Evening Stroll... (Open)

[Requiem]

"The adult kind, of course," he responded smugly, smirking slightly at his weyrmate. "For the record, I'm not letting them make the mess. I'm letting them clean it up. They're old enough to, and what does it teach them, allowing ourselves to be pranked then cleaning it up afterwards?" M'ta snorted mildly. (He of course knew her aversion to chaos, but the brownrider himself didn't mind so much as long as things were put right in the end.)

Reaching out, his free hand fell on the knob. "Anyway we're going to need a bath." The door swung open. Oil and flour fell from buckets set above their heads. Yes, they were definitely going to need a bath. The stifled giggles from just around the corner were met with a quite annoyed M'ta face. "Teri! Ria!" Oh, but now he was using the scary Weyrlingmaster voice. Even after many turns with him and the floury sticky mess they'd made of the adults, they couldn't seem to keep their amusement going for long.

After set to cleaning all that up off the floor, M'ta left the task to the two miscreants and urged Ruli toward their bedroom, only now allowing the touch of amusement to peek through. He glanced over at Ruliana. "You're the one who wanted to pretend to be surprised," he murmured just loud enough to hear, laughter rippling behind the words.

[Ivy]

Brown eyes were quick to roll at his smug response to her question, though she never doubted that her weyrmate would reply in such a way. "If you are letting them prank us and the prank is messy, then you are letting them make a mess, dear." She wasn't really arguing, rather just proving that she was right. That's all. His hand fell on the knob and she had just a moment to wonder what was going to be waiting on the other side of the door. Azrain was laying to the side of the door out of the way, waiting for his owner to let him into the weyr. He made no move to stand though, when M'ta threw the door open, instead content to wait until they'd entered.

A bath? Her eyebrow perked upwards but she wasn't able to ask what he meant before the door was open and both oil and flour rained down upon them from the door frame. The buckets hit the ground and bounced slightly, spilling out the last of their contents as Ruliana stood there in shock. Her eyes were wide and she could feel her cheeks redden and grow hot. Before she could react, M'ta was all over it. Even still she couldn't help but cry out, "Children!!" As he called them by name. "You should have been in bed a candlemark ago! Where did you get all this flour? Where did you get all this oil? Why would you do this?" She was speaking quickly, as she tended to do when she was upset. Her words were not said in an overly loud voice though, and were likely drowned out by M'ta's voice as he set them to cleaning things up while she just stood there in the doorway still rather shocked about it all.

You could use some of that to bake a cake, Ruli-love. Amalath's voice was soft, sweet, and far too amused for Ruliana's liking as the green chimed in from the ledge. It almost sounded as if the green had been in on it too - had everyone known what was going to happen except for Ruliana?!

She shuffled forward finally, only at the urge of her weyrmate. Lifting her skirt up so it wouldn't drag more of the mess through the weyr she flinched as she glanced back to see they were leaving mushy flour footprints in their wake. This was going to take forever to get cleaned up, and she couldn't help but groan internally. As they entered their bedroom she set her eyes on M'ta, almost glowering at him. She would eventually find it amusing, because in a way it was. However at the moment she was not enjoying the sticky mess covering her. Nor was she looking forward to trying to clean it from their clothing later. But it was nice that he found it funny.

[Requiem]

The weyrlingmaster didn't bother to argue with his weyrmate before opening the door because she wasn't expressly wrong and his only defense was that she chose to go along with it without knowing what it was. Anyway, trying to keep a straight, strict weyrlingmastery stern Dad face was hard enough with her flailing (no, she wasn't actually waving her arms, but he knew her well enough to know that rapid tempo of words meant she was flailing inside). So maybe her half-brother had worn off on him a bit. Or Er'ani. Or half a dozen of his other former weyrlings. Or perhaps he'd always been like this when generally happy and not (so) paranoid. Regardless, he found her reaction very amusing and found that hiding that amusement from the kids was exceedingly difficult. It took all his concentration.

Ooohhh just look at that look she was giving him! The only thing that kept him from outright exploding with laughter (how scary could a flour ghost Ruli be, after all) was the fact that the kids would definitely hear it. His face contorted slightly with the effort not to crack up, then he stepped up to her and whisked her up into his arms. Short but suitably solid to carry her easily the brownrider took her directly into their bathing room, slipping her shoes off a touch awkwardly as he did so, and dropped her into the water unceremoniously. His boots were off not long after and he hopped into the water, clothes and all, too.

"Gonna stay mad at me forever?" he asked, trying to keep the laughter from his voice as he attempted to look as pathetic and pitiable as possible. He even crouched down in the water until only his eyes and the top of his head remained above the surface, giving her a clearly pleading look. You know, other than the amusement quite clearly dancing behind his eyes. The soapsand would easily scrub off the oil and since the weyrs had moving water rather than standing pools there was no need to worry about cleaning it. Best idea ever for getting clean. Yup. Wasn't doing it to see if she squealed or glared more at all.

[Ivy]

He was dead. That's all there was to it. He had scooped her up and dumped her into the bath fully clothed. Had he lost his bloody mind?! Eyes widened before narrowing quickly as he climbed in. He could give her those cute little looks all he wanted. Pout all he wanted. Be adorable all he wanted. No way was she going to let him live this down, ever.

But then he was ducking under the water, and all she could see were his eyes and the top of his head. He was damned adorable, wasn't he? Despite herself she felt her lips twitch in a half smile, though it was fleeting. Then she lunged at him and put her hands on top of his head, pushing him down into the water. She only held him there for a few seconds before letting go, and then she was closing the gap between them and pressing her lips against his. "Never." she whispered against his lips before she pulled back and tried to free herself of some of her wet clothing, her jacket being difficult to peel away. He may be a prat, but he was her prat - and she did love him.

[Requiem]

Success! He knew it even as he flailed his arms while she dunked him. Had seen it in the half-smile, and of course any form of playfulness (no matter how evil!) was clear testament that he was forgiven. You don't play with people you're upset with.

M'ta accepted the kiss with a grin, wet rat monster that he resembled at the moment. "Good. Angry Rulianas aren't very fun." The childish petulance was still very much evident in the tone and content of his words. Without asking, he followed her to help pull the jacket off, tossing it onto the edge of the bath. This he followed with a wink as he started in on one of his favorite pastimes: undressing his weyrmate.

[Ivy]

Those hands worked over her slowly and undressed her, making the greenrider flush in the cheeks before her eyes lit up in a smile. Slowly but surely she returned the favor, working on undoing her weyrmate's clothes and laying them over the side of the bathtub - not even minding that they were dripping water on the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some time later Ruliana splashed some water at M'ta before standing and wringing her hair out. Stepping from the water she grabbed a towel to wrap her hair in and then her robe to slip around her slight form. Once she was set she offered M'ta his robe with a grin, "I wonder if they have cleaned up everything yet?" Stepping back she let him have room to get out of the bath while she went to work trying to towel dry her hair so she could run her brush through those long dark locks. "I hope so, I suddenly feel worn out." She shot him a smile before focusing back on brushing out her hair and working it into a braid.

[Requiem]

M'ta growled playfully at her but didn't return the splash in favor of not making their bathing room a slippery safety hazard. The brownrider was in a very contented mood at the moment. (Small wonder.) He watched his weyrmate disappear inside the robe appreciatively before stepping out of the pool himself and toweling off, snugging the warm fabric around him.

"I can go check real quick." Only he didn't seem to have any desire to go anywhere, much less quickly. The weyrlingmaster had slid up behind Ruliana, taking her long hair in his hands and braiding it deftly. He swatted her playfully on the rump when it was secure. "Be back in a minute." Hopefully. On first glance it looked good enough. M'ta slipped further out into the weyr to look for the children, until the fact that they were with Ruth rose from his subconscious periphery to catch his attention. With Behruth and drowsing. The brownrider gathered some blankets and carefully arranged them around his kids, perfectly content to leave his brown to watch over them.

A more thorough inspection was conducted, a couple missed spots cleaned, then he returned to the bedroom. "They did a good job," he commented, slipping off the robe before sliding beneath the furs and slipping his arm around Ruliana. "Not perfect but pretty good. Wore them out, too; they're already asleep."

[Ivy]

The greenrider couldn't help but smile fondly as he worked her hair into a tight braid for her, sometimes she forgot how good he was at doing such things. After all he'd been helping raise Terilyn for so long, he'd had to learn. The swat to her butt earned him a playful glare and then he had dashed off. While he was tending to the weyr and the children she went and made the bed up before freeing herself of her robe and slipping beneath the furs.

When he returned she smiled and once he was under the furs with her she snuggled herself against him. "I'm glad you let them make a mess love."

[Requiem]

It was an interesting feeling, pulling the tall woman against him but still feeling pretty big despite that. Ruliana was so slight compared to him...and M'ta wasn't much used to feeling large, even around the thinner men. He wasn't built like a blacksmith or miner, after all. Muscular though he was it was mostly lean muscle, and that didn't make for bulk. Not that he really cared. Once, he had. Once he'd had quite the little Napoleon complex. Once, it had actually mattered to intimidate people, to demonstrate just how much they'd rather be anywhere else than messing with you or yours. Now all he had to intimidate were weyrbrats and weyrlings. Hell of a lot easier.

Still, it was nice to feel big sometimes. A guy liked to feel big snuggled with his weyrmate.

He chuckled at her comment, nipping the tip of her nose teasingly as he murmured, "You sure? You looked like you were going to murder me." But of course he knew what she was talking about. The night had turned out quite pleasant in the grand scheme of things. "That actually worked out much better than planned," he added with a grin. "I see no problem letting them be kids. They'll get too old for this before too long." Probably. Maybe. Some kids never grew up. But M'ta had never really had a childhood, and he was of the opinion that a perpetual kid couldn't be worse than never being allowed to be a kid at all.

[Ivy]

"Initially, that was the plan. But I figured it may be too obvious that I was behind it all." She said with a smirk as she gave him a light kiss back. "I agree they should be kids as long as the world will allow them, but there are plenty of kid-like activities they can participate in that aren't so messy." Sticking her tongue out at him she settles her head on the pillow and snuggles extra close to him. She wasn't upset anymore at least, and as long as the children didn't make a habit of doing such things she wasn't worried about it.

A small yawn sounded from the greenrider and she glances back at her weyrmate, "These ones are already a handful, and you want another one?" Her tone was light, soft, and teasing. They had discussed it before of course, at length. Both of them wanted a child of their own, one that would be a part of each of them - though she was a bit terrified at the prospect of being a mother. M'ta had been around children more often than she, he had helped with raising Terilyn and then he was so fabulous to Riaren when he'd come to live with him. By the time she had come into their lives both were fairly well past that awkward crying, messing, puking stage that babies had - and over the terrible toddler stages as well. She worried she wouldn't be as wonderful a mother as he would be a father - though she didn't want him to feel he was pushing anything on to her, he wasn't.

[Requiem]

"You mean that many people know you want to kill me on a daily basis?" the brownrider queried in mock surprise. Tempted as he was to stick out his tongue at her in return, he took the high road for the moment because it tickled his sense of irony for her to be complaining about childish behavior while sticking her tongue out at him. He didn't share that bit of personal amusement, just laughed at her internally.

Tightening his arm around his weyrmate as she snuggled in close, he didn't read into her words any. The teasing tone was more than enough to assuage any paranoia or insecurity that might have arisen. M'ta grinned at her. Answer enough. Then he went on to comment, "Careful about asking me what I want; I regularly get the impulse to adopt half the orphans in the crèche." Though the words were delivered teasingly, it wasn't expressly untrue. The weyrlingmaster always found himself a little sad around the children who didn't have anyone, even if they were taken care of a lot better at the Weyr than they would have been anywhere else.

Best way to avoid being the resident den father was to only enter the crèche on those rare occasions his own children were there. Which was much less often now that they were getting older.

Playing with a strand of hair near her temple that wouldn't go back in the braid, he smiled at her. "I'd love a mini Ruliana to spoil." The man winked at her.

[Ivy]

Despite his teasing tone, Ruliana couldn't help but wonder if he really did feel the need to bring home little ones from the creche. It wouldn't surprise her at all if he did - while his weyrlings may think him a bit rough and tough she knew he had a big heart. Especially when it came to children. Smiling she turned her head some more, enjoying the way he toyed with her hair. She loved it when he did that. Shifting more she gave him a quick kiss, "We definitely would not name her after me - assuming we have a daughter. Have you thought of any names you'd like?"

[Requiem]

The kiss was welcomed in kind, M'ta content curled up against his weyrmate. "I hadn't really thought about that part," he confessed, with a mixture of sheepishness and amusement. M'ta, hopeful as he may well have been, didn't feel it wise to name a child before Ruliana had even gotten pregnant. He'd be disappointed enough if it turned out that his long track record of no children as a dragonrider wasn't coincidence...didn't need a fantasy child in that mix to upset him more. It wasn't really a concern he'd shared with Ruliana. He didn't want to introduce the possibility that their might be a problem without anything more solid, especially knowing her own mother's trouble having children. They didn't need a contest over who was the more likely reason they couldn't have them; with the sheer amount of drugs and abuse from his childhood...it really wouldn't be that shocking if he couldn't have kids. It really wouldn't.

Cross that bridge when and if they came to it.

"Miru maybe?" the brownrider ventured indulgently. "I've always liked the simple names best." And it also sounded close to "my Ru" which, for purely silly reasons, appealed to him. (She'd still be named after Ruliana, if only privately in his own mind. He could be a sneaky little devil when he wanted to be.) "What about you? Names? Will we have to call a boy "boy" because we didn't bother to think of any?" he added teasingly. M'ta wouldn't mind a boy either. He really didn't have a preference, if truth be told, though he thought he might be able to keep a girl longer. Maybe.

[Ivy]

A smirk pulls at the corner of her lips as she lays there against her weyrmate, sighing softly as they discuss names. "Hm, I don't know if 'boy' would really pass as a good name. But truth be told I haven't thought much on names." Falling silent for a moment she then perks back up, "Lia is cute, for a girl obviously. Rumin for a boy? Hamin? Anata is another cute girl's name..."

She sounded completely unsure as she spoke, not completely sold on any of the names she had suggested. Or perhaps it was because she was unsure of the whole prospect of having a baby. While they had not 'officially' been trying, she had stopped betweening after they were intimate some time back and still nothing. Of course she didn't tell him she had not been going between since they had not really decided they were going to focus on getting pregnant fully yet. Finding his hand she slipped her fingers between his and shifted so she was snuggled closer in his arms. "I love you. We should get some sleep, we have awhile yet to pick names."