Shanlee apologizes to N'thei about the hip flask.
RL Date: 7/28/07
IC Date: 11/31/12
Water Caverns, High Reaches Weyr
The cavern's shape resembles a huge, big bellied ship, beached and turned upside down. Tendrils of steam fill the air regardless of the time of day or night. The soothing lap of water provides a quiet background melody. Two pools take up the majority of the cavern. The smaller one is used for laundry, while bathers prefer the irregular, larger oval. Pipes, with fanciful feline head spouts, continually supply the cavern with both hot and cold water, and hidden drains lure the used liquid away. Benches slouch back against the rough stone walls, and a few hooks painted in the hues of purple, blue, and lilac allow clothing to be hung during bathing.
The cavern humms with the cheerful conversation of the laundry workers, and nannies chivvy their charges to hurry up and get washed!
Shanlee meanders in from the lower caverns.
Shanlee has arrived.
Late enough to miss the early risers, early enough to miss the bathtime rush, N'thei has a decent portion of the big pool to himself. But he's not in it yet, right now sitting on a low stool near the edge of the pool, towel across his lap, while he scrubs the bottoms of his feet vigorously with soapsand and a brush. Other than his industry, the cavern is fairly empty: Five or six laundresses across the room, one elderly woman plaiting her damp hair.
Wandering in alongside one of the laundresses, Shan's laughter spills out at something said by the plumpish, dark haired woman "It's a deal. If you can get those marks out, I'll bring you some of the spinnings." Dropping the basket of laundry down next to the others, the laundress half-turns "Think you could get your hands on some balls of pink?" The wingsecond grins and hands over a pair of fawn breeches that were slung over her arm "I'll do my best Medela." I'ts likely due to the steam in the caverns that no other has as yet been noticed.
...There's a lengthy pause, even the sound of scrubbing ceased while N'thei cocks his head to listen to the voices, to track the figures through the fog. Just able to be heard over the occasional splash; "Balls of pink." A long, low chuckle leaves him and he resumes scrubbing his feet.
Leaving the women to their task, Shan ambles away from them, seemingly not to be seeking to bathe herself but rather just to take up quiet residence on one of the benches. Her steps carry her on a path passed N'thei and the last of his words picked out. Through a grin "You want some pink yarn too? 'Cos you know, I'd sorta figured you for a blues and whites kinda guy." Finding a bench that still allows conversation and the bronze weyrling his privacy, the wingsecond settles herself and draws one leg up to balance the boot heel on the edge.
Still laughing quietly to himself, N'thei shakes his head and holds up a hand to make sure the negative gesture is observed through the haze. "I'll manage to live without it, thank you. If I'm ever in the market for--" He pauses notably, reorders the words. "--for pink yarn, I'll look you up. Aren't you worried about getting water-logged in here?"
N'thei's negative response draws a low chuckle from Shan too "Not really fond of the color myself, but my mother will insist on sending it. Maybe she thinks if I wear pink, I'll become more ladylike or something." And indeed the steam is causing a few loose tendrils of hair to begin to curl. Shan leans her head back against the rock behind her, eyes half-lidded "It's warm in here and at this time of day generally quiet." After a moment's silence, she puts forth "Listen, about the other day...." words trail off then pick up again "You were right. That was cruel of me and I apologise."
N'thei must have about the cleanest feet at the Weyr by now. He finally stops scrubbing away and dunks them into the water, sends a veil of foam lacing across the top of the pool. "I confess, ma'am, I've always thought there was something sublime about a girl in pink." It's hard to judge the quality of his voice: Sarcastic or serious? "What was cruel of you?"
Shanlee's eyes open a little more fixing a look in N'thei's direction "Alas, then I am surely not the girl for you." she doesn't hide the faint trace of sarcasm however. More silence floats out on the steam before the wingsecond makes low reply "Taunting you with that hipflask?"
"Alas, no. But this?" N'thei's voice has a laughing quality now, muffled though it might be when he peers down at the diluting foam to get a glimpse of nearly polished toes underwater. "This is not really news." Finally clean, he drags a towel around his waist for a few more stitches of decency and starts toward what is presumably his own clothing. "Don't let it keep you up nights, ma'am. I recognize when something's all 'in good fun.'"
Fingers coming to clasp around the knee of that drawn up leg, Shan chuckles "What gave you a clue? My scintillating conversation or demure and retiring ways?" Once N'thei begins moving, he's easier to pick out through the mist and the wingsecond make no apology in idly looking him over as he goes for his clothes. A soft snort is uttered to his last "I can assure you it doesn't. But there's fun and there's fun. As it is your bronze clutchmate thinks me difficult person and this after I apologized." Losing interest in this line of conversation, the petite woman turns it back on the weyrling "How have you been adjusting?"
*....thinks me a difficult person....
N'thei has an eyebrow-raised tone, audible but invisible with distance and mist. "A'son thinks you're a difficult person? Interesting. For what reason did you owe him an apology?" He's not so very shy, but he hasn't got a great deal to be shy about. All he has to say to Shanlee's question is a cut and dried response; "I'll get by."
"Ugghh." the sound of annoyance coming from Shan echoing slightly "Long story short. He said something I took the wrong way and I snapped at him for it. Went to apologize and somehow ended up upsetting him again." Slight shoulders shift against the wall "I've come to the conclusion that men are every bit as 'difficult' as woman are purported to be." The drawn up leg is dropped with a clunk of heel "Getting by and figuring it all out in here." an unseen tap to her own head is made "Are two different things." Laughter from the laundry pool swirls out in muted form across the foggy distance, causing the greenrider to swing her attention in that direction but continue to speak to N'thei "Have you been told who your mentor is to be?"
N'thei swings his head around toward the laughter also; laughter, especially female laughter, when a man is standing around 75% naked is never a good thing. He pulls on his shorts, pants promptly afterward. "But you're the one who took it the wrong way in the first place? I can see how that would lead you to believe that men are the difficult ones." Fastening up, he pads back over barefoot to pick up his bathing supplies; "I have. Your Wingleader, actually."
Shanlee doesn't bother hiding the smirk as N'thei reacts to the laughter by speeding up his dressing process. "I am. And I admitted, told him it wasn't his fault and then apologized. What more did he want? A sharding date?" disgruntlement sits lightly through the last, but is soon swept away "Whatever. I've more to worry about then if someone is inclined to accept my apology or not." Fine brows lift in unison at his reply "C'len?" a moment to take this in "He's a good man N'thei. I'm glad you've been assigned him." fondness for her wingleader sits easily through the words.
N'thei tosses soap, scrub brush, and wash rags into a basket, brings it all back over to his shirt and towel and such, not so far from Shanlee's bench. "Maybe he did. Did you offer him one? It certainly would sweeten an apology from my perspective." He flashes the greenrider a brief and prompting smile. "I haven't exactly figured out the purpose of a mentor, to tell you the truth. Maybe for someone like Madison, who can use all the direction she can get, but it's enough to take orders from I'daur and Emilly until I'm deemed responsible enough to be treated like an adult again." There's room for bitterness in the remark; as usual, he leaves out any real emotional draw from the words.
More giggling erupts from the laundry pools, causing a roll of eyes from Shan in that direction "Maybe if you put your shirt on?" she suggests to N'thei should he find this discomforting too. Arms fold across herself perhaps a little defensively and the greenrider watches the weyrling stow his cleaning supplies for a bit before answering guardedly "No. He'd just get the wrong idea if I did anyway." Subject closed by the tone of her voice. Mentoring draws a wry grin "It's got to be harder being an adult and now having restrictions placed upon you. That's what C'len's there for. Not to judge or try and teach but for you to talk to. If it hadn't been for Rilsa, I think there's some days I definitely would have gone nuts." The young green weyrling draws a faint frown but no words as yet.
N'thei confides lightly, "I'm trying to take it as flattery. Girls get stupid and giggly when they're excited." He pulls out his shirt anyway, smoothes down the front of it, and pulls it across his shoulders. Through half the buttons, he slides Shanlee a demure grin; "Present company excluded, of course." The explanation of mentors has him laughing again, and he finishes buttoning up with a smile and a head shake. "That is to imply that you aren't nuts now?"
Nodding slowly in a show of enlightenment, Shan leans his way a little and answers low "Ahhh. Excited, I see." Of course she's now going to tease further and makes a show of studying what little is left to see once he begins doing up his buttons "Nah, not excited in the least. Guess I'm a cold fish then huh?" wink. N'thei's last, draws her chin up, mischief dancing behind green eyes "Nope. As sane as sane can be. Even the purple firelizards that visit from time to time concur."
N'thei laughs drolly at the mention of purple firelizards, brief while he reaches for his socks. He doesn't get as far as putting them on, has them in one hand when he turns back to Shanlee. For a moment, Shanlee has the luxury of seeing those gray eyes turn bedroomy, the way they rake the greenrider with a slow blink to underline just a flickering smile at the corner of his mouth; "Tell me the thought hasn't crossed your mind. It's crossed mine." If Shanlee was a laundry girl, she'd probably be in a world of seductive hurt right now.
The grin that formed over purple firelizards and sanity, slips by degrees at the look coming from N'thei. Instead of the flush of demureness or any show of discomfort, Shan meets those gray eyes with a level look of her own "I'll tell you nothing of the sort. You're still a weyrling and such talk is out of bounds." Cool the demeanor, whether affected or not, that settles across the petite frame as the wingsecond stands. That she has to tilt her chin upward once again to meet those eyes of the bronze weyrling's doesn't seem to rankle this time "I think its time I left and you got back to your lifemate. He's still a baby and needs all of your attention." lips curl into a faint smirk as she puts herself 'out of bounds'.
N'thei reaches toward that upturned chin, his index finger all set to scoop beneath Shanlee's jawline, but it fades before ever coming into actual contact with her skin. "I'm not a weyrling forever, and you won't be able to keep your hauteur indefinitely." He drops his hand away from the out of bounds greenrider, but the look on his face makes it obvious that he /wants/ her, or at least that he wants her to believe that. Then he sits down to put on his socks, and the moment passes. "Wyaeth would prefer I wore socks and shoes if I'm walking across the bowl."
No, this isn't a woman that slaps or backs off when presented with a tricky situation. Instead he gets ice cold. That movement of N'thei's finger toward her chin, narrows green eyes on him "Don't you dare." coming out in low warning. His accompanying words harden those eyes further and set her jaw in defiant challenge "Just try me -weyrling-." the title deliberately used over her being able to resist his charms. Only now is a step back taken, and then turning on heel, flung over her shoulder "My duties to Wyaeth." before quick staccato steps carry her off toward the exit. The laundresses that had been watching the exchange and probably the worst gossips in the weyr, take to low whispered conversation behind hands.
N'thei doesn't dare. He thought about it, will probably continue to think about it while he laces up his boots and marches across the bowl. Fortunately, anything thinking he does is behind a poker face and dogged by an unfettered wish for the laundresses to have themselves a fine afternoon, ladies. Let rumor play as it must.
Shanlee meanders back out to the lower caverns.
Shanlee has left.
IC Date: 11/31/12
Water Caverns, High Reaches Weyr
The cavern's shape resembles a huge, big bellied ship, beached and turned upside down. Tendrils of steam fill the air regardless of the time of day or night. The soothing lap of water provides a quiet background melody. Two pools take up the majority of the cavern. The smaller one is used for laundry, while bathers prefer the irregular, larger oval. Pipes, with fanciful feline head spouts, continually supply the cavern with both hot and cold water, and hidden drains lure the used liquid away. Benches slouch back against the rough stone walls, and a few hooks painted in the hues of purple, blue, and lilac allow clothing to be hung during bathing.
The cavern humms with the cheerful conversation of the laundry workers, and nannies chivvy their charges to hurry up and get washed!
Shanlee meanders in from the lower caverns.
Shanlee has arrived.
Late enough to miss the early risers, early enough to miss the bathtime rush, N'thei has a decent portion of the big pool to himself. But he's not in it yet, right now sitting on a low stool near the edge of the pool, towel across his lap, while he scrubs the bottoms of his feet vigorously with soapsand and a brush. Other than his industry, the cavern is fairly empty: Five or six laundresses across the room, one elderly woman plaiting her damp hair.
Wandering in alongside one of the laundresses, Shan's laughter spills out at something said by the plumpish, dark haired woman "It's a deal. If you can get those marks out, I'll bring you some of the spinnings." Dropping the basket of laundry down next to the others, the laundress half-turns "Think you could get your hands on some balls of pink?" The wingsecond grins and hands over a pair of fawn breeches that were slung over her arm "I'll do my best Medela." I'ts likely due to the steam in the caverns that no other has as yet been noticed.
...There's a lengthy pause, even the sound of scrubbing ceased while N'thei cocks his head to listen to the voices, to track the figures through the fog. Just able to be heard over the occasional splash; "Balls of pink." A long, low chuckle leaves him and he resumes scrubbing his feet.
Leaving the women to their task, Shan ambles away from them, seemingly not to be seeking to bathe herself but rather just to take up quiet residence on one of the benches. Her steps carry her on a path passed N'thei and the last of his words picked out. Through a grin "You want some pink yarn too? 'Cos you know, I'd sorta figured you for a blues and whites kinda guy." Finding a bench that still allows conversation and the bronze weyrling his privacy, the wingsecond settles herself and draws one leg up to balance the boot heel on the edge.
Still laughing quietly to himself, N'thei shakes his head and holds up a hand to make sure the negative gesture is observed through the haze. "I'll manage to live without it, thank you. If I'm ever in the market for--" He pauses notably, reorders the words. "--for pink yarn, I'll look you up. Aren't you worried about getting water-logged in here?"
N'thei's negative response draws a low chuckle from Shan too "Not really fond of the color myself, but my mother will insist on sending it. Maybe she thinks if I wear pink, I'll become more ladylike or something." And indeed the steam is causing a few loose tendrils of hair to begin to curl. Shan leans her head back against the rock behind her, eyes half-lidded "It's warm in here and at this time of day generally quiet." After a moment's silence, she puts forth "Listen, about the other day...." words trail off then pick up again "You were right. That was cruel of me and I apologise."
N'thei must have about the cleanest feet at the Weyr by now. He finally stops scrubbing away and dunks them into the water, sends a veil of foam lacing across the top of the pool. "I confess, ma'am, I've always thought there was something sublime about a girl in pink." It's hard to judge the quality of his voice: Sarcastic or serious? "What was cruel of you?"
Shanlee's eyes open a little more fixing a look in N'thei's direction "Alas, then I am surely not the girl for you." she doesn't hide the faint trace of sarcasm however. More silence floats out on the steam before the wingsecond makes low reply "Taunting you with that hipflask?"
"Alas, no. But this?" N'thei's voice has a laughing quality now, muffled though it might be when he peers down at the diluting foam to get a glimpse of nearly polished toes underwater. "This is not really news." Finally clean, he drags a towel around his waist for a few more stitches of decency and starts toward what is presumably his own clothing. "Don't let it keep you up nights, ma'am. I recognize when something's all 'in good fun.'"
Fingers coming to clasp around the knee of that drawn up leg, Shan chuckles "What gave you a clue? My scintillating conversation or demure and retiring ways?" Once N'thei begins moving, he's easier to pick out through the mist and the wingsecond make no apology in idly looking him over as he goes for his clothes. A soft snort is uttered to his last "I can assure you it doesn't. But there's fun and there's fun. As it is your bronze clutchmate thinks me difficult person and this after I apologized." Losing interest in this line of conversation, the petite woman turns it back on the weyrling "How have you been adjusting?"
*....thinks me a difficult person....
N'thei has an eyebrow-raised tone, audible but invisible with distance and mist. "A'son thinks you're a difficult person? Interesting. For what reason did you owe him an apology?" He's not so very shy, but he hasn't got a great deal to be shy about. All he has to say to Shanlee's question is a cut and dried response; "I'll get by."
"Ugghh." the sound of annoyance coming from Shan echoing slightly "Long story short. He said something I took the wrong way and I snapped at him for it. Went to apologize and somehow ended up upsetting him again." Slight shoulders shift against the wall "I've come to the conclusion that men are every bit as 'difficult' as woman are purported to be." The drawn up leg is dropped with a clunk of heel "Getting by and figuring it all out in here." an unseen tap to her own head is made "Are two different things." Laughter from the laundry pool swirls out in muted form across the foggy distance, causing the greenrider to swing her attention in that direction but continue to speak to N'thei "Have you been told who your mentor is to be?"
N'thei swings his head around toward the laughter also; laughter, especially female laughter, when a man is standing around 75% naked is never a good thing. He pulls on his shorts, pants promptly afterward. "But you're the one who took it the wrong way in the first place? I can see how that would lead you to believe that men are the difficult ones." Fastening up, he pads back over barefoot to pick up his bathing supplies; "I have. Your Wingleader, actually."
Shanlee doesn't bother hiding the smirk as N'thei reacts to the laughter by speeding up his dressing process. "I am. And I admitted, told him it wasn't his fault and then apologized. What more did he want? A sharding date?" disgruntlement sits lightly through the last, but is soon swept away "Whatever. I've more to worry about then if someone is inclined to accept my apology or not." Fine brows lift in unison at his reply "C'len?" a moment to take this in "He's a good man N'thei. I'm glad you've been assigned him." fondness for her wingleader sits easily through the words.
N'thei tosses soap, scrub brush, and wash rags into a basket, brings it all back over to his shirt and towel and such, not so far from Shanlee's bench. "Maybe he did. Did you offer him one? It certainly would sweeten an apology from my perspective." He flashes the greenrider a brief and prompting smile. "I haven't exactly figured out the purpose of a mentor, to tell you the truth. Maybe for someone like Madison, who can use all the direction she can get, but it's enough to take orders from I'daur and Emilly until I'm deemed responsible enough to be treated like an adult again." There's room for bitterness in the remark; as usual, he leaves out any real emotional draw from the words.
More giggling erupts from the laundry pools, causing a roll of eyes from Shan in that direction "Maybe if you put your shirt on?" she suggests to N'thei should he find this discomforting too. Arms fold across herself perhaps a little defensively and the greenrider watches the weyrling stow his cleaning supplies for a bit before answering guardedly "No. He'd just get the wrong idea if I did anyway." Subject closed by the tone of her voice. Mentoring draws a wry grin "It's got to be harder being an adult and now having restrictions placed upon you. That's what C'len's there for. Not to judge or try and teach but for you to talk to. If it hadn't been for Rilsa, I think there's some days I definitely would have gone nuts." The young green weyrling draws a faint frown but no words as yet.
N'thei confides lightly, "I'm trying to take it as flattery. Girls get stupid and giggly when they're excited." He pulls out his shirt anyway, smoothes down the front of it, and pulls it across his shoulders. Through half the buttons, he slides Shanlee a demure grin; "Present company excluded, of course." The explanation of mentors has him laughing again, and he finishes buttoning up with a smile and a head shake. "That is to imply that you aren't nuts now?"
Nodding slowly in a show of enlightenment, Shan leans his way a little and answers low "Ahhh. Excited, I see." Of course she's now going to tease further and makes a show of studying what little is left to see once he begins doing up his buttons "Nah, not excited in the least. Guess I'm a cold fish then huh?" wink. N'thei's last, draws her chin up, mischief dancing behind green eyes "Nope. As sane as sane can be. Even the purple firelizards that visit from time to time concur."
N'thei laughs drolly at the mention of purple firelizards, brief while he reaches for his socks. He doesn't get as far as putting them on, has them in one hand when he turns back to Shanlee. For a moment, Shanlee has the luxury of seeing those gray eyes turn bedroomy, the way they rake the greenrider with a slow blink to underline just a flickering smile at the corner of his mouth; "Tell me the thought hasn't crossed your mind. It's crossed mine." If Shanlee was a laundry girl, she'd probably be in a world of seductive hurt right now.
The grin that formed over purple firelizards and sanity, slips by degrees at the look coming from N'thei. Instead of the flush of demureness or any show of discomfort, Shan meets those gray eyes with a level look of her own "I'll tell you nothing of the sort. You're still a weyrling and such talk is out of bounds." Cool the demeanor, whether affected or not, that settles across the petite frame as the wingsecond stands. That she has to tilt her chin upward once again to meet those eyes of the bronze weyrling's doesn't seem to rankle this time "I think its time I left and you got back to your lifemate. He's still a baby and needs all of your attention." lips curl into a faint smirk as she puts herself 'out of bounds'.
N'thei reaches toward that upturned chin, his index finger all set to scoop beneath Shanlee's jawline, but it fades before ever coming into actual contact with her skin. "I'm not a weyrling forever, and you won't be able to keep your hauteur indefinitely." He drops his hand away from the out of bounds greenrider, but the look on his face makes it obvious that he /wants/ her, or at least that he wants her to believe that. Then he sits down to put on his socks, and the moment passes. "Wyaeth would prefer I wore socks and shoes if I'm walking across the bowl."
No, this isn't a woman that slaps or backs off when presented with a tricky situation. Instead he gets ice cold. That movement of N'thei's finger toward her chin, narrows green eyes on him "Don't you dare." coming out in low warning. His accompanying words harden those eyes further and set her jaw in defiant challenge "Just try me -weyrling-." the title deliberately used over her being able to resist his charms. Only now is a step back taken, and then turning on heel, flung over her shoulder "My duties to Wyaeth." before quick staccato steps carry her off toward the exit. The laundresses that had been watching the exchange and probably the worst gossips in the weyr, take to low whispered conversation behind hands.
N'thei doesn't dare. He thought about it, will probably continue to think about it while he laces up his boots and marches across the bowl. Fortunately, anything thinking he does is behind a poker face and dogged by an unfettered wish for the laundresses to have themselves a fine afternoon, ladies. Let rumor play as it must.
Shanlee meanders back out to the lower caverns.
Shanlee has left.