A Rather Clumsy...(Kisha)

[Requiem]

What is this called? What is what called? His hair spilled in loose curls and turns around his shoulders, just mussed enough to look like he'd been asleep a short while before without being messy and unbearable. A rumpled shirt hung open, sleeves unbuttoned, clearly thrown on for the sake of having one on - probably because it was too cold to go around shirtless once the suns had set - and the light cotton pants resting low on his hips were clearly meant to be worn while sleeping. He padded barefoot down the hall, rubbing absently at one eye. This...lie. Pardon? You weren't asleep. I was in bed. And I didn't and won't say that I was asleep. But you know it looks like you were. Yes. And the problem? I do have a problem. Yes, but that is not why you want to see Azrath's. I would be very happy if she could help me solve it... Mine. Eveyth. Why not just ask her? It doesn't work that way.

At that point, Eveyth gave up. Hers was so silly sometimes.

The greenweyrling drew up outside the door of the woman who had been his weyrlingmaster - and who he'd indirectly caused to lose her position, though she didn't blame him for it. Not that she seemed to really want to be responsible for a bunch of kids. It was a matter of curiosity, really. X'rx was used to cute, blushing girls. Shy. Preferred it that way, and a little younger. Even so, though Darya had been influenced by a mandyr and babbling nonsense, the young man didn't have any trouble doing what had been more of a matter of - running interference - than anything else. Of course that was Imp. Still, there was something in how she'd looked at him later, and she rode blue... Just curious, really. Of course, asking the older woman something like how she preferred her partners and if she'd show him or not was far too forward for the greenweyrling.

This all led to finding an excuse to come talk to her. That excuse turned out to be easier to find than he would have thought, actually. His strong connection with Eveyth still concerned him on some level, and she'd already helped him with it once, so it made perfect sense for him to come to her about it, right? Bringing up Dy'shi was a natural progression from that. Both were issues he really did need help on, so even if that's all that came of the visit, it was worth it. And if it just so happened to lead somewhere where his curiosity could be satisfied, well...all the better. Some might have thought it strange that he found the middle-aged woman attractive, but he did. And that was that.

Nerves were twisting his insides into uncomfortable knots as he lingered outside her door for a long moment. Too early in the evening to be waking her, unless she went to sleep early. Hopefully. Irritating her wasn't really his intention. X'rx rapped on her door, then stepped back, wrapping his arms around his stomach in an effort not to fidget with his clothing while he waited. He shivered slightly in the cool air, rocking forward onto the balls of his feet and back again in a slow rhythm. She was in there, right?

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya ran a hand through her hair, making the short silvery blond mess stand on end, and stalked back across her weyr. She was blaming her current restless mood on the unusual weather, and no one felt like naysaying her, of course her current company was limited to one dozing blue dragon, one snoozing green firelizard, one bronze salamandyr that was happily engaged in rooting through the remains of Darya’s dinner for something that interested him, and one rooster. Anyway she was too restless to settle to anything, and she didn’t feel like piling on the layers of clothing she felt were needed to deal with the current outdoor temperature.

A knock at her door made Darya jump slightly, and Irony decided it was a cue to start crowing to let whoever was at the door know this was his weyr. Azrath, Bit, and Imp all sensibly decided to ignore both the door and the rooster in favour of more sleep and food. Darya scooped up Irony and clamped her fingers around his horribly sharp beak to shut him up on her way to answer the door, getting a scratch to the back of her right hand from his talons as he struggled against the indignity of it all.

Darya was slightly puzzled to find X’rx stood outside her door, she’d been half expecting R’fuin or Emoyan, or someone’s lady friend who was at the wrong door (wouldn’t be the first time someone had trouble telling east from west either). Shifting Irony to a position under her arm Darya just gave her unexpected guest a puzzled look for a moment. She couldn’t see any reason for the greenrider to be here. Alright they hadn’t really parted on what she’d call an awful note for the last situation they’d met in, which had been F’ur basically abandoning her at X’rx’s door to deal with the mess she thought she’d made of things, but they were hardly close friends, or really anything other than awkward associates.

‘X’rx? What are you doing here?’ Darya finally managed to scrape together enough wits for a none too diplomatic question after blinking at the young man several times in confusion. She did, however manage to avoid asking ’and why do you look like you just fell out of bed?’. ‘Or did you just get the wrong door? That wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.’ Despite the question Darya stepped aside to let the greenrider in (the corridor was cold dammit and she didn’t want her weyr temperature dropping any further) and her expression was enough to announce that if X’rx had got the wrong door he was going to be teased forever, and possibly a day after that.

[Requiem]

Was that - that sounded like a rooster. X'rx blinked, stopping his rocking as if that might help him hear it better, but by then it seemed to have stopped. How queer. Did Darya actually have a rooster living with her? More to the point, why? All roosters did was act territorial, crow at inopportune times and they didn't even lay eggs. Or really bulk up big enough to be worth killing for a good stew. Catching himself, he could only smile at how his thoughts always seemed to drift toward food and food preparation. You can take the drudge out of the kitchens...

When the door opened to Darya and her rooster clutched in her hands, X'rx blinked a couple times himself, the young man feeling a flush creeping up his neck as he lifted a hand to fidget with a strand of hair anxiously. Was he not supposed to be here? She looked so shocked. Her question definitely seemed to reinforce the idea that he'd broken some sort of unspoken taboo. X'rx was seriously considering reevaluating this whole thing someplace else. Like his weyr. Fortunately, she rescued the direction of his thoughts with the mild joke, and he relaxed the muscles he didn't even know he'd been tensing. Okay, he wasn't doing anything wrong, then. It was a touch disheartening that she'd been so surprised, but that was okay. What did he really expect? She wasn't the weyrlingmaster anymore, after all. Kids knocking on her door - even ones technically not kids - probably wasn't a common occurence.

At any rate, that was an invitation, and he'd already hesitated long enough to probably annoy her, so the greenweyrling managed a smile that was only a 'little' nervous - though a good deal apologetic - and stepped inside, eyes dipping toward the rooster again. Such an odd choice of pet. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything," he offered quietly, catching sight of the dinner that Imp seemed to be taking advantage of in the bluerider's absence. If it bothered her he could always make her something, he resolved, deciding not to point it out. The greenweyrling gave her enough space so that she wouldn't feel crowded, running his fingers along the hem of his shirt. "Just wanted to ask you something. I mean, I know you're not our weyrlingmaster anymore and all, but...we had you longer than Iskierka. She's kind of...I don't think she cares much? I don't know it's different. And well it kind of relates to what you helped us with before." Now he was babbling. Great.

Taking a breath, he glanced over at Imp's feast again, rubbing at his elbow. "Do you have anything you'd like me to get you? Imp seems to be eating your food." It was the least he could do, given he'd created the opening. His eyes returned to Darya's with a touch of shyness. "You don't have to let me in if i'm disturbing you. I'm sure I can ask someone else." Chickening out. Shifting lightly from foot to foot, he glanced toward the door, then directed his gaze back to Darya. X'rx didn't want to leave. At all. But he also didn't want to bother her, and right now his nerves were all over the place. It made him ever so jittery and inclined to start pulling...that string...peeking from the hem of his shirt. The string was really irksome. Very irksome. He resisted the temptation, but that actually started him physically twitching. At least they were small enough that Darya likely wouldn't see the random muscle spasms.

[Kisha-Ra]

At least she wasn’t the only one feeling slightly awkward, Darya noted the way X’rx seemed rather hesitant about crossing the threshold with amusement. She also noted the glace at Irony, but chose to ignore it. It was a pretty normal reaction to seeing a chicken running around someone’s weyr, even R’fuin (who was the one who challenged her to keep the damn bird alive) seemed surprised that Irony hadn’t been reincarnated as Irony stew by now. Darya however stuck by her principle of once you’ve given it a name you can’t eat it.

Interrupt anything? Well, her pacing she supposed, and possibly whatever Irony had been doing before he decided to start crowing. ‘You didn’t.’ Darya answered shortly, feeling just slightly embarrassed that she hadn’t bothered to remove the remains of her dinner from public view, or that she wasn’t just a tidier person in general, her weyr had quite a bit in common with the state of her former office. ‘I was just considering whether it was worth the effort of putting on more clothes to go outside.’ She added, aware the perhaps her normal policy of short answers wasn’t going to work here.

Darya calmly and attentively listened to X’rx babble on while she shoved Irony in a large wooden crate she’d had made (alright stolen from stores) for the stupid bird. Nodding to show she was listening, and trying hard to understand what the weyrling was actually talking about, Darya dropped a blanket over the crate. She’d learned that if it was dark the cockerel just assumed it was time to sleep, and did so.

Once she was rid of the chicken Darya just pinched the bridge of her nose. Why did Imp have to show her up like that? Now X’rx probably thought she couldn’t even control one salamandyr. Oh wait, never mind that…

‘X’rx.’ Darya’s voice was a study in amused patience. ‘Try and calm down a bit. I’d like to think I wasn’t all that terrifying.’ Or at least now she wasn’t expected to actually get anyone to pay attention to her she would, when she’d actually been teaching being somewhat terrifying had been quite useful, sometimes. ‘You haven’t actually told me what the question is yet. So I’m hardly going to be able to answer it. You’re already here. I’m not disturbed, although I am somewhat surprised. I was done with that plate anyway, Imp’s just being greedy.’ Darya tried to touch on every point that X’rx had mentioned all at once in an effort to soothe some of X’rx’s nerves, which frankly seemed to be quite out of proportion to so simple a thing as a question. ‘So, in light of all that, why don’t you sit down somewhere and tell me what the problem is?’ Most of the seating was actually clear, since Darya had no paperwork to infest her weyr beyond a few odd bit and pieces, and she had absolutely no problem striding across the room to claim one end of the couch for herself, assuming X’rx would follow and find somewhere to sit, or stand, or whatever.

[Requiem]

Any more of his verbal diarrhea was arrested by Darya's interjection, the greenweyrling coloring slightly as he realized just how ridiculous he sounded right about now. At least she didn't sound put out about it. Strangely enough, it also stopped the need to pull that sharding string, and he felt some of his tension fading. Rubbing lightly at the back of his neck, he managed another of his apologetic smiles, shaking his head slightly. No, she wasn't terrifying. X'rx had never found her that frightening, actually, not even when she opened their weyrling lessons with a swim in bloody animal parts. (Granted, he was far more comfortable with wading into a pile of raw meat than with the curiosity that had driven him here. Kind of silly, really. X'rx wasn't known for celibacy or awkwardness on the subject. Maybe it had to do with how much older than him she was, or that he still respected her as a teacher even though she technically wasn't his anymore. There was almost an element of wrongness to the thoughts, and she'd probably laugh hysterically if she knew them. Had he thought to charm her? He'd be lucky to get out of her weyr without making a complete fool of himself.)

"Okay." Probably spoken too quietly for her to hear it. Not that he minded; it wasn't necessarily said for her, anyway. Calm down, stop being so silly, and just ask your questions. It would be even stranger to suddenly...leave. Darya wasn't disturbed and Imp stealing her food wasn't actually an issue. He padded after her, eyes skirting over her back briefly before he settled into a chair not far from her position on the couch, figuring some distance might help him keep his head together better. His hands fell into his lap and, perhaps just a touch surprisingly, didn't fidget with anything. Aware of the hair that had fallen in front of his shoulder and partially concealed his face, X'rx was thankful for it for the moment and did nothing to clear it out of the way.

"Well...it was a couple of things actually. I think Eveyth and I are some sort of freaks," he commented dryly, some of his usual humor entering back into his voice as a hand came up in a vague gesture. "We've - well, I've - mentioned it to a few people, but the best answer I've gotten so far is to go see a mindhealer. I don't think that's necessary and she's not a dragonrider so I don't see why..." And here he was going off on something she knew nothing about. Again. He snorted softly at himself. "It occurred to me to come see you since you've helped us with our bond before, but I really came cause I don't know who else to talk to about Dy'shi. Cr'oph's a good friend and all but he's kind of...bronze." Which more or less was an explanation in itself. Straight, arrogant, and about as considerate of others as a rhino on a rampage. X'rx was pretty sure he'd never experienced doubt - or remorse - in his life. "Erilena acts strange about anything related to sex. And then there's Iskierka. She doesn't know any of us and I doubt she wants to, much less cares. We kind of just got shoved off on her as a punishment, if you believe the rumors."

X'rx rubbed idly at a sprinkling of dust that had made it on to his trousers and glanced over at Darya. "But you know we were roommates and he kind of shadowed me a lot. And that Chakraith Rose recently? I think I remember seeing Azrath chasing her. She was...concerned...for him I guess and asked me to...you know kind of introduce him so it wouldn't be as scary or hurt as much." X'rx shrugged eloquently. "I just figured he'd asked her to ask me cause he's shy. But now he's avoiding me quite a bit and seems to get touchy around some of the guys I spend more time with. Cr'oph in particular. It's almost like he's jealous, and I really have no clue what to do about any of it. I also think now that Chakraith probably asked independently of him. It's really kind of a mess...he's always been more of a little brother to me than anything else. He's younger than my youngest sister."

Quite a long explanation, but he wanted to be clear about it, and really did hope that Darya could be of some help on the matter. Dy'shi was important to him. X'rx had a tendency to be very protective of younger kids, and having all this awkwardness between them was difficult for him.

[Kisha-Ra]

Once X’rx found himself a chair Darya relaxed a little, and lifted her feet off the floor, curling them under her. Apparently he’d decided to stay and actually explain the problem, whatever it was. Darya supposed she should be annoyed, it would certainly be usual for her, but, strangely enough, she found herself rather pleased that X’rx had decided to talk to her.

Didn’t everyone go through that kind of stage? Well no actually Darya couldn’t ever being worried that Azrath was some kind of freak, but herself? Sure, sometimes she still wondered about that, but had long since come to the conclusion that the important thing was to just be yourself as hard as you could, which probably explained a great deal about Darya.

Oh it was just maddening the way the explanation had started, shrouded in mystery, at least to Darya (and to Azrath, the blue silently assured her, taking an interest because Eveyth’s name had come up). What was more maddening was the way nothing got any clearer now that Darya was somewhat intrigued as to what X’rx might actually be getting at. She wasn’t half as convinced as the greenweyrling was that she could actually help though, speaking with his dragon was a simple matter, Eveyth had always been there waiting to hear, it was just a matter of getting the words across.

It seemed Darya would have to continue in ignorance of the mystery matter, because her thoughts had been completely derailed by a sudden subject change. Never mind, she’d just stick with it until she got to a point where it all made sense.

Ah, so this was about sex. Well that certainly explained why X’rx was wound tighter than a harpstring this evening, although Darya couldn’t help but wonder what kind of problem would inspire her former student to talk to her and not anyone else even as she snorted softly in contempt of bronzers and holdbred riders. Darya would rather hold an open debate than discuss her sex life (or lack of) with one of either type.

‘I remember.’ The bluerider agreed quietly, the first words she’d spoken since this bewildering monologue began, that had been one of the few things Darya had noticed in her time as assistant weyrlingmaster. A nod, that sounded pretty sensible, if slightly strange, and it was the kind of request Darya could she X’rx going with, if he hadn’t been worried about intercepting her he’d hardly be worried helping out a friend.

Darya had to restrain herself from covering her eyes with her hands to express her despair. What honestly made X’rx think for one minute that Darya could give useful advice on any matter involving feelings? Now she was going to have to come up with something pretty damn quickly. Unfortunately what she came up with was a drawn out groan. ‘I don’t think I’m going to be all that useful here X’rx. I avoid a great deal of feelings stuff. I’d still be avoiding you if F’ur hadn’t practically dragged me to your door. I suppose if you want I could pass that on and drag you to Dy’shi’s door so you can talk to him, but then I suppose you’re talking to me because you feel uncomfortable asking him why he’s avoiding you.’ At that point Darya seemed to realise she was babbling on for quite some time about nothing very much and looked down at her hands for a moment, as if secretly hoping she’d written the answer there earlier.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to uselessly babble on.’ She apologised when no magical answer appeared on her hands, or indeed in her mind. ‘I’m afraid the only advice I can really give you from experience is not to let him avoid you and get things sorted out before they get any worse.’ Darya gave X’rx a helpless sort of look for a moment before her eyes drifted downward, there was something about that half open shirt that really attracted the eye, not to mention Darya was still rather curious about the normally immaculately dressed weyrling appeared to be wandering around in his night clothes. When she realised what she was doing Darya shifted her gaze back to her hands and wriggled around a bit to distract herself.

[Requiem]

Open dismay crossed the young man's face at the idea of Darya dragging him over to Dy'shi's weyr, his features paling slightly. It wasn't that he didn't know this was probably what he should have done all along. He just...didn't really want to hear what he knew he would. It was much easier to pretend everything would be normal again soon if he didn't have something indicating otherwise obviously staring him straight in the face. Really should have known. And, in all truthfulness, part of him probably had, because he'd never been really comfortable with it. But it was Dy'shi, and he didn't want Dy'shi hurt. Even if that meant...giving up his adopted little brother. Tch. No magical answers came from Darya, but it would have been unfair to expect it. To hope, though? He thought that was fair. Yes, he truly did.

"I suppose that's what I'll have to do," he agreed soberly, fingers twisting together in a silent expression of his unease with that option where they lay on his lap. His eyes flicked to Darya briefly, catching the wandering gaze, and he tried to hide his surprise as best he could - though likely it didn't matter. She didn't seem to be watching his face in the slightest. Her shifting and quick glance away set a tingle in the base of his spine, and the earlier thoughts and curiosities buried beneath his nervousness rose up again. He lifted a hand, running it through the hair on one side of his head and shifting back in the seat, letting his legs slide apart slightly as the open shirt pulled wider with the arm movement. His other arm fell to grace the inside of his thigh as he lounged back in the chair.

Trying to be subtle about it. Still testing. Wondering.

Looking at her past his elbow, he finally left the arm to dangle, hooking it back over the back of the chair. "Don't be apologetic. It's my mess," he told her quietly, a small, rather humorless smile on his lips. The greenweyrling's eyes flicked toward the wall in the general direction of Eveyth. "Maybe the other thing won't be as hard." He turned toward her, then, left leg remaining anchored as the right slid wider while he pivoted in the chair. "You helped so much earlier. But I think you were right all along, that we didn't really need to talk to each other. We hardly do now anymore. Eveyth, she...I'm always under her influence. I mean, if she sleeps during the day I'll wander in a daydream - unless someone really tries to break me out of it - until she wakes up again. If she's with a dragon I feel wrong not being with their rider. Like you know when you stand and look out and feel like something's missing but you're not sure what. That's exactly what it's like. She eats and I find myself chewing on something if I don't have food available."

Taking a deep breath, the young man let it out slowly, shaking his head. The curls whispered over the fabric of the shoulders of his shirt. "I don't see other dragonpairs acting like this. J'ash attacks people when Craivaruth goes into rages...but, I still don't think it's really the same. Am I just overreacting, or is there something wrong with me? I don't want to..." His eyes slid away, genuine worry in his voice. "I don't think I could concentrate like I'm supposed to if Eveyth ever got hurt. It scares me." Truth, all of it, and for a moment he forgot the wandering eyes and the uncomfortable shifting of the bluerider. His hand found his face, passing over it wearily. Sleep was fitful for him lately.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya found herself suppressing a smile at the expression on X’rx’s face, despite her inability to give useful advice. She was pretty sure that was exactly how her face looked when F’ur dragged her off to see X’rx, it was certainly how she’d felt at the time. In response to the weyrling’s solemn comment Darya offered only an equally solemn nod. There wasn’t anything else she could say that would be useful.

Darya rearranged herself into a cross legged position on the couch and looked back at X’rx to find that the greenrider’s shirt had fallen further open while she hadn’t been looking. Well the conversation merited some uncomfortable shifting didn’t it? It probably didn’t merit the admiring glance, but Darya gave it anyway, she was only looking.

Excuses Darya, excuses. What next? Will I find you making excuses to jump on him?[/color]

Darya shot back wordless irritation to her dragon, and not just because the blue’s amused inquiry brought to mind a series of slightly mandyr perception fogged snap shot memories of the last time she’d done that. Thankfully she was past the stage of blushing crimson every time she thought about that situation.

X’rx’s voice broke Darya out of her reverie before she could get too distracted by the nature of those thought, and before Azrath could tease her any further. The situation the weyrling described managed to take the full attention of the bluepair. Strange, unusual, probably not requiring the services of a mindhealer, Darya thought and Azrath agreed, nothing wrong with their minds, just with their communication.

Silence dragged out ponderously as Darya considered the issue, she couldn’t remember ever feeling that connected to Azrath outside of the blue’s chases, since the first few days after Impressing, in those days Azrath’s slightest whim had been hers as well, they had been hungry, thirsty, and even itchy together. How ever had she gotten it to fade away to the comfortable bond they had now? She’d always assumed that happened to everyone, that they just got used to sharing their minds and the bond stabilised neatly.

‘Well it’s bit of a puzzle. Mostly everyone’s concerned about making sure you bond strongly enough to your dragon. I can think of about half a hundred exercises for strengthening bonds, many of which I was forced to practice, and some of which I’m sure were only invented for the teacher’s amusement.’ Darya tried to lend a note of dry humour to the conversation, plus she was sure all the business with wandering around blindfolded was a sadistic joke on the part of some long dead weyrlingmaster that had somehow become a standard lesson.

‘So, I guess the first question should be when did you start having this problem?’ Maybe it wasn’t the best place to start, but at least it was a start, and if X’rx was talking Darya might well be able to keep her eyes where they belonged.

[Requiem]

He'd noticed the repositioning and the almost embarrassingly frank look, if the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth into what might have been a half-smile - though it was there and gone again so swiftly it doubtless went unnoticed - was any indication. Noticed and promptly forgotten about it in favor of the topic at hand.

At the very least, the greenweyrling wasn't so solemn that he didn't appreciate the touch of humor, something that was a cross between a snort and a chuckle escaping his throat. His eyes found hers with amusement and a certain helplessness. Was she saying, then, that there was no real help for it? That they'd learned too well their lessons and were now doomed to this oddly close bond, for better or worse? It almost seemed as if she did, but Darya didn't seem altogether that upset about it, in the end, so he figured she was just thinking aloud. Hoped so, anyway. Or perhaps the problem wasn't so great as he perceived. X'rx had a tendency to worry, and there were certainly benefits to being bonded close. His natural nervous nature, though some who only knew him after the bond might have laughed at the suggestion, was diminished now. Limited, for the most part, to fidgeting and fumbled words instead of outright obssessive behavior.

He thought for a long moment about the question, hand curling around the back of his neck. "Before, I would have said it's just always been like this, but you know that's not entirely true. We've always been pretty close, but the whole mirroring thing...didn't really start till after Eveyth's Flight." Or during it, technically, but that was obvious; most people were effected strongly by Flying dragons. "It's not that close but it's similar to when she was Flying." Unlike some, X'rx hadn't lost himself to Eveyth. They'd simply...melded. The same and separate without seam. A hard thing for him to explain to anyone. He saw how some mirrored their dragons exactly, as if they'd been swallowed by them, but this was more like separate limbs moving toward the same goal. The motion wasn't the same, but the purpose was. Whatever. He knew he couldn't explain it to Darya, and didn't try. Her question was already answered, was it not?

Of course, that left him with nothing more to say on the subject until Darya responded, and he found his mind and eyes wandering. Her look had spoken all too clearly...he shifted slightly, the memory of her eyes and the curiosities that had partly driven him to her door acting in ways he'd rather they wouldn't. A flush was creeping over his skin, followed by an uncomfortable stirring. He crossed his legs as casually as he could manage and focused on a point just past Darya's ear, feeling the flush gain in strength. This was not the time for that, if only she would speak again so he could focus on something else. He licked dry lips.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya’s pale eyes seemed to look through X’rx as he gave an answer, as if she was focusing on something a few feet behind the weyrling, and he had become temporarily translucent. However a faint frown indicated that she was thinking rather than catatonic or fascinated by something that could be seen through several solid objects.

That made sense, and had been the answer Darya was really expecting if she was honest. If there was ever an easy time after the first couple of months of weyrlinghood for the bond between dragon and rider to change the first time a dragon Rose or chased would be it. So the rather obvious conclusion was that X’rx and Eveyth hadn’t entirely separated out back to their old bond once the Flight was over. The next two questions were therefore obviously: Why? and What can be done?

For the first question Darya had a notion that the greenpair had never really blocked each other out since their communication problems back at the beginning of their weyrlinghood. The second question was more important, and Darya had only vague notions thus far.

Alright Azrath, you have exercises to give to weyrling pairs to make them strengthen their bond. Darya decided to lay the ideas she had out in front of her dragon for lack of a better audience. Now we want to, I don’t know, slightly separate this pair?

I don’t think so, they learned to talk to each other. Now they need to learn how to block each other out more. They want to be more like… More like we are? A whole in which the parts can be separated to a degree?[/color] Azrath sounded awkward as he tried to put words around the concept he had in mind.

Right, so what do we do? Because I certainly don’t know how I learned to block out most of your whining.

Nor do I recall how I learned to ignore your nagging.[/color] The dragon responded with good humour.

‘Alright.’ Darya abruptly returned her attention to X’rx and stopped looking right through him. ‘Azrath and I are thinking that you two need to learn to block each other out a bit now, or rather a bit more constantly. The only thing is that we can’t remember how we learned, it was a rather long time ago after all.’ The bluerider gave a sardonic smile and looked at the weyrling more closely. ‘X’rx, are you blushing?’ The question she’d meant to ask, if he could block out Eveyth at all, got shunted to one side. Darya looked slightly embarrassed at her own lack of tact but just bulled her way onward. The subject had been broached now. ‘Is it really that embarrassing? Or are you just uncomfortable being trapped in here with me? We could go somewhere else if you’d feel more comfortable, I don’t have an office anymore but there’s bound to be an empty room somewhere…’ Darya let her voice trail off before things could get any more awkward and kicked herself for her inability to shut up at times. It didn’t help that Azrath was highly amused by something.

[Requiem]

His eyes found her face as she spoke again, perhaps fortunate that he hadn't been paying attention to her blank stare, as that would have been somewhat uncomfortable. As if it wasn't already uncomfortable. That was his own doing, though, he knew; not Darya's fault he couldn't seem to concentrate solely on what they were talking about. Maybe her parents' fault, he added to himself dryly. Eveyth stirred in his mind at the comment. They could make a game of it, couldn't they? Like what was that humanly game? Twenty questions? Try to play it without giving it away? X'rx's lips twitched slightly in amusement, the flush not vanished but forgotten for the moment. Blood liked to linger longer than thought. Was that thought supposed to be shared? He could feel a twitch in the muscles of his shoulder as Eveyth covered her head with a wing. This might be difficult. Oh, it certainly would be, though he was sure that if it could be done that way, Eveyth's competitive nature would see it done. How sweet of Hers. The green crooned and resettled.

X'rx's leg lifted, heel on the edge of the chair and knee nearly brushing his chest, finding the position more natural when Eveyth lay curled. His eyes suddenly flashed toward Darya, having drifted downward at Eveyth's interest, and the fading blush deepened near instantly, heat burning against his neck and ears. Even his darker skintone could do little to hide it, but fortunately he wouldn't look like the tomato he would've had he been pale. "I..." His mouth closed on the syllable (he didn't know where it had been going anyway) as Darya continued on to suggest another...room? He wasn't sure what that was about. Did she think he found her room uncomfortable? Alone here, alone somewhere else, it made little difference, and at this point company would just make it more awkward and embarrass him more. Darya clearly hadn't figured out the source yet, but others might be more perceptive.

His brow knitted, resting his chin on his knee, the arm draped loosely around it concealing the lower portion of his face, though not completely the pensive turn to his lips. He could sugarcoat and use tact on occasion, but outright lying wasn't something he was good at, and Darya was direct as ever. In his head, whenever he'd let the errant thoughts persist for more than a few moments, it hadn't really gone like this. X'rx wasn't forward. His flirting was subtle at best on a good day - unless alcohol was involved - and the eyes that studied her face as if he could divine an answer as to how to proceed, as to what her reaction might be, fell away from her after a lingering moment. "I don't think that would help," he stated softly. A half-shy glance was cast back up at her eyes, just for a moment to gauge her expression.

"You've been checking me out," he stated abruptly, a defensive note behind the words...or perhaps accusation. "I really did want help. Curious. Still curious after months. And you're nice, and always help." Tugging his leg closer to him, his eyes narrowed on her. "Did you just want to look, then? Women don't usually make me shy. I was curious." His voice had risen slightly. Darya felt like X'rx liked his men to feel, strong and safe, but kind. He didn't think it was wrong for him to be attracted to her, former weyrlingmaster or not, older woman or not. He didn't. But he knew she liked what she saw, yet she didn't make a move. Wanted to make this all about business, in fact. Go to an office if she had it.

X'rx unfolded, standing. "I saw how you looked. And I liked it, and even though I don't know why you keep your distance when you look like that, even though you seem to think it's wrong, I'm not sorry." His eyes skirted toward the door, making it all too clear that he was considering fleeing. It wasn't nice, calling him out. Hard to believe she didn't know. How couldn't she? "I was hoping you'd look," he added, softer. From the corner of his eye he regarded her, then, with a sudden flash of anger he shrugged the shirt from his shoulders, standing bare-chested and lithely muscled. Soft as youths could be but not so frail as his manner suggested. "Look, then." He tossed his shirt at her. "Not so hard, to find someone who would do more than that. But if you can't lower yourself..."

[Kisha-Ra]

For a moment Darya just looked mildly confused, able to sense something changing in the situation, but not quite comprehending it. Well she probably wasn’t helping with whatever was making X’rx uncomfortable with the silent patches where she was talking to Azrath, followed by total lack of diplomacy. Well if moving somewhere else wasn’t going to help… The bluerider’s expression changed to a thoughtful frown.

The blunt, slightly accusing statement made Darya colour up slightly, she hadn’t realised she’d been caught looking. The confusion in Darya’s expression became more evident as X’rx continued to babble on, not making much sense, although at this point if he’d just clearly and precisely stated everything that was on his mind X’rx would still have Darya rather confused. Darya opened her mouth to say something, and snapped it shut again, for once in her life there seemed to be no comment she could make, and X’rx apparently had more to say.

Peculiarly, the more sense X’rx’s sentences gained, the more confused Darya became. Was he trying to say… but… Somehow the bluerider had lost the ability to even come up with a complete thought, let alone a sentence that was worth saying. However the slight movement towards the door, the threat that he might leave, struck a chord. It was easy to forget how fast Darya could move when she was sitting still, but she moved across the room with a swiftness that almost defied belief, snatching X’rx’s shirt out of the air with her left hand as she went. As she reached the greenrider, the left arm snaked around him, pulling him against her body while the right hand ran up to form a fist in the loose black curls, not tightly enough to be uncomfortable but enough to hold him still for a moment (or at least Darya hoped so). She was hardly giving X’rx a chance to go anywhere though, There was only the briefest of moment’s pause between her capturing the weyrling and the bluerider bringing her mouth down on his in a kiss that expressed her peculiar mix of frustration and desire more accurately than words could possibly manage.

‘You know X’rx, that would have been a great deal easier if you were a bit less subtle.’ Darya moved her hands to grip X’rx lightly by the shoulders, dropping the shirt in the process. ‘If you just sit there blushing I’m going to think you’re uncomfortable being here with me.’ The bluerider sounded slightly amused, although whether it was X’rx that amused her or herself was a matter for debate, possibly it was both. ‘Yes, you caught me looking, yes, I do like what I see. I’m just not very good with this kind of thing, I either keep my distance, or go for what I want without a hint of subtlety. I had no reason to think I was going to get a favourable reaction out of you. Now, if you’re still curious…’ As if a dam had burst Darya suddenly found enough words to explain her behaviour to degree she was comfortable with and used them, then for a few moments Darya fell silent, just watching the youth’s face with an intense gaze, measuring, considering, waiting.

[Requiem]

He wasn't exactly sure what he thought she intended, but her sudden explosion from the couch was almost surreal and he found himself taking a step back, eyes wide, before she reached him. X'rx was not precisely slow himself, but Darya was far faster, and his mouth had gone dry with the half-wild thought that she meant to hurt him for the unguarded words. And then he was stumbling into her, maintaining his feet but barely, his body still with tension as the dark eyes turned up toward hers with questioning confusion. It happened too fast for him to process correctly. The press of the two bodies together alluded to one thing, but the near-violence of the hand in his hair, rendering him motionless unless he wished to fight her and the pain of such a hold, suggested that there might well be another reason for the arm that encircled him.

Lips parted on a thought that was never spoken, the weyrling's stillness against her deepening with her kiss. It was returned, tentatively at first, yielding to her, and then more eagerly. But his hands didn't leave his sides. He watched her face solemnly as she spoke, the youth forcing his breaths steady and waiting - waiting to be certain. All too easy to assume the kiss meant what he wanted it to mean, but really? Attraction didn't mean you wanted something, not all the time, and even though he could tell she was attracted the kiss could have just as easily been an apology, a way to try to let him down easier without hurting the ego that X'rx really didn't have much of. "I'm sorry," he murmured. Could have been more direct, yes, but the problems weren't excuses. They were real enough. Darya remained one of the people who helped him best, and who he trusted most, if only because she'd come out and say that she didn't know when she didn't. He didn't want to burn that bridge if she reacted badly. Hardly seemed necessary to explain himself now, though.

Blinking at her, he somehow met her gaze, intense though it was, a small shiver going down his spine. X'rx could have said something, then, further polluted the air with words. He didn't, though. The greenweyrling's arms lifted, instead, encircling her waist and removing the small distance she'd put between them between her kiss and now. He found her lips, the kiss a sensual one, arms tightening around her before he broke it off to brush his nose lightly along her jaw. "I am." The words were almost a sigh. His eyes flicked up to her then, a trace of concern in them. "It wasn't an excuse, wanting to talk to you," he insisted, hoping she didn't think this was all just to get into her furs. Not that he hadn't hoped it might lead this direction...

The weyrling crouched, picking the shirt up off the floor and straightening to run it through his hands. "I guess it just upsets me when it seems I'm good enough for people to ogle at but not to..." A small, self-mocking smile. His eyes flicked up toward hers. "Hope I didn't offend you?"

[Kisha-Ra]

For some reason the shocked expression on X’rx’s face obscurely pleased Darya in the second that she chose to acknowledge it, perhaps it was just the satisfaction of getting the weyrling as far off balance as he’d managed to get her. As satisfying as it was to get some kind of response (and Darya certainly couldn’t deny that it seemed enthusiastic), the near total stillness of the weyrling’s body against hers disturbed her faintly.

The apology drew a half smile and an amused sound from the bluerider, she suspected he was sorry about flying off the handle like that rather than that he’d tried an oblique approach to start with. In fact, since he had come here with serious things on his mind as well, it was possible that he’d intended to work around to this topic at a later time. Well too bad, she knew only X’rx could solve his issues with Dy’shi, and she needed more time to think about his bond with Eveyth. In the meantime…

For a moment Darya persisted in trying to look down at X’rx as he met her gaze, then she realised, with mild surprise, that they were more or less of a height and she wasn’t achieving anything much. Silence was the only response to her attempt at explaining, but when X’rx closed the space between the two of them Darya decided quite firmly that she could live with silence, and leaned in, letting her body mould itself to fit perfectly against X’rx. Perhaps, if Eveyth or X’rx had been a little younger, if she was still teaching them, and, frankly, if she hadn’t been plagued with vague recollections every time she was near the young greenrider, Darya might have been more reluctant to respond so shamelessly to the weyrling’s attentions. However, with the situation as it was, Darya’s only current thought towards her responsibilities was that she was glad she didn’t have to worry about them anymore.

Darya rested her cheek against X’rx’s hair while the greenrider’s head was tilted down, mildly envious of the dark curls despite the fact that she would have inevitably shorn off her hair no matter what it was like. ‘I’m glad you didn’t come up with those problems just to get through the door.’ Darya sounded more than slightly amused at the idea. ‘An excuse that complex would be mind boggling.’ Two separate, complex, problems, an excuse? As flattering as it might be to think X’rx probably didn’t want to get into her furs quite that badly.

A low chuckle escaped the bluerider’s lips, one slightly tinged with lust as well as amusement. ‘X’rx, it takes more than a little shouting to offend me.’ She informed the weyrling with an amused tone, reaching out to rest the fingertips of her right hand on his chest as she spoke. ‘You may have to work on being more offensive in the future, a few insults usually helps.’

For a moment Darya considered telling X’rx he didn’t have to pick things up, but it seemed a rather futile thing to do, and besides, Darya was far more interested in proving that X’rx certainly was good enough to bed. With that in mind the bluerider moved her hand to curl around the weyrling’s wrist and gave him a gentle tug in the right direction. It did occur to her that she was still fully clothed, a massive oversight on her part, but she sure she could do something about that in a minute or two.

[Requiem]

It was something of a rarity, how perfectly they melded, of a height and not so dissimilar in limb, either. The lean woman was still woman, and he was more slender than thin, such that they'd almost matched at every point. He still felt the heat off her, they were so close, though not quite as close as a moment before. Her cool eyes were not cold, the humor flashing in them as she spoke, and he smiled, less at the words and more at the spirit behind them in how she moved and the tone of her voice. The nagging worries were all melting away, now, as her manner didn't change. Not offended, not upset, and not terribly patient either, which was its own compliment.

"Perhaps there are some skills that don't really need to be learned," he commented, at a volume that wouldn't travel much further than her ears, though it wasn't a whisper. His own voice carried a trace of humor. "That, or you are not so easily offended as others." He leaned ever-so-slightly into the touch at his chest, but before another moment had passed her hand had moved, snaring his wrist, and he stepped after her with no need of further urgings. The shirt was draped over the arm of the couch as they passed, and he pressed into her side just enough for her to feel his presence definitively. The weyrling's lips found her ear, nibbling at it.

Of a sudden he was in front of her, the bed just steps away from his back. X'rx's hands ran over the trim waist, sliding up beneath the hem of her shirt to feel the heat of her skin directly against the palms. He trailed kisses from her jaw down to the hollow of her throat, stroking down the narrow swell of hips and back up, over arms and shoulders into her short hair. His fingers threaded there, on either side of her head, and he pressed firmly against her, seeking her mouth hungrily and with far more boldness than he'd shown thus far. Feeling her respond to him was enough, and when the kiss broke, he nipped her bottom lip, just sharply enough to cause discomfort, a half-mischievous smile tugging at one corner of his mouth as his dark eyes met hers.

Fingers worked the buttons of her shirt, starting at the top, and as more and more was revealed to his eyes he traced their course with his mouth, kissing her lightly.