Fever [Isori]

[Ruby]

Not appropriate.

But when had that ever bothered M'kai before? He and Cr'oph had always regarded rules as something more akin to guidelines than hard and fast facts, and even Burimyu's stricter climate hadn't totally stamped that out. The pair had had far less fun recently, overall, but some of that had to do with less free time and absolutely endless tasks to be completed. Regardless, he was surprised how long he'd held out, given the lack of other available women at the hidden Weyr. Isori was beautiful, after all; maybe it had been some lingering guilt over her sister. He and Cr'oph had different tastes in women, rarely shared, but it had happened. He wondered idly if the same was true for Isori and Orena, but somehow he doubted it. Of course, there was also the minor detail that he was her Candidatemaster.

It was that last bit that kept M'kai pacing back and forth in front of Isori's door, rather than just knocking. Of course, if there was any justice in the world, that wouldn't be true much longer, but then she'd be a Weyrling and that was way worse. That was why he was here tonight - the eggs were laid, near hard enough to hatch, and any day now they would all be waking up in the middle of the night (if the past trends were to be continued) with humming in their ears. Then Isori might have a baby dragon, and then she really would be untouchable for a year at least. M'kai wasn't sure he could wait that long.

Rolling his shoulders back and straightening, the Bluerider flipped his hair back and adopted a casual posture, finally knocking on Isori's door. It was after dinner, technically after curfew, so Isori SHOULD be in her own room. There were so many rooms and so few Candidates that she would be alone, not to mention that the candidate closest to Isori's own age was Roselle, and the two never quite seemed to get along. Kami was back in M'kai's own room, cuddled up with Futh in place of her 'mommy', and the rest of the Weyr had gone to bed or were at least shut away for the night. He was one of the few in the halls, so late; no one to catch him visiting a Candidate in the middle of the night. She'd better let him in soon, though. He knocked again.

[dragon]

The light was dim, and fading fast. But glows were hard to come by, especially for her. So she just moved it closer and squinted harder at what she was doing. The needlework was very fine, every stitch tiny and precise. The colors were washing out in the lack of light, but she knew what she was working with. She was so happy to have managed to sneak a way to the gather, where she had happily managed to run into her sister. They were both okay, and that was such a relief to know. Isori had tried to talk Orena into coming away, but it had proved impossible to accomplish.

Sharding dragons.

But the meeting had placed Isori in better standing if nothing else. Orena had managed to sneak a nice bundle of clothes to her, from their shared wardrobe. Now she had real clothes, changes of clothes, and some of them were even fairly nice. Along with that, she'd also managed to get her hands on some of the raw materials. Like real needles. Thread, and things like that.

So now she was working on one of her older projects again, tirelessly stitching away on it in every spare minute. The colors were coming out quite nice in her opinion. Scratching an ear absently, she moved the glow closer still and peered harder at what she was doing.

To have a knock sound at the door startled her so badly that the glow vanished into the folds of cloth in her lap when she jumped, also dropping her needle. "Shardsshardsshards..." she muttered, running her fingers over the folds of material in the dark. "Where did you get to? OW!" she yanked her fingers away from the fabric and stuck one in her mouth to suck on it. She'd found the needle ... the hard way. With her other hand she tentatively searched that spot again. Finding the needle, she picked it up and secured it in the fabric itself. Lifting the whole thing, she hunted for the glow.

Where it had got to, she couldn't tell. And it was dark. But a second knock sounded impatiently. "Ohhhhh." she sighed under her breath. "Coming!!" she called, shifting her feet off of her furs ... which were still just piled up on the floor. No real furniture, but she had baskets of material now where before there had been nothing. Her collapsible impromptu primitive loom she'd made from a collection of sticks was all tied up in a bundle on the floor, as well. It was supposed to be leaning on the wall out of the way, but apparently not. For she tripped on it on her way to the door. "Shards!" She kicked it aside, sending the bundle of wood skittering toward the wall again.

Hopping on one foot for a few steps, she finally made it to the door more or less alive. Pulling it open, she was genuinely shocked to see who was there. Not that she'd been really able to figure who would be knocking on her door at this hour anyway. "M'kai?" she asked, curiously, glancing down the hall before looking at him again. This time with a smile.

Surely he hadn't come all this way just to tell her she'd flunked a class or something. But ... he did look somewhat disturbed. Okay, maybe disturbed wasn't the right word. But in any event, it wasn't just an idle call. There was a reason why he was right there right then. Isori hoped that something hadn't happened, as she stepped back and invited him inside. "Watch your step." She warned. "There's stuff on the floor. Sorry for the dark ... I ... um ... " used up her glow. Lost her glow. Whatever the answer, it wasn't a good one. "Yeah." She finished, lamely.

"Is ... is everything okay?" She asked, eaten up with curiosity. SURELY he hadn't come down here at this hour for candidacy reasons ... even with eggs hardening on the sands. Surely? Wouldn't that have waited for a more diurnal hour? So ... it couldn't be that, she speculated.

[Ruby]

The muffled thumps and swearing coming from Isori's room made M'kai smile a little, and he let it stay on his face as she finally opened the door. Once he got a good look at her, it finally touched his eyes, clearing away the nerves, or whatever she'd seen there at first. He knew she'd seen it; she asked about it after all. His eloquent answer to her question was "Yeah," as he leaned against the door frame for a second, letting his eyes sweep over her briefly as they adjusted to the low light. After a quick second, though, he took a step into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Yeah, everything's fine," he said again, visibly relaxing now that the door was closed. Of course, it was distinctly darker now, so she'd have a harder time seeing how his eyes found hers, and the intensity in his gaze. Yeah, it had been way too long, and now that he was safely in a dark room with a beautiful woman, it was hard to keep his brain on the pretense he'd cooked up. As he gathered his scattered wits, he broke the eye contact for a second, glancing around. "No more glow, huh?" he asked, smiling his sideways smile again. "Oh well, it's bright enough, both moons are out tonight. Or I can go back out, see if I can borrow some from down the hall?"

He stayed near the door for a second longer, hoping she'd say it was fine. He liked her in the moonlight, not to mention that he really didn't want to hang out in the hallway in front of her door for much longer. It would be S'rei that caught him, he was sure of it. The old Bronzerider worried M'kai a little, him and E'rro - neither seemed to have much of a sense of humor, and he would greatly prefer it if neither of them found out about this little midnight visit. Or it would be A'emi, waltzing down the hall like a ghost.

When it didn't seem like Isori would die in the semi-darkness, M'kai cast around for some sort of seat, settling for sinking down on the edge of her bed/pile of furs. "Actually, I came to see if you were doing alright," he said, patting the furs next to him to invite her to sit. "What with the Hatching any day now. And Meira - " No, he didn't want the conversation to turn to the dead Goldrider, that was maybe the least sexy thing ever. " - I mean, it just seems like a lot to deal with. I know you've stood before and all, but it's still stressful." Making an attempt to turn the conversation in a happier direction, he added, "Any more thoughts on what color you'd want?"

[dragon]

Isori backed up to allow M'kai enough room to enter, though it didn't escape her attention that he'd closed the door behind him, despite how it shut out the light from out there ... or that he'd shut the door despite offering to go get a glow. But ... well, she really hadn't ever noticed the moonlight until he had mentioned it. She'd been too focused on what she had been doing and trying to make the glow work to have ever noticed the moonlight that had apparently reached a good point to shine in. But it was certainly better than total darkness! "Ah, well ... the moonlight is nice." Isori smiled at him.

He seemed to just stand there for a while, almost as if he couldn't remember why he'd come. It mystified Isori for a moment, but then he was moving. Thank Faranth he made it to where he was going without tripping over anything ... like she had.

"Me?" Isori asked, touched by the statement but still mystified. She made her way over to where he'd patted her furs, and settled down there, too. Only, she reached behind her and tried to tuck her project behind something so he wouldn't see it. Though, that probably wasn't a good idea either. She'd have to remember it was there before she went to bed tonight, lest she stick herself with the various pins and needles that were in it. That wouldn't be very comfortable at all. "I'm alright." Isori assured him. "You don't have to worry about me. Life is strange, and throws us random lefts and rights some days. But life goes on." Isori assured him. Was that why he was here? Was he stressing out over the latest events? She could understand it. Not only had they lost their weyrwoman, but he was the candidate master of all people. Hatching day was huge for him, too. But before she could ask about whether or not he was holding up very well under it, he was moving on and asking about colors.

Isori tilted her head slightly to one side. "I thought it wasn't a good idea to go conjuring up ideas on preferred colors of dragons that a body might like?" She asked. "If I manage to impress this time around, I am fairly certain I'll be happy with whatever chromatic color the hide of my dragon just so happens to take." She offered cheerfully. "Right?" Surely he hadn't wished Futh's hide was some other color after he'd got him. That just seemed so strange. "But ... given what I've heard people saying, and what my sister found ..." Isori shrugged. "And that mathematically speaking fully half of all dragons are green ... chances are pretty high I'll get a green dragon when and if I ever impress." She wasn't holding her breath on that one. Her sister had impressed, yes. But Isori had been to that hatching, too, and hadn't. She was just slightly different enough from Orena, that it wasn't too hard to think that maybe she might not be what a dragon would look for. But that was okay. She was skilled, it wasn't like she had a lack of things to do, or that it was her only option in life.

[Ruby]

"It just takes a second for your eyes to adjust," M'kai agreed, and it seemed to be true - while it was certainly still dark in the room, as time passed without light he found he could see Isori quite well enough, if in grayscale instead of full color. It was easy enough to find his way across the floor to the bed, avoiding what hazards there were. Her room seemed pretty clean, anyway. Cleaner than his would be, that was for sure, if it wasn't for Futh. The Blue did not approve of mess or dirt anywhere near him, so M'kai spent a significant amount of time cleaning up.

The bed was comfortable, so M'kai put one hand out to his side, leaning back onto it so he was propped casually upright instead of slumping over. "Yes, you," he replied to her silly rhetorical question, punching her lightly and playfully on the arm after she came to sit next to him. He caught her out tucking something away- probably a breastband or something, girls were weird about those. Whatever. Smiling in an attempt to lighten the mood - she seemed to have taken this visit as something very serious, which he supposed was a logical conclusion when your Candidatemaster showed up in the middle of the night - he listened to her answers, nodding. "Ah, well, there's a subtle difference there. Just because you like a certain color more than another doesn't mean you impression will be affected, as far as anyone can tell. If you really want to Impress, it's a good idea to have your mind open to all colors; if you're really against impressing one color or another, you could end up dragonless, but honestly if a dragon wants you he - or she - will Impress to you whether you like it or not. Knowing Cr'oph, he would have picked anything but bronze... not that that stopped Mave," he added, smiling. "'course, they turned out to be a great match, so there. Dragons always know best."

She seemed to have her head on pretty straight about Hatching - something he'd always admired about the girl, of course. Woman, he mentally corrected himself, not that it mattered really. She'd always seemed older than her turns, whatever they were. "When and if you ever impress," he echoed, "Green would be a wonderful color. There are certain... advantages" He stressed the word lightly, adding a touch of flirtatiousness to it, "... to having a green dragon that those with other colors don't get. Somewhat more control over who they sleep with, for instance." That wasn't 100% true, but if M'kai for some reason had a Green he certainly never would have let Green Futh pick A'emi's dragon, assuming it was male. On the other hand, he'd always had a sneaking suspicion that Kyrahth had picked Futh solely for A'emi's benefit. So maybe there was some truth to it after all?

Better question: Why was he still thinking about A'emi? He'd have to fix that, and soon. He had one idea about how.

[dragon]

Isori tilted her head to one side thoughtfully as she listened to what M'kai had to say about hatchings and preferences. "I ... think I understand." Isori answered. She could even see why all that information was usually lumped together for most people as a simple 'don't create a preference' ... some people might not quite grasp the fine line between hopeful speculation and set ideas on what 'should' be. "Well ... in that case, I think I like blue." Isori answered with a smile. "I absolutely adore Futh, he's the greatest dragon I think I've ever met." Not that she had met that terrible many dragons, but she wasn't going to say that. She'd seen tons, but actually getting to meet and get to know a dragon while not impressed seemed to be something that didn't really happen a whole lot. Why, she didn't know. Personally, she was of the opinion that having potential Candidates get to know dragons ahead of time would be a very good idea.

Orrr... was that the whole idea? If Candidates got a taste of what they were in for, for the rest of their lives, and they weren't of an industrious sort? Quite a few might leave. But once Impressed, it was too late. So was that the getter? a little bit of underhanded play on the part of the Weyr, to ensure baby dragons had plenty of people to Impress to? Isori was not at all sure, but it was an interesting thought to have pop into her head. The sheer amount of work involved in caring for a dragon was staggering ... but Isori didn't mind. She was all game for work ... so long as it was productive work! Standing there tugging on a stick in the mud was not her idea of a good day's work.

Again she fell silent as she listened to M'kai, puzzling over the things he said. Advantages? To a green dragon? What that might be, she failed to see. "They are pretty." She offered in agreement. Though, to her estimation ... Orena's green was a nice enough dragon, she supposed. But she didn't seem to have all her marbles in the same box. Which some people might say of Orena, too. But Isori knew better. Orena only played the dumb girl. Rather too well sometimes, in Isori's estimation. Oh! He was talking about dragons breeding. Or, rather, mating. Since not all dragon flights actually produced young. She had to think on that for a bit to figure out the ins and outs of it. Greens usually got to choose who they mated with ... most of the time. Not always. But she supposed she saw what he was getting at. Unless a male dragon was over the top and aggressively stole his flights, the males usually didn't have any say over whether they won some tail or not. Isori tilted her head the other way, then. "Are you saying that you don't like the ones that Futh catches?" She asked. It was the only thing she could think of. It did sort of have some sense to it ... after all she had heard that some greens were rather brutal with their mates. Isori certainly wouldn't want to find her own dragon ripped up after a flight! That would be awful.

It was certainly a new thing to think about, though. Previously, she had only known that most male dragons counted as the lucky ones if they caught anything at all. Some males never did catch a thing. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing after all? Though Isori couldn't imagine a life of such failure after failure. It had to be rough on the psyche ... as was a life of never getting any action.

She certainly couldn't imagine living that way!

"Which dragon would you prefer Futh to catch?" Isori asked, out of curiosity. Not that she was liable to know which dragon he might come up with to name.

[Ruby]

"Futh adores you too, or he would if he wasn't asleep at the moment," M'kai replied, using his words as a cover to slide a little bit closer to Isori. His knee brushed hers, and he allowed it to stay there, maintaining contact. "And I'm sure he'd approve of your desire for blue." That was enough of that sort of talk, however; as much as M'kai might have enjoyed watching Futh be forced to cuddle up with some Blue because M'kai wanted to cuddle up with the Rider, it wasn't really moving the conversation towards the conclusion M'kai wanted.

So he shut up, and listened, and nodded and generally did things that girls seemed to like you to do when they talked. Not that he wasn't paying attention, just if it had been Cr'oph discussing the merits of different dragon colors, M'kai would probably be staring off into space or picking at a loose thread on the cuff of his sleeve or something. And then... there it was. Like a gift from Faranth or something, Isori's questions presented him with the perfect opening, a way to make a move that was both smooth and distinctly less creepy than just like, kissing her out of nowhere would be.

Freeing a hand, M'kai held up two fingers, tapping one for each of the dragons Futh had won. "Well, Futh's only really caught two dragons: Kyrahth and Nuoth. I, on the other hand, have managed to sleep with three different men, two of them at the same time - not something I'm usually in to, by the way - and Nephele. While she's nice enough, and attractive I suppose... I dunno, she's a classmate, and she's always had that sort of love/hate thing going on with K'sel. It really makes a girl less attractive when she spends all her time worrying over someone else." He made a momentary face, just to make sure Isori wouldn't be truly jealous. That wasn't the point, after all.

"Who would I rather Futh catch..." he pondered then, tilting his head and looking thoughtful. "Well, I don't know her name, yet," he said, whatever humor had been in his voice quickly being replaced by the more serious seduction from earlier. "I know her rider's name, though." Ok, so maybe it wasn't a great pickup line, especially since it was fairly possible that Isori wouldn't impress something female, and even more possible that she wouldn't impress, but that didn't stop M'kai from taking the opportunity he'd created. Leaning in, he slid a hand around the back of her neck, pulling Isori in for a kiss.

[dragon]

Isori did not fail to notice when M'kai scooted closer, even if he had tried to disguise the movement. She smiled, and rested a hand upon that knee he carefully placed so close to hers as to touch. "Can't blame him for being asleep right now." She answered, watching M'kai's face in the faint light. Light like this really was not very good for seeing detail. But in the lack of detail, other things could be seen rather clearly. Like his profile, the shape of his face as he talked. It was a new perspective to be sure.

Isori listened as he outlined the happenings of Futh's conquests, and could then understand the awkwardness he was placed in, in that position. Though it was somewhat adorable the way he would say something, and then scramble to cover his ass from that comment. She arched an eyebrow as he stumbled and scrambled his way through comments about Nephele. Really, the more he talked about it, the deeper a hole he was digging for himself. Isori smiled, wondering if he knew that he was sabotaging himself with all that. But she was sharp enough to catch on that was what he was doing, and could understand that. No, she wasn't jealous. Not of that, anyway.

Isori had actually expected him to have a preferred choice in dragons for his Futh, but when he had started off with saying he didn't know her name, she thought for a moment that the dragon actually existed, and he hadn't found that detail out yet. But with his follow up comment she quickly caught his drift ... both of them. All of them. Gosh, there were so many undercurrents moving all of a sudden! All in the same direction. Isori giggled, meeting him halfway for that kiss he was so determined to get. One hand went to his shirt front, fisting up in a handfull of it to hold him to that kiss.

Oh Faranth, she'd waited so long for that kiss. That kiss she'd thought she may never get. Because he was her Master ... because when he wouldn't be her Master, she would have either aged out, or Impressed. At which point it wouldn't really matter anymore. She had been afraid that someone else would have caught his eye ... or she would be locked into weyrlinghood which would have presented the self same time delay where he would be stolen away by someone else.

But! Here she was so very lucky. So very lucky. He was willing to break the unwritten rules. She got her kiss~! Isori didn't want him to get away either. Not now that he was here, and ... well ... here. She briefly wondered if he was going to abruptly up and leave now because of it. Tightening her hold on his shirt, she pulled him nearer to give him another kiss, deeper and longer. No, she didn't want him to go away. Master or not, she wanted him to stay. Coming up for air, she smiled at him so close in the dark.

"I don't suppose there's any way I could convince you to stay awhile?" Isori asked, suggestively, letting go of his knee long enough to reach up above his own hand, and take the pin out of her hair. Almost explosively, her bun tumbled down into a massive fall of chocolate curls ecstatic to be freed from such close confines. Tossing the pin aside where it would be safe to leave until morning, she pulled on him again as she leaned forward to recapture his lips again. Best to not give him much time to think about it. Isori didn't want him to think about it. Thinking was not what she wanted him to do at all.

[Ruby]

Oh, be assured, M'kai wasn't thinking. He'd made his decision long before he decided tonight was the night to stop by her room - most likely that first morning, when they'd fled Selenitas and he'd still been a Weyrlingmaster. That would have been a better time to start this affair (they could hardly fault him if his paramour became his student AFTER they had started sleeping together), but chaos, then lessons, had gotten in the way. Now he was tired of waiting, and the line had already been crossed. He wasn't planning on going back any time soon.

He returned her kiss with enthusiasm, let her pull him closer, slid his free hand up her thigh as she kissed him again. Thank Faranth, he couldn't help but think - he'd waited so long, and it was so sweet. Even sweeter because he hadn't been sure, even up until the last second, that he hadn't been making it up. There was always the fear that she'd just been sucking up, or thought of him as a friend, teacher, and mentor, not as a person to be desired. What if she'd said no, pushed him away, run to the Council? He'd lose his position, that was sure, and likely be disciplined as well. But he'd been right all along; she did want him, and oh, he wanted her too.

He broke off when she did, breathing fast, heart attempting to pound through his chest. He matched her smile with one of his own, although he could barely see her in the darkness. "I don't think..." He was briefly distracted by her hair, which he realized suddenly he'd never seen down. Orena's yes, but not Isori's. "Don't think I need much convincing," he finished before kissing her again, burying his hand deep in her hair and pushing her back onto the pillows (the one with the pins and needles under it specifically, but M'kai didn't know that).

Once he'd gotten her mostly leaned back, he broke off again, still breathing quickly. Sliding a hand up her waist and past her breasts - teasing, not touching - he started playing with the laces of her shirt, undoing them slowly. "Actually," he said, nuzzling down under her chin so he could kiss her neck, "I think you might have a rather hard time getting rid of me." Tracing the collar of her shirt with his lips, he punctuated each word with a kiss, mumbling slightly. "In fact... given... the... excellent... work... you've done... lately... mmm... you may just have to take the day off chores tomorrow."

[dragon]

Isori giggled, for it was indeed rather apparent that he wasn't going to need much convincing. She allowed him to take her down, though she was still rather aware that she might well end up on some of her pins. So allowing her back to actually lay out was a tentative motion. Thankfully, she didn't find anything sharp. At least not initially. But if this was going anywhere near where it looked like it was going to... she would eventually find it. If he didn't. Which was not at all acceptable. Letting go of his shirt now that there was no fear that he was going to be leaving any time soon, she grinned at him and then giggled girlishly as he promptly started trailing kisses across her skin.

She reached up and behind her head as he caressed her body, offering a small encouraging moan even as she rooted around under that wretched pillow for that unfinished garment. Finally finding it - via a wicked stab to her finger that she almost hollered for but managed to squelch - she yanked it out from under the pillow and flung it across the room too, following after her hair pin. There, it should be out of the way. At least for now. Isori hummed happily, running her hands up and over his shoulders as he undid her laces, sliding her hands down his back to the bottom of his shirt. Grabbing the hem, she hauled it upward baring his own skin as she attempted to get it off of him. "I am not sure I would want to get rid of you ...!" she answered, torn between getting his shirt off of him and helping him with hers. Which meant she wasn't getting very far with either one.

No chores? No chores? Isori was both glad to hear that, and a little guilty over it too. Wouldn't that raise some eyebrows? But right now she didn't care. Right now other things were more important and on her mind. Catching his chin with one hand, Isori pulled him up higher to give him a kiss again, and then tried again to get his shirt off of him.

Entirely elated to have finally gotten a hold of him - even if it might prove to only be this just once - Isori thought she was on cloud nine. She had M'kai's attention and just exactly how she wanted it too. It had sure taken its time to come to fruit, but she was more than glad that it had finally done so. She could hardly hold any kind of semblance to being still, eager and willing to make all his dreams come true that night. Arching her back, she tried to help him get her own shirt off, all while trying not to tear it in the process. It wasn't like they had excess clothes to go around, after all!

Isori didn't bother to ask him what had taken him so long to come to her - she fancied she knew why. It was that whole bothersome thing of him being her teacher. All in all, she considered herself SO lucky that he'd crossed that line for her at all. But she certainly was not going to leave him wanting or sorry that he had done so. She was also well of a mind to keep it all a secret, sequestered away to protect his name.