Milling about Smartly (Ise

[Marnark]

There wasn't a whole lot to do today, and Jarshan rather liked it that way. As a result, she was going here and there, doing this and that ... generally wasting the day away in a lackadaisical manner. Doing as little as she could possibly get away with and still look busy. Not that most people in general were going to question her anyway. But other Shield might if she happened across them. Thus she was trying to appear busy even if she really wasn't.

And hey, Naraja was getting a workout anyway. Following Jarshan thither and yon back and forth across the Weyr was giving the young cat much more of an exercise than she was used to. Soon, Jarshan planned to take her out into the jungles with her, and really put her to use. But for right now, she didn't trust the young feline to not scamper off chasing a flutterbug... and never be seen again. Which of course she wouldn't mind so much. Barring the fact that Eriol would accuse her of slaying the feline ... and that she had ... sortof ... kindof ... grown attached to the stupid creature. As much as she detested to admit it. Entirely.

Walking along down one of the lower halways with no real destination, Jarshan's mind was on not a whole lot at the moment. Technically it was a repose she took when usually still. But today she was combining events. Walk the feline, carry the tunnelcat, and still her mind to clarity. All at the same time.

She was for once not dressed in her usual leathers - mostly because she had no plans whatsoever of going out into the jungles today. But her clothes were still dark, and the black tunnelcat draped around her neck sleeping gave her open-necked dark shirt the appearance of a silky fur collar. Especially since the creature's tail and head were both draped down her chest in a very relaxed fashion. Padding along almost silently in her lambskin slippers, Jarshan saw what there was to see without really interacting with much of anyone. Just watching.

[Ise]

Sleeping in was an odd enough thing for D’ero to do. He had woken up feeling groggy and confused. His confusion only grew as he slowly realized that he wasn’t in his own room. He was pretty sure it wasn’t Jarshan’s room either, there was actual stuff in the room. His confusion turned to panic as he heard someone mutter and shift under the blankets.

Oh. Oh no. Now he sorta remembered what had happened the night before. If Horuth had not been sleeping, the brown would have gotten a piece of his riders mind. He scrambled out of the bed, quickly searching around the room for his clothing. Pants, shirt, oh shard it, he didn’t need anything else. He pulled the cloths on, some how managing to get his shirt on correctly on the first try before he made mad dash out of the room, not even bothering to see who he had been with the night before. He couldn’t remember if Horuth had won the flight or if he had just found one of those girls that hung around for the losers of the flights.

D’ero started to wander aimlessly through the Weyr as he tried to figure out what to do. His already mused hair grew even messier as he ran his hands through it. He needed to tell Jarshan what had happened. It wasn’t a conversation he was looking forward to. What if she wanted to break up because of this? What if she didn’t just want to break up but wanted to kill him for this? He didn’t think she would go quite that far but he couldn’t count it out.

He turned a corner and came to a stop a few feet in front of Jarshan. He looked at her before eyeing the feline that walked along beside her. Oh, there was an idea he hadn’t even thought of, Jarshan could just send her feline to hunt him down. It would be good training for the cat. Unpleasant for him though.

D’ero took a deep breath and tried to collect himself and look a little less panicked. She at least wasn’t dressed for Shield work which meant she probably only had half a dozen knives on her instead of a couple dozen.
“Hey Jarshan. You uh free? I was just coming to find you and talk to you.”
He bit his lip a bit to stop himself from just spilling his guts about what had happened. He felt terrible and guilty about it even though he hadn’t had any control over it. But he did want to try and keep a little bit of his dignity. And he didn’t think just spitting out ‘I slept with someone else last night’ would be the best thing to do.

[Marnark]

Jarshan drew up to a stop quickly enough to stop before she ran smack into the wall of person that just ... randomly ... appeared around the corner in front of her. Her gaze flicked upwards though she didn't really have to look at his face to know who he was. D'ero was rather hard to mistake.

One side of her mouth quirked upward. "Trying out a new style today?" She quipped, remarking on his mussed hair, wrinkled and half-buttoned shirt, and frankly she was surprised his pants weren't on backwards considering he was barefoot. "You musta found a hellova party." Jarshan mused.

Naraja gathered up her haunches and sat down where she was, pink tongue lolling out of her mouth in a slow pant. While panting was normally found on canines, felines that were starting to overheat would do it too. Tail flicking idly from side to side, Naraja was certainly working on getting overheated. It came from too much time sleeping in Jarshan's bed and not enough time following Jarshan around. More exercise! Less exercise! More! Less! Argh!

One of Jarshan's brows arched at his proclamation. Not exactly the first thing she had expected him to blurt. "You don't normally wait until I'm free to harass me. What's special this time?" She asked, poking at him verbally as she usually did. But she could plainly see that something was bothering him. Bothering him enough that he wasn't trying to charm her to death this time. It had her interest, to be sure. "I'm here, whatcha got?" she added, more seriously.

[Ise]

D’ero glanced down at himself as Jarshan joked about his current look. He pulled at the wrinkled shirt a bit, trying to make it look even a little better before giving up on it. Even if his tugging some how managed to make his shirt look a little better, walking around with nothing on his feet was odd enough.
“…that’s one way of putting it…”
He muttered it mostly to himself before eyeing her cat again.

He was pretty sure the cat was looking at him like he would make a nice snack. Tail flicking around, tongue hanging out and a hungry look in her eyes. D’ero moved a little to the side, making sure that Jarshan was between him and the feline. He didn’t trust it to not come after him now. Especially if Jarshan got upset.

His eyes darted back to Jarshan as she spoke again, teasing him again though he almost flinched at her words. He rubbed the back of his head, making the hair stick up more as he stayed silent. She finally sounded more serious but he continued to stay quiet, thinking deeply to himself. While he had decided to tell Jarshan what had happened, he had not given much thought as to how he was going to tell her. This was one of the few times where he thought being blunt might be a bad idea. His brown furrowed as he looked to the ground, glancing at Naraja once in a while to make sure the cat wasn’t trying to sneak up on him.

Even if D’ero had been better with words, he knew there was no pretty way of saying it. If he was lucky she would be willing to forgive him and maybe continue to see him. The worst she could do was to tell him to bug off for good and stab him in some non-vital places.
“There was a flight yesterday. One that Horuth joined in. And uhh… yea. I woke up this morning. Not in my weyr. And clearly not in yours. And I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen and it meant nothing to me.”
He shut his mouth to stop his babbling, eyes moving between Jarshan and the feline. He was tense, ready to try and run in case the cat came after him. Being stabbed to death was ok, being eaten was not.

[Marnark]

He sure was being awkward and quiet. Moreso than usual. It was somewhat cause for worry, but Jarshan was patient. She waited for him to sort his thoughts out even if his laundry wasn't sorted. Some people just weren't morning people. It was weird though how he kept eyeing Naraja ... he'd never done that before. Granted, he'd not really been around the feline a whole lot either. Maybe he was asleep or something. Just thought he was awake. Jarshan smirked slightly at his scrubbing at the back of his head, messing up his hair. Somehow, that was just ... cute.

But when he started talking, all expression left her face entirely. Jarshan listened to what he had to say without prodding or teasing him, aware that this was what he was bothered about. It took her a moment after he finished to figure out what he was meaning, so far as what was bothering him. Yes, there was a flight ... there was a flight practically every day of the week. It was a Weyr after all. And yes, she also knew that Horuth had participated. Mostly because she had noticed and recognized the brown. One of very few dragons she could pick out as being more than 'just another dragon'.

He was embarrassed and upset because he was dragged into a flight? Oh dear Faranth. Jarshan smiled ever so slightly. Hold kids ... worse, Hold kid from the North! "I know, D'ero. These things happen. You're a dragon rider, kid. You better get used to that. Your big brown buddy has raging hormones too, you know. It's normal. Natural. Don't get your ... ahhh ... shirt? In a wad over it." Jarshan stepped closer to where he was mincing, and straightened his shirt front for him, correcting the cross-buttoned front so that it was a bit more ... well ... square. Giving it a last tug to pull the wrinkles out, she looked up at him. "You're funny."

All the while Naraja never moved, just sitting there and watching the far end of the hall as if they weren't even there. The only sign she was paying them any mind at all was the slight cant one ear had in their direction. She was listening. That was all.

"So! Are you nice and satisfied now? Have a good time yes?" Jarshan asked. Especially since he'd been raring to go not too long ago, even going so far as to blatantly invite her to invite him ... or something like that. Which she hadn't done. For various reasons that she didn't care to get into.

[Ise]

D’ero was surprised by the little smile that Jarshan gave him. It wasn’t the ‘oh yea I get to stab things!’ smile, but a friendly and comforting one. He finally relaxed a little though he didn’t seem any happier. In fact, he seemed more confused. He stayed quiet as Jarshan reassured him that it was normal and that he shouldn’t be bothered by it. Clearly she wasn’t.

He leaned forward a little as she fixed his shirt and teased him for how silly he was acting, giving the top of her head a light kiss and letting out a little snort.
“I’m glad one of us finds this funny. And I don’t remember anything from last night. I remember trying to chase down Horuth and make him stop and then I remember waking up and panicking.”
He grumbled a bit and glanced back at Naraja. The cat hadn’t rushed to attack him which was nice. And she looked slightly less hungry now. He was slightly less paranoid about the feline since he knew Jarshan wasn’t upset with him but he still didn’t trust it.

Taking a step back from Jarshan, D’ero frowned a bit as he looked at her.
“So wait. What happened doesn’t bother you? At all? Why am I the only one upset about this? I’m the one that supposedly got lucky last night and I feel terrible about it.”
He let out a sigh and scowled slightly. Southern women. Most girls from the North would have been ready to cause him bodily harm. And Jarshan was just teasing him about it. He felt lucky that he had such an understanding girlfriend but he was still bothered by it.
“…this doesn’t mean that you’re going to go around and sleep with someone else too does it? I don’t think I’d like that very much…”

[Marnark]

Jarshan smiled slightly at the sensation of getting the top of her head kissed. For some reason it just struck her as odd. That was something daddies did to little daughters ...

"Well ... don't try to make him stop. You might upset him and he might get repressed and not chase. That's not any more healthy for him than for you to suddenly declare celibacy." Jarshan cautioned. "Let him do his thing, you do yours. It will keep him balanced." She shrugged slightly. "You don't need to panic either. These things happen, everyone understands it's just a flight. They happen, they don't necessarily mean anything. Unless you happen to want them to. Which is usually a recipe for delusions."

"Silly. No, it doesn't bother me. You're a rider. It's expected that these things are going to happen. Like I just told you. It comes with being bonded to a big flying carnivore that also happens to have a set of balls too. You know. And no, I'm not so loose as that. Nor do I feel so insecure as to be compelled to play a game of one upmanship with something so silly as a flight. Do you realize I'd have to be all over the place to keep up with you if I were to do that?" Jarshan asked. "Are you saying you're jealous? Already?"

My my my.

[Ise]

“I’m pretty sure I couldn’t stop Horuth even if I wanted to. Especially since he knows I don’t want to do something that’ll harm him or upset him too much. Plus, he’s smarter then me and knows there are some things that I need to be forced into dealing with.”
He let out a sigh, his dragon had been right to force him into this, but that didn’t mean D’ero had to like it. And even though Jarshan excepted it and passed it off as nothing, he was still bothered by it. Flights had been the one thing he had been worried about when he had Impressed. He only hoped that his complete loss of control was due more to this being his first flight then something that was going to happen every time.
“And no. Whatever happened last night meant nothing to me. I don’t even remember what happened. I don’t even remember who I was with, so hopefully they have a better memory of the night then me and will be nice enough to return my shoes to me…”

D’ero was glad that he was the rider and not in Jarshan’s position. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to take something like this as well. She was far more understanding then he had expected her to be. Or just far more use to things like this then he was. It did make him feel better to hear that Jarshan wasn’t going to go around sleeping with others just because he was involved in flights.

He didn’t even pause to think before he answered Jarshan’s question of whether he was jealous or not.
“Yes.”
He folded his arms over his chest and wore a serious look on his face. He did not like the idea of anyone else spending the night with Jarshan.
“I’m not possessive. I’m just… territorial? I mean I’d never try to stop you from doing something or talking to someone but that doesn’t mean I’m going to like some other guy trying to flirt with you or looking at you. And I know you can take care of yourself and do more damage to any guy who gets on your bad side then I could do. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to punch someone if I catch them looking at your butt.”

[Marnark]

Jarshan laughed. "I don't know from first hand experience, obviously, but I hear tell that the level of recognition varies from person to person. I gather it's based on how strong the bond is? That you don't remember only means that you thought you were Horuth, and that means that you two are very close. It is nothing to be ashamed of." She assured him. "Even if you don't get your shoes back, you can get another pair I'm sure. Just remember to slow down in your headlong dash out the door next time, and pick them up on your way out." She teased.

She reached up and flicked his nose with a finger. "Don't be jealous. That's immature of you." But then, he was only a kid. What else could be expected? But just to further taunt him just a little bit, she sashayed around in a circle right there in the hall way, swinging her hips as she did so. "I got it, guys notice. They can't help themselves. Just like you. But, unlike you ... they're too scared to even let me know they notice." She grinned at him over her shoulder, striking a pose with one fist on outflung hip.

Given that he had just literally rolled out of bed with someone else in that hungry flightlust, she was pretty sure he was going to be too spent to make anything of her flirty mannerisms. But she did find it vaguely cute that he was so very attached that he worried that much over something as simple and unavoidable as a flight. Silly hold-boy was trying his hardest to pursue her as if they were both Holders. He would have to get over that paradigm fast!

[Ise]

D'ero didn't need a flight to tell him that the bound between him and Horuth was a strong one. He wasn't sure what to think of the fact that he'd likely never remember much of the night after a flight. On one hand, it was good to know that he wasn't going to remember ever being with some random woman while he was with Jarshan. On the other hand, he didn't like having gaps in his memory like that and waking up not knowing anything.
"Yeah, next time I won't panic as much. At least now I know you aren't going to kill me now. But I'll wait until tomorrow to try and get another pair of shoes, I'm sure I've still got a beat up pair someone in my weyr. And if not, well at least I don't have to go any where near the sands."

D'ero gave Jarshan a little smirk as she flicked his nose. He couldn't help but get jealous when he saw someone around Jarshan. Maybe she saw it as immature but he just saw it as normal. He liked Jarshan and thought very highly of her, he couldn't understand why everyone else didn't think the same way as him. And he knew he wasn't the best looking guy in the Weyr, if he didn't chase those other guys away then why would she want to stay with him? Annnd really, what guy could resist Jarshan when she was strutting around like she was now.
"If you keep walking around like that I doubt fear is going to be enough to keep the other men away from you. And that's just not fair to go around doing that to me right now. I at least took the effort to find a shirt this morning so I wouldn't be teasing you."

He tried hard to look away from her and manged to do it for a few seconds before giving up. Yes he had spent the night with someone else but even that couldn't stop the effect Jarshan had on him. He just didn't feel like he had to act on it right now.
"Next time I'm going to make as much of an effort as I can to find you during the flight. That'll be a much better way to spend the night I think."

[Marnark]

Jarshan shrugged. "Granted I don't have compunctions against killing people, D'ero. But I do have to have a sharding good reason to do so. I don't go around knifing people for things they don't have any control over." She pointed out. Really ... was he that scared of her? If he was that terrified, how in the world did he even manage to talk to her any, much less any of the other outings they had shared? The lad was a strange one indeed!

When he commented on how she was walking, Jarshan laughed and made a few more steps just to torque his gourd. She had the upper hand at the moment, knew it, and flaunted it. But she wasn't totally merciless, and did eventually stop, coming to a more normal stance at rest in front of him again. "You're silly. You think you have to take your shirt off to be teasing? Did I take my shirt off?" She countered. "Don't you worry about them, either. They know better." Jarshan grinned a little, before tugging a few more wrinkles out of his shirt. "You might want to go get cleaned up though. Flight or no flight, you still have duties today." She reminded.

But. Wait. She arched an eyebrow at him. "I'd rather you didn't. I am not a moth, and don't plan to be. Flights can be rather rough, and I'm not interested in being raped, regardless who by." Jarshan answered firmly.

[Ise]

"Well in the North, some women see being cheated on as enough of a reason to to seriously maim or kill someone. And I'm still a silly Northern boy who isn't use to things like this. I wasn't expecting you to be so ok with this, I figured you'd still be a little upset about things even if you accept it as being normal."
He wasn't always terrified of her, only some of the time. And he knew she wasn't going to actually kill him, maybe hurt him a bit but not kill him.

D'ero let out a snort and shook his head.
"Jarshan, I don't think swaying my hips back and forth is going to get you all hot and bothered. You're more likely to laugh at me. Of course I'm not going to stop you if you want to take your shirt off..."
He grinned at her and shook his head a bit as she started to pull at some of the wrinkles in his shirt. She was right, he did need to go clean up a little bit and make himself look decent. Especially since he did have some things to take care of today.
"I know, I wanted to see you first though. Getting cleaned up and finding shoes was second on the list for me."

He frowned a little bit at Jarshan's words, clearly bothered by them. He had no idea what he might have done to the poor women he had been with the night before. Now he felt slightly bad that he hadn't stuck around to at least make sure that he hadn't hurt the girl. Great. There was no way he was ever going to win with this flight stuff.
"I don't want to hurt you or anyone else during this stuff. Next time I'm just locking myself in a room so I don't have worry about this any more."
He scowled a bit and tried to convince himself that who ever he had been with was one of those moths who was use to whatever happened and how ever rough it got.

[Marnark]

Jarshan shrugged. "Why would I be upset with you over something you can't control? Now if you went and did such a thing deliberately without Horuth's influence ruining your sense of decorum, then maybe I might hurt you and leave you gasping in the gutter." She clarified. "Flights aren't cheating. It's a natural course of life with dragons." She explained.

But she could only laugh at his misinterpretation of what she had meant. "I didn't mean for you to sway your hips. You're a man! Or at least ... you should be. There are other ways. I sway my hips. Not you, silly Northern boy. Just what do they teach you up there anyway? There's more ways to make yourself attractive than just stripping." Not that she would tell him what those ways were. That was for him to figure out and for her to watch. It would be fun~ "As for the rest ... you have found me, and everything is cleared up. You can go find yourself some shoes now." She reminded, grinning crookedly. It was okay if she decided to remove her shirt, was it? It was good to know these things! But that was something she'd rather do when it would actually get her something. She wasn't really the type to go about being blatant eye candy for someone and not get anything in return. Right now, she certainly wasn't going to get anything in return. So it would wait. Though ... maybe since now she had 'permission' that she didn't really need ... maybe she would ambush him with that someday!

She sighed at his next statement and shook her head. "Don't do that, D'ero. That is wrong and will only drive you up the wall and out of your mind. Not to mention what it might do to Horuth. If you win that flight, you do what you are supposed to do. They're locked in the same heady need you are, after all, and there's no other way to release that tension. Remember that. Now, if you lose ... that's what the moths are there for. They are there because they want to be. No one makes anyone moth. Don't worry about it. They either like it, or can't get it any other way. So don't feel so bad. What I'm not interested in is getting jumped by someone who still thinks they're a dragon. So, tell you what. If you lose, IF you lose, and you have your wits about you enough that you can find me? And trust me, I won't be an easy find. If you can do that, then you may come to me. Alright? I just don't want you being Horuth at me." Reaching upwards, she tried to smooth out the frowns and scowls that lined his face. "Don't worry so much. It is unbecoming."

[Ise]

"I don't even look at other women much less trying anything with them when it's not a flight."
And if he had any real say in the matter he wouldn't do anything with them even during flights. But he knew that flights were a part of being a rider and that he'd have to get use to them sooner or later. And for Horuth's sake it would have to be sooner. Knowing that Jarshan didn't seemed bothered by them would help, though he knew he was still going to feel guilty about them for a while. It just came with being a silly Northern boy.

D'ero let himself smile a bit as Jarshan teased him for his mistake.
"And I was just about to strut around like you too. But I do know there are other things I can do other then strip down. I just always notice that when my shirt comes off you can't help but look. It's quite flattering to me."
Though now he was going to have to try and find other, more subtle ways to flirt with Jarshan, just to prove that he could do more then flaunt his chest.

"Worrying is about the only thing I can do at this point."
He let out a little sigh but gave Jarshan a little smile before taking her hands off his face and held them for moment. He wasn't sure what he would have done with out her. Even if they hadn't been dating he would have gone into a panic waking up in another person's bed. He knew he was lucky to have her, not only was she far smarter then him when it came to flights, she was understanding of it all.
"I'll stop worrying about all this, at least for now. Whats done is done, you're not mad at me and I can't be the only person to leave a moth before they wake up. And the next time Horuth joins a flight, well at least now I have some sort of goal I can try to work towards. And lucky you, it'll probably be a while before I manage to stay in control of myself."

[Marnark]

He'd better not be searching around with other women, not if he was serious about pursuing anything with her. For that was one thing she wouldn't tolerate. Womanizers were something she detested and would not be dealt. It was part of why she'd kept him at arm's length for as long as she had. She had to be sure that he wasn't just chasing her around for her tail ... as dragonriders put it. It was good to know that he didn't, or wouldn't. She actually believed him, given how he had reacted to mothing for a flight.

Jarshan only smirked at him. Of course he looked sharding hot without his shirt on. But then ... most young males did, even when they weren't dragonriders. His being a young male dragonrider only made him that much more fit. She might be older than the usual spring chicken, but that didn't mean anything. She could appreciate a nice masculine set of muscles, no joke. Of course, having those self same muscles just fractions of an inch away from her fingers was a tantalizing thought in and of itself. Just a shirt and a few buttons. But she would be good. She'd done it a lot before, she could continue on for now. It just hatched plans in her mind. Jarshan was getting more and more ready to accept him, to allow him into her world. Even if he was a silly young Northern boy. Smoking hot.

"Yes, good. Now get your silly self along and get yourself cleaned up. I'd hate to see you unable to walk cause your wingleader kicked you in places you won't like for being late." Jarshan turned him around and patted his behind to get him moving. "You have work to do." She carefully neglected to mention that she might look him up when he wasn't busy, but then ... hey. Telling would totally ruin the surprise!