Fates or Furies (Cairenn)

[Requiem]

"I need a second person."

"You do," the young woman responded, shifting from foot to foot in a very visible physical representation of her nervousness.

A'nd wrinkled his nose. "So then...why couldn't I go in with my friends?"

Her chin lifted slightly. "You chose to be the one to remain behind."

"Yes," he agreed patiently, but the nature of the half-smile dominating his face betrayed a certain amount of irritation. They say that stress is having the desire to strangle a person but refraining. He wasn't quite at the point of stress, but he did want to snap at her. "But this was only after you made it clear that you have some sort of bias against odd numbers."

"Sir, I'm sorry, but this is for couples," she responded, holding up two fingers as if he wasn't quite clear on just how many made up a couple. The look on his face at that particular show of patronization must have gotten her attention somehow, because she went right back to looking apologetic and shifting from foot to foot.

A'nd really was only there for the play. Xinatenth was already curled up with another dragon from his old weyrling class and all but fast asleep, and the bluerider would have probably headed back earlier if his friends hadn't wanted to experience some of the Gather events that seemed to only be available at night. This play was one thing his friend's crush wanted to see. It was only natural that he'd let them go on ahead, given he was almost (though not quite) a third wheel in that small group anyway.

After a moment's thought, he moved aside the light scarf that swathed his neck - and yes, A'nd was quite recognizable as both a dragonrider and a northerner in that he didn't wear the excessive amount of layers that most of the Gather-goers did, instead simply dressing in his warm fur-lined riding leathers, a scarf and a leather cap to keep his ears warm - to reveal the small green 'mandyr drowsing next to the pulse of his carotid. "Cootie's female and she's been my constant companion for six turns. I think that merits the designation 'couple', don't you?" Talk about being a stickler for the rules.

Shifting uncertainly, the woman eyed the small bug-like thing with very clear doubt. Could she really call that part of a couple? But the bluerider was beginning to get (even though he had as of yet to cease being polite) on the annoyed and mildly belligerent side. She wasn't sure this was entirely worth it...

Suddenly her face lit up and she waved the approaching girl closer. She didn't seem to have anyone to go in with, either. It was with relief that she turned back to A'nd. "Here you go, sir, a girl for you."

He wasn't exactly overjoyed to play the 'let's couple up' game with a stranger, but he was too polite to throw a fit about it and possibly offend someone he didn't even know. It wasn't her, of course, just the principle of the thing. Who really gave a flying shit if a guy went in with two friends? He understood couples staying together, but why force it for everyone else? Turning toward the girl who had just come up, he fixed her with a friendly smile as he recovered Cootie, who was already stirring from the sudden exposure to the cold. The smile faded with his surprise, then blossomed again into something more genuine. "Cairenn? Have you come to rescue me from the couple watchman?"

"Oh! You know each other!" But the woman's enthusiasm quelled a little under A'nd's 'unamused' look. He hadn't forgiven her just because he happened to know the girl she picked at random from the crowd.

[Aftershock]

Cairenn had been wandering the Gather most of the day, enjoying the sights, booths, and activities that Fort Hold had brought out for the event. It had been a very long time since she had been to a Gather, and she had almost forgotten how fun they were... especially with the additional enjoyment of the snow and ice. Ever since she had moved North, she had dealt with the slow adaptation to the chilly temperatures of the more northern climate compared to her warm jungle-filled homeland, but this was the first time she had witnessed how much the ice and snow caused by the cold weather could be used for entertainment purposes, rather than simply something that blocked your vision during flight, created unseen patches to make you slip embarrassingly, or froze you to the bone.

Nildath, of course, was busy spending time with her favored clutchbrother, Kormath, who's rider was assigned to Fort Hold, leaving Cairenn to wander on her own. Dressed in a voluminous high-collared lavender wherhide jacket that her aunt had gotten her for her last Turnday, her gloved hands shoved into her pockets as her thick dark blue cotton pants protected her thin legs from the increasing chill arriving due to the setting of the sun, she crunched through the snow in her feline-fur-lined leather boots. She had arranged her voluminous hair so that it protected her ears and the sides of her face from the biting wind, though her pale face was rosy-cheeked and red-nosed where it poked out of the top of her jacket collar.

Suddenly, she noticed a sign... "Ice Maze". Intrigued, she began to approach, when suddenly a woman at the entrance to the maze noticed her and began waving her over. Taking a hand out of her pocket to point a finger at herself, verifying she was the one the woman was gesturing to, she shrugged and replaced her hand in her pocket as she came closer, noticing the woman seemed to be talking to a young man in flight leathers and a scarf... a bluerider, by his knots. Finally reaching the pair, the young man turned and revealed himself as none other than A'nd, rider of her dragon's current favorite male (other than Kormath).

She matched A'nd's smile with one of her own, though hers was mostly indicated by her eyes and cheekbones, since her mouth was mostly hidden behind the collar of her jacket. "Hello, A'nd. Fancy meeting you here," she began, then responded to his statement with a confused, "Save you?" Looking at the woman who had gestured her over, not being able to help noticing her statement regarding "a girl for you", she raised one eyebrow slightly and continued, confusion in her voice mixing with mirth, "What, exactly, am I to save you from? What have I gotten myself involved with, here?"

[Requiem]

Fancy meeting him...an odd choice of words. Most people only said that if they were being sarcastic. Did she think he'd somehow orchestrated this meeting? The bluerider found himself studying the younger girl with a fair amount of curiosity, attempting to figure out just what that phrasing meant. But she was smiling at him, even if he couldn't see her mouth, and he settled on the idea that the turn of phrase was something repeated without the normal intent. It wouldn't be the first time that a person didn't understand sarcasm directed at her, and his general impression of Cairenn was that the girl was rather...protected. Sheltered. That, and pretty young. It invoked in him more of a protective streak than anything else, even if she was professionally 'older' in terms of how long she'd been dragonriding.

The smile took on a wry taint, and he wrinkled his nose at the woman who was managing to look even more uncomfortable than she had before. "Apparently there is a prejudice here against odd numbers of people," the young man stated, his humor coming out dry, though not to the point of being unfriendly or confrontational. It was more of a dig at the situation in general than the woman enforcing the rules. Sometimes things seemed a lot more doable on paper than they were in actuality. (Speaking of which, why were there so many adults-only things at this Gather?) "All you have to do is smile at this lovely woman here and convince her that we are desperately in love with one another, solely because she had us enter this icy wonderland as a couple rather than permitting us to pass singly," he concluded laughingly. When he turned his smile on the woman, then, it made it clear that even if he was making a point, he wasn't doing it to be mean-spirited. Had nothing against her really. Rules just made no sense.

A'nd commandeered Cairenn's arm and tucked it into his side, drawing her in close to him with an assurance that disregarded any potential of her not caring for the contact. Confidence. Arrogance. Presumption. Whatever it came off as, the flash of a teasing smile thrown at the woman suggested it was more for her benefit than the greenrider's, playing along with this 'couple' theme. Of course, one could argue that Cairenn's awkward manner of propositioning him and the state they'd left it in - which was to say A'nd preferred to just see where things went - made them almost a couple anyway. At least, most people would consider what they were doing as 'dating,' since friendship was a hard word to apply to two young people who barely knew each other. At any rate the woman, looking distinctly relieved to not have to deal with the bluerider anymore, stepped aside and let the two pass into the maze.

The young man could have released Cairenn's arm once they got further into the maze, but he chose not to. For one, the warmth of her tucked into his side was comfortable. That wasn't the only reason, though. In all honesty, his attention had been captured by the sculpted ice walls, and he thought to himself that in direct sunlight it would probably be difficult to navigate. All the refractions were likely to blind a person, especially with the addition of snow. "Your aunt didn't come with you?" Curiosity in the tone, and a glance down at the girl clad in lavender, but half his attention was still captured by the glittering ice. He pretended not to notice Cootie's stalking form as she slipped along beneath the scarf and dropped down into Cairenn's hair with her usual stealth. "They're showing a play here. Came with two of my former classmates, but she wasn't going to let us all pass together. Really, it's a bit silly when they take the couple theme that far. Not that I'm complaining about present company." He flashed her a smile.

[Aftershock]

Cairenn wrinkled her own nose in amused understanding at A'nd's explanation, and took her gloved hands out of her pockets to gently grab A'nd's face as she tucked her chin over her collar and delivered an exaggerated smooch on his cold-skinned cheek with a loud "mwah". Releasing his face, she opined, her voice filled to the brim with sarcastic overacting, "Oh, yes, this bluerider is the endless love of my life. I could not stand a moment without his presence, or else I might waste away." Breaking out in a giggle at her own words, she accepted A'nd's arm-looping and gave the entrance-guarding woman a smile to indicate her own humor's lack of mean-spiritedness before walking with A'nd into the maze.

Walking arm-in-arm with A'nd, Cairenn looked out in wonder as the carved ice walls of the maze enveloped the pair, noting with a slight blush the first ice sculpture of a man and woman embracing passionately. She was completely absorbed with her surroundings, to the point that A'nd's question was the first point she actually noticed the comforting warmth of his proximity due to their linked arms. Blushing a bit darker (and trying to hide the fact behind her high collar), she responded, "Roselle came, but I believe she is running a stand this day... she makes jewelry, you see, and even as a dragonrider she does so in her spare time, so she decided the Gather was a good opportunity to make a few extra marks from her hobby."

They walked together in silence for a moment or two, both riders enraptured by the beauty of the maze they maneuvered, then A'nd mentioned the plays being held in the maze center. At this revelation, Cairenn smiled once more, and said, "That sounds wonderful. If your friends went ahead, we should probably hurry so we can catch up to them." Taking another turn at random, allowing A'nd to lead the pair, she added as an afterthought, "Hopefully this maze is not too difficult to solve."

Concentrating on the maze and A'nd, Cairenn definitely did not notice her newest passenger, though Cootie did encounter something as she burrowed into Cairenn's thick chocolate-colored hair... the sandy brown form of Cairenn's own salamandyr, Fun. Looking at the green invader to His' hair, Fun gave the salamandyr equivalent of a fatalistic sigh as he sent to Cootie, "Oh, hello. You're here to replace me, aren't you? Mine does deserve a better bonded, after all. Just try not to injure Mine as you slay me, please."

[Requiem]

The grin shot at Cairenn - on the heels of the look of surprise at the rather dramatic kiss to his cheek - made it clear how much her going along with his playful teasing of the holder delighted him. He didn't really notice if he was putting the woman guarding the maze off. It tended to be difficult for him to understand that people might take his humor the wrong way...even if it actually wasn't all that unusual of an occurrence for people to do so. Many didn't make the distinction between A'nd's mocking them and mocking the situation, and no amount of fun-loving grins was likely to change an opinion like that after it had been formed. Regardless, the greenrider at his side had the majority of his attention right now anyway and he didn't even notice the clear look of annoyance from the holder as they'd passed just a moment ago.

What he did notice was which sculpture seemed to have caught the younger girl's attention. He didn't let his own eyes linger on it, as he didn't want to make himself nervous thinking about it, but he was male and it was hard not to notice her blushing or analyze a bit of what that blushing might mean. He didn't bring it up, though. "Making jewelry," he echoed, his voice having taken on a mildly absent sort of tone. He was more interested in the fact that it seemed that Cairenn wasn't even completely certain what her aunt was doing. They couldn't have come together, then, or at least it didn't seem like they had. A'nd regarded her out of the corner of his eye. Well, it seemed that his impression that she hid behind her aunt in most situations seemed to be a false assumption. If she was that shy surely she'd have come to the Gather with her aunt instead of by herself.

The bluerider chuckled and winked at Cairenn. "Really easy if we cheat." He glanced meaninfully in the direction of a group of clustered dragons, one of whose wings clearly had the eye pattern of a peacock, the colors briefly catching the light as he shifted. Xinatenth's eyesight might not be great at night, but of course there was some lighting so humans didn't break themselves trying to navigate the Gather, and from the blue's vantage point it would be easy to guide them. Granted, Xina wasn't the sort to you know give clear directions like 'go left at the third opening'. That would just be too logical and simple. He guided her down another path, though this one seemed to be made specifically for lovers and he had to wonder how they kept the kids away from it during the day; Holders were not nearly as open as weyrfolk with their children when it came to these things.

A'nd could feel his face warming as they passed one after another of the couples embracing in increasingly more...interesting...ways. Before the wave of excitement from his salamandyr had him blinking down at Cairenn's head. He couldn't help but chuckle. "So you've got one of your own. I hadn't noticed before." Cootie's eyes whirled in pleasant blue and green swirls as she moved dove down right on top of him and bit playfully at the hide just behind the spines of frill. Her own tines spread in a display of a membrane that did not exist, tail sliding over his as she crooned a sound that more resembled that of someone pleased with themself than offering any particular affection to present company. Slain, the tiger-striped green commented in a mixture of sheer amusement at the idea of killing another 'mandyr and victory. See? she'd won.

[Aftershock]

Cairenn nodded in confirmation as A'nd repeated the information she had told him about Roselle, murmuring, "Mmmhmmm." Hearing his comment about cheating, she followed his gaze and noticed the distinctive patterns of Xinatenth's wings, and her eyes widened as his meaning became clear. "Naughty cheater!" she admonished, playfully pushing her shoulder at him where their arms linked, purposefully waiting until one foot was off the ground from walking so as to knock him off balance. She stumbled with him as he was shoved, her body weight throwing him worse off balance until he ended up plowing sideways into one of the snow-packed walls of the maze.

Giggling as she helped him pull free, though not releasing his arm from hers, she quietly apologized with a mumbled, "Sorry," as she used a gloved hand to gently brush the snow from his face and hair. As she did so, she suddenly noticed A'nd's eyes move to something to her right, then quickly away, and a flush creep in on his cheeks. Confused, she looked in the direction he had, and noticed the increasingly less child-friendly statuary, and a blush creeped over her own cheeks as she tucked her face further into her collar and quickly finished brushing the snow off A'nd's shoulder before prompting him to start leading the way once again.

As Cootie "attacked" Fun, Cairenn felt the movement and scrunched up her shoulders, giggling as the movement tickled the back of her neck. Reaching back and carefully snagging the entwined salamandyrs in her hand, she brought them before her to look at them as Fun sent sadly to her, "I'm sorry, Cairennmine, thought she come to replace Fun. She not get idea, though, hug Fun instead. Fun try harder next time." Giggling once more despite herself, Cairenn replied to A'nd, "Yes, this is Fun. He's a silly little creature, always talking like he thinks he doesn't deserve to live, or like sacrificing himself will make me happier. I know he doesn't mean it, though," she concluded, attempting to separate Cootie from Fun so as to return A'nd's 'mandyr to him.

[Requiem]

The young bluerider was amused at her comment, and just about to make a rejoinder of his own when she shoved against him at just the right moment to make him falter and search for a better place to put his feet. He might have righted himself without any trouble had Cairenn not lost her footing as well, and his first impulse was to take full advantage of her suddenly falling against him, even if one side of him was half-buried in the wall of snow. She was pulling him back to some semblance of normal bipedal balance too quickly, however, and the moment passed. Which was likely for the best. He might have scared her. The thought brought a wry expession to his face, one that turned to distinct unease at catching sight of the statuary while she was standing distractingly close and brushing the snow off him. It also became increasingly clear that she'd noticed the source of his discomfiture, which did nothing to ease it.

A'nd kept a half-pace in front of her while the heat still burned his neck and ears, grateful for the excuse to at least partially conceal his expression from his companion. Still, he didn't let go of her arm, and soon enough the embarrassment faded, if only because she'd relaxed beside him. He shook his head though when she tried to seperate the pair of salamandyrs. "Cootie goes where she wants and does what she wants," he commented, his affection more than clear in the tone behind the words despite the teasing edge of exasperation he attempted to put in there for Cairenn's amusement. It might seem like the comment was completely disjointed from the present conversation, but the underlying meaning was simply that A'nd was not one of those mandyr owners who expected his pet to be touching him constantly. He didn't 'own' Cootie. She was his companion. The green had chosen him, and returned to him after she went ranging off to indulge her own curiosity or hunt because she wanted to. He didn't need Cairenn to give her back.

As it was, Cootie wasn't waiting for Hers to explain. She untwined from Fun and coiled over the hand attempting to grasp at her, dashing up the girls arm and right down inside the collar, nibbling in what certainly could only be termed a lovebite at her shoulder. Yummy. A'nd smiled a little sheepishly. "I can, um, get her for you if she's bothering you, though." They'd continued to walk, and just as he mentioned that Xinatenth's 'cheating' brought them to the opening in the maze (of which there were apparently many, go figure) that led directly out into the plaza where all of the performances were held. People were milling about everywhere, some settling down near the stage for the play, but others laughing and catching up in the open space between. He couldn't spot his two former classmates from here.

Tugging Cairenn lightly over to one side so that they didn't block the opening to the plaza, he suddenly grew quite conscious of his hold on her arm and let her go. It was fine to indulge private whims amused by the forced 'couple' mandate of the woman outside the maze, but somehow he didn't think that the younger greenrider would really want him holding onto her in public like this. "Do you see anyone you know?" A'nd questioned, frowning slightly into the crowd. Inverness Weyr wasn't exactly small, but it was rare for the bluerider to be confronted with so many people crowded into a comparatively small space, none of which he knew on sight. He wasn't precisely claustrophobic or anything, but it definitely was making him nervous.

[Aftershock]

Cairenn nodded as she tried to figure out how to separate Cootie from Fun without harming either of the tiny creatures, responding with a smile, "Fun isn't like that at all. He hates not being with me all the time... I think he worries he wouldn't be there when the perfect time to martyr himself for my benefit arrived." Unresponsive to Cairenn's words beyond flopping dejectedly in her gloved hand, Fun sprawled like a dead thing as Cootie unwrapped herself from him and ran up Cairenn's arm and into her collar.

As this was happening, the two arrived at the center of the maze, and Cairenn beamed as she looked at the beautiful stage and seating, noting all the other couples milling about. Following A'nd's lead to move to the side, she replied to his question sheepishly, "No... I don't know many people well." She then added as she looked around, "Do you see your friends? I'm not su-" With that, Cairenn was suddenly cut off by a fit of giggles as Cootie began nibbling on her shoulder, rolling into A'nd's arms as she gasped between laughs, "Ge-get her out! She ti-i-i-i-ickles!" She didn't want to risk injuring the miniscule green, so she jerkily unbuttoned the top few buttons of her jacket and pulled it away from her neck, attempting to indicate to A'nd he needed to retrieve his salamandyr from her shoulder before she passed out from lack of air due to the tickle-induced laughter.

[Requiem]

It was clear that Cairenn, while catching some of the meaning of his comment, hadn't understood the underlying attempt to get her to leave the pair of salamandyrs alone. He didn't really mind if they were coiled...though perhaps Fun did, he thought belatedly. Thus he didn't attempt to insist on it. Perhaps he should have, however, because only after he offered to help get Cootie back so she was no longer exploring the region beneath Cairenn's shirt did he realize how dumb that offer actually was.

An arm had instinctively gone around her when she rolled into him like that, since she didn't seem entirely steady on her feet, and forgetting his fleeting sense of empathy for a girl who said she didn't have that many friends after being a dragonrider this long in favor of the distraction of a girating body against him, he stared down at the shirt she was opening further and further, nonplussed. "Um..." His eyes darted away, seeing as how his height gave him a very good view down the front of her shirt from this angle, but she didn't stop laughing. Her body kept rubbing against him, and he was more or less supporting her as it was.

In the end, he had to do one uncomfortable thing to escape from another. His hand started down inside her jacket gingerly, but he soon realized he'd misjudged when he felt something that certainly was neither a shoulder nor a Cootie. He muttered an apology, his face having by now reddened considerably, and he moved his hand away from her breast while forcing himself to actually watch what he was doing and try not to think about what he could see from here. Easier said than done, naturally.

Nor did the little green help much. She apparently thought this to be a fun game, and was not making it easy for A'nd to capture her. Cootie raced down and around with a cooing squeal, scampering over Cairenn's side, her abdomen, between her breasts. At first he was reluctant to follow her with his hand, but the greenrider was still laughing rather helplessly and finally he got fed up enough to try to catch the little troublemaker in earnest. His arm had disappeared down Cairenn's shirt to the elbow when he finally succeeded in catching Cootie, the bluerider quickly drawing his hand back out and definitely not letting the little menace go, his face flaming as he tried not to notice anyone who'd stopped to stare at them.

[Aftershock]

Cairenn would have gone silent and red as a beet when A'nd's hand grabbed at her breast, if she wasn't already nearly asphyxiating from laughter and her face already red as possible from her inability to breathe. She cursed as well as she could between giggles as she felt Cootie move from her shoulder to further beneath her shirt, A'nd's hunting hand being forced to move from the relative chaste area around her neck and shoulder to the decidedly intimate groping around her bare chest, stomach, and sides (as she wasn't nearly voluptuous enough to worry about a breastband). If she weren't already nearly passing out from her non-stop giggling, she would certainly have done so from embarrassment as she noticed the other couples in her tear-blurred line of sight watching the spectacle, some with smirks of amusement, some with knowing grins.

Finally, Cootie was extracted from her little adventure inside Cairenn's clothing, and the greenrider fell against A'nd, her knees weak as she gasped for air with the source of her giggles finally gone. Fun having already taken the opportunity to crawl from her hand back to his place in her hair, Cairenn grasped A'nd's shoulders and dragged herself more upright, though with how weak she still was she ended up inadvertently pulling her still-somewhat-unbuttoned front up his body. Having regained her breath enough to speak, she whispered, "Th-thank you." Then, almost as instinct, she pulled herself up further, giving A'nd a clumsy first kiss on the lips, her face still burning, but unwilling to question herself and stop now.

[Requiem]

And here he'd thought that Cairenn had been more or less using him as a leaning post already. He had very little privacy this way, and it turned out that the bluerider (being your rather typical red-blooded teenaged male) could have used it at the moment. He wasn't exactly proof against the show he was getting or the feel of her, even if there really hadn't been anything expressly wicked in his actions. He'd really just wanted Cootie out and for the whole rather awkward thing to end.

If she noticed his traitorous body's response to her, though, she didn't seem the least bit put off about it. A'nd's blatantly lost expression made it clear that he hadn't the faintest clue what to do, least of all where to put his hands, and the one around her simply tightened to prevent her from falling as the one holding Cootie continued to dangle limply to one side. She was pulling herself up him. Stretching the fabric more, and he was feeling every bit of it, too, though his eyes remained stubbornly on her face.

The thanks only had him flushing deeper. He was in the process of muttering a generic acceptance and/or negation to the gratitude (he really was rather too distracted to have the faintest clue what was coming out of his mouth, and it could well be completely unintelligible) when she kissed him. Somehow he just hadn't seen that coming after he'd inadvertently groped the girl, especially considering how nervous she was about these things and how public their situation was at present.

Nevertheless, it wasn't like he'd been kissed often enough to know a good one from a bad, experienced from inexperienced, and well...he didn't exactly need much encouragement. The kiss was returned with a similar clumsiness, but eagerly enough. He was your typical red-blooded teenaged male, after all. Besides...if he didn't she'd likely be upset, and it wasn't like he didn't find her attractive. The eyes were what bothered him. That and, well, how awkward he'd made the whole affair simply by having trouble catching Cootie.

Once the kiss broke, he cleared his throat and adjusted her clothing so he wasn't seeing a significant portion of her breasts, going so far as to actually button it back up. "We seem to be attracting a small audience," he murmured to her, by way of explanation and also to bring her attention to it. They might just think him uncouth, but he knew what holders thought of women acting this way in public, and didn't think Cairenn would care for the judgmental looks.

[Aftershock]

As the kiss broke, clumsy as it was from both sides, Cairenn could swear she saw stars before her eyes... and she didn't think they were all from her recent near-asphyxiation. She had barely begun to note how cold her front was from her unbuttoned jacket (and shirt, since most of the buttons had been pulled open from the invasion of A'nd's arm) when A'nd took the initiative to button them up for her, and she helped him finish buttoning her jacket as she smiled up at him, her face still red from both the embarrassment of doing such a thing in public, and the flush of arousal.

As he spoke, Cairenn turned her eyes from his face to note just how much attention they had truly attracted... at this point, they might as well be on the stage with the audience they had gathered. Her face attempting to go even more red with embarrassment, she burrowed her face into her recently-buttoned jacket collar and slipped around and slightly behind A'nd, pulling his non-Cootie-holding arm around her shoulders tightly in both a show of affection and in an attempt to hide herself. Pulling on him slightly to direct him towards a somewhat-clear section of seating, hoping the fact that the "show" was over would cause those looking at the couple to turn their attention back to the actors arranging themselves on stage for the next performance, she whispered, "That... that was really nice. D-did I do all right? It was... my first kiss..."

[Requiem]

Even though he was still pretty conscious of the attention that they'd attracted, A'nd was relaxing at least a little now that she wasn't pressed so close and displaying her cleavage to him. (Not that the latter had been at all purposeful.) Between that and her very obvious lack of a negative reaction to his series of blunders, as well as an arousal that he could only assume she'd noticed when they were pressed against each other, he couldn't help but be somewhat relieved. In all truthfulness the bluerider still wasn't really all that sure about her desire to 'solve her problem' with him. He wasn't a romantic, per se, but that was just too clinical a reason, even for him. Maybe she hadn't meant it quite so clinically as it had sounded, though, given she wasn't stiffening up or spooking on him for these things that he couldn't really help.

At any rate, now was not the time or place to explore the idea. He merely smiled rather sheepishly at some of the prying eyes as she half-hid behind him, stumbling after her when she then started tugging him toward some empty chairs unexpectedly. Yeah...that was probably the better idea now that they'd drawn so much attention, even though he'd been hoping to find his friends to sit with.

Her question had him flushing a bit again. "I definitely had no complaints," he murmured, not meeting her eyes. It wasn't exactly the same as saying the kiss had been good, but he wasn't really sure that he could honestly answer that. He'd wanted the kiss. It had excited him more. Somehow, though, he thought she probably could have kissed him just about any way at all and he wouldn't have minded one bit. A'nd was tempted to blame all the suggestive statuary for putting him in the mindset. Right. As if having his hand down her shirt and her body pressed against him hadn't done anything. Suuuure.

His eyes flicked up toward the stage as the actors began the next scene, and he frowned slightly at it, wondering how much they'd already missed. And, just perhaps, trying to take his mind off any not entirely clean thoughts about the girl beside him. Nevertheless, his hand found hers seemingly of its own accord, even as he released the little miscreant who had gotten them into this position in the first place. Yeah...maybe calling A'nd and Cairenn a couple wasn't that far off the mark after all. He stole a shy glance at her.

[Aftershock]

Hearing his not-exactly-glowing response, Cairenn did her best to control her emotions... considering it was her first kiss, and A'nd probably had much more experience than her, she shouldn't expect him to lie to her and say it was as amazing to him as it was to her. "I'll try to do better next time, I promise," she mumbled quietly into her jacket collar, both not attempting to make sure it was heard by A'nd and not attempting to hide the insinuation of future activities between the young rider pair. Cairenn, of course, was oblivious to the meaning of his physical reaction to the kiss... she had never been physically involved with a male before A'nd, and was woefully uneducated when it came to male physiology.

Taking her seat next to A'nd once they reached the empty seating she had directed them towards, Cairenn chose not to remove his arm from around her shoulders. She felt his hand move into hers, and she grasped it automatically, glancing towards her blueriding companion. It just so happened he was glancing at her at the same time, and she giggled and reddened again slightly as she turned back to look towards the stage and snuggle more firmly against A'nd's side, nuzzling her head against his shoulder as she watched the actors continue their performance.

As they watched the show together, Cairenn thought on her relationship with A'nd. Growing up, her father had always worked her so hard that she hadn't really had time to make friends her own age... Roselle was the only person she had every truly gotten close to before coming to Selenitas as a Candidate. Even as a Candidate, and weyrling, her mistrusting nature caused her to know people, but never truly open herself up enough to develop any actual friendships. The closest she had gotten was with her fellow Candidate Olivia, but that had been lost due to Cairenn Impressing and not having the time with weyrling training to pursue the possible friendship to fruition. Now, with A'nd, she wasn't sure what was going on... she had fun spending time with him, to be sure, but was he simply her first real friend? Or were her feelings something deeper than that? Unsure, but enjoying his company despite it, she nestled in closer against the young man as she muttered (somewhat to herself), "I'm glad Xinatenth caught Nildath."

[Requiem]

It was perhaps best that he hadn't heard the words mumbled into her collar as a muffler. A questioning glance had been given her, certainly, but it was equally likely that she didn't see it. A'nd would have been hard-pressed to explain the reasoning behind his statement, no doubt making the situation even more awkward, had he realized that she'd been somewhat hurt by the comment. It wasn't like he was a stranger to white lies or anything but yeah he was a little thrown off his stride. And who could blame him, really? This was by no means a situation he was familiar with, and adding his little adventure down her shirt and her giggling and wriggling oddness...well, she was lucky that he was thinking in complete sentences that resembled some sort of coherence. The kid was by no means accustomed to these activities.

In all honesty, he wasn't even really that comfortable. The giggling, blushing thing beside him now had her head nestled into his shoulder, and for the longest time he had a measure of trouble concentrating on what was going on in the play itself. Though he'd questioned the motives, once, of the aunt who sequestered her niece during every Flight, perhaps it wasn't so strange as all that. If she was likely to behave this way with everyone it was a wonder she hadn't gotten hurt. A'nd felt protective towards her. She really seemed too young to know what she was doing...at all. That didn't quite solve the problem of how she effected him physically though, and he was only now calming down enough to relax and not have a continued hypersensitivity to the creature snuggled into his side.

"Are you?" The words were quiet. "Xinatenth is glad, too...but I think I would rather have met you some other way first." There wasn't accusation in the words. If anything, just a gentle reminder that A'nd had more than enough reason to not have enjoyed that Flight in the slightest. He didn't blame her, and was beginning not to blame her aunt (as much) either, now that he got to know Cairenn. But still...that didn't make it any more pleasant for him. Of course, if they'd met earlier, without Nildath's almost hero-worship regard for Xinatenth (which, yes, that ego-stroking was one of the reasons the blue liked her so much, though of course not the only one), she might well have been too scared to utter a word to him. He hadn't seen how she was with other guys yet. "This is nice though," he added, before she could get the wrong idea.