Logs:Surprises
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| RL Date: 31 May, 2015 |
| Who: Jo, K'zin, Telavi |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Jo joins the couple for dinner. That's not the only surprise! |
| Where: Artful Artifice Weyr, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 15, Month 12, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Aishani/Mentions, Farideh/Mentions, I'zech/Mentions, Jolan/Mentions, Jothan/Mentions, Kinzi/Mentions, Nazius/Mentions, Quinlys/Mentions, R'hin/Mentions, Wakina/Mentions, Zianarius/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Way, way back-dated. |
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>---< Artful Artifice Weyr, High Reaches Weyr(#1946R) >----------------------<
The exterior curtain shields the pair of dragon wallows from the elements,
but it's really after the interior curtain set just behind them that
things become more human-friendly. The entryway narrows to what would
still be wide by people standards, but narrow enough to disabuse any
dragon of the notion of trying to fit inside, then the cavern bubbles open
into a fairly massive main cavern. Almost opposite the entrance is a pair
of doors nearly side-by-side leading to back rooms, but in between there's
space.
Spacious might be an understatement here. To the right of the entrance the
curved wall provides space for a very large table whose matching chairs
can seat up to twelve. It's reminiscent of the council chambers, really.
On the wide, wide wall behind the table a detailed mural has been painted
with great attention to detail. The Red Star looms above, Thread laces
silvery grey through a blue sky and as duty dictates, dragonriders rise to
meet the menace, flame licking from the mouths of every color (save gold,
though they're there, low in the sky in their traditional place) in the
neat and readily identified patterns familiar to all fighting wings.
A map of High Reaches sweep and the Weyr's badge get a close-up on a mural
to the immediate left of the entrance. A broad hearth interrupts and
separates the second half of the expansive curved wall from the first, and
the latter shows the greatest display of artistry in a mural of a hazy
night sky dotted with stars. Closer inspection might lead one to find that
the stars might be used as hand-holds if one were inclined to climb. With the weyrlings growing and growing, some assistant weyrlingmaster duties have eased up while others remain a challenge. One thing and another kept two assistants busy until evening. K'zin arrived to his big weyr first, stayed a time, then left again, returning only once he was bathed and provisioned with late dinner trays from the kitchens. The table is set for two, one at the head of the long table and one beside and the bronzerider is filling water glasses as well as wine for both. Rasavyth is settled behind the first mostly-drawn great big curtain, curled in his wallow his dull bronze hide oiled sometime recently enough that it still has a bit of a sheen to it. The first curtain has been left open just wide enough to accommodate a particular green's entrance, though the second wallow in the wide space behind it is not officially hers. The second is closed all the way, to keep the heat in and the winter out, but it's easy enough for a person to duck through at its edge. It's the sort of consideration that adds warmth to Solith's greeting, her gaze unlidding as she noses past the curtain; her warble's quiet enough that Tela doesn't even need to hold her ears, though that cap containing her hair might help. She'd worked later, hadn't had time to do much more than change, but the excessively comfortable wide-legged trous and luxurious coral blouse are distinctly after-hours. Oh, she's careful about securing each curtain in turn as Solith gets herself settled, the green's tail teasing across the divide between the two wallows, but then she doesn't have to be so careful anymore. Then she can ease up and take it easy, greet K'zin with a tired, "Hello-o-o," and then a kiss before she slumps into her seat. There's no shop talk, not yet anyway. Instead, "Food." Foooood. "It looks good." Goooood. By now, the wine's not so noteworthy; by now, she even puts an elbow on the table to support her swivel to smile up at him. It's not as though they're expecting anyone... It's almost as if she was invited. Tacuseth lands like he was being expected, the blue settling on the ledge's edge only long enough for his lady convict rider to dismount. Then, with an easy greeting going towards the bronze and green, the blue is dropping from the ledge to wheel up towards the Weyr rim. As for Jo, she takes the time to loosen the fastenings of her black leather jacket before she clicks her tongue in greeting at the dragons and makes her call: "Is that dinner I smell? Hope ya brought extra!" Guess who's coming to dinner! In the moment following K'zin's initial eyebrow furrow and look toward the entryway, his face betrays the fear of a younger man than he is now: the teen terrified that there may not be enough food. His eyes go down to the quantities that one would think should feed three or more. Then up to Telavi, eyes a little wide. Really, he's laughable by the time Jo gets 'round to appearing. Rasavyth's amusement follows Tacuseth back off the ledge, though there's an invitation should he like to occupy the space between the wallows in the relative warmth of the enclosed space while their riders have their dealings. Tela's eyes are wide too, possibly wider, for all that he eats more than she does-- or possibly because of that? In the next moment she's ladling herself a good-sized helping of her favorite, just in case, and in the one after that she's standing to greet Jo, one hand staying on the back of her chair. "Look at you," she marvels. "And in black, no less. Tell me you're not just picking up the latest shipment?" Tacuseth is more than willing to share Rasavyth's space should he wish it - he was a smaller dragon after all than the bronze. As the blue is seen wheeling back to the ledge, Jo steps into the inner sanctum of the weyr with her black leather jacket in the process of being unfastened as she walks in. Watching the hasty proceedings, "I could say the same 'bout you," she returns to Telavi as she goes to clap K'zin on the back. "More or less. Shipment'n all, ya know. Just touched down from Crom. Gonna feed a woman or what?" She looks over their filled table before she moves next to try and pull the greenrider into a hug as she says to K'zin, "Howsit, K'zin? Glad to be rid of the brats?" "Any more looking," K'zin notes as if he were giving Jo the rundown on the dinner menu, "and I'll have to get my sketchbook and let my imagination run wild." Girls, this is K'zin scolding you and all your looking. Still, the look he gives Jo sidelong and down as she claps him on the back is amused. "I'll get another plate." He's been trained well. He moves to the cabinets under the new mural and begins to retrieve the appropriate items for an additional place setting. "Glad to not have to take a night shift away from my weyr," is a little wry, but then she's got a really excellent reason why he'd think so in her arms. "Crom still standing?" He wants to know as he procures an additional napkin. That extra plate, that's for Jo, not a swap for Tela's which is hers. Which isn't to say that Tela won't go gladly into that hug and stay there for a little while, too-- long enough to try to steal that napkin and tuck it into Jo's collar before she steps back-- nor that Solith won't make room to fit with Rasavyth's generosity. Once the greenrider's settled back into her seat again, she smiles back at K'zin and his threatened-or-is-it-promised sketchbook, scooting that seat closer to the bronzerider even as she addresses the bluerider. "Two no-night-shifts at the same time, if you can believe it. Yes, tell us about Crom... and anywhere we shouldn't take the weyrlings these days." With Tacuseth tucked in with an easy greeting for Solith, Jo releases Telavi from the squeeze as a napkin gets tucked into her collar. "Yer imagination runs wild enough without my help," is her return to K'zin, ticking off a wink in his direction as she sidesteps Telavi and claims the extra seat. Settling down for the interrupted dinner, much like she was invited, "Still sketchin', at least? I thought ya two had gone the clean nose route on me," with a look going first Telavi's way, then at K'zin. "I s'pose havin' to wrangle weyrlins' day in, day out, would do that to a person, though, I'zech was still an asshole at the end of his. Good to hear yer gettin' some breathin' space though from the buggers." She pulls out her flask (See? She brought her own drink!) and uncaps to take a pull from it before continuing up her dialog. "Anyway, Crom's still Crom," she goes on to answer now. "Ya know if ya block somewhere from a weyrlin', it'll make'em wanna go there all the more. I was like that, anyway. Think they'd like the Rusty Nail for a field trip?" Of course she's joking, despite the straight face she's sporting towards them. "How are ya been, since the last I've run into ya?" she adds to them both with another drink. "That's why they pay me the big marks," K'zin notes idly in answer to Jo, not even looking at the bluerider directly, though probably he catches the wink in his peripheral vision. "Never." His nose shall ever more be muddied. Or brown. He does work awfully hard trying to impress Quinlys; Tela won't tell though, will she? He doesn't look to see her expression as he places the setting down in front of the bluerider. Just because she has a flask doesn't stop K'zin from next visiting a cabinet and producing a bottle of good quality whiskey (that he was probably saving for the next time he pissed off the redheaded whip-wielder), and moves to pour for Jo, adding two shorter glasses for himself and Telavi with his other hand before moving around the table to pour into those as well. "Boring, no doubt," is how K'zin pretends he's been, perhaps even convincingly. All that flask-drinking, all that pouring, that leaves Telavi room for serving. Herself. But also K'zin, proportionally, giving Jo a merrily narrow look. The bluerider gets small portions-- tiny, in fact, if probably only for starters. "He's been wonderful," Telavi asserts, which is not the same as calling him a brown-noser of any stamp, surely? "...and you're not sharing, Jo. Besides, everyone knows that I was a very well-behaved weyrling and instructions to not visit said Nail would have been met with meek and unquestioning obedience." Nodding in thanks for the plate of food being set before her, "Bored, despite the rather lively bunch yer got stuck with?" Jo quips back at K'zin with a glance towards Telavi. The greenrider's own words of not sharing was taken with that flask pausing right against her lips before she reverses it and waves in her direction. "'Course I share," she is easy to counter in offering. "When have ya ever known me not to be generous to ya, hmm? And," she adds to them both as she looks over the food on her plate, "I must say that I'm rather disappointed. Ya know I'm a creature of chaos'n unquestionin' obedience are curse words in my own scroll." She'll even look momentarily put out before that cocky grin is back in place as she adds, "Well, to each their own. I couldn' be a weyrlin'master myself. Grub looks great, by the way." Of course she's already starting to dig in. "You were?" pops out of the lips of the boyfriend who definitely just lost points for not going along with it. To be fair K'zin probably simply didn't catch the intention of Telavi's assertion about her behavior as a weyrling, for his dusky skinned cheeks color subtly. He clears his throat, "seems like some of them could do with learning a thing or two from you about keeping your chaos to after hours." He frowns a moment, but doesn't elaborate. "Do you offer lessons in playing the game and not shitting where you eat?" He wonders of Jo as he settles and reaches for his own glass, glancing to Telavi as if to check that he's not saying too much or saying it too bluntly. The grub does look good, and probably tastes so, because K'zin is careful to remain on Good Terms with the kitchen staff, but he almost certainly had nothing to do with the preparation so there's nothing offered in answer to the bluerider's assessment. In order: first, Telavi accepts the flask with a bright smile to Jo; then she dimples at K'zin before she has a sip. "Also chaste. Couldn't you tell? Even though that's got to be a curse word too." The bluerider has leave to correct her, of course. Back to Jo again, "He knows where to find the good stuff." Or at least what she prefers. "Now! Classes, yes; and if you did, what would they be like?" Too much talking; it's time to sip again before she sets that flask down, to steal seconds of her favorite now that everyone's had first, and then-- perhaps in hopes of their having gotten Jo going-- to really eat. "Yer killin' me here, Tela," Jo, hand falling over heart, states for her words on being chaste. "Good thing my weyrlin' days're over. I'd be a thorn in yer sides merely outta spite." It's said good-naturedly with a flashy smile before she digs into the food on her plate with gusto. As to the comment and question on after hour chaos from K'zin, there's an easy snort on that before she says, "Does any of'em cause trouble, really? I only know of the one, and she's wound as tight as the skin on a drum. Met that goldridin' other one once, long before she Impressed. Figures that one Impressed a queen. Hardly paid any attention to the rest. Still, I teach the ones with the potential for discrete trouble," she goes on to explain - as if being a criminal is a science. "A lot of work goes into causin' scandal, ya know. Gotta have some of it in ya to begin with. Can' be teachin' some young'un how to feel up Benden's weyrwoman's tits when they're gonna run'n cry to someone 'bout it afterwards outta guilt." Jo logic. "Ya can't teach self preservation." The shame of such lacking has the convict rider even shaking her head a few times. She sends Telavi an amusedly pointed look on what one of Jo's classes would be like before she merely answers, "I believe in real world application. Wanna learn how to get away with cheatin' a Bitran of his ill-gotten gains? Do it right now. Figure out how to get outta it intact if ya get caught. If yer ain' busted up somewhere outside a bar, I'll tell ya what ya did wrong so ya can learn for the future." Taking a drink, "It's how my father taught us," she gives with a shrug. "I turned out alright." "Surely not," K'zin declares with quiet resolve. "You could never spite us. We're practically your favorites," he's decided with no basis whatsoever. "Fortunately, I have it on good authority," he tells Jo, leaning in for a conspiratorial air, "that if you ask some of the tunnel walls down toward the tanner's workshop, they'll tell you about Telavi's 'chaste' weyrling days." He wiggles his brows suggestively, and then casts the greenrider in question an impish grin. He thinks on the rest but doesn't make comment, putting food in his mouth as he does so. Thinking is better on a full stomach, obviously. Even now, Telavi finds herself blushing-- tunnels, indeed!-- with a peek at Jo who surely never would have guessed otherwise; but, "Are you saying," she says it so lightly, and with a little bit of a smile. "You were always all in? You never had a time of, 'Da, ugh. Stop with your foolin', I want to do something else'?" "Hm, practically," Jo echoes that one with teasing dryness as she takes a drink with a snort. "So Tela's had chaste weyrlin' days?" She eyes Telavi right then on that one, looking a bit skeptical. "Was this before or after she hooked up with ya?" She watches that blush creep over the greenrider's face with open (and pointed) amusement before she answers the question on her father with a slight sound of negation. "Well, granted, he didn' pick on me all that much," she admits with a shrug. "Not when I have four brothers to suit his torturous needs more. What can girls do, anyway?" The look she gives is near-innocent. "Girl didn' need to be tough, accordin' to him." Then, her brow lifting a bit curiously, she asks, "Ya keep in touch with yer folks?" she directs to them both. "Y'know, since bein' here? Since Impressin'?" "And look at you now," K'zin answers Jo's father's opinion of girls wryly. "If she had them they were before we got weyrs," is of his greenrider, his lips pursing slightly as he looks to her, as if to make sure she appreciates what he's not telling Jo. Instead, he offers, "Not for a time after, but when my father passed, I made peace with him." He's looking at the grains on his plate which he moves with a fork, "Incidentally, my mother had the presence of mind to make mention that he wasn't my father," something he didn't share with Telavi, and what an odd time to share such a thing, as if it were no thing at all, "your father didn't happen to be in Tillek some twenty-five turns back, did he, Jo?" Just checking, the tone says as the bronzerider continues to eye up his grains. There's not telling and then there's-- whatever Telavi might have quizzed Jo about, especially after the greenrider's eyes-lifted ugh for what girls can do, it's lost in the squeak that's altogether too close to a squawk. Her eyes are wide on K'zin; she lifts them enough to include Jo only when he addresses her, now searching the other woman's bronzed features. Someone isn't in Savannah-mode with its no-surprises-here. To K'zin's wry comment, there's a sardonic "Yeah," to go with it that's probably heavier than it should be. She falls silent to attend to her food, listening on answers of family and only looking at K'zin with interest for his reveal on his father for a moment. Then, "Yer gonna look for him?" she merely asks, stealing a look at Telavi then and catching her surprised expression. She studies it through his question for her before she slowly shakes her head and answers briskly, "Not that I know of, but it's possible. My father did some travelin' in his time for Keogh'n never told me. We didn' really have a cosy relationship even back then." "Might," is returned to Jo as if K'zin might not have heard Telavi's sound. His brown eyes lift to find those that are arguably similar to his own in the face across the way. "Not sure as I really care much one way or the other, but it is... well, quite the revelation at twenty-four with as much as happened between my father and I." He rolls his shoulders and then steels himself to look at Telavi but only for a brief moment does he dare meet her eyes. Then it's back to Jo, who's currently safe, "Would your father approve of the woman you've become? Well, you know, if he weren't a dimwit and ass," since it rather sounds like he is to K'zin. Every time she catches someone looking at her, Telavi will look back, if only for a moment of her own; she's slid her chair back slightly to see them both, and crossed her arms, the latter all except what's needed to eat. Except... she's not eating. Perhaps Jo is taking notice of the mounting tension she's in the middle of, but it's not registering on her face. Seeming more engaged in finishing what's on her plate, she nods to K'zin's answer on his father, a few locks of hair spilling forward to hide one eye as she sneaks a look towards Telavi while he speaks. She chews and chews, taking in them both in her silence before a question is leveled her way and she's suddenly posturing up and shaking the hair from her view before answering. "'Course not," the convict rider is easy to give with a look going his way. "He sure as fuck didn' approve of me then. I doubt Impressin' a dragon would change things. If anythin', he'd be quick to comment on how much of a slut I've become rather than how well I've 'risen above my meager station'," and she snorts to that with a shake of her head. "As it is, I ran into one of my brothers recently," she reveal, stealing another glance in Telavi's direction. "Haven' seen him in turns. Wants to see me again'n, I s'pose, it'll be inevitable now that me'n my father will have to meet." The slight sourness of her tone suggests what she thinks about this inevitable meeting, adding a significant look in K'zin's direction before she adds to Telavi, "Yer not eatin', darlin'." There's a shift of focus now on her, an open study as she asks her, "Yer good?" "Yes, you're not eating, darling," K'zin echoes Jo, looking to Telavi briefly before looking back at Jo. "That sounds like a bundle of laughs." Possibly over a pile of bloody corpses? "Not that you need, but if you need, you know I'm always willing to be stupid for you." Meaning, happy to back her up. "Even if I've never seen the benefits of that sluttiness." Woe, poor bronzerider. It's probably not the right time to be making that joke and perhaps he realizes for he falls silent. Telavi might not meet Jo's gaze when the latter's being sufficiently stealthy, but as the other two talk, she's looking between them: if not closely, at least specifically, as though eyeing two fabric bolts that might be less different than the weaver had said. After a little while, around the time of the slut and the brother, her lips pull together. But then-- addressed-- they loosen as she hesitates. Then tighten. Again. Telavi transfers the would-be glance at K'zin to Jo. He's talking; she could take that as an excuse not to reply, surely, but she does so anyway... if with a display of a smile, then a finger held to her lips, that hand next cupped by one ear. Jo watches Telavi more now than K'zin, seeming to note the greenrider's silence with open interest. She doesn't bring it up again, though, turning back to K'zin for his comments with a sardonic smile. "Oh, I can handle my father," she answers back with a touch of ominous. "He's just goin' to find out I'm not the lil' pushover he remembers. Appreciate the offer, though. As to sluttiness, well," the bluerider sends Telavi a briefly amused look before she remarks, "Don' act like ya didn' have yer chance, darlin'. Not my fault ya didn' take it." That's all she seems willing to say on that matter with a slightly shallow wink at the end of it as she now favors her flask instead of the small remains on her plate. Now, addressing Telavi directly - since the callous woman is not one to use tact in these suddenly tense situations that she finds herself in - "Ya want me to leave?" is her blunt question to her before she takes a leisure drink from her flask. "That was never a question," K'zin assures the bluerider of her abilities (as if she needs it~) with a flash of a smile. "When?" He should very much like to know, quirking a brow at her, as if it matters. "All those times-" the once "-that I woke up with you on top of me and all you wanted to do was rattle my cage. You're half the reason I had to start drawing out my desires," is an obvious tease since everyone knows (here) that he was drawing out his fantasies long before Jo came into his life. A second set of brown eyes turns to regard the greenrider. "Sorry," he offers, "that was... tactless." Not Jo, him. The whole father thing. Perhaps Telavi is endeavoring to imagine Jo as a pushover when she tilts her brows like that; certainly she bypasses all that rattling afterward, sticking with a small smile. Still to the bluerider, "I want you to turn up more often. And," but she breaks off with a glance at K'zin; it's his weyr, let's not forget. It's also an excuse to accept with a little nod and, also, some relief. More or less lightly, "Just don't find out that your father is my father, please!" There's a toothy grin in response to Jo not being a pushover and to the next - on when - she is easy in giving a shrug. "All those times," she echoes his words with a slight smirk, "I'm on top of ya and there rattlin' yer cage. Could've had yer way with me. Has our past banter taught ya nothin'?" Sliding a look towards the greenrider, she adds, "With our history before this place, even, Tela knows how I am." Back to K'zin, she studies the tension between him and Telavi in silence, looking her way at his apology before she addresses the greenrider's words with a more genuine grin going her way. "I will," she vows with a slight incline of her head. "Took Shani's death a bit hard. Had to step back a bit, but ya'll see me 'round. Surprise ya haven' been seein' me 'bout with Savannah, even. I've gotten quite acquainted with yer wingriders of late. Good folk, they. Know how to party." "Nothing at all," K'zin's faux defeat comes with a sigh for the bluerider. "Now, just you mind when you turn up, that you're not on top of her, rattling her cage." That K'zin's hand is moving to try to find Telavi's on the table can't be coincidence: mine~ "Just what is your history before this place?" He take the opening. "All I've ever been able to get out of Telavi was just enough to drive a young man to distraction trying to determine if you had fucked, or not." Guess which assumption K'zin decided to stick with? He looks distracted now, but purposefully so. The topic of Savannah just does that to him. He won't stop them from talking shop, of course, but his distraction does come in the form of studying Telavi's face (a face he surely knows every nuance of already) as though to seek out any similarities that might peg them as kin. (There are none, thank Faranth.) Still bypassing, though Telavi must be paying some sort of attention given how her cheeks color and she gives in to K'zin's grip a little too easily. That's even before he asks Jo that way, is looking at Telavi herself that way, free to see her blush heighten because he's watching her. It can't be seen, of course, how she doesn't ask Solith to intercede either way with Tacuseth; she leaves it to Jo to handle things, Jo who was asked. Besides, in the next moment she's busy blurting, "But partying's different." Now Tela looks shocked. Likely, someone like Jo knows how to get out of a tight jam. Or, at least can calculate the right words to say. Taking up her flask like a connoisseur with wine as she leans back in her chair, that cocky smile in place like the world (and weyr) is hers. "What, not into sharin' her?" she chooses to tease K'zin openly, playful in the way she flirts the mouth of her flask to her lips. Dark eyes seek Telavi out before she continues the line, "Not into sharin' him?" But then he asks, inevitably, and her gaze lingers on Telavi and her blush before she returns her focus on K'zin quickly and takes a drink before answering. "I think she's a good weyrmate for ya." It's diplomatic, even, her blunt observation. Nodding to him, she says to Telavi, "Glad'ja found him. Ya deserve some good, darlin'." Maybe it's a good evasion, but the words - and the sentiment behind them - sounds genuine. Eyes only dip briefly towards those clasped hands on the table. "Partyin's different how?" Now Jo's curious about Savannah, and she's showing it. "Not much," K'zin allows as his answer for Jo, his smile slipping to something wry even as he squeezes Telavi's fingers lightly and then withdraws his hand. "And she's turned down both of my brilliant proposals, which is all to the good since I'd guess you can imagine just how brilliant and serious they were." He lifts his brows at the bluerider. Jo knows him well enough to picture those foot-in-mouth moments, doesn't she? "I suppose I wouldn't object," a flick of his eyes indicates the two female riders currently in company, "But don't you-- either of you--" he musters a stern look for each, "go having so much fun with one another that you forget what's good." He uses both hands (one with fork) to indicate himself. For Jo, it probably means her regular cut of his revenues. For Telavi, it must mean more. Who gets the better bargain? It can be hard to say. Then there's food because surely, surely, he's not filing away whatever Telavi will answer Jo for the next inevitable argument over Savannah. Sharing, weyrmates, Telavi folds her hands together under her chin. "Than coming over and-- not that I'd mind if you let us know, if it wouldn't ruin your rep?" here her eyes widen that much more on Jo, her toes seeking K'zin's under the table, "just so we could get more food and things--" and also not be busy because the bluerider got lucky this time, "and that would be nice. Also, he was joking, but I think he's very good too. Skewer?" There are, after all, still a few food-bits-on-pointy-sticks left, and Tela hasn't even used hers on anyone. "What rep of mine would it ruin?" Jo counters Telavi, that curiosity there in her tone for the answer. There's even a look of interest to K'zin for his reveal on proposals turned down. "Thought ya were weyrmates," she lightly notes, reaching for her flask. "I never know when yer jokin' or not, K'zin. I'll try not to come by so unannounced next time." She says this one with a long suffering sigh. "Even if it'll ruin the very essence of me to do so. The meal hit the spot, though." The flask gets lifted in tribute to them both, grinning. "I can' eat anymore, darlin'. Ya should tell me about Savannah's ways though," she notes, bringing up her previous question with a knowing look. "I'm always hungry for secrets. If it is one." "For being unpredictable," K'zin fills in which rep is in jeopardy casually, helpfully. It's just as casually that he clarifies, "No, no, only mostly exclusive lovers. Six turns or so. Well, not the mostly exclusive part," K'zin swirls his wine almost thoughtfully and then swallows the last of it. "I'll let you ladies talk business," meaning Savannah. Meanwhile, the (well-trained) bronzerider rises to begin unobtrusively collecting those plates and dishes that are done with to go back into the food basket to go down to the kitchen in the morning. Helpful. No skewer. Telavi will just have to nibble on what's been skewered, food-wise; the newfound dimple's still there from essence-ruining, and she contributes, "Unpredictable and dramatic and-- thank you," for K'zin, for all sorts of things not limited to the greasy bowl that used to have porcine deliciousness, "--and don't let that slow you down from visiting, mind you. Just, it's nice to give you treats." But. Now that she's emptied her skewer, she waves it. "No, no, I don't mean to talk secrets, it's that there's partying-- not limited to Savannah!-- and then there's coming over and visiting and eating and talking and actually, mostly, sitting in chairs and not so loud and not having to watch for anyone taking your things," punctiliously, "that you wouldn't expect anyway, or eavesdropping, or whatever. As a," what do they call them? " change of pace." "It'll never ruin that," Jo is so confident, the woman stoppering her flask before it vanishes into the inner pocket of her riding jacket. K'zin's answer about lovers must interest her, however, for the look on face that is passed between him and Telavi is one of curious interest. She straightens up when K'zin starts to clear the table, turning to Telavi as she says, "Ya've convinced me to come by," she says with open laughter. "Didn' realize my presence were so missed. As for Savannah," and with that, she finally gets to her feet with a slight stretch of her wiry body, "that sounds like a wing R'hin would run. I've been watchin' closely of late, when they're with Glacier. Anyways," for that's all she seems willing to reveal, though the air is left as though there was certainly more to be said, "I should run. Other ledges to drop on, folks to take advantage of their generosity....my work is never done." With a sigh, she looks put upon, as if crashing people's homes were more of her burden than theirs. "Still, I appreciate the grub. Maybe we'll do this at my place next time. My weyr's not so, ah, decorated though." She indicates what she could see of the walls and their decor. K'zin stops stacking dishes in a way only a Smith would to look at Jo and say quite calmly, "You just say the word and I'll do you--" meaningful pause "-up proper." Her walls. He grins at the bluerider, clearly communicating his humor lacks intent. "Could always frame some things for you so you can change them out when you're in the mood." It's offered innocently before he lifts the dishes and moves to place them in the basket. "Nightcap, Tela?" He offers without looking to her as he moves to the cabinet where such things are kept. "Doesn't it? I'm glad you're keeping an eye on hi-- us," Telavi says, self-correcting quickly; if there's sparkle there, it's not so very sparkly, big blue-just-now eyes on Jo with much the same air as the bluerider's. But as the conversation progresses, "Next time it is, unless we wind up here instead," she agrees with more animation. "Only, framing is for hanging and not for selling," unless they broker a deal. "Good night, Jo, and I hope you have some very nice work." She'll confirm with K'zin with a quick 'please,' but wait until Jo's actually out of sight before wiping the tabletop, pushing in the chairs, all the minutiae of living. Jo gives K'zin a snort for his humor before she states back, "My bed sees 'nough action. My walls don' need to see any, too." She steps away from the table then, straightening up as she hears the slip of words from Telavi in regarding Savannah's wingleader. She sends her an amused but pointed look as she passes her. "Keepin' an eye on you, mainly," is her wry counter to that. "Someone has to, darlin'. When K'zin's back is turned." She flicks a wink towards the bronzerider for her tease before she steps up to Telavi to draw her into a one-armed hug. "Don' stay up too late," is her farewell projected to them both, all teasing aside. "Have those dragons of yers call on Tac sometime. I think he misses their chatter." With that, she releases her and nods towards K'zin on her way out of their weyr. "What? No hug?" K'zin calls at the bluerider's back after retrieving the nightcap necessities from a cabinet. He doesn't follow her to get one though. There's a brush of oozy charm against Tacuseth's mind that's reassurance that Rasavyth will visit. "That was nice," K'zin comments as he pours the drinks, sliding one of the slender glasses toward the greenrider before setting down the bottle and holding out his arm in an invitation for her to give him the hug he didn't get from the Trouble that came to dinner. She walks into his arms, a hug before the drink, and holds on tightly for several moments before relaxing to lean into him. "It was nice," Telavi says with relief. "Having her over together, and we just... it worked out." As an afterthought, "I hadn't thought Solith wasn't talking to him," but what would Tela know? She's not that sort of rider. K'zin's voice holds amusement, "A little more notice might've been nice, but then..." She's Jo. The bronzerider's shoulders lift and fall and he gives Telavi another squeeze before seeking to disentangle himself long enough to reach for his drink. "Who can say with dragons," is the casual rejoinder for the last. She, Telavi, has a quiet laugh for that; she's slower to take up her own drink but sips pretty much immediately once she does. Dragons aside, moving back to lean a hip against the table and look at him wonderingly, "Your father." K'zin had to know that was coming. All he's got is a long sip and a "Yep." The 'p' pops. Tela isn't leaning anymore; she's risen to the balls of her feet on the length of that sip, free hand touching the table's edge. Which does mean she can't very well 'talk' that way, so she has to sip again, en route to draining it. "How was that... That sounds... Did you find out before or after the 'making peace' part?" "I found out a couple sevens ago. Went by the hall to see Mom and walked in on Naz having it out with her. Apparently, he'd told her that it was unseemly for a woman her age and position to take on a lover who was his age and he wouldn't stand for it and at least she's old enough that they don't have to worry about those sorts of consequences and she came right back and swore about how those kinds of consequences from lovers half her age was how any of us got to be here." Even in the telling, it's obvious that K'zin hasn't really been able to process that this is his mother and that she was speaking of he and his siblings. It's too extreme to present itself as anything other than an out of body experience. Oh. Only sevens. Tela's hand flies to her mouth after all, and she listens and-- and-- and, "Oh, K'zin. That sounds so-- I can't even imagine what it might have been like for you, hearing that, like that." At least she's always known there was an issue. "What did you do? What else did they say?" "What was I supposed to do? I broke up the argument." K'zin's shoulders rise and fall. "Does it matter?" He lifts his brows looking down at her, his arms seeking to curl around her lower back after abandoning his glass on the table's edge. "I became the man I am without my father," that's slow and considered, "the one that raised me or the one that helped conceive me, apparently. Does that change the man that I am?" He's really asking her. Does it change him to her? Telavi needs a drink for that. Draining most of her glass makes it easier to put it, too, down. Resting her hands on his shoulders, though one doesn't stay there and winds up cupping her lover's cheek, she looks into his eyes. "No? Not to me but-- you could have sisters, more sisters, more brothers. I wonder if he knew, if that's why... I wonder if either of them knew. Any of them, really," that last a touch more perfunctory; it's not like Tela cares about them. "Does that really matter? I already have more brothers than I want and the best sister I could ask for." K'zin points these things out gently, perhaps all too aware in this moment that Telavi doesn't know if she has either. "Does it matter if they knew if my father loved my mother enough to let her do what was right for her even if it wasn't traditional? I mean, you love me that way," he lifts his brows in silent question: doesn't she? She can't help but smile for those brothers, a tiny smile, and-- Tela's brows go up at first too, because she doesn't get it at first and then-- "Oh. Well, yes, but--" that's their complication, she's used to it by now. Her eyes wide and blue on his, "But what if... what if there's a man out there who's wishing for the son he'd never had? A son who's amazing, kind and funny and smart," no room for argument here, "and works hard and tries and... and what if you have grandparents who'd love you too?" "Have I ever struck you as that selfless?" K'zin murmurs even as he's dipping his head to try to distract her lips. It wasn't, after all, one of the adjectives she chose so it's fair to question. "...Selfless?" Tela manages, but barely, because kissing. "Everything you just said would be for them," K'zin explains as he turns his head away from her mouth and trails kisses across her cheek and down her neck. It would be bad form to not obey Jo by not staying up too late - which means they should start this now. "I don't need more people who love me, Tela. I'm happy." There's a little pause. "Oh," Tela whispers, and she could break out stories of his helping friends and even not-so-friends and all sorts of things but even that's not like this. She doesn't guard her neck from K'zin, not even with the faint quiver that suggests he's getting to her; "All right, then," she says instead, and the quiver's reached her voice now too, and she's glad. |
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