Dumbass
Who: Aida, N'tai, Essdara
Where: Hatching Galleries
Comment: In which Dara seeks solitude and finds a friend to comfort her, but the comfort is very short lived. Lots of Dara being quiet and trying not to be noticed.
Not the /most/ normal place to kill time, sure, but N'tai's holed up at the top of the galleries with a mug of something, a yo-yo, and some scrap-looking silk scarves on the bench in front of him. He yawns quietly, from the heat and the burgeoning evening, and works on trying to make an elaborate swingset out of the yo-yo. Ambitious of him, huh?
Up the stairs and into the heat comes Essdara. She has a sedate expression on her face - tired and drawn. A glance around confirms that the room is empty, and it's a few steps along the bleachers before she doubletakes and realises that no, in fact, they are /not/. A weyrling, a brownrider, hiding up in the back there. Company! She moves up towards him approaching with an almost wary air. "N'tai." Is her quiet greering. "Room for another?"
N'tai looks up, the yo-yo dangling prettily for a few extra seconds before he lowers both hands and it wobbles to a stop. "Dara," is his quiet return, along with a cheeky smile upward as he untangles the string from his fingers, starting to wind it back around the toy. "Always room for you, m'dear. Need a seat?" And he looks at the empty space next to him on the bench, then at the empty spot on his lap in front of him. "Take your pick."
A saucy smile, and she claims a seat - next to him. But a small concession as she leans over and rests against him. "Didn't expect to see anyone in there." She admits. "But I don't mind being wrong, this time. What brings you to find solitude here? Barracks get overwhelming again?"
"Where else is a guy gonna go practice yo-yoing?" asks N'tai, only looking crestfallen for a few seconds when Dara sits next to him. "Was worth a try," he adds as a chuckled aside at her choice of locations, still busy putting away his toys so he can't tuck Essdara in against him yet. "What're you doing in here? --Where's your yo-yo?"
Essdara chuckles softly and shrugs. "Never had one, and didn't know to find one before I could enjoy your presence." She closes her eyes a moment, with a soft sigh. "And I just needed some quiet time myself. It's been a rough week again. Still, a bit of comfort and friendship here is quite a good thing, so thank you for being here."
Aida climbs the stairs that lead from the entrance below.
N'tai remarks lightly, "It's a good place to play yo-yo and juggle, both of which seem to get frowned on in the barracks." He and Essdara are sitting waaaaay up in the top row of benches, the brownrider draping an arm across the girl's shoulders companionably. "I maintain you need a distraction, and since you insist on obeying the rules-- here." He proffers his yo-yo toward Essdara with a cheeky half-smile (half because that's all the more he can smile these days.) "Go nuts."
Essdara shrugs a bit. "Rules suck." Dara says, with a smirk. "And it's not like the whole weyr doesn't seem to know who I spend nights with anyway. I swear, you'd think they had better things to talk about than who a cook frolics with." She looks at the yo-yo a moment, almost warily. "Do I have to sit up to play with it? Cause, really, don't much want to."
Taking the stairs two at a time, Aida is a bit breathless when she reaches the top, stopping just a few paces in to lift her chin and take the galleries in with a sweep of her eyes. It doesn't take her long to spot the pair at the top of the benches, and...well, she stills. Entirely. Oh. Was she spotted? Probably hoping that the answer to this is a no, she starts to back up far more carefully and gracefully than she arrived. Sneaksneak.
"I dunno who you spend your nights with," remarks N'tai with a chuckle. "But-- since it's not me-- I don't care so much, either." Ah, how he sighs, so despondent, so tragedied, so faking it. "You can stay slouchy if you want. That's the fun of yo-yo, just play. Do you know how?" Initially, he missed Aida's entrance, being preoccupied with cuddling Essdara and discussing the finer facets of pointless toys. But now he sees her from over the top of Dara's head, and he lifts a wave to indicate as much. "Hi, there."
"Good." Dara says, giving a little squeeze. Her eyes go back to the child's toy and she smiles a little. "I do't, really, like I said I've never seen one much." At his greeting, her head turns a bit to see Aida. Her smile, small as it was, fades, but she seems determiend to at least be polite. A small wave is offered the other girl, and a voice just loud enough to carry. "Hello, Aida."
See Aida. See Aida turn into a green eyed monster, and yet do her absolute best to hide it all the same. She does pause in her retreat when she's spotted, putting on a smile and lifting her hand to wave in turn. "Hallo," she calls, voice only a little strained. "Didn't mean to interrupt. You guys have a nice night, alright?" Another step backwards is taken. Polite is good, but the retreat is not abandoned, no.
N'tai leans across with the other arm, taking ahold of the end of the string and winding it around the yo-yo the way it's supposed to go before he hands the end to Dara. "It's pretty easy. You just--" There's a very quick glance between the two girls, briefly shifty, and then he waves Aida up toward them with a quick bend of his fingers. "You're not. Come up. We're playing." At which point he leans over and collects the juggling scarves on the bench in front of him, offering, "It's a nice place to kill time."
Essdara tenses, ever so slightly, at his invitation to Aida. But still, a light smile is offered to her. "Aye. Just finding a bit of relaxation and comfort with a friend. Been a week, you know?" She takes the toy, looking at it a bit, then offering it out to Aida. "Want to try out his yo-yo?" Perfect innocence; for once, she is genuine and not teasing. "Not qutie sure it's my kind of game."
"I'll pass," Aida replies, shaking her head and taking another step back. Her voice is only a *little* bit flat. Two more to go and she'll be back at the stairs. Hopefully, it will involve turning around at that point. "Thanks, though. I do need-" Pause. "To go wash my hair. I just remembered." That is so not what she was going to say, but it's what gets said all the same. "Enjoy the relaxation." She flashes a smile, lifts a hand to wave, and then she's turning. Escape.
Squeezing Essdara's collarbone lightly with his hand, N'tai continues to lean his arm across her shoulders despite the whole tension thing. Or perhaps because of the whole tension thing. "It's everyone's kinda game, Dara. It's all the wrist. And it's relaxing." Unlike Aida trying to beat a hasty retreat, which makes his eyebrows knit together and all. "C'mon, Aida. You can at least stick around long enough to come up with a better lame excuse than that one. Hang out for a while?" Pretty please? With a big-eyed hopeful smile and all.
Essdara will even be helpful, sitting upright. See? Not touching him anymore. But rather than urging Aida either way, beyond that concession, she simply focuses on the toy. The little loop of the string is found, and instinct has it around her finger. Then, she lets go of the body, which unrolls down the string, hit's the end... And just kinda stops, spinning there in midair. An unconvinced smile from the cook, "Interesting."
"Look, I don't know what you're thinking," Aida says, voice tightening as she turns back around to look at N'tai, look at Dara. "But if the two of you are relaxing, my presence is not particularly helpful in this cause. I hunted you down to come and talk to you about the other day, and I see..." A hand lifts, gestures towards the pair of them. It doesn't seem to help that Essdara is sitting up now. "Everyone pretending to make nice is just uncomfortable, and there's no need. I'll see you later, alright?" Blunt as ever. "Genuine relaxation is good. This? Isn't it. I meant what I said -- have a nice night."
N'tai shakes his head with tolerant amusement at Essdara's handling of the yo-yo. "You need to roll it off your hand," he begins, leaning down to catch it and start winding the string around it neatly, working back up to Dara's none too skilled fingers. "Kind of flick your wrist, then flick it again, and it rolls back up the string." Like it's just that easy. Aida's abruptness catches him off-guard, has him floundering for words for a few seconds; then he reports with frank kindness in his voice, "I'm not pretending to make nice. I was actually just being nice?" He starts partways off the bench, stuck between standing and not.
Essdara listens to N'tai's explanation, but her heart is clearly not in it - probablt because of the situation at hand. She looks to Aida, with a small smile. "I wasn't pretending either, Aida. Why should I have to?" A shrug. "These days, we all need all the friends we can get, to help us through all this. Conversely, if stayin will make /you/ unhappy, then going is the right thing. Need to look out for ourselves, too, and there's nothing wrong with that."
N'tai's answer has her putting on a smile again, another abrupt change; this one towards cheer. "I know, I just-" Aida cuts off, at Essdara's words, and for just an instant there's something wounded there, like the emotional knife was just twisted again. That too is covered up, and her smile just brightens further. "I just have things to do. Thank you, Essdara, and thank you, N'tai. I appreciate it, both of you. Really, just relax, pretend I didn't interrupt. Have a good night." And now, she turns again, taking swift steps to cross that tiny distance to the stairs. Zoom.
"Wow. If you two were guys, you could just punch each other and call it a day." N'tai wears a look of honest bemusement as he looks between the two of them again, his face falling confusedly as he watches Aida continue to zoom. "I wish you'd stay--" he calls toward her retreat, dropping his hands helplessly on his kneecaps and looking Dara-wards. Li'l help?
Essdara winces softly at N'tai's comment. "I don't want to hit anyone, N'tai." She says, softly. "I've hurt enough people I care about this week, and trying not to do it again." She looks towards the retreating Aida, and her face reflects sadness and frustration. "I don't want you to go, Aida." She says, loud enough to hear, and keeping it simple.
Three steps down the stairs Aida makes it before the words of the other two catch up to her, and it's two more before she stops again. Shadowed by the stairwell and with her back up towards them, only the lack of the thud-thud-thud of her heavy boots make it obvious that she stops. A few moments later, she comes back up -- backwards -- and plops down on the top step. Thud. No saying anything, no looking at them, just sitting at the top of the stairs. Oh, those shoulders are wound up, coiled. Fine. There she is. Sitting, even.
N'tai offers amiably, "Wanna yo-yo? Dara's not doing too well at it." He's only got the one of them, and he looks at it for a moment like it's going to give him some great insight in to how best to handle this situation, now that he's got what he thought he wanted: Aida sticking around, that is. "So. When are you two going to be friends again?" he asks, casual-like, smiling toward Essdara then beyond her toward Aida.
Essdara is quiet a long moment at that question, watching the other woman carefully from her place next to N'tai. "Dunno if that's possible." She admits quietly. "I did a lot to hurt her, and I am betting that finding us here together isn't exactly going to endear me to her." A look down. "I... Am not very good at such things."
We are talking total three year old mode, here. Aida is being practically as contrary as she gets. Right now, this involves staying. And doing absolutely nothing else. N'tai's words are not acknowledged, and neither are Dara's. She doesn't look back at either of them, just sits on the top step and brings one hand up over her lap, turning it over and about so that she can study her fingernails. La la la, look. They're fingernails. But they're such /interesting/ fingernails.
"What'd you do?" asks N'tai, like it's any of his business. What's more, like they're just going to talk about it right in front of him out in the open and all. "And it doesn't matter about you and me here. We talked about it. Aida and me." He leans over his seat considerably, trying to get a better scope on Aida's fingernail-watching expression. "Don't be a baby, baby."
Essdara sighs. "It's a long story, N'tain, and amounts to 'I was a childish little git.' Repeatedly. It's fine, and it is what it is." A small smile. "And no, N'tai. I don't think it's that easy." A glance at Aida. "But nor will I feel guilty for being your friend, or in accepting comfort from you when I am down."
Shoulders tightening further at N'tai's words, Aida starts to speak up, her hand dropping -- and the words stop, when she hears Essdara. She starts to slump, leaning forward a little bit, and then catches that too; she straightens back out, lifts her chin again, and then pushes up to her feet smoothly. When she turns around, the eyes she focuses on the two of them are not neutral, but cold. Her chin lifts, and she does her best haughty impression. "There's no need for feeling guilty," she states, words clipped. "Nor anything else. I don't have anything to say to either of you, and I highly doubt either of you have anything to say that I want to hear. I'm going, now -- good evening." And again, she's turning to go.
N'tai's spent a lot of the time since Aida came in looking confused, and-- since it's been working for him so well-- he keeps on doing that right now. "What did /I/ do?" he asks of anyone who wants to answer. With only Essdara and Aida here, he can really only implore so long before he runs out of possible sources of information. No effort is made to stall Aida this time (so at least he learned /that/ lesson).
Essdara lays a hand on his arm with a shake of her head. "Nothing." She assures him. She turns, watching Aida go sadly. She, too, makes no effort to stop her. "I hope you have a good evening, too, Aida." She says, genuinelly meaning it.
Step, step, stop. Aida tenses up further, and...well, there's only so much holding in of that temper that she can do. She jerks around again, and this time, she's not heading out, but towards the two of them. Ah, stalking, up through the stands and heading towards the benches where they sit. "You can't /really/ be that oblivious, can you?" And oh, that's not cold, no. That's anything but. Anger and sarcasm positively drip. Dara's seen this before! It's not any prettier this time around. At least it's focused on N'tai, this time. "What did /you/ do? Do you happen to have a dagger on you, N'tai? I'd really prefer it if you used a real one, rather than a metaphorical one. At least a real one gets shoved in and twisted, they can put numbweed on it." This is an angry Aida. A very, very angry Aida. At least she does not have Bashie on hand.
N'tai actually pats his pockets; fortunately for everyone involved, he does not have an actual dagger and expresses this with a mute shake of his head, eyeing Aida like she's grown a second head. On her elbow. "Apparently, I am this oblivious. Why don't you take a deep breath--" He glances sideways at Essdara during the delicately voiced suggestion, checking for moral support. "--and tell me what I did, so I can stop doing it?" Again, confusion-- not fake confusion that hopes to dodge some inevitable bullet, but real confusion that wonders who dropped the piano out of the fifth story building and why he was unfortunate enough to be walking on the sidewalk right underneath it.
Essdara has, indeed, seen this Aida before, and winces softly as she watches her approach. A light squeeze to N'tai's arm where she holds it; support, hopefully. She doesn't look inclined to speak, her expression still sad and now mixed with a healthy dose of wariness as she tries to figure out how to ease things - if, indeed, they can be.
Stalk, stalk, stalk. Aida winds her way up, and maybe thankfully, stops a good ten feet or so back, bringing her arms up to cross them over her chest and glowering. "Let's see. One -- /we/ did not talk about it. You talked about it while I tried not to cry," she explains, voice still threaded with dripping sarcasm. It's easier to lash out and be angry than it is to be hurt, after all. "Two. I don't get so much as a hug any more, let alone a /shoulder/, but you're happy as can be to get all cozy with /her/. So, you know? I'm a little bit hurt. So I try a graceful withdrawal, but no, I have to stick around so the whole thing can get rubbed in my face. She and I don't get along, in /case/ you happened to miss that. You expect me to just be happy cheery about seeing you all over one another? I'm having a rough time right now, N'tai. Adding 'spending an hour or two chatting happily and playing nice while trying not to bawl' is /not/ on my list of things I really want to do today. If that's okay with you?" She is at least speaking. Rather than jumping forward and trying to strangle. That's probably good. There's no deep breaths, though. Raaaaaaaar.
"Happy cheery?" N'tai pauses, squinting one eye in hard thought. "No. No, I guess not. But I didn't expect this either." As evident by the aforementioned confusion. (Did I mention the confusion? Yeah. Still there.) "Aida, you have a boyfriend. And it's not me. And I've never gotten mad at you for that, have I? So..." He obviously believes she should be able to put two and two together, and he gestures to himself and Essdara, to whom he continually darts looks of increasing alarm. "I'm sorry?" For something he's not clear on, but he says it anyway!
Essdara adds, "Not, mind you, that I'm his girlfriend. I'm just a friend. We all know where my preference in romance is, and he's in no position as a weyrling to be even be a casual playmate." She shakes her head a bit. "I... Don't know what is, or is not, between you two. Nor is it my business. If I sought to try to get you to stay, it wasn't to rub your nose in anything, it was to maybe, just maybe, try to find some common ground and maybe some hope of at least being able to be around each other. But as you say... We don't get along. I'm sorry, for not letting you leave when you wanted to, when it was clearly the right choice."
"No you're not, you don't even get it," Aida snaps at N'tai, shaking her head at him. He is at least saved from further verbal assault by Dara's words, and her eyes shift over that way, glare not dimming at all. "There's nothing between us. Not a single sharding thing under the sun. Obviously. And you know where to find me. You'll forgive me, I hope, if I don't want to talk it all over right now." Still, so very sarcastic. Her hands curl up into fists, and that is apparently her cue to drop her arms, shift on her feet, and start stalking back down the way she came.
N'tai says with frustration evident, "I don't know what it is we are or aren't, either. And I dunno what the hell just happened here." To Dara, and hastily, "Don't be sorry. You said 'good bye' about sixteen times. I just thought--" Something. "Stay here," he suggests of Essdara after her helpful speech, to which he nods repeatedly-- especially the bit about 'casual playmate'-- but realizes he shouldn't say anything. On his feet, clamoring over benches, he adds, "Stop, Aida? We obviously need to talk about this."
Essdara looks to Aida, flinching at her words. "I do know, and that, at least, doesn't need forgiving." Other things, maybe. "Good night, Aida." Is her simple, of oft-repeated, goodbye. She watches N'tai go after her with a sympathetic sigh, but for once does as she's told and stays.
Stomp stomp stomp. Aida stops again about halfway out when she realizes that no really, he's not going to give up on this. She grinds her teeth together for a moment, then turns her head to fix that glare on N'tai. "If you come close enough for me to hit you," she tells him, "I will be hitting you." Hey, fair warning, right?
N'tai answers calmly enough, "If you hit me, you will feel bad about it afterward." He risks it, 'cause that's the kind of (wow, I hope this is a) bluff calling guy he is. "Also, you could accomplish more by like talking to me than by punching me. Unless the idea is to hurt your hand and my face, in which case--" Way up there now, Essdara gets one more look, to make sure she's still there to be a witness if push comes to shove. Literally.
Essdara is still there, yes, and still watching and listening as best she can, for the moment letting silence be her contribution.
Oh. He did not just. Oh. Aida takes a half step back, bringing a hand up and back and shifting on her feet as her whole body gets ready to go through with the motion -- and she stops. Of course she stops. There is shaking, now. Her hand drops back down, the anger brightening up until it looks an awful lot like hatred in the glare she's fixing on him. But she doesn't hit, and she doesn't say anything. If looks could kill, though.
Ready to take it if he has to, N'tai braces himself for an impact that never comes. The look doesn't make him relax very quickly, but he de-tenses after a few fist-free seconds. "That's a step in the right direction. So. Um." He scratches the back of his neck at his hairline thoughtfully, scuffing his foot on the floor in an arrangement so he can be sure Dara doesn't bolt any time soon. "Can you stop hating me long enough to explain why you hate me?"
Essdara isn't bolting; that would draw far too much attention to herself. Nope, she's even looking away now, towards the sands; a token, if ineffectual, offer of privacy for teh quarreling pair.
"Because you're stupid and you're confusing and you /hurt me/," Aida spits at him promptly, though the anger really doesn't lessen any, making the words tight and difficult for her to get out. Now at her sides, the fingernails of both hands begin digging into her palms in an effort to maintain some measure of control over herself. At least it's an explanation. Even if it doesn't...well, explain anything.
N'tai, readily, "I'll grant stupid." And self-deprecating. "Not sure about confusing. And I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just trying to--" Something. With Essdara. And the snuggling. Which went badly. All this is indicated by the hedging, foot-scuffing shrug that follows his words. "To fool around with Dara. Because she'll let me. And I'm attracted to her. And she's /single/."
Essdara is still listening; you can tell by the blush that N'tai's words bring out. Yup, this is her, staring at the sands, and not the train-wreck unfolding below her. Still, she can't entirely hide the wince his words bring, and thankfully there's noone to hear her muttered comment. "Somehow, I'm thinking it wasn't being with me that hurt her, dumba..." She trails off.
"And if you'd just let me /go/ I could have gone off and cried by myself and we wouldn't have had /any/ of this mess," Aida points out, her voice going from angry to broken sounding, something of a plea weaving through the words as she makes a fast shift from fury and drops gears down towards tears, though she's not quite there yet. "I /saw/ what you were doing, thanks. It's fine, alright? It's...it's all just /fine/." Obviously. "Go fool around with Essdara, and have your fun, and just leave me alone."
N'tai just lets her go, then, mumbling a simple, "All right. I'm sorry." He even trudges on away from her to make it that much easier for Aida to leave in that case, wearing a pensive expression that doesn't clear up much as he drags his heels back up the rows of seats toward where he came from in the first place. "Any ideas?" he asks toward Dara about halfway up.
Essdara looks back at N'tai, and over towards Aida, and back. A soft sigh. "I can't think of anything that will help now, N'tai." A look to Aida, expression troubled. "I'm sorry, Aida." She says, barely loud enough for the woman to hear. Back to N'tai. "I've not said yet I'd let yuo do anything, N'tai... And I'd like you to remember that. I'd like to think I am more of a friend than an easy lay. 'Cause honestly? I can get that anywhere, without hurting someone I care about."
Women. That may have been the time that she didn't actually want him to walk away, given the wounded, heartbroken sort of look that gets sent towards N'tai's back. Aida's spinning on a heel an instant later though, bolting for the stairs. She's fairly light on her feet even with those clunky boots, amazingly enough. This time, it's not a strategic retreat, but is instead outright fleeing. Zoom. There's no clue if she even heard Dara's apology; she certainly isn't waiting around for it.
"If you were an easy lay, we'd've had sex by now," points out N'tai. "But if you're about to freak out-- I'm leaving." After a few more steps, he pauses and adds, "I'm probably leaving anyway. But I just wanted you to know that in advance, because I'd really like it if you didn't flip out right now."
Essdara watches Aida go with a worried look and then sighs, looking to N'tai. "No, N'tai, I'm not going to flip out. I've not the emotional strength or physical energy to do so. It is just a simple pointing out that it doesn't feel great to hear you say to someone that you were just trying to fool around with me, cause I'll let you. 'Specially when we were doing nothing of the kind, 'least not yet. And I will leave it at that." She pats the seat next to her, where he was previously, "C'mere. Think we could both use a friend to hold us. Handy, being here together."
"I said I was attracted to you, too. If I'd said, 'because I want her and she's not spoken for so at least I have a shot in hell,' I might actually have gotten punched." N'tai slumps back into his seat, saying dejectedly, "You'll have to forgive me if I don't come up with any new and inventive ways to sneak an arm around you here and there. I'm tapped out."
Essdara puts an arm around him, pulling him over against her. "Then for once, don't sneak and just accept what's offered. No, not gonna sleep with you tonight... That ship's pretty much been sunk for the night. But doesn't mean we can't enjoy a little comfortable companionship." A sigh. "It's one of those nights I just want to crawl into a bed with someone and sleep there, warm and safe. Not got anyone like that anymore."
N'tai promises, "If I didn't have this whole bed-check issue to worry about. And Boranth. Who would not be happy. I'd oblige you." As it is, he'll just hang around with Dara for a while, happy enough to cuddle without pressing the issue much beyond that. Like his player, N'tai's brain has been effectively broken for the night, and anything beyond 'snuggly girl' will just have to wait until the morning.
Where: Hatching Galleries
Comment: In which Dara seeks solitude and finds a friend to comfort her, but the comfort is very short lived. Lots of Dara being quiet and trying not to be noticed.
Not the /most/ normal place to kill time, sure, but N'tai's holed up at the top of the galleries with a mug of something, a yo-yo, and some scrap-looking silk scarves on the bench in front of him. He yawns quietly, from the heat and the burgeoning evening, and works on trying to make an elaborate swingset out of the yo-yo. Ambitious of him, huh?
Up the stairs and into the heat comes Essdara. She has a sedate expression on her face - tired and drawn. A glance around confirms that the room is empty, and it's a few steps along the bleachers before she doubletakes and realises that no, in fact, they are /not/. A weyrling, a brownrider, hiding up in the back there. Company! She moves up towards him approaching with an almost wary air. "N'tai." Is her quiet greering. "Room for another?"
N'tai looks up, the yo-yo dangling prettily for a few extra seconds before he lowers both hands and it wobbles to a stop. "Dara," is his quiet return, along with a cheeky smile upward as he untangles the string from his fingers, starting to wind it back around the toy. "Always room for you, m'dear. Need a seat?" And he looks at the empty space next to him on the bench, then at the empty spot on his lap in front of him. "Take your pick."
A saucy smile, and she claims a seat - next to him. But a small concession as she leans over and rests against him. "Didn't expect to see anyone in there." She admits. "But I don't mind being wrong, this time. What brings you to find solitude here? Barracks get overwhelming again?"
"Where else is a guy gonna go practice yo-yoing?" asks N'tai, only looking crestfallen for a few seconds when Dara sits next to him. "Was worth a try," he adds as a chuckled aside at her choice of locations, still busy putting away his toys so he can't tuck Essdara in against him yet. "What're you doing in here? --Where's your yo-yo?"
Essdara chuckles softly and shrugs. "Never had one, and didn't know to find one before I could enjoy your presence." She closes her eyes a moment, with a soft sigh. "And I just needed some quiet time myself. It's been a rough week again. Still, a bit of comfort and friendship here is quite a good thing, so thank you for being here."
Aida climbs the stairs that lead from the entrance below.
N'tai remarks lightly, "It's a good place to play yo-yo and juggle, both of which seem to get frowned on in the barracks." He and Essdara are sitting waaaaay up in the top row of benches, the brownrider draping an arm across the girl's shoulders companionably. "I maintain you need a distraction, and since you insist on obeying the rules-- here." He proffers his yo-yo toward Essdara with a cheeky half-smile (half because that's all the more he can smile these days.) "Go nuts."
Essdara shrugs a bit. "Rules suck." Dara says, with a smirk. "And it's not like the whole weyr doesn't seem to know who I spend nights with anyway. I swear, you'd think they had better things to talk about than who a cook frolics with." She looks at the yo-yo a moment, almost warily. "Do I have to sit up to play with it? Cause, really, don't much want to."
Taking the stairs two at a time, Aida is a bit breathless when she reaches the top, stopping just a few paces in to lift her chin and take the galleries in with a sweep of her eyes. It doesn't take her long to spot the pair at the top of the benches, and...well, she stills. Entirely. Oh. Was she spotted? Probably hoping that the answer to this is a no, she starts to back up far more carefully and gracefully than she arrived. Sneaksneak.
"I dunno who you spend your nights with," remarks N'tai with a chuckle. "But-- since it's not me-- I don't care so much, either." Ah, how he sighs, so despondent, so tragedied, so faking it. "You can stay slouchy if you want. That's the fun of yo-yo, just play. Do you know how?" Initially, he missed Aida's entrance, being preoccupied with cuddling Essdara and discussing the finer facets of pointless toys. But now he sees her from over the top of Dara's head, and he lifts a wave to indicate as much. "Hi, there."
"Good." Dara says, giving a little squeeze. Her eyes go back to the child's toy and she smiles a little. "I do't, really, like I said I've never seen one much." At his greeting, her head turns a bit to see Aida. Her smile, small as it was, fades, but she seems determiend to at least be polite. A small wave is offered the other girl, and a voice just loud enough to carry. "Hello, Aida."
See Aida. See Aida turn into a green eyed monster, and yet do her absolute best to hide it all the same. She does pause in her retreat when she's spotted, putting on a smile and lifting her hand to wave in turn. "Hallo," she calls, voice only a little strained. "Didn't mean to interrupt. You guys have a nice night, alright?" Another step backwards is taken. Polite is good, but the retreat is not abandoned, no.
N'tai leans across with the other arm, taking ahold of the end of the string and winding it around the yo-yo the way it's supposed to go before he hands the end to Dara. "It's pretty easy. You just--" There's a very quick glance between the two girls, briefly shifty, and then he waves Aida up toward them with a quick bend of his fingers. "You're not. Come up. We're playing." At which point he leans over and collects the juggling scarves on the bench in front of him, offering, "It's a nice place to kill time."
Essdara tenses, ever so slightly, at his invitation to Aida. But still, a light smile is offered to her. "Aye. Just finding a bit of relaxation and comfort with a friend. Been a week, you know?" She takes the toy, looking at it a bit, then offering it out to Aida. "Want to try out his yo-yo?" Perfect innocence; for once, she is genuine and not teasing. "Not qutie sure it's my kind of game."
"I'll pass," Aida replies, shaking her head and taking another step back. Her voice is only a *little* bit flat. Two more to go and she'll be back at the stairs. Hopefully, it will involve turning around at that point. "Thanks, though. I do need-" Pause. "To go wash my hair. I just remembered." That is so not what she was going to say, but it's what gets said all the same. "Enjoy the relaxation." She flashes a smile, lifts a hand to wave, and then she's turning. Escape.
Squeezing Essdara's collarbone lightly with his hand, N'tai continues to lean his arm across her shoulders despite the whole tension thing. Or perhaps because of the whole tension thing. "It's everyone's kinda game, Dara. It's all the wrist. And it's relaxing." Unlike Aida trying to beat a hasty retreat, which makes his eyebrows knit together and all. "C'mon, Aida. You can at least stick around long enough to come up with a better lame excuse than that one. Hang out for a while?" Pretty please? With a big-eyed hopeful smile and all.
Essdara will even be helpful, sitting upright. See? Not touching him anymore. But rather than urging Aida either way, beyond that concession, she simply focuses on the toy. The little loop of the string is found, and instinct has it around her finger. Then, she lets go of the body, which unrolls down the string, hit's the end... And just kinda stops, spinning there in midair. An unconvinced smile from the cook, "Interesting."
"Look, I don't know what you're thinking," Aida says, voice tightening as she turns back around to look at N'tai, look at Dara. "But if the two of you are relaxing, my presence is not particularly helpful in this cause. I hunted you down to come and talk to you about the other day, and I see..." A hand lifts, gestures towards the pair of them. It doesn't seem to help that Essdara is sitting up now. "Everyone pretending to make nice is just uncomfortable, and there's no need. I'll see you later, alright?" Blunt as ever. "Genuine relaxation is good. This? Isn't it. I meant what I said -- have a nice night."
N'tai shakes his head with tolerant amusement at Essdara's handling of the yo-yo. "You need to roll it off your hand," he begins, leaning down to catch it and start winding the string around it neatly, working back up to Dara's none too skilled fingers. "Kind of flick your wrist, then flick it again, and it rolls back up the string." Like it's just that easy. Aida's abruptness catches him off-guard, has him floundering for words for a few seconds; then he reports with frank kindness in his voice, "I'm not pretending to make nice. I was actually just being nice?" He starts partways off the bench, stuck between standing and not.
Essdara listens to N'tai's explanation, but her heart is clearly not in it - probablt because of the situation at hand. She looks to Aida, with a small smile. "I wasn't pretending either, Aida. Why should I have to?" A shrug. "These days, we all need all the friends we can get, to help us through all this. Conversely, if stayin will make /you/ unhappy, then going is the right thing. Need to look out for ourselves, too, and there's nothing wrong with that."
N'tai's answer has her putting on a smile again, another abrupt change; this one towards cheer. "I know, I just-" Aida cuts off, at Essdara's words, and for just an instant there's something wounded there, like the emotional knife was just twisted again. That too is covered up, and her smile just brightens further. "I just have things to do. Thank you, Essdara, and thank you, N'tai. I appreciate it, both of you. Really, just relax, pretend I didn't interrupt. Have a good night." And now, she turns again, taking swift steps to cross that tiny distance to the stairs. Zoom.
"Wow. If you two were guys, you could just punch each other and call it a day." N'tai wears a look of honest bemusement as he looks between the two of them again, his face falling confusedly as he watches Aida continue to zoom. "I wish you'd stay--" he calls toward her retreat, dropping his hands helplessly on his kneecaps and looking Dara-wards. Li'l help?
Essdara winces softly at N'tai's comment. "I don't want to hit anyone, N'tai." She says, softly. "I've hurt enough people I care about this week, and trying not to do it again." She looks towards the retreating Aida, and her face reflects sadness and frustration. "I don't want you to go, Aida." She says, loud enough to hear, and keeping it simple.
Three steps down the stairs Aida makes it before the words of the other two catch up to her, and it's two more before she stops again. Shadowed by the stairwell and with her back up towards them, only the lack of the thud-thud-thud of her heavy boots make it obvious that she stops. A few moments later, she comes back up -- backwards -- and plops down on the top step. Thud. No saying anything, no looking at them, just sitting at the top of the stairs. Oh, those shoulders are wound up, coiled. Fine. There she is. Sitting, even.
N'tai offers amiably, "Wanna yo-yo? Dara's not doing too well at it." He's only got the one of them, and he looks at it for a moment like it's going to give him some great insight in to how best to handle this situation, now that he's got what he thought he wanted: Aida sticking around, that is. "So. When are you two going to be friends again?" he asks, casual-like, smiling toward Essdara then beyond her toward Aida.
Essdara is quiet a long moment at that question, watching the other woman carefully from her place next to N'tai. "Dunno if that's possible." She admits quietly. "I did a lot to hurt her, and I am betting that finding us here together isn't exactly going to endear me to her." A look down. "I... Am not very good at such things."
We are talking total three year old mode, here. Aida is being practically as contrary as she gets. Right now, this involves staying. And doing absolutely nothing else. N'tai's words are not acknowledged, and neither are Dara's. She doesn't look back at either of them, just sits on the top step and brings one hand up over her lap, turning it over and about so that she can study her fingernails. La la la, look. They're fingernails. But they're such /interesting/ fingernails.
"What'd you do?" asks N'tai, like it's any of his business. What's more, like they're just going to talk about it right in front of him out in the open and all. "And it doesn't matter about you and me here. We talked about it. Aida and me." He leans over his seat considerably, trying to get a better scope on Aida's fingernail-watching expression. "Don't be a baby, baby."
Essdara sighs. "It's a long story, N'tain, and amounts to 'I was a childish little git.' Repeatedly. It's fine, and it is what it is." A small smile. "And no, N'tai. I don't think it's that easy." A glance at Aida. "But nor will I feel guilty for being your friend, or in accepting comfort from you when I am down."
Shoulders tightening further at N'tai's words, Aida starts to speak up, her hand dropping -- and the words stop, when she hears Essdara. She starts to slump, leaning forward a little bit, and then catches that too; she straightens back out, lifts her chin again, and then pushes up to her feet smoothly. When she turns around, the eyes she focuses on the two of them are not neutral, but cold. Her chin lifts, and she does her best haughty impression. "There's no need for feeling guilty," she states, words clipped. "Nor anything else. I don't have anything to say to either of you, and I highly doubt either of you have anything to say that I want to hear. I'm going, now -- good evening." And again, she's turning to go.
N'tai's spent a lot of the time since Aida came in looking confused, and-- since it's been working for him so well-- he keeps on doing that right now. "What did /I/ do?" he asks of anyone who wants to answer. With only Essdara and Aida here, he can really only implore so long before he runs out of possible sources of information. No effort is made to stall Aida this time (so at least he learned /that/ lesson).
Essdara lays a hand on his arm with a shake of her head. "Nothing." She assures him. She turns, watching Aida go sadly. She, too, makes no effort to stop her. "I hope you have a good evening, too, Aida." She says, genuinelly meaning it.
Step, step, stop. Aida tenses up further, and...well, there's only so much holding in of that temper that she can do. She jerks around again, and this time, she's not heading out, but towards the two of them. Ah, stalking, up through the stands and heading towards the benches where they sit. "You can't /really/ be that oblivious, can you?" And oh, that's not cold, no. That's anything but. Anger and sarcasm positively drip. Dara's seen this before! It's not any prettier this time around. At least it's focused on N'tai, this time. "What did /you/ do? Do you happen to have a dagger on you, N'tai? I'd really prefer it if you used a real one, rather than a metaphorical one. At least a real one gets shoved in and twisted, they can put numbweed on it." This is an angry Aida. A very, very angry Aida. At least she does not have Bashie on hand.
N'tai actually pats his pockets; fortunately for everyone involved, he does not have an actual dagger and expresses this with a mute shake of his head, eyeing Aida like she's grown a second head. On her elbow. "Apparently, I am this oblivious. Why don't you take a deep breath--" He glances sideways at Essdara during the delicately voiced suggestion, checking for moral support. "--and tell me what I did, so I can stop doing it?" Again, confusion-- not fake confusion that hopes to dodge some inevitable bullet, but real confusion that wonders who dropped the piano out of the fifth story building and why he was unfortunate enough to be walking on the sidewalk right underneath it.
Essdara has, indeed, seen this Aida before, and winces softly as she watches her approach. A light squeeze to N'tai's arm where she holds it; support, hopefully. She doesn't look inclined to speak, her expression still sad and now mixed with a healthy dose of wariness as she tries to figure out how to ease things - if, indeed, they can be.
Stalk, stalk, stalk. Aida winds her way up, and maybe thankfully, stops a good ten feet or so back, bringing her arms up to cross them over her chest and glowering. "Let's see. One -- /we/ did not talk about it. You talked about it while I tried not to cry," she explains, voice still threaded with dripping sarcasm. It's easier to lash out and be angry than it is to be hurt, after all. "Two. I don't get so much as a hug any more, let alone a /shoulder/, but you're happy as can be to get all cozy with /her/. So, you know? I'm a little bit hurt. So I try a graceful withdrawal, but no, I have to stick around so the whole thing can get rubbed in my face. She and I don't get along, in /case/ you happened to miss that. You expect me to just be happy cheery about seeing you all over one another? I'm having a rough time right now, N'tai. Adding 'spending an hour or two chatting happily and playing nice while trying not to bawl' is /not/ on my list of things I really want to do today. If that's okay with you?" She is at least speaking. Rather than jumping forward and trying to strangle. That's probably good. There's no deep breaths, though. Raaaaaaaar.
"Happy cheery?" N'tai pauses, squinting one eye in hard thought. "No. No, I guess not. But I didn't expect this either." As evident by the aforementioned confusion. (Did I mention the confusion? Yeah. Still there.) "Aida, you have a boyfriend. And it's not me. And I've never gotten mad at you for that, have I? So..." He obviously believes she should be able to put two and two together, and he gestures to himself and Essdara, to whom he continually darts looks of increasing alarm. "I'm sorry?" For something he's not clear on, but he says it anyway!
Essdara adds, "Not, mind you, that I'm his girlfriend. I'm just a friend. We all know where my preference in romance is, and he's in no position as a weyrling to be even be a casual playmate." She shakes her head a bit. "I... Don't know what is, or is not, between you two. Nor is it my business. If I sought to try to get you to stay, it wasn't to rub your nose in anything, it was to maybe, just maybe, try to find some common ground and maybe some hope of at least being able to be around each other. But as you say... We don't get along. I'm sorry, for not letting you leave when you wanted to, when it was clearly the right choice."
"No you're not, you don't even get it," Aida snaps at N'tai, shaking her head at him. He is at least saved from further verbal assault by Dara's words, and her eyes shift over that way, glare not dimming at all. "There's nothing between us. Not a single sharding thing under the sun. Obviously. And you know where to find me. You'll forgive me, I hope, if I don't want to talk it all over right now." Still, so very sarcastic. Her hands curl up into fists, and that is apparently her cue to drop her arms, shift on her feet, and start stalking back down the way she came.
N'tai says with frustration evident, "I don't know what it is we are or aren't, either. And I dunno what the hell just happened here." To Dara, and hastily, "Don't be sorry. You said 'good bye' about sixteen times. I just thought--" Something. "Stay here," he suggests of Essdara after her helpful speech, to which he nods repeatedly-- especially the bit about 'casual playmate'-- but realizes he shouldn't say anything. On his feet, clamoring over benches, he adds, "Stop, Aida? We obviously need to talk about this."
Essdara looks to Aida, flinching at her words. "I do know, and that, at least, doesn't need forgiving." Other things, maybe. "Good night, Aida." Is her simple, of oft-repeated, goodbye. She watches N'tai go after her with a sympathetic sigh, but for once does as she's told and stays.
Stomp stomp stomp. Aida stops again about halfway out when she realizes that no really, he's not going to give up on this. She grinds her teeth together for a moment, then turns her head to fix that glare on N'tai. "If you come close enough for me to hit you," she tells him, "I will be hitting you." Hey, fair warning, right?
N'tai answers calmly enough, "If you hit me, you will feel bad about it afterward." He risks it, 'cause that's the kind of (wow, I hope this is a) bluff calling guy he is. "Also, you could accomplish more by like talking to me than by punching me. Unless the idea is to hurt your hand and my face, in which case--" Way up there now, Essdara gets one more look, to make sure she's still there to be a witness if push comes to shove. Literally.
Essdara is still there, yes, and still watching and listening as best she can, for the moment letting silence be her contribution.
Oh. He did not just. Oh. Aida takes a half step back, bringing a hand up and back and shifting on her feet as her whole body gets ready to go through with the motion -- and she stops. Of course she stops. There is shaking, now. Her hand drops back down, the anger brightening up until it looks an awful lot like hatred in the glare she's fixing on him. But she doesn't hit, and she doesn't say anything. If looks could kill, though.
Ready to take it if he has to, N'tai braces himself for an impact that never comes. The look doesn't make him relax very quickly, but he de-tenses after a few fist-free seconds. "That's a step in the right direction. So. Um." He scratches the back of his neck at his hairline thoughtfully, scuffing his foot on the floor in an arrangement so he can be sure Dara doesn't bolt any time soon. "Can you stop hating me long enough to explain why you hate me?"
Essdara isn't bolting; that would draw far too much attention to herself. Nope, she's even looking away now, towards the sands; a token, if ineffectual, offer of privacy for teh quarreling pair.
"Because you're stupid and you're confusing and you /hurt me/," Aida spits at him promptly, though the anger really doesn't lessen any, making the words tight and difficult for her to get out. Now at her sides, the fingernails of both hands begin digging into her palms in an effort to maintain some measure of control over herself. At least it's an explanation. Even if it doesn't...well, explain anything.
N'tai, readily, "I'll grant stupid." And self-deprecating. "Not sure about confusing. And I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just trying to--" Something. With Essdara. And the snuggling. Which went badly. All this is indicated by the hedging, foot-scuffing shrug that follows his words. "To fool around with Dara. Because she'll let me. And I'm attracted to her. And she's /single/."
Essdara is still listening; you can tell by the blush that N'tai's words bring out. Yup, this is her, staring at the sands, and not the train-wreck unfolding below her. Still, she can't entirely hide the wince his words bring, and thankfully there's noone to hear her muttered comment. "Somehow, I'm thinking it wasn't being with me that hurt her, dumba..." She trails off.
"And if you'd just let me /go/ I could have gone off and cried by myself and we wouldn't have had /any/ of this mess," Aida points out, her voice going from angry to broken sounding, something of a plea weaving through the words as she makes a fast shift from fury and drops gears down towards tears, though she's not quite there yet. "I /saw/ what you were doing, thanks. It's fine, alright? It's...it's all just /fine/." Obviously. "Go fool around with Essdara, and have your fun, and just leave me alone."
N'tai just lets her go, then, mumbling a simple, "All right. I'm sorry." He even trudges on away from her to make it that much easier for Aida to leave in that case, wearing a pensive expression that doesn't clear up much as he drags his heels back up the rows of seats toward where he came from in the first place. "Any ideas?" he asks toward Dara about halfway up.
Essdara looks back at N'tai, and over towards Aida, and back. A soft sigh. "I can't think of anything that will help now, N'tai." A look to Aida, expression troubled. "I'm sorry, Aida." She says, barely loud enough for the woman to hear. Back to N'tai. "I've not said yet I'd let yuo do anything, N'tai... And I'd like you to remember that. I'd like to think I am more of a friend than an easy lay. 'Cause honestly? I can get that anywhere, without hurting someone I care about."
Women. That may have been the time that she didn't actually want him to walk away, given the wounded, heartbroken sort of look that gets sent towards N'tai's back. Aida's spinning on a heel an instant later though, bolting for the stairs. She's fairly light on her feet even with those clunky boots, amazingly enough. This time, it's not a strategic retreat, but is instead outright fleeing. Zoom. There's no clue if she even heard Dara's apology; she certainly isn't waiting around for it.
"If you were an easy lay, we'd've had sex by now," points out N'tai. "But if you're about to freak out-- I'm leaving." After a few more steps, he pauses and adds, "I'm probably leaving anyway. But I just wanted you to know that in advance, because I'd really like it if you didn't flip out right now."
Essdara watches Aida go with a worried look and then sighs, looking to N'tai. "No, N'tai, I'm not going to flip out. I've not the emotional strength or physical energy to do so. It is just a simple pointing out that it doesn't feel great to hear you say to someone that you were just trying to fool around with me, cause I'll let you. 'Specially when we were doing nothing of the kind, 'least not yet. And I will leave it at that." She pats the seat next to her, where he was previously, "C'mere. Think we could both use a friend to hold us. Handy, being here together."
"I said I was attracted to you, too. If I'd said, 'because I want her and she's not spoken for so at least I have a shot in hell,' I might actually have gotten punched." N'tai slumps back into his seat, saying dejectedly, "You'll have to forgive me if I don't come up with any new and inventive ways to sneak an arm around you here and there. I'm tapped out."
Essdara puts an arm around him, pulling him over against her. "Then for once, don't sneak and just accept what's offered. No, not gonna sleep with you tonight... That ship's pretty much been sunk for the night. But doesn't mean we can't enjoy a little comfortable companionship." A sigh. "It's one of those nights I just want to crawl into a bed with someone and sleep there, warm and safe. Not got anyone like that anymore."
N'tai promises, "If I didn't have this whole bed-check issue to worry about. And Boranth. Who would not be happy. I'd oblige you." As it is, he'll just hang around with Dara for a while, happy enough to cuddle without pressing the issue much beyond that. Like his player, N'tai's brain has been effectively broken for the night, and anything beyond 'snuggly girl' will just have to wait until the morning.