Logs:Vice
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| RL Date: 21 November, 2014 |
| Who: Edyis, A'rist |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Some vices are more acceptable than others. |
| Where: Southern Beach |
| When: Day 2, Month 4, Turn 36 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: A spring flurry brings in a little late snowfall, though there is no accumulation as the flakes spiral to the ground on a dizzying breez |
| Mentions: R'hin/Mentions, Nita/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: As usual feel free to add/edit/correct anything I may have missed. Gdocs and Backdated |
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>---< Southern Beach >-------------------------------------------------------< Golden stand stretches in both directions for as far as the eye can see, broken only by the occasional encroaching cliff, the ancient stone formed into rockpools and outcroppings. Inland, open sand is gradually taken over by lush greenery: dense forest extending all the way back to distant mountains that might even be days of walking from here. The ocean, too, stretches out unbroken: there's no other land to be seen, nothing but blue and blue and blue until the point at which it hits the horizon, where blue meets another kind of blue, in the endless, cloudless sky. A tent-like structure has been strung up between trees and a few tall posts, providing shelter from the hot sun. There are no tables, and no chairs, beneath it, however: just a few haphazardly slung blankets, providing only the most basic comfort. A few paces beyond the edge of the tent is a bonfire built from driftwood. The water is shallow, here, protected by a sandbar a few lengths out. It is entirely possible that the invitation may seem out of the blue, considering that the once-scribe has been markedly quieter over the last couple of months. Then again the request is a simple one, delivered with a smile despite the busted lip that is still healing, "Do you want to go running with me some place warm? Just get away from the weyr for a little while." Edyis asks during their usual morning encounter in the kitchens. "That is if you want to and have the time later." The amendment comes with a noncommittal shrug. A'rist's answer was one of a bemused and wandering affirmative - once he'd run over his schedule in his head, and had done internal debate, all expressed more or less by a selection of 'ah' and 'hm'. So there they are, Lythronath landing hard, roaring his presence to fins and wings and any other creatures nearby. He provides minimal time for dismount, and then is on the wing again. It leaves A'rist stripping down riding gear, quiet, focused. It does not take her much time to strip down the layers inspired by Reaches's climate. In a few minutes she is down to a lightweight tunic and pants rolled up to the knee, bare toes wiggling gleefully in the sand. "Thank you." For agreeing to go, one might surmise. Edyis starts into her customary series of stretches. "Been busy lately?" "Sure?" answers A'rist, sounding a bit at a loss, perhaps, but with a crooked, albeit slightly delayed, smile to go with it. "Sure," comes next, this time an answer to her question. He isn't stretching, not yet. He's rotating his left shoulder, carefully, almost tenderly, while shifting from leg to leg, bending and balancing, waking muscles. "Yeah," is stronger confirmation. "It's been good, actually." Does he sound almost surprised? Something about the one-word answers causes Edyis to grin, though she does seem to note the favoring of the left shoulder. "Sparring injury?" Moving into the next set of stretches with a smile at what she takes to be surprise in his voice. "You do seem more settled." "Ha!" It's a bark of a laugh, and one that brings that grin more easily to the young bronzerider's face. "Guess you could say that." That shoulder is given one final rotation, back, as if to set it where it ought to go, and is relaxed. A'rist lunges, first, on one leg, nodding, and then the other. He's pulled himself into a squat when that's done, from where he peers at the young woman. "You don't." The bark of laughter causes both brows to raise in question at the bronzerider's response. Her focus is drawn back to the task at hand however and by the time his observation is stated, she is pushing to her feet. "No, I do not suppose I am." She seems to decide taking off at a light jog without much warning. A'rist might be amused, but he's not unobservant. "It's not- it's not what it- never mind." That item dismissed, he falls more toward focusing on his muscles, even probing at his abdomen with a finger. Edyis' departure fires him into motion, as if an adrenal response. Once he's taken care of that surge, once he's matched up with her pace: "Not that you have to tell me or anything." A hint teasing, but, as established, the bronzerider is in a good mood just now. She laughs, at the teasing. "I already tell you more than I should." She admits, pushing the pace just a little more. "Why ruin a good mood?" She muses, before adding, "Just a lot on my plate these days, giving up the Assistant Records Keeper knot helped, but the Lounge doesn't pay nearly as well. As it turns out, riders are terrible tippers." "And then tell me all about how you can't tell me other things." Still, it's friendly. A'rist keeps up easily, alternating his attention between where he's putting his feet, and eyeing Edyis as she speaks. "Maybe riders are terrible tippers when they're in the rider's lounge," is somewhere between corrective and defensive. "Maybe you want to try the Snowasis instead. Rider's lounge isn't a place like that. Half the time, there's not even anyone serving. And the drinks aren't that good. That's not what it's about." Friendly as the words might be, the words cause her to study him sharply from the corner of her eye. "What do you want to know A'rist?" At least the defensiveness seems to shake her out of the suddenly guarded mood quickly enough, causing her smile to return. "AHA! Spoken like a bronze rider with a guilty conscience!" She teases, before adding with a broad grin, "I know that, that is part of why I work there. Doesn't mean it isn't fun to tease about it." "It's not wanting to know something. It's just," and he hops over a ridge of sand, "something you do, that's all." The next accusation brings a snort out of the young man. "I guess... I don't know. Just saying, when I go there, I'm looking for me and mine and none of that... other stuff. The whole point of the rider's lounge is that riders go there and there's none of that other stuff." For a while, it seems like the pace keeps her from speaking, or maybe it is just that she's listening. "You and yours. Other stuff." Edyis picks these words. "You enjoy being cryptic don't you." She asks even as her footing falters causing her to slow down considerably, and eventually she decides to stop. Flopping down in the sand, panting and working on getting her breathing back under control. "That's what I get for skipping running." She mutters to herself. "This coming from you," A'rist laughs. But he lets silence take over during the slowing, the stopping. He's breathing hard, but not uncontrollable. He doesn't sit; he paces while his heart slows. "So how come the rider's lounge, anyway? How come not the Snowasis? Is this another one of those R'hin things?" "Try getting a straight answer out of R'hin sometime, and then see if you still want to call me cryptic." She laughs wryly. "He did encourage it. I needed work that would allow me to be away from the weyr for days at a time without anyone paying much attention. It has made it easier to deal with the stuff at home, and will make Savannah stuff easier in the future. Besides do I look like the kind of girl who can mix fancy drinks?" There's something about that, about all of that, that makes A'rist uncomfortable. His pacing becomes a bit jerkier. And though he tries to soften, "And all the better if when you are at work, you're in a place where riders are more likely to feel comfortable to speak straight," with a grin, but it turns sour, and the dislike in his voice won't be too hard for an observant listener to pick up. In the end, he looks away, scrubbing at his hair, scanning the air above the trees. Edyis pushes to her feet, focusing on brushing the grains of sand away. Still she is unable to miss, or even attempt ignore the change in his pacing, the smile that goes sour, the tone. Exhaling softly, she shifts her attention to the water. "I suppose that is something that might have crossed his mind, though the Snowasis would still be a better fit by that logic." She falls silent again, watching his pacing. "I like the lounge, I get to hear all kinds of stories, makes all those things I used to read about in the records real." A beat, "Do you want me to quit, A'rist?" The softly apologetic question could apply to any one of a dozen nameless things, or even all of them lumped together. She leaves it to him to specify. "No, it wouldn't be," A'rist counters, tone still sharp. From farther away, from higher up, there's a roar, a killing roar. Lythronath has found his first victim. "Snowasis is for everyone. Rider's lounge is for riders. It's different." A muscle in his jaw twitches, and he's distant for a moment, with that dragon. Looking back to Edyis, focusing again, makes him shake his head. "I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter, what I think you should or shouldn't do." The pacing has direction, now, has turned to travel. A'rist is retracing their steps, albeit it at a walk. Irritation starts to creep through that calm, though she does her best to restrain it. "Ah because clearly the only information worth having is what a Rider knows." The sarcasm oozes in her voice, "Me, and mine, different," Edyis echoes, "You really don't care about anything that isn't attached to a pair of wings do you?" She halts her steps behind him. "If you have already made up your mind about the kind of person I am, why did you accept my running invitation? If I didn't care about what you thought, what reason would I have to even bother asking?" Restraint fails, and those long fingers close into fists at her sides. "Or did you just go along with it to grill me about Savannah?" A beat "Not that I can blame you for it if that was the reason, given my record." The look that A'rist levels back at her is tired, done. "It is different. And you wouldn't get how, any more than I would've before Lythronath." Lythronath, who has to be around here somewhere. Lythronath, who has yet to make his reappearance. "And I sure wasn't planning on coming here to talk about R'hin. Look, just... Lythronath's nearly done." A glance toward the trees, a tug at the waistband of the shorts he'd worn for running purposes, looking down, disappointed, to remember their lack of pockets. So instead, A'rist crosses his arms over his chest, and looks dissatisfied. Edyis shakes her head, staying firmly planted. "Then go ahead and head back, just pass the coordinates on to Nita or something when you get back. If you don't mind." Those fists shoved into her pockets, it isn't quite defeat, but it's evident she's frustrated. A'rist stares at the girl a moment, expression (he hopes) unreadable, brow furrowed. "Well I'm not going to leave you on some Southern island. Shells," and his arms are uncrossed, and he's started pacing again. "Can't we just keep on running or like, do..." he looks about, at a loss for a moment, and landing on, "push-ups?" Which then makes him snort. Maybe an inapproriate time to laugh at absurdity, but. She starts rolling her shoulders again, as though to work out the tension that has been building in them for the last little bit. "Suit yourself, but it really isn't something you need to worry about, I'm used to the south and can handle my self just fine for an hour or so. You have Lythronath to take care of anyway." She points out, not entirely enthused at the idea of spending more time in his company. It isn't really his fault, but "If you want to keep running, and just do that then fine. Just don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to. I am not up to making up shit that you'd prefer to hear right now, and really didn't think I had to in your company." She sets back off, but this time at a pace that doesn't allow for much conversation, leaving him to make up his mind on his own. "Lythronath takes care of himself, down here. Besides, he's all bloody." Was that a quirk of a smile on the bronzerider's face? It's a good thing they run, a good thing he isn't pressed for more detail on that. A very good thing. He'll run in silence for a while, and by the time Lythronath does show up, gore-covered and seemingly satisfied, he'll even have offered to Edyis, fairly rhetorically, "I guess all I'm saying is that I don't get why people would hide and lie about things if they don't have to." It could be a trick of the light but, she may seem somewhat paler at the word bloody. The running does the trick though, and she seems much more herself by the time they stop. "Sometimes you simply have to. Even if it may not seem that way from the outside." She replies honestly, if perhaps unsatisfactorily, even if the question is rhetorical. She almost bashfully points her index finger at the behemoth when the bronze shows up gorespattered. "He is getting cleaned before we go back right?" "And sometimes you enjoy it," A'rist finishes. As to Lythronath: "There's not going to be that much of it up on his neck. It's always mostly his chest and arms," okay, front legs, but A'rist doesn't miss a beat, "and face, of course." The bronze, gouging sand with his talons, shares a macabre grin, and then licks at his lips. "We all have our vices." Those dark eyes unable to look away from that ghoulish grin even as she pulls those protective layers of clothing back on. At least the color has returned to her face as she resigns herself to the mess. "I needed to take a bath after this anyway." |
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