Logs:Splinters
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| RL Date: 20 June, 2008 |
| Who: Leova, Jaeni |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Jaeni helps Leova out with a painful situation after the Crom Gather. |
| Where: HRW and Crom |
| When: Day 23 and 25, month 10, Turn 16, of the Interval. It is autumn. |
| Mentions: Rhonda/Mentions, I'ro/Mentions, Niena/Mentions, F'ren/Mentions, Shanlee/Mentions, N'thei/Mentions, T'rev/Mentions |
| It's not the most comfortable thing in the world to be lying on your belly with someone picking splinters out of your rear. Even when that someone's a good enough friend that you'd trust her to do it, knowing full well she'll never, ever, ever let you forget it. Jaeni hasn't asked Leova whether it was worth it. Yet. She's just humming happily to herself, with now and again a pause for, "This one's going to hurt!" It does. Probably an actual Healer would have been better, but Leova's pretty sure they gossip more than Jaeni will, if only because Jaeni knows the power of blackmail. Besides, the brownrider had said just a little while ago that there weren't so very many splinters, though that was also right before Leova told her to stop poking her with the tweezers and get them out already. Which of course meant that Jaeni poked her again. A Healer probably would have been better. But it's too late now. Leova gets even more time to reflect on all this as she discovers that it's only slightly more comfortable to be lying on your side, waiting for your friend to get back with the grain alcohol you both forgot. Redwort would do the same job and feel better but stain worse. So she lies there under a light sheet, waiting impatiently for the sound of Zechoth returning.
She'd been looking forward to the Crom Gather for a while. It was their Hold still, after all, so on the first day they strode in with their knots out and proud. Did some looking around. A little drinking, ales mostly. More than a little dancing, and then some time cooling down, far from the noise of the dancing square while a harper told a gloomy story that got them laughing. Along the way, some of them even dropped by the judging booths to check out the submitted portraits (Rhonda) and the metalwork (I'ro and Rhonda), and guess who would earn the prizes. The runner competitions got just about everyone's attention, and afterward they all chipped in a sixteenth and Niena picked out three trayfuls of dishes for them to share. Some of them stayed and danced after that. Some of them even switched into fancier clothes, girls mostly in dresses and F'ren with the sequined kerchief he'd won by tossing a ball into a hoop, blindfolded, three times in a row. Others stopped by more booths or just went their own way. Leova pleaded tiredness and Vrianth took her home.
« We could go home, » Vrianth had to point out, the gravel of her thoughts rattling like low laughter. They could be home in heartbeats. « If you want. » They had their choice of Gathers. And maybe Crom wasn't a smart idea. Crom. She liked to dance, really dance, further away from home. But this dizzy fizzy feeling wasn't going away. And besides, she knew where things were. Right down to the kid she'd overheard, the one trying to make thirty-seconds by giving tours. Here's where it all went down. Including the jail. The cell where their Weyrleader was? My uncle was a guard there. I'll show you. Leova didn't go there. Wouldn't. Wasn't knotted tonight, but there were bound to be actual people behind those bars by now, if only a drunk or two sleeping it off. Which led, if she let it, to thoughts of ale. And traders. Dancing time.
Butch, Shanlee had said. It didn't take long to change in the shelter of Vrianth's wing. Off went the working clothes, nearly as plain as plain could be. On went the light dress, also brown but with a golden cast that did wonders for her skin, and an eyecatching top with fluttering sleeves in an orange just too dark to be garish. Just a touch of oil smoothing the flyaways of her hair, and she was good to go. Vrianth felt she looked beautiful. But then she always did. It didn't take much longer to make her way into the thick of things. She knew where everything was going to be, after all, and this time she didn't stop to browse or watch or even taste beyond a mug of fresh sweet cider. No checking for Dolpho's ale tonight.
Maybe Jaeni's dropped by the Snowasis for a drink? One with an umbrella. To poke Leova with some more.
She stepped into the dancing, taking it easy at first, warming up with group dances and then whoever tried to catch her eye. A white-haired man first, who kept her in stitches with his fast turns and the jokes about a miller and his draybeasts. A boy with a swagger and a red face, probably in his late teens: she played along for a few measures, then passed along a joke and got him relaxing by the end of the round. And the man who halfway through started holding onto her arms too tightly, his eyes wet, telling her about how this was the first Gather since his wife died. She just didn't know what to do with that, except dance, and keep dancing, and turn him over to his family afterward. Maybe she should have looked back. She didn't. Just threw herself into the dancing, all over again. When she resurfaced, she wasn't sure how long later, she found herself in the arms of a man who should have been right. Or at least right enough, with his warm rough voice and a light in his eyes, who could spin her around and have her enjoying it. They danced. Drank, more cider for her and ale for him, and then cider for them both. But as they reentered the square, she found her attention wandering. Vrianth was no help, at first busy with her own preoccupations and then flashing more familiar faces to tease her and not just to tease her, pointing out merits and vices of dragons and men. When Leova found herself laughing right in the middle of a sultry ballad, she knew it was time to excuse herself to go freshen up. And then, under cover of darkness, clutch onto the edge of the stall and just laugh some more.
Vrianth will let Leova know if Jaeni starts heading back with company. Leova's pretty sure, anyway. Not that she'll put much past the brownrider if it comes to that.
Minutes later, laughter was still riding her, and she let it fizz all the way down her veins. And that's when she realized that it was Vrianth, and Vrianth had a plan. What? Vrianth wasn't saying. Only then she got an inkling... Who? More laughter. « Dance. » She did.
Maybe it's her dragon whom Leova shouldn't put much past.
Once back on the dance floor, she could feel herself in Vrianth, trailing tiny sparks from her fingertips as she turned and turned and turned. She laughed again. Found a new partner, another. Wondered, just a little, and then didn't let herself and danced some more. Twirled out. Spun back. Saw him. Saw him seeing her back. The torches were behind him, shadowing his face, and there were other men here who were tall, with curling hair, but she knew. Couldn't be coincidence, or could it? She reached out for Vrianth, but her dragon wasn't giving up her secrets so easily. The music hadn't stopped. She still had to dance. So she did. And then the music was slowing, and she gave her partner a quick smile for a goodbye and escaped before it even stopped, and a few sidesteps brought her over to him before he could find her again. For just that moment, she could look at him without his looking at her. He wasn't wearing his knot either. She thought she'd just say hello, only then he noticed. And he looked so happy to see her, and her hands found themselves sliding up his sleeves and around his neck without even asking first, and then there he was and there she was, dancing. She was pretty sure they had gotten around to hellos along the way, but right then it didn't seem to matter.
Maybe Jaeni's gotten lost? She had before, after all. It could happen again. Especially if she's gotten to drinking that alcohol instead of bringing it back.
It was just plain fun. Plain dancing at first, learning how he danced, what his particular signals meant. Playing it up in the next song, seeing what he'd do, laughing when he pretended to be all prim and tipped an invisible hat. The music kept changing and it got to where she was pretty sure that when he spun her, there'd be room, she didn't have to check first. So mostly she didn't. Just took his lead, and maybe teased him a little too, but that was when he amped things up. Risky moves. Close moves. It made her laugh, made her focus on keeping up and then some, made her anticipate what was coming next. It was getting crowded where they'd gotten to, less room to move so they had to keep it close. She had no idea who was around them, and his gaze didn't look to be wandering either. Could have been Lord Crom himself, right behind her. She wouldn't have known. That crowded. That late. She was swaying in his arms, and the music whispered that he looked flushed, that maybe she should undo his shirt a little, right there at his throat. And that seemed like a good idea just then, and so she did. Thing is, his reaction just made her want to tease him all over again. So she did. And then he did. Dancing.
Waiting. Until Zechoth lands. Just Zechoth. And then there's Jaeni. Triumphant Jaeni. Who's already explaining how the good-looking bartender is going to be meeting her when he gets off work, and did she mention she brought sandwiches? To go with her bottle of... whiskey. Whiskey? Sandwiches. Leova's stomach growls. Not long after that, she's committed sacrilege with the whiskey and they're sitting at the table, Leova all wrapped up in the sheet, sharing the rest of the bottle along with the sandwiches. Which is when Jaeni asks if Leova if she's going to tell her the dirty details, or will she just have to guess. And Leova knows what that means. So she tells her. Sort of. And then it all devolves into a long argument about walls versus doors versus barn stalls versus floors where the most they agree on is that splinters aren't fun but they don't want to get hay in the wrong places either. Plus one more thing. The sandwiches? Very good. |
Comments
Comments on "Logs:Splinters"Brieli (Brieli) left a comment on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 02:46:24 GMT.
These are fun to read - thanks for posting them now!
Varied (Varied) left a comment on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 05:07:10 GMT.
I'm glad you like them! I'm not sure how much sense they always make without the surrounding logs, especially since they can be so stream of consciousness, but it seemed impler to put up at least the vignettes for now. Also, I like them too. >.>
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