Feasts are for Flaunters (Raebeli)

[Requiem]

Dmitri snorted softly. "And how many times is that? Twice?" A piddling amount compared to some of the others here at the Weyr. This cute thing seemed to be something he couldn't get away from. Not that he expected anything like hot or handsome. He wasn't stupid. He'd just prefer a word that couldn't also be used to describe fluffy little animals.

"Well, she's right about the swelling head. I'm not so sure she's got the reason right, though." Dmitri flashed Raebeli a smile, folding his arms behind his head. His eyes drifted up to the stars above. "Careful, Belle. If you let it get too out of control you'll be as bad as me. Then people will go out of their way to avoid you because there's no room for anyone else with your head taking up so much space."

It was weird, really. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed this woman until just recently. Raebeli didn't get offended, for one. It almost made him want to rise to the challenge and see if he could find any of her buttons. Almost. The mindhealer was much more fun happy, though, so why would he want to change that. "I was thinking boiling water would be a good place to start." Couldn't resist teasing her, though.

The harper rolled over onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow. "So when do you want your gift?" A flicker of a smile played across his lips. "Now just remember that no matter how bad it is you still have to smile and pretend to be delighted." Dmitri reached over and poked the woman on the nose. "Social obligations and all. Can't show anyone the truth."

[Lotty]

The mental image that Raebeli had most definitely was as literal as it could be. Her brain just growing and growing until it was too big, but before it could all ooze out of her ears there her entire head was swelling until other people were running out of the room and yeah... she was getting a little lost in the daydreams now wasn't she? It was time to come back down to earth and even Quixoth agreed, nudging her mentally until the spacey look in her eyes drifted away and she was nothing but bright and perky in the presence of her friend.

She even decided to join him and lean back until her head rested against the soft spicy scented skin of her dragon and looked up at the night sky. She wondered then for a moment if it was even possible to count the stars, but then wouldn't she be falling into the trap of zoning out? That never made for very constructive conversation, "Boiling water.... you know I hear a pinch of salt makes it go faster... oh and that a watched pot never comes to boil, but I think that is an advanced skill, should probably start off slow..." she mused in return until she heard mention of a present. Shards yes! Who didn't love gifts? Not this girl.

She grabbed Demi's arm with zeal, and would have bounced if it was at all possible in her position. Instead she rolled to unconsciously mimic his own body language and she was for sure creeping in close when she asked him, "You got me a gift?" Cue the most innocent of voices. Had it come from anyone but he it might be a touch too saccharine. Dwelling in that moment for just a moment more - she wasn't really waiting for an answer, no, she was naive enough to assume he was telling the truth when he mentioned it the first time - she used that hand on his arm to shake him. "I wanttttt it nowwwwww..." Chances were even if it was a lump of coal she'd still find a home for it.

[Requiem]

"I might have heard similar rumors," Dmitri agreed with exaggerated solemnity. He couldn't quite keep all traces of the smile that didn't make it into his voice from his face, though. Silly weyrling. The wherhandler couldn't help but wonder how many misadventures in cooking their neighbors would have to suffer through. Speaking of which..."We need to find ourselves a vic- I mean, a taste tester."

The man couldn't help but laugh at the suddenness of the hand that latched itself to his arm. That had certainly gotten her attention, hadn't it? Why was he not surprised? But of course, he wouldn't be Dmitri if he didn't tease her a little about it, now would he? "I already told you I did when I first arrived at your door." His finger hadn't left the tip of her nose. "Are you trying to tell me that our favorite mindhealer wasn't paying attention? Were you distracted by something?" A smirk dominated his face.

Cue arm shaking. "Okay, okay. If you're going to be so demanding about it." He shiffed pointedly and drew his legs up under him, extracting his arm from her grip. Dmitri slipped around the log he'd toppled over. After rifling through his bag for a moment, he came up with the pot again. The wherhandler came back around and crouched near Belle. "Careful, now. I hear there's some sort of pot monster that likes to eat the hands of pretty women if they're not quick about it."

Dmitri tilted the pot toward her. The wrapped gift inside slid slightly along the bottom of the pot, but Raebeli would still have to reach in to snatch it. As soon as she did, too, his hand darted out and he caught her risk, dragging her toward him. "Not fast enough! What will you do now?"

[Lotty]

"Distracted? Maybe, maybe not, but forgetful is just as likely," she narrowed her eyes playfully, "you had deviously used enough of your charms that gifts have been the last thing on my mind for the past while..." that was a compliment in Raebeli's mind, but she knew that Demi could be sour enough at times to take things in a whole other way. Still, this never dissuaded her from saying exactly what she wanted to her long time pal.... even when there was the risk of not receiving the gift he was digging around for.

Finally when the pot was pulled close, her bright blues grew big and greedy. This was like a random birthday and here he was teasing her. It really wasn't fair, but the mindhealer went ahead and rolled with the punches as she always did, "Pot monsters?" She snorted, and coyly covered up her face in faux embarrassment before reaching forward to claim her prize.

Her wrist was instead snapped up in his grasps and she felt herself pulled forward again, though this time she had a better strategy for retaliation. Maybe. There was definitely a moment of hesitation there, as she stared him down and mulled over her plan. Well you really really should do something. You can't let that /boy/ just best you like that over and over again love... Hmmf, if Quixoth thought it was a good idea then she would just have to, "I'm going to do this...."

She snogged him plain and simple before pulling back and demanding her proper payment (hmmm although payment was probably the wrong word). The green, being as young as she was couldn't be distressed by the act - it was innocent after all - but she was grossed out for a lack of a better term Ewwwwwwww Raelove you will have wash your mouth out. I said to get back at him but not like thattttt, a thought that was punctuated by a humorous snort.

"Now where is my gift?"

[Requiem]

"Charms?" An eyebrow was decidedly threatening to permanently disappear beneath his hairline. A chuckle sounded in his throat. "You must really want this gift, flatterer." So maybe he did have a trick or two up his sleeve, but he was just playing around, anyway. There was nothing too terribly calculated involved. Raebeli was just fun, and making her laugh and smile was bound to cheer him up a little too. A lot, actually.

The bluehandler cocked his head to one side. Of all the things that he might have thought would happen, this intense regard from the weyrling wasn't one of them. Dmitri blinked at her. Then froze stock-still. And could you really blame him for returning the kiss, brief and relatively innocent as it was? Raebeli got what she wanted to out of it, though; Dmitri forgot to keep hold of her.

He squinted at her. "Now that was just low, mindhealer. That, or you've flipped your lid. A rather unfortunate thing considering you're supposed to be fixing the crazies." Nevertheless, she really had won that little contest, so it was only right that she get her gift. It didn't keep him from giving her a little mock glare before upending the pot into her outstretched hand. It wasn't a very big gift, wrapped in a supple hide that had been treated with oils.

Wrapped up inside it was a hairpin in the form of a swooping darter. It wasn't terribly fancy or expensive - and he certainly hadn't made it himself, having no skill in such things - but the pin was made out of whitewood. Polished and simple, with two small gems for eyes. Dmitri really hadn't known what to get her, when it came right down to it. But something seemed appropriate. "Consider it a belated congratulations on your Impression. Not that it can measure up to Quixoth."

Wrapping his arms lightly about his knees after placing the pot back down on the other side of him, he glanced at Raebeli askance. "Tell me you're not one of those girls with contagious kisses. That would really be cruel." Because no, he would not be Dmitri if he let her get away without being teased for that rather spontaneous little kiss. Even if it had only been a truly evil way to get the gift out of him.

[Lotty]

Raebeli was pleased with her results. Yes, there was the whole gift thing, but she wasn't completely oblivious to the fact that he kissed her back. Sure, it had to be mostly instinct, and dangerously wrong to expect that it was anything else. How exactly were young men of Demi's age supposed to react? He wasn't going to go pew pew and yell cooties and it was rare for any guy to out and out reject physical connection, so yes, this was a totally appropriate and logical response. That didn't mean that Rae still wasn't going to let herself be flattered that much more. She was just going to have to count this as another personal win - so take that, "Hmmm yeah, well that do say us quacks start to get the crazies ourselves after a while..."

With a wink she cheekily added, "Though I don't suppose you've known about that all along?" After all, their every encounter had been filled with surprises to say the least. If he used all his harper words right he could paint quite the picture of her as the biggest kook on the planet, and it probably wouldn't even be considered slander. Slight exaggerations were not always mis-truths, "whatever would you do if you found out that the only way to solve everyone else's problems was to take them on yourself? When it gets put that way, mindhealing doesn't seem like such an attractive occupation now does it?" The notion of feigning a mawkish sort of expression did occur to her, but abandoned in favor of opening up her gift.

Leather smelled good, and that was a definite good start to this gift; Raebeli had always like the tanner's booth at gathers for that exact reason, she just had to ignore the fact that it was hanging dead animal skin. Pulling the folds away, a smirk began to form on her face as she beamed with delight at the contents within. A hairpin. He knew her all to well - or at least she thought - it would have been a shame had she actually had mindreading powers and knew that he hadn't known what to get her... if that was the case she'd have to chalk this all up to a lucky guess which somehow meant a little less. Oooing and Ahhhing for another moment, the woman finally threw her arms around the wherhandler again to thank him. She couldn't very well put the pin in now with another already in her hair, but from then on out it would be sure to fit in the ever changing cycle of accessories she wore.

Finally releasing him from her death grip, she looked again at the hair piece and ran her hands over the swooping avian on it, "Its so neat Demi! I love it!"

[Requiem]

Get the crazies after awhile? He didn't say anything, but the turn of his smile very much suggested that the harper had definite opinions as to the sanity of his current companion. Opinions she may not like all too much. For one, you had to be a little nuts to want to sit around and listen to people's problems all day. Don't misunderstand. Of course the wherhandler found some small pleasure in helping people - not that he was likely to admit it - but he had no patience for whiners who wanted simply to complain and find things to blame their problems on with no real intentions of helping themselves. And he strongly suspected most of the people Raebeli encountered suffered from precisely that malaise.

"Actually, I'd say that explains a lot," he teased, wrinkling his nose at her. Nope. Definitely couldn't resist teasing the woman. In addition, her expression drew a great amount of relief from him. The choice had been the right one, then. Dmitri would have felt a bit odd giving her something of sentimental value that she didn't take to terribly well, after all. It would have made him look like a soft-hearted dunderhead. Or desperate. Heh. (Though it certainly wasn't a lie that he'd chosen the avian specifically because Cap'n had hatched the day he first met Raebeli. It would help remind her of Dmitri every time she wore the hairpin.)

Mindhealer hug of death! And no kidding, either. That squeeze was tight enough to make his ribs feel distinctly crowded. Nevertheless, he returned the hug and tried not to grin like a loon while he was at it. "I'm glad you like it," he responded, a touch breathlessly. Thankfully she let him go before the oxygen deprivation could become too dehabilitating. Letting the warmth of his old friend and her dragon wash over him, Dmitri closed his eyes, relaxing against the earth.

"You know, it's nice being out here like this. Maybe we could do it again sometime?" The bluehandler was careful to keep his voice just this side of neutral. Too much eagerness would probably turn her off double-quick. "Really gets crowded in the Weyr. Or maybe I've just grown too accustomed to Dmisk's world." No musician - even broken ones like Dmitri - could avoid that vagrant, artistic heart that reveled in the wild and untameable world beyond a human's influence. Still, he'd been raised in the congestion of Fort Hold after his mother decided to do him the one good turn she'd ever done and throw him away. So it was something of a wonder that he'd taken to the relative solitude of his nightly sojourns.

[Lotty]

Haha, well yes... she should know better than to claim - or at least imply - that she was perfectly normal with Demi around. The fact of the matter was that one out of every three people had some kind of mental ailment, so the statistics were mostly working against them. If one of them weren't already goofy, one of them would get there, and Rae was willing to bet it was herself. It was tedious to listen to everyone else's problems and never be able to vent her own. For that reason Quixoth was such a blessing, it was nice that the green was sooo.... perceptive, "Oh yeah... what exactly does it explain?"

She wasn't exactly concerned with the answer. It was a rhetorical tease, and she made this clear with a flippant swipe at the air. Her nails cut at the space between them and cut a little too close to the wherhandlers face. A mistake she remedied by an "oops" and a hand patting the side of the man's face where she almost managed to scratch him, "Didn't catch you there did I?" Not that it would be noticeable. Really, nothing she could manage would do what flame had already managed, but even in light of those wounds she only ever saw the Dmitri she met turns ago. The hair was gone, his body filled out... but his eyes were all the same - to her at least - and that was where the mindhealer always looked. They were windows to the inside...

Sighing, and sleepy, she sort of tilted her head to rest on his shoulder as she mused, "It's a deal then... And on that note... you have to promise me we won't go on for so long without seeing each other again. Or at least, if we ever stop being friends you have got to tell me. There is nothing worse than me going on and on just wondering. Maybe we need to make a schedule, and make this a regular thing...." she snorted at the thought of friends having to make play dates; her people would get a hold of his people... something bureaucratic like that. The thought was cut off by something much more pressing... the desire to close her eyes and drift off to la-la land. Reaching out she patted Demi on the knee, "We've better get going unless you have plans of carrying me back to my bed..."

[Requiem]

Whatever Dmitri might have said, it was cut off by her abrupt gesture. He blinked. The harper was about to check to see if she'd gotten him or not when her hand found his cheek. A brow rose slightly. Oh. That was an accident, was it? "I don't know. Not enough for it to matter." Not enough for him to feel it, but Dmitri didn't necessarily feel everything on that portion of his face.

Dmitri shifted slightly to curl an arm around her shoulders. "I promise. And I don't let go of my friends easily." It may not be the reassurance she was looking for, but it was the truth and so that was what he gave her. "But I'll tell you if it ever comes to that." Not that he thought it would. Couldn't resist a chuckle at her suggestion of making a schedule. Silly mindhealer.

Dmitri shifted her against him a little more until he could get a good hold on her, then picked the greenweyrling up. "Your human's getting a bit loopy, Quixoth. Probably time to call it a night."

(End Thread)