Logs:Man Whore
| |
|---|
| RL Date: 11 March, 2009 |
| Who: Avey, K'del, P'ax |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Avey's visit initially goes very badly, thanks to awkwardness with K'del and P'ax (and Cadejoth, Yyth and Leisath). But it doesn't turn out too bad, over all. Unless you're P'ax. |
| Where: Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr / K'del's Weyr, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 2, Month 3, Turn 19 (Interval 10) |
| Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr 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. It's dusk on a cool, damp day, and K'del is wandering idly through the bowl, his hands slung from his coat pockets, while Cadejoth plays in the snow with a few of the weyr children. True, the snow is looking pretty sad, by now: dirty, not very fresh, but /they/ seem to be having a ball anyway. The young bronzerider tilts his head up to watch for a moment, as a snowball flies over his head; his lips twitch, but he doesn't smile outright. Yyth is a shadow passing overhead, making a pass, two, before coming down to land in the pathetic showing of snow. Her attention is instantly caught on Cadejoth, especially if there's snowballs involved. P'ax is barely free of her back before she's bounding off to see him. P'ax stands there awkwardly for a moment, his eyes searching for and finding K'del. He hunches down instead of greeting the bronzerider, hands stuffed in his pockets. There's so little sun - /was/ so little, even, before the dusk came, and now there's even less - that perhaps it's no wonder Yyth's overhead flight goes unnoticed by both Cadejoth and his rider. The bronze, however, is more than delighted to note the green as she bounds towards him, and sends up a flying wave of snow as he turns to meet her -- right as a snowball hits his headknobs. The children laugh; Cadejoth rumbles in delight. That sound alerts K'del, whose gaze had wandered elsewhere again. He swallows, glancing around: his eyes find P'ax at much the same time as the greenrider's find his. He, too, says nothing. P'ax looks away hastily, a blush burning in his cheeks. His head disappears below the level of his rising shoulders, elbows curled protectively towards himself somehow despite standing akimbo. Yyth is oblivious or doesn't care about the discomfort. Not as if they could avoid each other anyways all the time. « Hello! » She greets eagerly, ducking her head to lift up snow on her nose and fling it at him playfully. « Can I play too? » To Cadejoth, Leisath bursts from between and feels widely for the consciousness that is Cadejoth - it's with a sense of triumph that she finds him and latches on. « Hello! We are here to visit. I have brought my Avey to see your rider. Perhaps we will go and look at your mountains? » She reaches, too, for a location, or a suggestion for a place to land. Once she finds him, she'll get a sense of snow and ice and cold - and a pure, relentless delight, in amidst the clinking, clanking chains that mark his mental touch. « Leisath! » the greeting is exuberant. « Ooh, the /mountains/. Come on down, and we'll see. » He extends an image of the lake shore - the lake frozen beside him, children playing (snowballs!), and another green engaging in the game. And K'del's there, too, looking grumpy (but don't mind him). (Cadejoth to Leisath) To Cadejoth, Leisath gives a happy little mental wriggle, though she instinctively warms Cadejoth's snow for him, as a friendly gesture. « We come! » she says, and shares the thrill of her rapid drop from high above. Leisath lands from the lower sky. K'del studies P'ax for a moment, then he, too, turns away: he's looking grumpy, now. But the grumpiness turns to thoughtful consideration, and his head tilts up instead, searching for something - someone? - in the sky. « Hello, Yyth! » enthuses Cadejoth, letting the snow hit him directly, then flinging more back, much to the amusement of the children - who add some more snow to the mix. « Of course you can! And maybe Leisath will, too. She's coming to see our mountains! » Avey climbs down from Leisath's neckridges. This turns Cadejoth's snow to water, though, and it's kind of drippy. And dirty. « Lovely! » More enthusing. « So good to see you again, Leisath! And you can meet Yyth; she's not very /nice/, but she's interesting, and I like her anyway. » (Cadejoth to Leisath) So dismissed, P'ax mills idly around until he finds a rock to sit on. Compared to K'del's grumpy, he just looks... forlorn. Yyth, ever the uncaring, gets into this snowfighting thing for a moment and then, suspiciously, « Leisath. She. » Disapproval hardens the blackness of her mind from gossamer night to sharp obsideon. « That better be all she's come to see. » Leisath drops out of the sky on trim little wings and lands in a flurry of snow; she hasn't learned the knack of not sending it everywhere when she lands. Her rider, at least, has the grace to give an apologetic grin to the two men present. "Oops," she says, swinging her leg over to hop to the ground. Leisath snorts and nudges her nose curiously at the snow. « Hello! » she greets both of the dragons with bright apple-scented words. « We are come from Ista. » She turns her attention to Yyth, whom she hasn't met, with some curiosity, though it's cautious. To Cadejoth, Leisath adds on a more private band, « I am interesting. » Cadejoth is having far too much fun to really pay much attention to Yyth's disapproval; he dismisses it with a wave of delight, chains rattling merrily. « She's fun. Don't mind her, Yyth! » He releases a peal of bell-like rattling at Leisath's flurried arrival, sending a light flurry back at her with his nose: fun! « Hello, Leisath. This is Yyth! We're playing in the snow. » The children have backed away slightly, throwing snowballs at themselves, instead of the dragons, who now outnumber them. K'del's head lifts, so he can consider Avey, and he strides towards her; P'ax gets ignored entirely. "Hey, Avey," he says. "Welcome to the Reaches!" To Leisath, Cadejoth seems surprised that this even has to be stated. « Of course you are! » To Cadejoth, Leisath's answer is a pure beam of delight. To Leisath, Cadejoth thrums. He made her happy, too! Life is good. P'ax doesn't pout, to his credit. He just watches the dragons instead. Yyth isn't so mature. « Hmph. » Leisath gets none of her cheerfulness. She just looks down her slender muzzle at the smaller dragon, the blood flowing freely through her mind in response to that light, happy scent. « Then perhaps you should go back to Ista. » She snarls unhappily at Cadejoth and turns away to play by herself in the snow. « That's right, don't mind /me/. » "Hi, K'del!" Avey says, beaming happily and stepping toward the bronzerider, hand out to grasp his. "It's good to see you. I'm glad we found you, and you didn't have drill or something. Do you want to go see the..." her voice trails off, and she looks over her shoulder at Leisath, blinking. "...what's wrong? Ah. Oh? Oh. We just got here, Leisath..." Now she frowns in consternation. Leisath, having communicated with her rider, lets her disapproval emanate from her more widely. « That is an unkind thing to say. We shall be glad to go, and leave /you/ alone with your ... » there's no word for what she conveys, a tangy sour bitterness that reeks of rotten eggs. K'del's gloved hand reaches out to grasp Avey's in return, his grip firm; he does not, however, quite get to responding to her words before it all goes terribly wrong. He makes a face. "Ah," he says. "I'm sorry, Avey. From what I can... Yyth is jealous, because Cadejoth is friendly with other greens." There's a roll of the eyes there. His head turns towards P'ax, his expression hesitant; then he turns back. "I'm sorry," he repeats. It's a sentiment that Cadejoth shares. « Yyth! That wasn't very nice. We can all play together; it'll be fun! I don't want you to go away. » Pause. « Either of you. Why can't we all just get along? » He sounds genuinely upset, his chains ceasing their merry dance to wrap more tightly about himself, protective. Avey grimaces, though she doesn't seem in any particular hurry to release K'del's hand. "It's okay," she says with a sigh and a shrug of one shoulder. "It's just, she doesn't like being around - she calls it 'negativity,' it's like she's a mom or something..." Leisath huffs haughtily, answering Cadejoth but quite loudly enough to be overheard. « Believe me, I would love to get along. But I refuse to be around such negativity. It is nothing that a civilized dragon ought to be subjected to. » Her words sharpen into a point, for Yyth's benefit. Avey says to K'del, "Maybe I can uh, get her to go sit somewhere else, and we can, uh..." but she doesn't specify what her proposal is, exactly, only grins at the bronzerider. Yyth's eyes whirl a little, her mind turns slowly to contemplate Leisath. If she wants points, Yyth has daggers. Teeth and talons in spades. Not a dragon to threaten. « You are not here to steal my Cadejoth? » she presses the other green. « We can play if you're not trying to take him away from me. » P'ax shrugs helplessly towards K'del and says, "I'm sorry," to the both of them. "She's just a bully. I'll make her go away..." he adds lamely and hops down off the rock. Yyth's over her standoff though, back to digging through the dirty snow in delight. "Cadejoth just hates people not getting along," grimaces K'del, who doesn't seem too concerned about Avey's continued grasp on his hand; perhaps he's just not paying much attention to it. "Which you'd think would stop him from wanting to pay attention to Yyth, but..." It's all selective, evidently. Cadejoth's thoughts go from unhappy to relieved at Yyth's change of heart: « See? We can all get along! It's okay, Leisath. We can all get along. » He sends a thrum of pleasure towards both of the greens, and angles a snowball - or, okay, a flurry of snow - towards Yyth. Slowly, K'del turns his attention towards P'ax. "She is what she is," he says, finally. "No - they seem to be okay now, I think." Avey's proposal, and that grin, draws a smile from K'del; he pauses, then says, "Avey, this is P'ax. P'ax, this is Avey, from Ista." He swallows, gives P'ax a hesitant glance - again. "Perhaps we could... all go and get a drink?" Avey glances back at Leisath again, and abruptly drops K'del's hand. "Are you - boyfriends, or something?" she asks him and P'ax, halfway to horrified. Leisath looks stonily at first Yyth, then Cadejoth, and with a snort, she curls up on her own. « You two can get along » she states firmly, and puts up a mental barrier - not strong enough to be impenatrable, but certainly strong enough that it would be rude to break through. P'ax looks at Avey and his face drains of color. He looks like he's going to throw up, actually. "No." The first for Avey, the second for K'del. "No. I don't think that's a good idea. You guys have fun." He scoots back towards his rock now that Yyth isn't the one being sour. Avey's green is on her. Avey herself is all on her. Yyth is more than pleased to see Leisath retreat. She'd probably raspberry the younger green if she could manage it. Instead, she sends snow back at Cadejoth gleefully. K'del's fervent, horrified, "No!" comes after both of P'ax's. "/No/." There's no doubt that it's for Avey, though. "That's... why would you think that?" Ew, says his expression. Ew, ew, ew. His gaze slides from Avey to the other greenrider, and he swallows. "Are you sure?" Not that he sounds terribly convinced. Cadejoth is perhaps just as horrified as his rider - but for a different reason. He ignores Yyth's snow, settling down on his haunches with his tail curved around his legs, and lets out a howl. « Leisath! Yyth! You both need to quit it. I won't play with /either/ of you. » Sulk. Those children? /Definitely/ heading far, far away, now. Avey looks really confused - this is making less and less sense. "Leisath said," she begins, and then shakes her head. "So your dragons are... but you're not..." she stops, and peers at K'del, utterly befuddled. "Wait, now you're not /sure/ if he's your boyfriend?" She peers at P'ax. She shakes her head. Reachians are weird. Leisath huffs, and her barrier takes on the distinct sense that Cadejoth can play with Yyth as far as she is concerned. P'ax turns to look at K'del, swaying just a little. "That probably wouldn't be a good idea," he says quietly, looking at Avey. "I have a feeling I wouldn't be welcome. I think your friend there isn't the tolerant type." His mouth twists and a hand passes across his chin, smoothing the grimace away once more. "Besides. I don't think hanging out with you plus one was what she had in mind." Hand stuffed back in his pockets and hunched once more he completes the strange circle he'd made from rock to them and back again. He reaches down to collect a handful of pebbles from around the base of his boulder from the icy covering of snow. Yyth huffs. « Fine. She is more important. I don't want to play with you either if you're going to be greedy. » There she goes, turning her biggest traits back on him. K'del makes a fish face, struggling to find words to deal with either of the greenriders. He shuts his eyes, then covers them with gloved hands. "P'ax is not my boyfriend. Cadejoth and Yyth like each other, but that has nothing to do with /us/. And P'ax-- /Faranth/." He drops his hands again. "I was /trying/ to make peace, P'ax. But I guess you don't want to talk to me, anymore." Cadejoth positively sulks. « I want nothing to do with either of you, then, » he declares, immediately hurtling himself into the sky away from them both. He sends back a message, direct to both: « If you grow up and want to get along, you know where to find me. » Avey smacks her forehead with her palm. "I wouldn't have come if it was going to be all this /drama/," she declares. Then she drops her hand and looks at K'del, irritated. "Someone told me you had a bunch of girlfriends. /You/ never told me that," she accuses. "So how should I know if you had a boyfriend too? I don't /care/ if people have boyfriends," she clarifies, shooting a look at P'ax. "But they should just be honest about it, if they do. Leisath, I swear, would you cut it OUT? Just like, ignore them or whatever! /I'm/ talking!" Technically, she's yelling, but. Leisath hardens her barrier, making Cadejoth's words echo back to him, while Yyth's are absorbed soundlessly. P'ax hunches down into himself even more, thick eyebrows drawing downwards towards a firmer scowl. "You're the one who never talks to me anymore. I'm trying to give you space, you know, keep Yyth away from Cadejoth." He exhales and then hurls one of his pebbles with a ferocity that belies the quietness of his voice. "K'del is quite firmly a lady's man, greenrider. I'm sorry you got the wrong impression." Yyth lets Cadejoth go without comment, seemingly without remorse. Leisath is ignored for the most part. Let the other green be miserable, she's just found an old frozen fish on the shore. Nifty! "Oh, shut up, P'ax," says K'del, who doesn't want to hear any of this; lalalal, not listening. So mature. To Avey, in annoyed, but attemptedly conciliatory tones, he explains, "I don't. I sleep with women, sure, and some of them on a regular basis, but... Am I supposed to tell everyone about my sexual habits?" That last bit? Not so conciliatory. "Didn't realise it'd be a problem." Cadejoth has landed on a ledge above; he's ignoring both of them, too. So there. "I didn't say that! But you know, you might have mentioned, I don't know, /something/," Avey says to K'del. She sighs heavily. "And don't be mean to /him/ now. It's not his fault," she says, gesturing at P'ax. She grumbles, "We better leave. And I had brought a picnic lunch, too." Hmph. "Sure. Sorry," P'ax mumbles, chucking another rock towards the center of the lake and then lets the rest of his pebbles spill out of his hand to the ground again. "It's okay, Avey, don't worry about it. It's sort of inevitable anyways. You should enjoy your picnic. You coming Yyth?" The dragon must decline him because he shrugs and angles away from her and the water instead of coming nearer. "Nice to meet you, by the way." "'Hi, Avey, nice to meet you, by the way I'm a man-whore'?" That's K'del's suggestion, annoyed, and laced with sarcasm. "Sorry. Didn't mean to mislead you or anything. Maybe... maybe we can try again another time? Don't want you to be annoyed with me." Even if he can't quite keep his annoyance out of his tone, though at least it doesn't seem /directly/ aimed at her. P'ax, on the other hand... He glances up, glowering at the other greenrider (how COULD he be so reasonable?), and finally concludes, "Today is not my day." "Nice to meet you too," Avey says to P'ax, and then stands there, uncertain what to do or say next. Because of course she wants to drag K'del off for a picnic - man-whore or not - but she's gracious enough not to want to abandon P'ax entirely. Or, gracious enough to resist the impulse, at any rate. "We should have a do-over," she says drily to K'del. "Or something." "You're not a man-whore!" P'ax protests suddenly, despite the glowering and the angriness K'del keeps directing at him. And then his mouth snaps closed. "Right, sorry. Shutting up." Cue P'ax slinking off with his tail between his legs. If it isn't K'del's day, it definitely isn't his, either. K'del's brows raise in P'ax's direction: "I'm not?" News to him. But the surprise isn't enough to stop his irritation at the whole thing, so it doesn't exactly come with a smile. To Avey, more warmly: "A do-over. Yes. Exactly. That'd be... good." There's that smile, the dimples. He even offers his arm; "Do you... want to try now?" "Okay," Avey agrees immediately, taking K'del's offered arm. P'ax? Who's that? Leisath lets out a breath of air and settles herself, less tense now that her rider seems happier. Just for a moment, K'del glances after the retreating P'ax, but it's certainly not something he lingers in. His lips press into a thin smile - and then a warmer one, as he turns his attention back to Avey. "Should we try for those mountains? It'll be cold and dark, though. Or somewhere warmer?" There's no reappearance of Cadejoth, but his rider seems unconcerned. Avey steps closer - much closer; she's very much in K'del's personal space now. "Warmer?" she queries, gazing flirtatiously at him. "Did you have anywhere particular in mind?" She bats her eyelashes, even. It's a little over the top, but it mostly works. K'del is sixteen, whatever his reputation. Or perhaps /especially/ given his reputation. He's not exactly going to object, surely. "Well," he says, his own voice much more even - he doesn't really need to /try/ to flirt. "Suppose we could go to my weyr. Just because... well, the Reaches, in winter? Not really good for picnics." "Hmmmmm." Avey pretends to consider this seriously, and then chirps, "Okay!" Leisath, now curled up comfortably near the water, lets out an indulgent sigh, and Avey giggles. "We could have a picnic on your ledge," she teases K'del. K'del is plainly amused by Avey's response, laughing merrily. He tips his head up, to watch, as Cadejoth - reluctantly, it may be noted - wings his way back down to pick up his rider. "Picnic on my ledge it is, then. Follow us up? There's not a lot of room, though, so Leisath might need to find somewhere else to perch." He disintangles himself, drawing his arm away, so that he can head towards his lifemate, and mount up. Up in the weyr, Avey picnics K'del thoroughly if inexpertly; and only when that's done does she get out food for them to share. Over the meal there's idle chatter, until Avey mentions out of the blue, "She's been different lately. I mean, she looks at the male dragons - it's different. I think she's maybe going to mate soon." A brief pause, and then she suggests, "Maybe you could come down? I mean, if I can get her to tell him. It would be nice. For there to be someone I know there." Hotness being COMPLETELY incidental to the request, naturally. It's all very pleasant. K'del has expertise enough to go around, after all. "See what I can do," he promises, in the wake of her suggestion. "If you can manage it. we'll keep an ear out." Hotness is a sad burden to carry, but /someone/ has to do it, after all. He'll try. Avey beams at him, delighted and relieved all at once. "Great," she says. "He must be pretty good, if he caught that Yyth. She looked fast." K'del admits, albeit reluctantly, "I think that was more because Yyth wanted him to catch her. Because she thinks he's... like, the best thing ever." And he IS. But. Still. "But he'll do his best. He likes Leisath." So they'll manage. He even grins at her: "This'll be far more pleasant than /that/." Avey is caught by a fit of giggles. "Oh /really/," she says. "So you're saying I'm better looking than P'ax? Is that it?" More laughter, through which she manages to say, "Leisath likes him. I don't know if that much, but." K'del opens his mouth to say something, then stops - and laughs instead. "Well. You /are/. And that was awkward, because he's in love with me, and I'm... well. Not interested." He nods: "Don't know /too/ much about how it all works, but it can't /hurt/." Avey stops laughing, because that's not funny. In fact it's a little sad. She looks as though she feels sorry for P'ax. "That must be hard..." she says quietly, though she doesn't say for whom. Instead, she scoots closer, leaning in. "Maybe if we practice a lot," she suggests playfully, and aims a kiss somewhere near his ear. K'del is /not/ thinking about P'ax. Presumably. Because he doesn't respond to any of that first bit, not even in his expression. Instead, as she goes in for that kiss, he grabs her bodily, drawing her back towards him properly: "We can give it a go..." Teenagers! |
Leave A Comment