A Gift for Jarshan

[Marnark]

Jarshan never noticed that he put the wine away. If she had realized that, she would have been horrified at herself. To not notice something, much less something so obvious and blatant as that. But she not only didn't notice, she didn't care either. "Oh, I dunno. A lot of things. Depends on my mood, my thoughts at the time." She shrugged, reaching up to wiggle a finger in an ear. "Lots of things interest me. What interests you? Beyond that big lug of a beast that is your brain leech?"

Well ... did she really say that? That wasn't very nice thing to say. Oops. She really needed to filter what she thought before it fell out her mouth! But again it was too late to take it back. He'd heard it already. Oh well ... it was no secret around the place that there was no love lost between Jarshan and dragons ... or Riders for that matter. She was pretty sure he had known that, but wouldn't swear to it right then. Mostly cause she couldn't really remember clearly.

"Ah, the view is rather boring actually." Jarshan admitted, rolling her head off to the side to look at him. Hey! He was a lot closer than he used to be. At least ... she was pretty sure he was. When had that happened? "Did your butt grow legs?" Now that was a strange thing to say! Listen to herself! Where did she learn to talk anyway? "Sunrise would be a boring thing to see, right here. The cliff would block all the light." She pointed out, trying to cover up her blunder. Reaching up, she plucked a slice of fruit out of D'ero's hand. Since he was so conveniently within reach now. Sticking it in her teeth, she bit the end off the slice, and chewed on it.

[Ise]

“You’ll have to tell me some of the things that actually interest you later.”
He laughed at her description of a dragon. And even if he could have prevented Horuth from hearing it, he still would have shared it with the brown.
“Well Horuth says he’s not much of a leech. He doesn’t suck anything out of my brain. He’s more like a cold, always there and you can just never quite get rid of it.”
D’ero wasn’t going to be offended by such things, he was use to it from her by now. And Horuth couldn’t do much but go along with it, though even the brown agreed that some dragons and riders were too full of themselves. He at least had a sense of humor about the whole thing.
“I am clearly interested in carving and runners. Or else I wouldn’t have gone to the beastcrafter hall and wouldn’t have carved you dozens of little things. And interested in you as well.”
He thought for a moment on other things that interested him, eating another slice of fruit to help stall for time.
“I like learning drinking songs. Can’t hold a tune to save my life but I still enjoy singing loudly when I get drunk enough. I do pity everyone else around me though. And uh I’m also interested in,”
He glanced around as if making sure that there wasn’t anyone else there that had suddenly snuck up on them.
“I am also some what interested in learning how to cook. Mostly so I stop burning everything I ever try to make. I know it’s some what dumb and girly.”

He blinked as she asked about his butt and even had to try and look behind him, trying to figure out what she was talking about.
“Uh no my butt does not have legs.”
He shut his mouth before he could make any more comments about his own butt and instead gave her a fake look of hurt as she took his slice of fruit.
“You’re right, sunrise would be boring. The top of the Weyr is a nice place for it at least. Very wide open view of it. Also get the chance to watch the whole Weyr slowly wake up around you.”

[Marnark]

"I have to, huh?" Jarshan mused. "Lemme think on that one." She gave it about a half a second and then gave up on it. She'd have to think about it later. Right now she really wasn't in much of a thinking capacity. Everything was fuzzy. She wasn't drunk ... she really wasn't. Surely she wasn't. But that didn't mean everything wasn't tilted on its side in her perception. She could probably still get up and walk a straight line ... but she certainly wouldn't be doing any tree-hopping or cliff diving, or ... or ... feline stalking ...

Hn!

At least he wasn't upset over what she'd called his dragon. Thank goodness. Wait. Why did she care? She didn't normally care what people thought of what she said. Sometimes she was even callous to the other Shield. Hnnnnnn. Maybe she was more drunk than she cared to admit. She'd only had two cups! ... two ... large cups ... all rather quickly too. Okay, maybe she was tipsy. She could admit to being tipsy. "Colds are annoying too."

Wait. Had he said he was interested in carving runners? "You mean ... carving statues of runners, or actually ... carving runners?" She asked, pretty sure she must have misheard him or something. Surely. But ... if she'd misheard him, what did that say about her? She was seriously impaired. Wonderful.

He was interested in her. Well ... she'd know that. That was kind of blatantly obvious. She interlaced her fingers behind her head, and blew a slow breath. "There's nothing dumb or girly about cooking. I know plenty of men who cook. Some of the best cooks around are men." Jarshan pointed out. "I could probably teach you some of that myself, if you really are serious about learning."

Trust backward Northerners to think that cooking was girly. Sheesh. Jarshan wasn't girly and could cook! Wait ... she was female, so that was kind of a moot point. But that didn't change anything. Some of the best cooks she knew were male, even so.

Somehow she managed to forget her own statement about his butt having legs, and his comment about his butt not having legs earned a very strange look from her. "You don't have legs?" Wow. He must be really drunk! "I'm pretty sure you do have legs. At least three of them. Seven if you count that flying toad of yours."

Okay, maybe she really needed to shut up.

"I know. I've been on the ridge when the sun rose." She commented, as if it was nothing new or spectacular. Nevermind every time she saw it, it was nothing short of breathtaking. If there was one thing she never failed to appreciate, it was natural beauty. The forest, the canopy, the animals living in it (that dragons and some people scared off before they ever saw), sun rises, sun sets ... and yes. Even how dragons were put together, and flew in the air. The grace of a feline on the prowl.

She sat up, propping herself up on her arms in a reclined position, and eyed him for a moment. Who, exactly, was drunk? Her or him? She had a sneaking suspicion it was him.

[Ise]

D’ero was amused as he watched Jarshan think. She was a bit more animated when she was drunk. Yea, no more wine for her tonight. And next time he would either find something else for them to drink or limit her a little more. Hopefully he could do it in a way that she wouldn’t notice and take offence from. He did feel bad that she was so intoxicated after only a few drinks, but at least it seemed to be the good tipsy sort of drunk, not the about-to-be-sick kind.

“Colds and dragons can both be annoying. Especially when you’re trying to sleep. And yet you learn to live with them. At least dragons don’t make my nose stuffy.”
He pulled a leg up against his chest, resting his chin on the knee as he looked down at her, a little smile on his face as she rambled on and got details mixed up.

“No no, carving runners. In the North it’s turning into this new, weird sort of art form. I mean I’m terrible at wood carvings of runners, their legs always trip me up. But just being able to carve into a runner, well the legs are already done for me.”
It was hard enough to not laugh as he spoke and he couldn’t do anything about the teasing smile on his face. He might as well have a little fun with her while she was this drunk. How many times would get the chance to poke a little fun at her like this?

“In the North, cooking is seen as a job for the women. Men will help out with parts of it, but most of the time the kitchens are full of women stirring the pots. But if you’re willing to teach, then I’m willing to learn. It’s a good skill to have, even at the risk of being teased.”
Well, there was an idea for a second date if she was up for it. Of course it still wasn’t a very public thing but he wasn’t too concerned about that right now.

He picked up his cup of wine and slowly finished it off, he had the slight buzz that came with drinking alcohol but was more sober then tipsy. And faaar from being drunk.
“Well last I counted I had two legs. Five if we can’t the flying toad. Though I think of him more as a frog. Less warty. And he’s not much of a jumper either. What was it you compared a dragon to… a fish? I think that was it. A flying fish.”

D’ero raised an eyebrow as Jarshan sat up and looked at him. He gave her a moment to do her drunken inspection before he cut the rest of the fruit in hand in half and held part of it out for her.
“There something on my face? Or is there another reason you’re looking at me like that?”

[Marnark]

"Dragons get stuffy noses?" Jarshan asked. "I don't think I've ever seen a dragon with a cold. I bet it's a major mess to keep after. I mean ... they make enough drool, I can't imagine the boogers." She commented thoughtfully, before adding; "Poor runners. I bet they don't like that a whole lot. What do you do with the bits you carve off? Fry em up and eat em, or glue em on other Runners for outy-bits?"

"Oh. Well, silly people. Them Northerners are a backward lot anyway. I mean ... they kicked Dragons out full knowing that thread was going to come back eventually. That is just asking for bad blood and a disaster. Not to mention everything else they do cockeyed." Had she forgotten she was talking to a Northern lad? Maybe. Either way, a little bit of wine certainly loosened her up so far as the things she said. Stuff just fell out of her mouth that she wouldn't normally say at all. "I'll have to teach you how to really cook. Not that pretend stuff they do in the kitchen." She mused.

"Five." She mused. "I don't see the math there." She admitted. Five? Where had he gotten five from? So, he had two legs he said. Did that mean the toad had three? That was a decidedly odd number to have. "Oh, so he's a fish with a cold now. Interesting. I wonder if he knows he's mutating at an alarming rate?" She asked, casting a glance askance at the dragon of mention. "Doesn't look terribly warty to me."

"Oh." She shifted her weight to one palm only, and dusted the other off on her thigh before taking the offered fruit. "Thanks." Sticking it in her teeth she munched on it a bit. "I don't see anything on your face. Are you sure there's something on it? What does it feel like?" Jarshan leaned a little closer to inspect it, since he'd mentioned having something on it. She still couldn't see anything though. 'cept maybe a small piece of fruit skin in his teeth.

[Ise]

Trying to correct Jarshan would be impossible, so D’ero was going to make sure he had a little fun with her first. And if he was lucky she might even remember a little of it. Just enough where they could make fun of this later.
“Oh yea, dragons get bad colds. There’s a rule that no dragon with a cold is allowed to be in the Weyr because of how messy that would be. Saves everyone a lot of hassle. And well, no one wants the little weyrbrats to get stuck in a blob of dragon snot, trying to clean that off of them would be impossible. As for the runners, well I don’t like to waste things. And runner sandwiches are quite tasty. But if I feel the need to, extra runner parts get put onto another creature. Makes for some interesting art, not something everyone understands though.”

He chuckled a little as Jarshan spoke about the North.
“Oh yea we’re a silly bunch alright, I don’t disagree with that. And hindsight is always better then foresight. Not that I mind too much, if we weren’t so stupid in the past I wouldn’t be here now.”

“And now I can’t wait for you to show me how to properly cook. I never thought the kitchens were all that bad, not for the mass amounts of food they have to make daily. But I’m sure you can put them all to shame any day of the week. How about next week? Once you get back from your Shield stuff?’
Couldn’t hurt to try and get a second date out of her while she was drunk, she might agree to it early.

D’ero glanced over at his brown who was trying to look like he didn’t find this whole thing as funny as he did.
“No, I don’t think he realizes how quickly he’s changing. But he’s a good sport about all that. So long as he doesn’t turn into a spinner he’ll be happy. He doesn’t like spinners. Eight legs is far too many for him to have. And I’m sure he’ll thank you for noticing that he is wart free. He works hard to stay like that and not enough people notice it.”

D’ero popped the slice of fruit into his mouth, eating it before blinking in surprise as Jarshan got much close to his face. He held perfectly still, not even breathing for a moment as he tried to figure out what to do. He knew he should just act like this was nothing, not take advantage of how close she was to him. That would be the smart thing to do. It was the right thing to do. He then decided to hell with the right thing.

D’ero leaned forward, dropping the knife he had been holding so he could use it to cup the side of her face, holding her still for a moment as he kissed her. He made it a soft kiss against her lips, holding it for a moment before leaning back again and breaking it off. He wasn’t sure what to expect. Her being drunk meant that maybe she would just ignore it and babble on some more. Or maybe she would hit him instead. Still, the kiss had been worth it.

[Marnark]

Jarshan thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged. "Dropping a kid in snot is not actually a bad idea. Snot is one of the best cleansing agents I've come across. Lifts grease right up." Okay, maybe that was a bit more information than he wanted to know. But like everything else it just fell out.

"What makes you think you're not still stupid, though?" Jarshan asked, not quite realizing how insulting that sounded until after it was out. But she didn't try to take it back either, knowing that to try to would only make matters even more awkward. And awkward was less becoming on her than it was on him. It wasn't very becoming on him. "Next week?" She asked, giving him a sideways look. "You trying to pull a fast one on me?" Apparently she wasn't quite that drunk. "Besides. I'm not going to be coming back in for awhile. Can't do that anyway."

But ... the dragon really didn't know how fast he was mutating. "I pity him the day he happens across his own reflection. Might scare him half to death thinking something is out to eat him." Who knew what would be looking back at him by the time he just happened to do that.

She hadn't seen the kiss coming. She probably should have, but she hadn't. At first she just held perfectly still before her lagging uptake caught on to what was happening. As slow as she might be thinking compared to her normal operations, she was still fairly quick. Before it was quite over, she was returning it if only briefly. When D'ero sat back again (was that a half scared look to him?), Jarshan merely blinked once, finished chewing her fruit and swallowed it. "What was that?" She asked. "Is that the best you Northern lads can do? No wonder they kicked you out onto the ocean."

[Ise]

D’ero opened and shut his mouth a few times at the snot comment. He wasn’t sure if she was trying to trick him or not with that. And he wasn’t about to try dipping a kid in boogers to see how clean it got them.
“I’ll trust you on that one Jarshan. I don’t have to worry about grease too much so I’ll never get the chance to test it out for myself.”

He chuckled a bit and shrugged.
“Oh I’m sure I’m still stupid. I never said I wasn’t. I just hope I’m a little smarter then others. I at least keep my mouth shut more often then most. Aside from when I’m with you and when I’ve been drinking. Then I get a little more chatty. And can you blame me for trying to sneak something in? But it’s good that you caught it, means you’re on top of things tonight.”
He was a little disappointed to hear that she wouldn’t be back by then but at least she hadn’t totally said no to it yet. He would just have to try again later.

“Horuth wakes up seeing me every morning. Seeing himself won’t be so bad after that. And if it does get too bad I’ll just be sure to keep him away from water for awhile. With any luck he’ll mutate into something prettier.”

Yes, D’ero was nervous as he sat back, waiting for Jarshan’s reaction. Had he really felt her starting to return the kiss there? He gave her a little smirk and a soft laugh at her comment. What a wonderfully evil woman.
“No, that’s far from my best.”

Since she didn’t seem to mind the kiss, and was egging him on, he got a little more aggressive. He leaned forward, wrapping one arm around her and pulling her closer. He held her like that for a moment, making her wait for it before leaned in for another kiss. He kept the kiss slow still, but held it longer and let himself enjoy the feel of her lips against his. He gave her lower lip a light nibble before slowly opening his mouth against her. He was no longer being hesitant with her, but he was going to take his time and enjoy what he could get.

[Marnark]

His expressions were priceless. All of them. From the reaction to the revelation on the uses of snot, right down to the one where he really did look like he was scared to death she was going to knife him for that kiss. But all that aside, she was willing to let him have the last word on most of that gibberish ... or not, as the case might be.

Jarshan did not fail to notice that he was catching on pretty quick, though, even if he was still trying to talk himself up again. And ironically down at the same time. He wasn't half as ugly as he'd just suggested right then. But again, she wasn't going to protest the comment. There were more interesting things at hand after all. Jarshan was not nearly as drunk as she seemed to be, merely only tipsy enough to have relaxed her usual ever-present guard and awareness. Some of that gibberish she'd made up on the spot, though some of it had surprised her as much as him. Maybe she was tipsier than she'd thought.

But all those thoughts were swept aside like so much chafe on the wind as D'ero got closer again. Tingles raced across her nerves everywhere that his arm touched her, and then more of them everywhere else she came into contact with him. Shardit ... young and foreign he might be, but he was undeniably male. Jarshan was pliable to him as he pulled her nearer to him, lifting one hand to rest on the ball of his shoulder for that moment. When he finally got around to giving her a second kiss, she moved that hand to the back of his neck, returning the kiss from the onset this time. She was pleased to note that it was a much better kiss, even though she had really only been teasing him cruelly the first time around. He had some guts, to have even tried that. Not that she would tell him so.

Jarshan didn't play fully into his wishes however, drawing away from him a few inches when the flavor of the kiss had started to change. Kisses were okay by her ... even some nibbling was okay. But she didn't want him getting the wrong idea about anything else. She really did prefer for kisses to stay on the outside of her person. She started to say something to him about that having been much better, but decided against it. Mostly because that knot in her gut was being most distracting.

Which presented her with a whole other problem to sort through. It had been a long time since her last relationship, and she didn't have idle flings outside of those. Being this close to a fellow was doing terrible things to her senses, making her want to just knock him down and strip his clothes off. Butbutbut ... sure he was interested in her, that was undeniable. But was she sure she wanted him? If she did, shouldn't she wait, instead of possibly ruin everything by acting too soon? Stable and reliable relationships were most certainly not created by jumping a person's bones on the first date.

Shardit, why did he have to be so young?

Worse than that, she was aware that her decision making skills were slightly impaired by her being tipsy. She couldn't be entirely sure she was thinking in logical lines anyway. But there was one thing she could do, so she did it. Shoving the rather annoying and in-the-way basket out of the way with her foot so she could better support her own weight in this new, awkward position, she pulled D'ero into a new kiss. Entirely without commentary for a change. Or insult.

[Ise]

She kissed him back right away, good he wasn’t steeping out of bounds yet. He was not going to let himself over think any of this. No, it was much better to think about other things. Like her hand on the back of his neck, keeping him there during the kiss intill she drew away. D’ero took a moment to shut his eyes and catch his breath, a little smile resting on his lips though.

It had been over three turns since he had even been this close to a woman. And while he wouldn’t mind getting closer to Jarshan, with a lack of clothing in the way, he knew he wouldn’t. At least not tonight. He had felt bad enough for the kiss, even thinking of doing more with her while she wasn’t sober made him feel guilty. He could wait, it would be annoying but unlike some males he did have some self-control over himself. And drunken romps had never been his thing, not when he actually liked someone. And really, after turns of nothing a few days or weeks or even months wouldn’t be that bad.

Especially not if he got a chance to enjoy kisses like this from Jarshan when she was sober. He saw the basket get pushed to the side before she pulled him into another kiss and close his eyes as their lips met again. So it was a little awkward being pulled down like this but he didn’t mind.

D’ero shifted so his weight was resting on one arm, and his other loosened its grip around Jarshan. While his kisses never slowed, his hand hesitated for a moment before he let it lightly run up her back, fingers brushing at the back of her neck before his hand grazed down her arm. He just wanted feel her under his hand. Just light little touches and brushes on her back and arms and for a brief moment even the side of her hip. He didn’t want to give her the wrong idea, that he wanted to go father then this, but he couldn’t stop himself for just wanting to touch her.

[Marnark]

Kisses she could handle. Kisses she could control. Maybe only barely. But she could think. Sortof. Wine kind of messed up the linear thinking. It was getting harder to breathe properly though. Between those fiery kisses and her diaphragm locking up tight, getting any air at all was a chore indeed.

Jarshan decided she was going to have to quit this game, before it got out of hand. Unfortunately, following right on the heels of that thought came not only more kisses, but ... but ....

GRRRARRRRH

All those little touches and caresses tilted her right over the edge into oblivion. She wanted him and that was all she could think about anymore. Her free hand knotted up in the loose fabric of his shirt as she gathered herself up underneath. Whipcord muscles tensed at her bidding and she rose up higher, supported by her toes and knees. "No." Jarshan started, interrupting herself with another kiss as she leaned against him, " ...teasing." she finished, sounding vaguely threatening as she released her grip on his shirt and neck to crawl her fingers down his sides, hunting for the bottom edge of that most annoying garment.

There was no helping it. Even if she did manage to extract herself from him before she tipped him over that edge too, she would probably never be able to face him again for sheer embarrassment and awkwardness. Much less be able to ride with him back to the Weyr. Now, she still had two choices so far as she saw. Either to ride this wind wherever it may blow, or disappear into the jungle.

She had no fear of finding her way back. The jungle was her stomping ground. But that route also meant that she would be destroying everything there was with D'ero. Everything he'd carefully built, and drawn her inexplicably into the middle of, defying all logic. Spinsters, hah. He was the spinster. She was the fly.

Giving up on finding the bottom of his tunic, she just grabbed a double handful and pulled upward, determined to get it off of him. "Look at me." Jarshan demanded, wanting to see his eyes open and not shut. Wanting to know that it was her he was seeing.

[Ise]

He could feel her tensing up right before she grabbed the front of his shirt. An eyebrow rose slightly at the ‘no’ wondering what she was saying no to while she kissed him again. Must not be the kisses she was upset about. He couldn’t help the little half grin that rose to his lips, even the threatening tone in her voice wasn’t enough to bring him down right now.
“Alright alright, I’ll try not to tease you too much but I can’t make any promises.”

D’ero was surprised as her hands went down to his sides and started yanking on his shirt. Uh-oh. When she couldn’t pull the shirt lose after a few seconds she went to trying to pull it over his head. Oh no. Of course he had to be nice and help her get his shirt off. But once he had his shirt off he caught her hands in his, holding them as he looked at her.
“Jarshan…”

He held onto her hands, forcing them both to try and calm down just a little bit. His thumbs rubbed the palms of her hands lightly as he watched her, unable to hide the grin on his face.
“We can always wait to do this you know. Or at least try to get back to the Weyr without losing too much clothing on the way.”
And I don’t want you to do this if you’re going to wake up tomorrow and regret it. He kept that last thought to himself. D’ero let her hands go, half hoping that she wouldn’t want to stop. If she did, he was going to need to find some private time for himself tonight. But he didn’t want to ruin his chance with Jarshan just because he was thinking too much with his pants and not with his head.

[Marnark]

Apparently ... apparently he didn't know what teasing was. Not if he agreed to not, and yet did anyway. That or he was just underhanded. It was a moment of triumph when his shirt came off. And no wonder it had been difficult. She blinked a moment when she realized that his shoulders looked even bigger without a shirt hiding them. But that moment of triumph was shot down the river when he pushed her away and trapped her hands. Or, at least thought he trapped her hands. She let him think that for the moment, gaze flickering up to his face for a moment before roving over what she could see again. Listening with only half an ear.

Until what she heard in her mind what her ears were hearing. So many conflicting signals to her. He kissed her, pulled her near. Touched and caressed. Helped her get his shirt off, even, with that big grin plastered on his face. But ... his hands and words wanted her to stop? It didn't make sense. Not to her deprived, hunger-awakened senses it didn't. Why did he have to be difficult?

But the moment's respite, the breath of air and some small space gained by his pushing her away did allow for some logical thought to take place again. If only a little. Logically, she understood, and was embarrassed. For all of it. This awkwardness was her fault, born of her own lack of restraint. This ... this was why she didn't drink wine.

For a time after he released her hands, she sat silent, just looking at him. Finally her head tilted to one side slightly. It was a small motion, but it was also a scary one. She was thinking again, and there was a devious glint to her eye. He hadn't said no ... just wait. Apparently he didn't like baring his backside to the sky?

There were so many things she could say, things she could slap him with, rake him, insult ... all in teasing nature of course. But remarkably enough she still held her silence. It was her turn to turn the tables on him. The only way out of this, she could see, was forward. Onward. She'd started it, she would finish it. And she would make him want her to finish it.

She didn't move toward him again, instead she stayed exactly where she was, perched on her ankles with her toes against the ground. With movements that were obviously calculated and deliberate, she peeled her own shirt off over her head. Once it came off, she was wearing a smirk all while eying him again. Fair was fair. Or was it? Because she'd just revealed that she still hadn't been wearing anything but a shirt. Reaching off to the side, she dropped the black shirt into the ground, and left it there, arching one eyebrow at him.

His move.

[Ise]

The thoughtful look on Jarshan’s face after he let go of her hands made him almost more nervous then if she had just gotten mad at him. She was silent and unmoving for a moment until she started to slowly take off her own shirt. Well. That answered his question.

D’ero blinked a few times, his dark eyes looking down at her now bare chest. Wow. He looked at Jarshan’s face, back to her chest and tried to pull his eyes up again. He had had an idea of what to expect, after all the tight leathers she wore didn’t really hide much but this, this was so much better.
“Um wow. That’s… that’s even better then I had imagined.”
Why yes he had spent some of his free time just trying to picture Jarshan naked. And the real thing was way better.

He took a quick glance around the blanket, making sure that there was nothing on it that could really get in the way before he half lunged at Jarshan. One arm snaked around her waist, pulling her tight against him as he kissed her hard. He put his other hand down to hold them up as he leaned her back. He stopped kissing her mouth for a moment to go after her neck and sneak another peek down at her chest.

His hand holding her let go, running his fingers up and down her spine, stopping only at her neck and where her pants stopped him from touching skin. No, he wasn’t going to be able to stop himself now, he had tried but there was no way to say no to this. And he didn’t want to either. Yes there was a chance that this could hurt the relationship he wanted with her but even one night with Jarshan was more then he thought he would ever get.

[Marnark]

Than he'd imagined. Why did that comment not surprise her at all? Even when it did rather jar her slightly to think about people imagining her in the nude. That ... just didn't happen very often. D'ero was one strange, strange young man. But it was also very clear to her that she had won. It was almost too easy, too, but she was also glad for it. She needed his attention enough so that it hurt... which was something she hadn't expected at all.

She was pliable to him when he finally came for her, wrapping her arms around him and returning his kiss even as he took her down. Now the tricky part was to finish getting everything off without freaking him out over how many blades she was still wearing...

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Sunrise on the ledge was just as unspectacular as it could possibly have been. A bit of morning fog didn't help any with the drab effect of being shaded from the sun by a cliff. Waking up on rock was nothing new to Jarshan. Waking up with rock bits stuffed into her skin decidedly was. Usually when she was away from the Weyr she was wearing her leather after all.

She cracked an eye, and then blinked. Faranth she felt weird. Blurry. The first motion she made brought it all back in stark relief however. She remembered ... and she also remembered why she was on the side of a cliff wearing not a scrap. Apparently the blanket that had been put down for the picnic had gotten kicked around a bit. Boy was she feeling it. The fuzziness was from the wine she was sure ... and all those sore places were from D'ero. But it wasn't bad. In fact she felt quite alive, every fiber in her being humming with satisfaction.

Oh Faranth. What now? Just how badly had she screwed everything up? A glance in D'ero's direction brought a smile to her face though. He looked happy. At least there was that. Rolling to her feet, she stood up and stretched. There had been a stream nearby, she recalled. Might as well go wash up. And then wake sleeping beauty and see about getting a ride home. Because she did have to meet with the Shield today. Stooping, she picked up her shirt from where it had been dropped and then strolled silently off into the woods, headed for the stream on bare feet. A quick dip would help wake her up. Especially if it was cold.

It didn't take her long to find it, and it didn't take her long to get cleaned up either. Hastened by just how cold that water was. All the small rock bits were easily knocked off though they did leave impressions in her skin anyway. Donning the shirt to help warm back up again, she headed back to see if D'ero was awake yet.

But first to that basket. There was wine in that basket, she knew. She remembered seeing him stow the last of it. Pulling it out, she unstoppered the bottle and took a hit off of it. Forget cups.