Pretty Woman (M'kai)

[Shiny]

A slender hand came up to lightly brush blondish bangs back, though the effort was in vain as they just fell back again. Annoyed, lips pursed to blow a stream of air at them, but that didn't help either. Huffing lightly, the woman continued to walk, shaking her pretty head a little. Soft, straight bangs fell to frame a silver eye. There, perfect. At least sight was possible now. That was always a good thing. Crashing into a wall of the corridor she was walking in was not wanted.

With a slight sway to her hips, the woman's slender, graceful figure was nothing to be simply glanced at. No, it demanded to be stared at, to receive double-takes and the likes. Tall, the woman had the looks and body language of a model, though she was rather flat-chested (although that particular flaw was somewhat hidden by the shirt she wore). The way she carried herself down that corridor said that she owned it, and even the most uptight, serious male would stop to gawk. Her soft, shiny hair was pulled back in a thin ponytail, bangs sweeping into her gorgeous, expressive gray eyes, hanging down to just above her collarbone from the sides of her face. Her skin was smooth and both wrinkle and blemish free (it wasn't that obvious she was wearing some kind of powder). Her bright, silvery eyes were outlined expertly with eyeliner, and with just a hint of dark eyeshadow, they had the Medusa-like ability to freeze just about anyone in their tracks. Her lips were taut and glossy, having had some kind of plant extract balm applied to them. Yes, this woman was indeed almost unrealistically beautiful.

But there was one slight problem with this picture.

The woman was actually a man.

J'ash sighed as he reached back to undo his ponytail, letting the silky, absurdly straight strands free, the last inch or so of them resting on his shoulders. Stupid T'san and his stupid bet, 'if you lose you have to wear makeup for a full day and act like a woman and seduce someone blah blah blah,' he sneered mockingly in his head, well it would have been nice if he had known the rules of the card game first before they'd started playing. Who did T'san think he was? A wannabe woman trapped in a man's body? Craivaruth hardly resisted making a comment at that, and J'ash shot the Blue a telepathic glare. Hush, you.

He could have just said he'd completed the bet without actually doing it, but knowing T'san, he was being watched. A light shiver ran up his spine. Creepy.

Well, it was about time to find someone to play with. He wouldn't deny it, this actually did seem like it was going to be fun. Sans the getting-the-crap-beaten-out-of-him part, when they finally found out he had a penis. He definitely wasn't looking forward to that. He just hoped that whoever he tried to seduce would have enough of a sense of humor to not take his secretly-a-man-on-man action offensively. He definitely was looking forward to the flirting part, because he loved to flirt and did it practically all the time anyway, to anyone.

Taking a step around a corner, J'ash didn't have enough time to react as he plowed into a taller, more muscular figure. Losing his balance, he fell, momentum carrying him straight onto his back. His silky hair spread around his head like a halo (he'd recently started letting his hair grow out, and man did it grow fast), he blinked, stunned by what had just happened. Lifting himself to a half-sitting position by leaning on one elbow with a slightly twisted torso, he raised his head to look timidly at the person he'd crashed into.

His blood ran cold for a second. Was that Cr'oph? The Bronzerider thoroughly scared J'ash despite them never having really interacted with each other before, even though they'd come from the same weyrling class. J'ash took a closer look. He wasn't wearing eyeliner; he was almost completely sure Cr'oph wore eyeliner constantly. It doesn't really matter if it's Cr'oph or not, J'ash thought as he blinked cutely, trying to act feminine (and by trying it is meant that he did it professionally), Cr'oph probably wouldn't recognize me anyway.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that," J'ash said, his silky voice a little more high-pitch than normal, moving as if to sit up some more. Maybe he could even get this guy to help him up! Keeping a straight face today was going to be difficult, to say the least. "I should watch where I'm going more carefully~" Cue sexy smile.

[Ruby]

M'kai was not in a great mood. He'd had a tough day with the Weyrling class (usually none of them were that difficult, but today had been an exception) and then he'd run into A'emi in the halls, always a bad situation. The Greenrider just reminded M'kai of how long it had been since he'd woken up with anyone BUT A'emi... and it was getting longer every day. M'kai was convinced there was something wrong with him. The only real contact he'd had with a female recently was Elysia, and that had been disastrous. He hated going out of his way for things like sex, but it was starting to look like he'd have to. Oh, for the days of Benden candidacy, when all he had to say was 'You know, you're not supposed to Impress as a virgin' to get a girl in bed. These Selenitas ladies were tighter than stretched hide.

So he was stalking down the halls with a leather folder in his hands, not paying any attention to where he was going. Not that it would have mattered if he was; M'kai wasn't the most graceful person on the planet, especially when he was stalking. His grey shirt was already mussed from endless chain-toss drills, and while he wasn't sweaty anymore, it was clear that he had been fairly recently. He was glad it was cold these days, instead of boiling. It meant he didn't have to change his shirt every time he went outside.

He was brooding about the class' poor performance in drills today when he turned a corner and ran smack into someone else. Shocked, he jumped back, trying to reach out and steady the woman but missing. "Oops," he said, automatically matching her smile with a grin before he even made the connection that that grin was more... interested than normal. Offering a hand, he subtly looked the woman - girl, he corrected, too flat to be a woman - over, appreciating the silky hair and full lips. She was flat, but on second appraisal she appeared to be about M'kai's age, maybe a little younger. Nice, and blondes had always been his type. Letting his smile widen just a touch, he met what he could see of her eyes and went on, "Oh, I'm sure it was my fault. I'm pretty clumsy on the best of days, and this isn't the best of days."

With another appraising look (at her face this time,) M'kai tilted his head slightly. "Don't I know you?" he asked. Of course he'd never seen the woman or anyone who looked like her before in his life, but M'kai had learned long ago that if he could figure out (or make up) a connection with a pretty woman, the road to her bed was much smoother.

[Shiny]

((Think along the lines of this, except without the weird modern-y getup and thanks to Vu for J'ash's female name ^_^))

J'ash's sexy smile grew as the man he'd crashed into grinned back, and he took the hand that was extended to him. It was a lucky thing that J'ash was built like a female anyway, thin and light; these characteristics made his disguise much more believable than if someone else, oh let's say T'san, were to do it. He giggled lightly as he was hauled up to his feet, and let his slender hand linger in the redhead's for an extra moment before withdrawing it slowly, teasingly. "You're so strong," he chimed in his forced girly voice (although it sounded perfectly natural), a hand coming up to tangle in his bangs and pin them momentarily to the top of his head with his fingers in a playful, casual manner. He took this oh-hey-hair's-not-in-my-eyes moment to rake his bright, silvery eyes over M'kai's body, fully checking him out.

He looked as though he'd been doing some kind of physical activity (J'ash mentally winked) prior to crashing into him, and found it quite attractive. Outlined eyes softly rose to stare into the blue-gray ones of the tall man as he spoke. A light, flirty laugh escaped from smooth lips. His hand released his bangs and moved down the back of his head, fingers running through blond hair as it went, coming to play innocently with the tip of a strand just past his collar bone as M'kai talked. "Aw, it's not your fault! I should have watched where I was going. I'm clumsy too," he smiled apologetically at the Bluerider, the expression genuinely feminine and vulnerable, yet kind and gentle. Ah, did M'kai just say it wasn't the best of days? Maybe this was the wrong time to hit on him, then. To have gone through a bad day and then get hit on by a hot girl only to find out she was a guy? He'd rather not do that to this poor soul. The hand playing with his hair dropped to lightly hold the elbow joint of his straight arm, weight shifting slightly, his sudden discomfort slightly obvious with his new body language. Maybe he should just go find someone else...

His foot shifted as if to take a step away from the Bluerider, but decided against entirely leaving. It would be rude to, especially without saying goodbye first. M'kai's next words froze him in his tracks, blood running cold for a second time that day. A nervous laugh escaped him as he fully turned to face M'kai again. "Know me? Mm I've been told there's someone who looks like me in one of the weyrling classes," he said, boxing his nervousness and shoving it deep into the back of his mind. A cute smile spread across his face. "I swear, you look just like someone called Cr'oph, minus the eyeliner," he tilted his head, bangs falling to expose one eye and cover the other. Quickly, he tried to think of a name. He obviously couldn't call himself J'ash. His non-elided name was Jerash, so maybe he could alter that... Aha! "My name's Jerashina, but you can just call me Shina for short, if you like~"

He resisted the urge to stick out his hand for a greeting shake; that's not what flirty girls did. Really, that wasn't what regular J'ash would have done either. Maybe he was just nervous because a) this guy was Cr'oph, potentially, and b) he was trying to hide the fact that he was actually a man. J'ash took the tiniest step closer to M'kai, and brought a hand up to make another attempt at brushing his bangs out of his eyes, which semi-worked. He fixated a kind yet subliminally suggestive look on the man. The disguised 20-turn-old found himself curious about what had made M'kai's day sour. "Don't let whatever happened today bring you down. You never know when you're gonna die, so enjoy every day!" He grinned charmingly, hoping that the advice didn't sound too forward. Yet, he did look like a fantastically sexy (albeit boobless) girl - he probably could have gotten away with cussing M'kai out for all he knew.

J'ash was sitting on the fence, now. Should he stay? Should he go? He actually wanted to comfort this man if he'd had a bad day, but he was supposed to be flirting. Which he didn't object to at all, really - this eyeliner-less Cr'oph was pretty hot. But he didn't want to lower his mood any further... J'ash a.k.a. Shina waited for a reaction with a flirty air to him; if the redhead seemed to shun him, he'd leave. But if not... His grin widened.

[Ruby]

"Shame they're not in my class, then," M'kai retorted with an impertinent wink. "We don't have any blondes at all," he added, "It's a huge disappointment, really. Although I guess I probably shouldn't be checking my students out, in any case." Possibly that wasn't the right thing to say to an attractive young woman, but M'kai loaded the delivery with enough humor that he could deny it if she threw a fit. He was an expert in tones and exact phrasing, leaving himself an out whenever possible. He was pretty sure, however, that she'd take it well enough.

He ignored (or perhaps didn't notice) the girl's discomfort, instead brightening at his twin's name. "Yeah, there's a reason for that. I'm Cr'oph's twin, M'kai. We're pretty close to identical, except for that idiotic eyeliner." M'kai did stick out a hand, but held it flat with the palm up, in hopes that he could draw her hand up and kiss it if she let him. "Nice to meet you, Shina,"he added, giving her his most winning smile. The day was starting to look up after all.

Shina seemed to read his mind, and M'kai couldn't help but laugh a little. "Hey, I was just thinking that things seem to be getting better already. It wasn't anything important, anyway - I'm filling in the Assistant Weyrlingmaster post until they hire someone 'more qualified'" - the derision in his tone was clear - "And my class had a bad day today. They're just not progressing at the speed I'd like, nothing else. I was just on my way to drop off today's quizzes in my office." He gestured at the leather folder now tucked under his arm. The flirtyness was gone, replaced by the sour expression for a second as M'kai brooded - then he realized how stupid that was, and turned the charm back on.

"Like I said, though, meeting you has really turned my day around, Shina. I have to drop these, first, but if you weren't going somewhere important, maybe I could prevail on you to join me for a cup of Klah?" A little fast, maybe, but after weeks (months?) of spending time only with A'emi, M'kai was not about to let a hot girl slip by because he missed an obvious chance. If he blew it, he blew it - at least he'd tried.

[Shiny]

J'ash laughed flirtatiously as M'kai wished that his "look-alike" was in his class, and only laughed harder (with the slightest edge of nerves audible) when M'kai implied he was actually the teacher of said class. Oh Faranth. He was hitting on a Weyrlingmaster. And although M'kai was quite good-looking in his opinion, having a teacher potentially checking him out during classes would have been weird, even if his "look-alike" existed as a separate person. The image of his own Weyrlingmaster, Iskierka, checking him out nearly made him want to barf. That old hag and him? No way. "I'm sure your students wouldn't mind," he said with his eyes suggestively trailing all over M'kai. He did indeed pick up on the humor behind the man's words, although he wouldn't have freaked out if M'kai had been dead serious about it. Hey, some students were hot (see: himself) and he wasn't about to blame a cooped-up teacher for just scoping around a little.

An interested expression played across his face at the mention of Cr'oph. Oh, so the two were twins! That explained a lot. From what he'd seen so far, M'kai was brighter and far less scary than his brother, and only hoped that it would remain that way. Cr'oph seriously gave him the heebee-jeebees. Amused that Cr'oph's own brother thought the eyeliner was stupid, he snickered. "Well if he wears it to intimidate people, it's certainly working," he said with a smile, gently placing his hand onto M'kai's open palm. He was awed by the smile M'kai gave him and actually felt his heart speed up a little. Damn that was attractive! "It's a pleasure to meet you too, M'kai," he said in his silkiest voice yet.

A heavy mass of guilt sunk in his stomach as M'kai claimed that he'd turned his day around. Oh, if only he knew... But he still had to carry out the bet (how far had T'san expected him to go, anyway?), and he was having a good time. He only worried about breaking this poor guy's heart and ruining his day.

"Aww," he crooned, "I'm sure you're more than qualified!~" Shina left that entirely open to interpretation, a playful smirk on her glossy lips. Guilt attacked him again as M'kai declared the meeting of Shina to be the start of a good day, but didn't let it show on his face. "Oh, I wasn't going anywhere important. I'd love to have a cup of klah with you, M'kai," he said, silver eyes alight with friendliness, passion, and, erm... something along the lines of lust. Despite feeling bad for leading M'kai on, he did want to have a good time with the man. He seemed nice enough, and J'ash really just wanted him to cheer up.

What M'kai didn't know couldn't hurt him. Right? He just hoped there would be no spontaneous crotch-grabbing or it was all over.

[Ruby]

"I think he just wears it 'cause he likes it... the intimidation is a side effect of his personality," M'kai mused, an undoubtedly affectionate smile on his face. He'd talk shit about his brother forever, but it was clear he loved him. But that didn't matter right now - Shina'd put her hand in his, and M'kai drew it gently to his lips, kissing just past her knuckles. Huh, big hands for a girl. Didn't bother M'kai, though, daintiness had never been a dealbreaker for him.

As soon as he'd let go of her hand, though, he half-grimaced, thinking about what the Weyr management would do when he turned in these grades. From a trusted teacher, they would be no big deal, but from a "Kid, just out of lessons himself! Not even past Miles wing!" they were bound to look bad. He wasn't going to burden Shina with his own insecurities yet, though - maybe later. For now, though, he let her encouragement draw a smile out of him. "Why don't I meet you in the main hall, then? Unless you want to get a pitcher and meet me at my office, so we can talk in private?"

That would, of course, give M'kai enough time to clean out the sty his office had become (or at least shove all the half-eaten meatrolls out the window or something.

((sorry for short!post!))

[Shiny]

"He certainly pulls that intimidation off well," J'ash winced at the image of Cr'oph glaring at him and mentally shook it off. Now was not the time to be thinking about the Bronzerider, even if M'kai did remind him of Cr'oph for obvious reasons. J'ash watched with wide, feminine eyes as the twin brought his hand to his mouth and kissed it. A pink haze settled on his cheeks and he smiled shyly, gently retracting his hand from M'kai's grasp. He was mentally freaking. His hand just got kissed! "What a gentleman you are!" Shina exclaimed, fading blush visible through her makeup.

The look on M'kai's face made J'ash want to ask what was wrong, and he almost did, but was interrupted by a question. "Oh!" He was caught a off-guard. A hand went to his hair, combing some of it to flow over his shoulder while he thought. Leaving M'kai to his own business now would be the smartest thing to do seeing as that would avoid heartbreak, and technically he'd completed the bet. After all, T'san hadn't specified exactly how far J'ash had to go, and he did manage to get a guy to ask him out for klah. But M'kai looked like he needed the company... J'ash bit his lip in thought, unintentionally looking sexy. Going to the Main Hall would ensure nothing would "happen" between them, but at the same time, his classmates and friends could have been there, and they would be able to recognize him. What could possibly be worse than someone coming up to M'kai and Shina and exclaiming 'Hi J'ash! What're you doing with so much make-up on?'.

Nothing, he concluded. "The Main Hall can get pretty loud at times, which is not a good thing for people who want to talk. If you want me to meet you at your office, I'd be more than happy to bring some klah with me~" He smiled radiantly. "Just tell me where to go, and I'll be there." Once he'd received directions, he would go get the desired klah.

All J'ash could think, however, was 'what am I getting myself into?'