Difference between revisions of "Logs:Much Ado About Names"

It's hard to tell if anyone is really winding down today. The party has surely broken up, but that pervasive air of hatching day excitement is still going strong, colored now by the more sensational developments that are filtering from person to person. Or, as one bluerider is learning, it's just another day at High Reaches. The fact that Vienne is still wearing her party dress -- a simple dove gray affair -- is probably proof enough that, whether or not anyone noticed her, she did attend. And now Oswinth shifts anxiously on the ledge while his rider moves about within the weyr, pacing while she unravels a braid from her hair.

Jo doesn't know the result of the party since she had walked out with Brieli - or Aishani, as she's known now - so it's some time before she and her familiar blue suddenly drop from the sky to land on Oswinth's ledge. The tall rider has no dress on, decked out in her usual black attire as she dismounts with ease and clicks her tongue at Oswinth on her way in. There's a bottle in hand as she goes, and once past the fabric barrier separating weyr from ledge, "Thought ya'd still be about at the party down there," is her drawled greeting, her open gaze taking in that dress almost hungrily. "That's if there's still a party goin' on. Ya clean up nice, ya know." It's all said in rapid succession, and she steps further inside as she raises the bottle held and says, "And it's not even strong. I thought I'd share one more drink before duty claims me."

The heads up from her lifemate is enough to have Vienne reconsidering whether she should hurry through the untangling of her hair or maybe throw it all back up. As such, neither has actually happened when Jo walks in and Vienne's hands are still laced through her hair, half of it falling in loose curls around her shoulders, when she lifts her eyebrows and offers her guest a rather weak smile. She appears to be somewhat unsettled. "The party didn't last much longer," she says with a twist of her mouth, recognizing the bluerider's eyes on her a moment later. She looks down at her dress and smiles a bit little more shyly. "There are glasses on the mantle," she points out as her hands pick up here they left off. Glasses, what civilized people use for drinking. "I feel like I shouldn't be surprised," she says tightly with regard to the larger happenings, rather than the offered drink.

Jo's gaze linger on Vienne longer than it should before she finally meets her gaze and remarks, "I expected as much. Wasn' really much to celebrate after all that." She seems to find it rather amusing at least. She's definitely still in a celebratory mood, herself. Eyes falling on her hair, then turns towards the mantle when it's pointed out. "Ya didn' walk out," she notes now as she goes to get two glasses, then sets the whole lot on Vienne's table. "My wing walked out, and yers. I was expectin' a fight, really." The bottle gets popped open and she's pouring, moving and talking as she goes. "I just came from her, actually," she says quietly, turning to offer her one of the glasses. "She's doin' better than she was when she left."

"And K'del," Vienne adds to the list of those who took their leave immediately. Her hair falls loose and her hands come away to smooth over the cinch of her dress at her waist, a flutter of tension in her fingers as well as her eyes. "Of course I didn't walk out," she says. And while the small bluerider might not be terribly prone to excessive drinking, particularly not so early in the day, she takes that glass and a strong mouthful, grimacing as it goes down. "How is she?" A careful release of breath tries to make the most of the alcohol burning her stomach, but unfortunately its effects are not instantaneous. "You're quite cavalier," she notes of Jo's celebratory mood.

Jo downs her own in almost one swallow, eyeing the glass when she's done before she takes up the bottle and refills it. "And K'del," she echoes in agreement, glancing her way. "He looked as still as a rock, from where I stood. Like he was bein' faced with his past all over again." There's something in her eyes as she says it, almost unreadable as she turns and wordlessly lift the bottle towards Vienne for a refill. When asked on the Weyrwoman, "She's well, as can be in this sort of thing," she answers briskly. "She could probably use a friend or two, after this. People will likely want to judge when she doesn' deserve it." Then she drops into one of the chair with a exhale of breath, this time letting the liquid linger in her glass instead of downing it like before. The last does bring one of her brazen smiles to the fore, the woman lifting her glass as she says, "Despite everythin', it was a good hatchin'. I didn' come out too well in the wager books, but, ya win some and ya lose some. Certain ones I hoped would do well, did." That seems reason enough to her.

Vienne is not put any more at ease by the description of the bronzerider's reaction and her lips disappear between her teeth, eyes steady in her glass. "He's been having such a difficult time already." But the bottle is up in the air again and she's only taken that mouthful, so she hurries another after it, even if it doesn't empty her glass, and holds it out for a top-off. "Whatever her... motivations," she begins regarding the Weyrwoman. "I can't think of any way to break such news that wouldn't have resulted in the same reaction, or worse. At least this way, it was done quickly." Yanked off like a bandage. But the little bluerider is still troubled. "It was hard to watch people leave. Just turn around and walk out..." As Jo takes a seat in the lone blue chair, Vienne sinks sideways onto the arm and lifts her glass again. "Your wing left," she remarks before her sip, a prompt for Jo's thoughts on the topic. The success of the hatching and related wagers doesn't seem to be enough to shake her mood.

"It's unfortunate," Jo states on the bronzerider, her feelings perhaps guarded and hard to read on the man. "Sometimes, consequences for long-ago actions eventually will come for ya. I would know of such," and she glances quickly Vienne's way. She refills her glass readily, watching her face as she does so. On the Weyrwoman, "It needed to be done," she says on how it was done, and the manner. "It was time. Her way was more civilized, but, there's no tellin' what I would have done in her place. I'm...not so civilized, there." She watches her as she sits so close, and if her hand lifts and seems to idly trace a long finger along the side of her thigh, she seems to be thinking this is okay. She's not even asking for permission. "Z'ian didn' seem too happy, either," she comments on the people walking out, "and yet he and his whole wing stayed." Pause. "I...dunno what to say about my wing," she admits, brows furrowing only slightly. "I wasn' here at the Weyr when all that happened, happened. I have questions, but...well," she continues on briskly, shaking her head. "It's somethin' I plan to look into. Some of them will likely have a problem with me now, for standin' with her. They can all get in line, as far as I care."

"I worry about him," Vienne says with a little shake of her head, which only alerts her to the fall of her hair around her shoulders. Her hand comes up to corral it, letting a curl tangle in her fingers. "I know it's none of my business but..." She gives a shrug for the things that can't be helped. Or maybe the people who can't be helped. Moving on: "It was civilized," she says with a nod, a weak smile. "I just can't imagine saying it and seeing so many people turn away. And after hiding it for so long." It seems, for both the former Weyrleader and the current Weyrwoman, Vienne is caught in conflicted sympathy. "I'm glad Z'ian and Boreal stayed, whatever his feelings." She'll drink to that, though not with any triumph. "My wing isn't terribly pleased with me at the moment either." Her hand drops from her hair to adjust the fold of her dress across her legs, smoothing the material. "I'd like to know more about what happened, too," she admits, though that's unlikely to be a surprise.

Perhaps there was something in Vienne's voice when she expressed her concern for K'del, for Jo regards her for a moment in silence before she asks, "Do ya get on well with him? K'del." Frowning a bit, "I mean. If ya do, maybe ya can get out of him what this business is about? How he was involved? The older riders, they seemed to know about this than the younger." Vienne's sympathy for Aishani has her drawing a more genuine smile though, and she reaches over to squeeze her thigh as she says, "Bet she'd appreciate it if ya checked on her, hm? I don' think there will be people around that will understand. Whatever her reasons for hidin' it, what was done to her..." Well, this convict rider seems to certainly understand, at least. She then nurses her drink as she falls silent, and when it's revealed that her wing wasn't pleased with her, "Did that argument Z'ian was havin' have anythin' to do with it?" she directs at her, studying her once more.

This time when Vienne presses herself together, it's to wet them carefully. "I suppose. We talk. I don't know if there's anything he'd say, though. If he'd want to talk about this." There's enough uncertainty in it that she draws in another slow breath to holds it for a moment, only to let it all out in a bit of laugh when Jo's hand is on her thigh. She curls her own fingers around that hand, a light, chilly touch that doesn't quite settle but rather takes to little passes of her fingertips across Jo's palm. "I will," she says of visiting Brieli-Aishani, a rather more promising smile hitching at the corner of her mouth. She drinks again, though her lady-like mouthfuls have the liquor disappearing much more slowly than the other bluerider's. "Z'ian was having an argument?" It seems Vienne must have missed that part. Being short has disadvantages at a party.

"If he wants to," Jo gives on the matter of the bronzerider, her hand lingering on Vienne's thigh. "I doubt I'd get anythin' out of him. Our last meetin' wasn' so...familiar." She drains her glass then and sets it aside, forgoing any further drinking while fingers play along her hand. "Good," she says on her seeing about the acting Weyrwoman. "I think it would be good for her to have people comin' by. She hasn' changed, just, her name." The last has her darting a look Vienne's way as she drops, "Ya didn' hear? It was the first thing at the party before she made her announcement. He was goin' at it with Mielliene, by the looks of it. I couldn' hear what it was about, but, Aishani suspects it had somethin' to do with you." She looks to her then in wordless prompt, perhaps to shed some light on the matter if that was the case.

"I'll try to talk to him," Vienne says, though she doesn't make it sound like a reconnaissance mission. "I can't imagine how he must be feeling, what he must be thinking." But she smiles again for talk of Brieli being the same, even though when Jo uses her new name, the little bluerider gives an all-over shudder. "Oh, it's so strange," she blurts out, wincing a little for how awkward it is to place an unfamiliar name on someone she considers a friend. But after that, her sigh is a little weary. "Yes, it probably was, if it was with Mielliene. Z'ian asked me to join Boreal and I've been considering it. Perhaps it's an easier choice now, but I hate to think that I've caused bad blood between the wings. Was it really an argument?" Meanwhile her hand continues to play with Jo's, idle-but-constant movement. "Did Brieli say why?" she wonders. "Was it just... that she thought no one would accept her?"

"I'd love a peek into that mind of his, myself," Jo remarks on K'del, though hers is just a bit sardonic. There's quiet laughter to the shudder, a brow lifting as she says, "It's not so bad, Vi. A name's a name, and it can change. I could be 'Joella' tomorrow, or 'Jaina'. Don' mean I've changed myself." When Vienne explains what could have possibly spurred the argument, she grunts a bit and says, "Yes, I think he mentioned somethin' along the lines to me one time. So it's true. Ya haven' agreed to it?" Pause. "It seemed to be," she answers on it being an argument at all. "Had put a pause in the party a bit, in fact. They had walked out, so I assumed he had settled it since he came back in. Might be somethin' to look into, either way. Both with the wing, with him. Ya should join him," she tacts on without pause, regarding her. "I think ya would make a good impact on that wing. Ya look like someone he could trust, too." Her hand remains, perhaps as a calming effect given, perhaps because she simply is inappropriate like that and wants to as they talk. To the last, "Why she chose the way she did it, or why did she wait for so long to reveal it?" she answers that with a question of her own. Perhaps it's rhetorical, for she gives a slight shrug afterwards and says, "Her father was executed here." Her gaze has something dark in it, but it doesn't stay. "I didn' ask her for all the details, but I am curious."

The idea of peaking into K'del's mind is enough to have Vienne give a warning little shake of her head, a flare of eyes that says 'no, you really don't'. But as for names: "It's just jarring. She's hardly the only one at the moment, though," she points out with a sly bit of a smile, one that grows as 'Joella' and 'Jaina' are bandied about. "Or Jol-something?" It's a light counter, but the perched bluerider clearly knows something about Jo and other names. The toss of her last mouthful of liquor clears the expression and, with her hand holding more snug, she leans forward to set the glass on the trunk-table. "I think I'd like to. Join Boreal. I like that they stayed. -- I understand why she, why Aishani," she has to test the name out, try the feel of it. "Would wait to tell people. Secrets like that, they get bigger and bigger as time goes on. Harder to explain, harder to face." She sinks back against the chair, still holding Jo's hand, a quiet moment of consideration for the topic of Aishani's father.

"Jol-somethin'?" Jo counters on that one, humor leaking through in her tone as she picks up that train of thought. There's a low chuckle before she gives, "It's Jolie. It's what I used to be, before I Impressed. Blame the dragon." It's Tacuseth's fault. She looks pleased at hearing Vienne might take Z'ian up on his offer, nodding a few times and reflexively squeezing her thigh again as she says, "That wing could use some new blood since S'varis." She's silent on the matter of why with the Weyrwoman, though she does state, "What's the point in doin' it at all, if they won' know?" Perhaps something heard before. "But it's out now. She'll be the better for it, and the Weyr will see that nothin' changes."

"Jolie," Vienne has to test out that name too, and a smile down at the dark woman seems pleased with the result. "It's pretty." There's a faint lift of one brow, like she half expects her to object to that description, either for the name or for herself. A bit more insistently, her fingers slide between Jo's knuckles and tease along the length of her fingers. There's a comfortable smile for talk of Boreal, but nothing more. It's the latter discussion that has her brows drawing together, her mouth pursing with uncertainty. "What do you mean? The point of doing what if they won't know? Know what?" She takes another careful breath and lets it out slowly, eyes drifting down to their hands, to the lay of her soft gray dress. "I should change," she murmurs to herself.

"That's why he didn' like it," Jo answers on her name, likely talking about her dragon. "He thought it was not fittin' for the likes of me. Whatever that means." Like she doesn't have a clue. Right. Waving her other hand to it, "Ahh, I don' mind it, really. Some still call me Jolie if they knew me by that. I answer to both, either way." Fingers move when they're tease, curling and uncurling. Playful as the other bluerider asks about what she had meant on the last. "Why she kept it secret for so long," she tells her. "Like ya said, she must've had her reasons. Keepin' it to herself for so long. Must've been turns, longer than I've been here and I've been here for almost eight." Dark eyes dart towards that dress - towards her - and one would likely expect the wily woman to ask in her boldness, "Need some help?" Of course it sounds innocent. Of course.

"No," Vienne answers the last bit first, even as the caress of her fingers turns to a light brush of nails over the back of Jo's hand. "In fact, you should probably sit right here and look straight ahead. If you were anyone else, I'd think nothing of it, but you..." She flashes the other bluerider a grin, wide and cheeky and without actual eye contact, before she starts to slip her weight off the arm of the chair. "I'm still not sure I understand. I mean, I understand why she would keep a secret and I understand why she would tell but... who is supposed to know something? Is the Weyr supposed to..." She drifts off there, brows starting to pinch again.

Hand to chest in a look of utter shock, "Aww, come on! That's like askin' a canine not to smell the roast in the ovens," Jo says on her looking ahead, because she's definitely looking now. I have been the picture of a perfect lady since I've been here." The statement is probably laughable, and she knows it. It's likely why she couldn't say the words with a straight face. Once she moves though, her hand falls back on the revealed armrest with wide grin that could be seen as someone looking to cause trouble. The last, though, "Which is why I bet there's somethin' K'del knows," she pushes on the matter, her tone in earnest. "Or even the older riders in my wing. In Snowdrift. She even mentioned Tiriana's name, which, that was before my time here. Talk to her," she says. Aishani. "That is all I can say on the matter, and the rest..." Hands lift briefly to that. Investigating was definitely on the table.

"You have been," Vienne says, like she's praising a child for good behavior, even if her smirk is all the wider for it. And then she moves off behind the chair, such that if Jo behaves herself and looks forward, there will be nary a thing for her to see. Of course, the likelihood of that is questionable, so at the very least Vienne keeps her back toward the chair as she pulls the dress overhead. "What about Z'ian? He's been here his whole life, hasn't he? K'del might talk to me, but only if he wants to. There's a lot he's keeping in." Again that touch of worry filters into her voice, short-lived though since she considers the other option with a laugh. "If you want to track down Tiriana..." Well, Jo's welcome to it.

Vienne was right. When she went behind her to undress, Jo does turn to peer over her shoulder. So much for being the 'perfect lady' she was claiming to be. Absently when she brings up the Wingleader, "I intend to," come unbidden from her mouth without thinking. Then she focuses and turns around, and laughter however small could be heard from her as she states dryly, "I'll leave the trackin' down of that one to you, darlin'. I've got enough on my plate." All the same, she straightens up and gets to her feet, eyes going towards the ledge as she says, "And anyway, I should probably head on out. This hatchin' business has disrupted my day long enough. The bottle's yers, if ya want it," she adds, touching the stem of it as she glances over towards Vienne's back.

Facing away, Vienne misses the glance, but it hardly matters since there isn't much to see for either of them and she's already pulling the sweater over her head when Jo gets up from the chair. She glances back with a laugh. "Yes, that's about right. I take my clothes off and people run away." She has to shake out her trousers, balled as they were from when she changed out of them this morning, and she wobbles on one foot as she glances toward the bottle. "Take it. You'll have more use for it than I do. Though..." She takes a deep breath and pulls the suede pants up to fasten them. "Thank you for the drink. I think I needed it."

"Get naked for me and ya'll find a very different response," Jo is quick to counter, not in the least apologetic. Still, she leans over to take up the bottle after Vienne speaks, stopping it up ad tucking it under one arm as she states, "If ya need another later on, stop by my weyr," presumably to drink, though, she seems to leave things a little ambiguous on purpose. "I should be back in, dependin'." She steps away finally but approaches her from behind, only side-stepping her to draw fingers to her chin once she straightens up to drop a kiss to those lips before she needs to go - provided there's no rebuffing done to keep it from happening. Likely to catch Vienne off-guard, if anything.

At that remark about getting naked, Vienne arches a brow over her shoulder, and she twist aside to make it more plain that she lets her hands linger at her waist band as if maybe she's about to reverse course. Except, not so much. Her smile brightens for the tease, though, chaste as it may be in comparison to all things Jo, and she turns away again to finish arranging herself. "I'm glad you went with Brieli," she's saying as Jo takes up the bottle, forgetting the goldrider's new name. "I'm glad someone was with her... afterwards." And with those things on her mind, she is definitely caught off-guard when a finger takes her chin and the blueriders' lips meet. Again, there's a hitch in Vienne's response before she returns it lightly and tentatively. And afterward her chin pulls away so it can dip shyly. "I guess I'll see you around," she murmurs through a bashful smile.

"Tease," is all Jo murmurs on the slight woman playing with pulling down that waistband, and she nods on the matter with the Weyrwoman as she says, "Yeah. She's gonna be alright. Tough girl, that one." And with her stolen kiss succeeding, there's a suggestive smile from her before she's drawing those fingers away and saying wryly, "Ya will." Then she's turning and heading out with her bottle, the leisurely way she does so in contrast to any sort of urgency of her being needed outside the Weyr.