmly against him.

"It does." Tayte beams up at him. How she remembers is not important. "I gave it a lot of thought and--"

A smooth soprano calls from within, "Are you two going to keep me waiting all night? It's cold and lonely in here." There's levity in the voice.

Tayte glances toward the inner weyr and back looking both uncertain and hopeful. "Surprise?"

Surprise, indeed! H'vier's attention jerks in the direction of the unfamiliar voice before it's back on Tayte with his brow furrowed with uncertainty. He's not going to jump to any conclusions. He knows better than that. "Your friend?" he guesses. "Why is your friend in my weyr?" Sure, he'll play dumb.

"Tisa," Tayte confirms, nodding before she's slipping out of H'vier's arms only to take his hand and tug him toward the inner weyr. She explains as they walk, perhaps oblivious to his playing dumb, or maybe too excited herself to notice. She speaks quite quickly and there's a bounce in her step as she goes, which probably makes those things H'vier wasn't as happy as usual to see all the more interesting to watch. "Well, I know you've been wanting for turns now to have a threesome with me, and I always said no before. But, you know, with everything-- and all -- and three turns is pretty significant, I think. Longest that I've ever been involved with anyone, anyway. I thought it would make for a good surprise." Tisa is lounging on pillows on the bed in a similar state of dress to the other blonde; Tayte picks women well. "What do you think?" Tayte asks, stopping and looking up at him again in a way that is nervous. excited and adoring all at once.

The fact that Tayte brought this other woman to his weyr entitles H'vier to take his time looking at her, right? Hopefully so, because that's exactly what he does once she's in view while he starts, somewhat absently, unfastening buckles on his flight jacket. "Gorgeous," he murmurs, offering a charming sort of smile to the unfamiliar blonde. But the word seems to snap him back to reality and he glances Tayte-wards a moment after. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Obviously Tayte being comfortable is the Most Important Thing Ever.

When H'vier glances at her, she's still looking at the blonde in the bed, who is totally comfortable having them both look, though now making eye contact with Tayte, wearing a very 'come hither' expression that has Tayte's cheeks blooming into a blush. She almost doesn't notice that she's been asked a question. So it's belatedly that she's jerking her eyes away from Tisa and to H'vier, "What? Oh, yes. Absolutely yes." Big smile. She's not too excited, is she? It doesn't make Havi uncomfortable does it? Either way she's moving over to the bed, rather than staying to help H'vier out of his things.

H'vier uncomfortable? Not even a little. Not about having two nearly naked women in his weyr who are making eyes at each other, anyway. The bronzerider doesn't say anything else that might distract them for now, slowly (read: distractedly) working at removing his flight gear as Tayte goes to join the bluerider. Is it still a threesome if all he does is watch them go at it?

He probably has that option because Tayte doesn't even look back before Tisa is welcoming her with a murmur, a kiss and more. Tayte is as unrestrained with Tisa as she usually is with H'vier. They won't turn him away from the party if he ever decides to join, but they don't need him to have this party; Tisa is only too happy to take the lead. If H'vier has enough spare blood flow to notice, there's none of the usual 'first time together' fumbling.

It's a long while that H'vier hangs back, even after he's stripped down to his pants, evidently quite content to just watch them. Let's face it, live action is way better than his imagination. And he's never been able to see Tayte like this from an outside perspective, let alone with another woman. And he likes it. But, eventually, the bronzerider does insert himself into the party, if only because it would be such a wasted opportunity not to.

The party goes on a while. Long enough to need the drinks, and even the snacks Tayte made sure were on hand. After all, when is this opportunity necessarily going to arise again? But once the party is over, Tisa doesn't hang around to cuddle. She does embrace the local blonde one last time and kiss her before her blue is landing on the ledge and she's putting on clothes long set aside and moving to join him. Tayte returns to the bed, now wearing one of H'vier's shirts and carrying something. Something that turn out to be cigars, ready to be smoked. Celebration? Victory? Just something else fun? She offers one silently to the bronzerider before lighting up her own.

H'vier could probably be quite content with just drifting off at this point and sleeping until he forgets why he'd wanted to see Tayte from the beginning. That doesn't seem all that important right now. He takes the cigar offering from the vintner, waiting for them both to be lit before he's trying to pull her in against him. "That was better than I'd imagined it might be."

"It's been a very long time since I've done anything like that. Or this." Tayte answers leaning back to make use of her prize before she's pressed back against him for some long moments. She's in a state of repose now, shifting so she can lounge against him. "I suppose I'll have to top it for our next anniversary." She sounds amused.

He wraps an arm loosely around Tayte, more resting around her than anything. "I could get used to this, I'll admit," murmurs H'vier, thoughtful. He studies the cigar between short pulls and there's only an affirmative sort of sound for topping it for their next anniversary. It's a slightly unconvincing sound.

H'vier should be over the moon right now. Over both moons even. But something in the words he chooses, and something about the slightly unconvincing sound have Tayte shifting so she can lean up and look at him. "What's wrong, Havi? Didn't you like it?"

The fact that he doesn't answer immediately with 'nothing's wrong' is probably not his best course of action. But it's probably involuntary. "Of course I liked it. It was amazing. You were amazing." And he didn't punch anyone. Fantastic! "I love you," he murmurs, tilting his head to press a kiss against whatever part of her is most convenient.

Tayte's frowning now, her brow furrowed lightly even after it's been kissed. She shifts more, moving to sit up and then back on her heels as she looks down at him, cigar all but forgotten in one hand in her lap, though the lit end stays away from any fabric. "I love you, too, Havi." She studies him, then asks again, quietly, "Is it Her?" She-who-must-not-be-named. The one carrying his baby. Tayte's body which was so relaxed moments ago, is now all tension and silent stress.

H'vier looks at Tayte like he'd really rather she just stay settled where she was. But he'd probably like for her to not press right now, either. She might actually prefer that soon herself. "No, no. Not really." Those two answers aren't really the same thing. "There's nothing going on between us, I promise." And he's always kept his promises, right?

H'vier can have one of the two things he'd like. It's not the staying put one. Tayte is quiet a long moment before she says, "Okay." Because she believes him, right? Then she's moving to slide off the side of the bed and take her cigar over to pour herself a scotch and settle on the couch, staring at the low flames of the hearth fire. This is Tayte brooding.

"Tayte," says H'vier in a drawn out, tired sort of way, sitting forward but not following after her right away. He settles back against the bed stubbornly, intent on enjoying his cigar for at least a few moments before he's getting up and moving toward the couch. "What are you doing over here?" Even he would prefer to cuddle in bed after an evening like that.

"I'm having a scotch." It's virtually the same answer she gave when she showed up drunk after finding out about Fayla, only she's more specific about the variety of drink. "And enjoying my cigar." Not that it really looks like she's enjoying it, despite her semi-reclined pose. "And thinking." This last addition is at least closer to the truth. Brooding is a kind of thinking, right? Thinking with angst!

H'vier settles into a casual stance somewhere between the couch and the hearth, cigar in one hand and super naked. Some might argue that this is not the best time for him to say something like, "Tayte. I don't think you should be with me anymore."

That makes Tayte sit up. Her eyes are wide as she stares at him. "What?" Because maybe she didn't hear him right, or maybe it somehow means something different than it seems.

The bronzerider hesitates, perhaps considering whether a 'never mind' would make things better or worse. He must decide worse because he repeats the same idea with slightly different words, "We shouldn't be together anymore." H'vier watches her intensely, clearly expecting her to not take this very well.

She should yell. She should cry. She should make a scene for all that there's no one there to witness it. But maybe Tayte is too shocked for all that. She glances back to the bed - the totally rumpled bed and then to H'vier as though she were trying to work out how they got here. Finally, quietly and a little helplessly she protests, "But I love you." Hadn't they just got done saying so?"

"I love you, too, Tayte. I love you so much." Which makes it kind of weird, right? Apparently not. "That's why we shouldn't be together anymore. I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you again. I couldn't live without being able to see Tavi." Baby, it's not you, it's me.

Tayte stares at him some long moments in silence. She's probably still in shock. "But you aren't going to hurt me again... are you?" Hadn't they talked about this? Hadn't he promised?

H'vier glances down at the cigar in his hand like he's just remembered that he's still holding it. It doesn't give him any easier answers, though, so he frowns at it. Without looking back up at her, he says, "Get dressed, Tayte." And then he's turning to, presumably, do the same.

At another moment, she might protest, might stay stubbornly on the couch, but now? There's no fight in her now. Perhaps just numbness. The pain will no doubt come later. She rises and moves first to the hearth to toss her cigar into the fire. No victory. No celebration. Not now. Tayte then moves mechanically to where she has pants, pulling them on. Does she remember she's still in his shirt? She doesn't change it, instead pulling her travelling cloak out of the wardrobe, and then she stops to look at him. She just looks at him. The numb is starting to wear off. There's a mixture of disbelief and heartbreak there.

He doesn't toss his cigar. He snubs it out against the wall and sets it somewhere before pulling on pants. Much like Tayte only puts on her cloak, H'vier only puts on a jacket. But while she's looking at him, he's mostly avoiding looking at her. "Is there anything you want to grab?"

"You don't really want this, do you?" Tayte asks then, and there's a quiet plea in her voice. "What happened to growing old together? To having another baby? To being a family?" It's sad, it's not especially hopeful, and in point of fact, she sounds almost resigned.

He'll take that as a no, evidently, moving toward her, to try guiding her out toward the ledge. "You should find someone else to do those with." H'vier can't answer the first question without lying, though, so he doesn't bother. "I'm sorry, Tayte. This is for the best." For her best, even. Mostly.

Tayte instinctively moves aside from that guiding hand. "Don't touch me." It's a spark of that anger that was missing before. She glares at him now. "And if, by some miracle, I did find someone else I love even a quarter as much as I love you to do those things with, you'll just sit back and let it all happen while your daughter is raised under his roof? Or will he come home sevenly with marks of your disapproval and regret?" Now she reaches to touch him, his arm, his chest in a quick change of temper. "Don't do this, Havi. This is what I want. I'll move in tomorrow if that's what you want. I love you," desperately, "Please?"

H'vier draws his hand back, holding it up peaceably before it shifts down to his side. The questions she asks aren't questions he wants to answer, though. But her change toward desperation isn't any easier for him to deal with. His gaze stays focused on the way toward the ledge but he swallows. His attention is here on the woman he loves. "I won't get in your way, whatever you decide to do or whoever you decide to be with."

Tayte lets her hand drop away and now the tears come, slipping silently down her cheeks. "I don't want this." Does it matter?

His gaze flickers toward her then, just for a moment before he's looking toward the ledge again. "I'm sorry." Those words might also be a precursor to the way H'vier reaches for Tayte's arm with the intention of guiding her more physically outside where Reisoth is waiting. Perhaps he should have called up someone else to take her down so he wouldn't have to do it himself, but apparently he didn't.

She tugs her arm free immediately. "Stop it." This has a hard edge to it. "You don't get to break up with your fiancee, the mother of your daughter, someone you've been with for over two turns and involved with for three, who just gave you one sharding amazing night and then drop her off like she's some one night stand." Tayte's arms fold across her chest, lips set. "I will need to come back and collect my things." The ones she keeps here. "And we will need to figure out what is happening with Tahvra. But neither of those things are happening tonight. When will your weyr be empty of slutty prostitutes or pregnant brownriders so I may come and collect my things in peace?" She says it all in a very business-like manner, like these things are simply to be expected.

"There won't be anyone in my weyr. You can come whenever you like." So, either this has nothing to do with other women or H'vier will just keep them elsewhere until Tayte's things are out of his weyr. "We'll figure out Tavi. You know I'll take care of her. All of you." Financially, in particular, he no doubt means.

It's another quick switch of temper when Tayte abruptly turns and sits down on the edge of the bed. Her eyes find his face, even if he won't look at her. Maybe she's hoping the movement will make him because this next is very important. "I would forgive you almost anything, almost any hurt, but I don't know if I can forgive you this. I don't know if we can come back from this." Because they'll try, right? Don't they always after they cool down? Only this isn't some impassioned fight sparked by some transgression or another.

H'vier's gaze does turn to settle on her when she sits there. That's not where she's supposed to be going. "I don't want you to forgive me, Tayte." Of course that's easy to say now. "Don't forgive me. I don't want to hurt you again. Ever." After this time, anyway.

"Come here, please. I want to ask you a question. Just one question. And then I'll go." Tayte looks up at him with imploring eyes, reaching out her hands in invitation for him to take them, to sit next to her on the bed.

H'vier eyes Tayte's hands and he eyes the woman herself, but he seems hesitant, or maybe just unwilling, to move closer, let alone take her hands. He crosses his arms over his chest and doesn't move. "What question?"

Tayte sighs softly, her eyes drifting down from his face to linger on her empty hands. Maybe that answered the question because slowly she rises. Slowly she looks behind herself to the bed. Then without looking at the bronzerider she sticks her feet into her boots and moves silently toward the ledge. It's to Reisoth she goes and her speech is quiet, private. "Don't let him forget that I love him, please." It's simple. Her tears glitter on her cheeks in the light of the moons, but her heartbreak is still silent.

If H'vier is curious about what the question actually was, he doesn't act like it. He can be emotional when he's alone. Like a real man! Reisoth lowers his head toward the vintner when she meets him outside, silent and otherwise unmoving. It's difficult for an angular beast like himself to pull off sympathetic but one might get the sense that that's what he's going for. It's just before H'vier follows Tayte onto the ledge that she might start to feel the creeping chill of the bronze's mind somewhere at the periphery of hers. But the rider ruins the moment, "Let's go."

It's probable that Tayte doesn't recognize that creeping chill for what it is. Even if she did, she is most likely too distracted with her own feelings to notice its subtle advance. She just looks at the dragon for a long moment then takes a deep breath after she's heard his rider's words. Turning back to H'vier, she asks, "Will you kiss me? Please? Like you mean it. One last time. I don't want our last to have been tied up in all that." She waves a hand toward his weyr.

Some of his own feelings are more obvious in the slight shift of his mask when she asks that question. H'vier doesn't really want all of this to end, not in his heart. And he wants very much to kiss her. If they hadn't just done what they'd done, he might want to do more than just kiss her. But he still hesitates before moving to close the distance between them, to catch her around the back of the head and around her waist to pull her close against him so he can kiss her like he means it.

She doesn't want it to end. Her body is pressed so hard against him, she might be trying to will him to remember how they fit together in more ways than just the physical. But she doesn't try to make it more than it is, doesn't try to use it to get him to change his mind. She might've been desperate before, and still might be, but she still has a measure of dignity. When the kiss finally breaks, hard breaths mingled, she murmurs. "I love you with all of myself, H'vier. You are the love of my life." At least, so far. Even if she might never forgive him. Then she shifts to pull herself away from his arms and moves to mount Reisoth. The tears are still falling but she's remarkably calm in spite of them, "I'll be by tomorrow to get my things. It will take me some time to get everything." They have rather become intermingled with his, even though she's "not living with him."

Even though Tayte says those things, H'vier doesn't return them. Not again. Not now. He makes sure Tayte gets on Reisoth without any trouble and he nods to her comment. "I'll be out of the weyr. You can do whatever you need to do." He doesn't move to join her on the bronze, though, but Reisoth waits for some indication from one or the other before shifting carefully to the edge of his ledge.

"I'll be seeing you," Tayte says with certainty once she's settled and strapped in. That's the thing about being a part of a family, even for just a little while, short of vanishing without a trace (and maybe not even then), there's no such thing as a clean break.