Log: It's All Fun And Games Until Someone Gets ...
Who: Eirlys, Nenita, P'draig
When: Night, day 12, month 5, turn 22 of Interval 10.
Where: Garden and Pool, Ista Weyr
What: Paddy meets Eirlys, who is pretty snippy with him and odd with the Weyrwoman when Nenita comes along. Then there's catch up with Nenny.
Garden and Pool, Ista Weyr(#456RJ)
From bowl to waterfall, the gardens of Ista stretch out across the plateau. Nearest the bowl are the practical plants--the herbs and crops and an orchard of fruit trees--but the closer to the stream one ventures, the more fanciful the foliage becomes. Lush dark leaves, flowers as big as a hand, jungle creepers hanging from old-growth trees--like most of Ista, the plant life grows rampant here, everything outsized and richly green. The streambanks in particular are impressively overgrown, until every rock is moss-covered and pockets of still water in pools on the banks teem with algae.
Only the waterfall itself seems to have escaped the onslaught of flora, cutting a channel through the rock and falling toward the pool below. The craggy cliffs leading downward post a number of places to sit and swing your feet, or to wade in the shallow puddles that collect in dips in rocks and around the edges of the water. For all the cliffs and their outcroppings, however, the best way down is still the steep, slick stairs switchbacking down the rock face.
In the midst of the garden lawn, a large pavillion sits, often a hub of activity in the area.
Contents:
There's not much that could be considered predatory about Eirlys at this moment in the evening, discounting the fact that, oh yes, she's out lurking in the dark and eyeing passersby with more interest than might be natural for one stranger noticing another. She pretends interest in the book set out on the ground before her, glow beside it, until anyone strays too close to the little area of greenery that she's claimed as hers, when it's either a slow smile or a cold stare that she sports, depending on who it might be. Right now, a boy about her own age holds her attention as he walks past without looking at her no matter how long she tries to catch his eye.
Cheery whistling accompanies P'draig's progress across the plateau to the gardens. A towel is slung around his neck, the pool proper his apparent destination, all feet bare and whatnot. Eirlys' glow draws attention, and the brownrider's whistling trails off as he offers over a friendly grin. "Nice night for reading out in the fresh air."
P'draig's voice makes the laundress start and she immediately looks from her present target over to the brownrider, mouth half-open as if to say something. She doesn't and Eirlys dismisses him almost as quickly as she looked over, eyes seeking out the boy that she was studying, only to find him too far away now to attract his attention without running after him. Back to P'draig. "Thanks a lot," she mutters, not far from bratty with it. "It /might/ have been a nice night for other things, but now..." She shakes her head. "You want this book? I'm not exactly concentrating on it."
Gray-blue eyes track the boy for a moment, then return to Eirlys and he shakes his head. "Thanks, but I'm about to go take a dip. I don't think a book and the water really mix all that well," he answers and his grin quirks to the side, amused. "Should I even ask what 'other things' it's a nice night for?" Both of his hands wrap around the ends of his towel and give it a tug, chin dropping to chest as he looks down at the blonde. "Seems like I haven't really seen you around much ... new to Ista?"
"Don't care if it doesn't survive, you know? It's just a book." Eirlys shrugs and slams the text shut, even uncurls her legs and parks her feet atop it. "What do you think most people get up to at night, given the chance?" she questions with a harsh little smirk. "Not so new anymore, but here doesn't feel like home yet, so you're not far off the mark. I do the laundry; it's not exactly high profile. Eirlys."
"Mm. If you got it out of the library, someone there might care," P'draig points out and rocks back a little on his heels. "We-ll, depends on the person really," he replies with a hint of mirth in his voice and eyes. "My eight year old daughter, given the chance would probably take that book if it's about something interesting to her and read it all night. But I'll err on the side of what a lot of adults would rather be getting up to," and shoots another look in the direction that boy went. "I'm sorry if I blew your chances with that fellow. And I think it takes time after any move for a place to feel right." He squats down, holds out a hand to shake. "Might not be high profile, but if we didn't have laundry people, we really would all be walking around naked all the time. P'draig. Brown Jekzith's. And I run the restaurant down on the beach, the Beach House."
"Nabbed it off some guy last night. Not like he's going to miss it - looked like he had hundreds of them stashed away in his weyr," Eirlys states, toes curling round the spine of the book. She too looks over after her lost target and shrugs one shoulder, admitting, "He looked like he was work anyway," resigned to what she's lost. She just looks at P'draig's offered hand for a moment, just a bit wary, then offers her own in return. "Nice to meet you," the blonde goes on, voice that of one just going through the motions to satisfy manners. "Nothing wrong with walking round naked. At least then you'd know what you were getting when you... wanted to get it."
"Risky that, he could be a collector," P'draig notes, grip firm, calluses across the palm as he shakes hands. "Too much work to be worth it?" the brownrider asks with a touch of amusement. "I guess sometimes that's kind of the question isn't it? Are the /really/ easy ones going to be worth it, or is it just better to be able to cut to the chase?" He chuckles at her perspective on walking around naked. "On a purely physical scale at least."
"I'm sure he wasn't /that/ boring. Not when I was with him, anyhow," Eirlys remarks with another smirk, no sign of her prying the book up from the ground to save it. "And in my experience, it's better just to get all the dancing around the issue and the words out of the way. You won't find me trailing around after someone. Generally, I'd think most people know within two minutes exactly what they want from each other." She leans back, planting her hands behind her. "And if you make some mistakes, then you make some mistakes."
P'draig's head tips back and he laughs merrily. "Bring out the best in people then, do you?" he queries, a hint of teasing in his voice. "If you're really just focused on the one thing. Though flirting can be fun," Paddy claims. "And ... you don't think that what people want from each other can change over time?" He asks this with frank curiousity, arms folding across the top of his knees.
Fingers flex and dig into the ground. "I was more interesting than the books at the time," is all Eirlys returns on that score, though it's too late for her to hide how she flinches. "Flirting is only fun so long as someone's not leading you on. Don't start something you won't finish. Women like that give us all a bad reputation." She shakes her head, her laughter low and cold. "Never met a guy who wanted to keep me. Or a guy I wanted to keep. There's never been 'time'. If it's what you both want, then fine, but one of you is always going to have to be the ass that makes the suggestion and risks sending the other running. Let me guess: you're the hopeless romantic sort?"
"I'll have to credit that and agree that you'd be more interesting than the books I've read," P'draig answers with a renewed grin and a shift of his thumb to rub at the side of his jaw. "I think there's a difference between flirting for the sake of flirting, if, as you say, both parties are aware. Teasing though, mmm yeah. Frustrating." His thumb pauses and his arm drops back down, crossing atop the other. "There's a lot of truth in that. It's always a risk to leave yourself open like that." He shakes his head though, laughing a little. "Not really. I'm ... hm. I'm not really sure how to pigeon-hole myself these days. I guess you could say that I'm ... flexible." His hand lifts, moves to rub at the back of his neck. "At any rate, care to join me for a swim? It might net you a better catch than reading."
"Yeah, well, that's never going to be me," Eirlys firmly declares. "Everyone else can run around deluding themselves. At least I'm honest about what I want." That poor book beneath her feet gets stamped further into the ground with one foot for emphasis. She tips her head back and looks across at the crouching brownrider some more from her almost-sprawl on the ground, deciding, "You sound complicated." Considering for a few moments, she grimaces, apparently not terribly enthused by the thought of a swim, but says, "Maybe I'll just perch on the side of the pool and watch."
Poor book. Paddy reaches down and knocks knuckles against its cover where Eirlys' feet are not. "Never can tell what tomorrow brings," he replies and then laughs. "My weyrmate accuses me of that all the time. That and being a workaholic. And perch away. But I'm going to get in a little bit of relaxation while I can, anyone's belief that I don't know /how/ to aside," the brownrider claims and pushes upright, holds a hand down to the blonde politely, meaning to help her to her feet.
Nenita is just taking a stroll through the general area when she happens to arrive by the two out by the pool. The book stamping catches her ears, as well as the sound of conversation spoken by familiar voices. The goldrider re-directs her walk to take her closer and soon the sight of P'draig and Eirlys comes into view. "Evening!" She calls before getting /too/ close. Wouldn't want to interrupt anything.
Abused reading material scrabbled from the ground and Eirlys stands, reaching for P'draig's hand in the process without thanks. "Oh, Faranth, you're one of those cheery ones, aren't you? Just don't smile too often or I might have to-" Already she's stepped away of her own volition, to retrieve the glow, but Nenita's voice has her taking another half-step away, book tucked under one arm. "Evening," she returns in a flat voice, not rude, just very guarded, gaze already tracking the Weyrwoman closely.
P'draig helps Eirlys up and starts to turn towards the pool when the Weyrwoman's hail sounds and he pauses, looks her way. The smile Nenita gets is warm, fond even. "Evening, Nenita. Great weather lately. Glad to see you out from behind the desk," he tells her sincerely and then shoots Eirlys another amused look. "Unless I'm not cheerful. I think 'easygoing' applies." The blonde's manner lifts his brows a little but he only looks back towards Nenita, hands returned to the towel that hangs around his neck and gives it a little tug. "I was aiming for a swim, Eirlys says she'd rather perch and watch. If you'd like, I'm sure you could join for either perching or swimming."
Nenita gives the laundress a bright, charming sort of smile but doesn't go to join her or stand too close. She stays more on the brownrider's side of things, sliding her arms across her chest and allowing them to rest there. "Very good weather lately, unseasonable really. Too bad it's only going to get more wet." At the mention of going into the pool she makes a little displeased face. "No, that's alright. But thank you. I'm just sort of passing though, no suit or anything either."
Smiling gets... no smile, unsurprisingly, and Eirlys makes to speak even as she glowers, though - luckily for her - gets interrupted by someone yelling her name and therefore has to keep back whatever she might have launched at Nenita. She glances back over one shoulder and her expression brightens a little, then turns more calculating. When she turns back, she gestures towards both gold and brownrider as if to pair them up, saying, "You go, be easygoing - if that's possible if some cases. I'm afraid it looks like I might have plans for this evening after all." No goodbye, just a nod, and she's off at a trot over to the man calling for her.
"Pretty inevitable, it'll be cooler down by the beach though, with the sea breeze," P'draig remarks further about the weather and starts to say something to Eirlys when her name gets called so. His parting words are sincere, if faintly bemused: "Enjoy your evening, Eirlys." And then he's quiet while the laundress patters off, lets out a breath once she's gone. "Now that was an interesting conversation. Sort of," he remarks and tilts a look over at Nenita. "Still just passing through?" Paddy asks after a moment's pause.
That lack of smile somehow manages to get Nenita's to grow a little wider, it's really probably more of a smirk as the laundress heads off. "Good night! See you real soon!" It sounds like she means it too as she turns back to Paddy. The smirk fades and it's now a more natural and friendly curve of the mouth. "It's entirely possible that I'll take up a perching position now. Though again, I'm not entirely up to the whole swimming thing tonight."
Squinting a little, P'draig actually starts to chuckle at those shifts in Nenita's expression. "What's up with you two?" he asks curiously and holds out a hand towards Nenita in far less formal fashion than he did the laundress. "And it'd be great to have some company, even if it's just the perching kind. I can tell you all about how the restaurant is doing if you like, or less business-y things."
"She's a little bit of a bitch. And she was a little bit of one when I asked her what she was doing once. She got snippy so I just... reassigned her. To working with Loe for a few sevens." Nenita briefly glances over shoulder in other woman's direction. "I don't think she likes me very much, but that's sort of her problem. Hm?" She takes P'draig's hand, fitting hers into his pretty comfortable and allowing any leading on to occur that he's about to do. "Oh, maybe the less business-y kind. Just for tonight."
"A bitch ... good to know," P'draig says in an easy-going manner. "She seems ... pretty convinced that she knows how everything works," the brownrider says slowly then smiles again and curls his fingers warmly around Nenita's. "Yeah. That's just a sign of bad taste, not liking you," he adds and steps away toward the pool, pace as easy-going as his manner. "Okay, skip the business." And he leans her way, aiming to bump her shoulder gently. "How've you been?" It's not a long walk to the water and once there, he'll drop his towel onto a rock.
"Yeah, well. I guess I showed her or something. You can't just go around being nasty to the Weyrwoman. And keep on being nasty after she's like 'Uh, hey. I'm the Weyrwoman. My dragon could absolutely eat you.'. But maybe I'm just old fashioned or something. I would have never imagined talking like that to Fayre or anyone else." The shoulder bump gets a grin and she glances up briefly, but not so long that she loses footing or anything. "I've been alright, the same old, same old. What about you? How's the kids and T'mic?"
"Mm. Can't really go around being nasty to anyone, really," P'draig remarks though he laughs again about Safriath. "Would she?" he queries, grinning and lets go of her hand long enough to pull off his shirt and toss shorts onto that rock too. Swim gear underneath. "I don't know if it's old-fashioned, but it's smart to be respectful," the brownrider says with a roll of his shoulders and leans against the rock. "So, swamped with paperwork, dealing with crazy people, and getting a breath in edgewise when you can," he states, more than questions and nods. "Pretty good. Enjoying the cooking, meeting lots of new people because of it. Palia's helping out a lot with the restaurant. She's a great little hostess. Mic's about the same as usual."
Nenita seems surprised that P'draig is stripping and... not naked underneath. But she doesn't comment on it outloud. "I guess that's true. I guess I was just sort of surprised by the gall of it. And if she's being like that to me how is she with other people?" With their hands unlinked she stretches her arms and drops down onto the rock, pulling her sandals off and letting her feet fall into the water. "Yes, that seems to be the general state of my life. For now, forever maybe." There's a rueful grin then, "I'm glad to hear your kids are adjusting to new home. New environment."
"A little snippy, to be honest," P'draig remarks about Eirlys. "At least with me. She was annoyed that shot her chances at hooking another guy who was wandering through here. And apparently flirting is the same as being a tease," he notes further then shoots Nenita a sympathetic look. "Yeah. The paperwork is pretty inescapable." He reaches over then, arm heading for her shoulders to slide around briefly in a light hug. "They like it down at the beach. Not that they're not still spending time up in the caverns either," he says with a little nod. "I met that new healer, Josian. Seems like a good egg. I've got high hopes he'll be able to get Dylan to go in for regular checkups without any drama."
"Right. I think that just brought her down a couple of more notches than she might have been originally." Which from the sounds of earlier conversation, probably wasn't a whole lot. She seems amenable to the brief hug, even leaning into it a little. When he mentions the new healer though, she turns and gives his arm a tug. "You are not allowed to answer any questions about me if he asks. You can't tell him my name either." This seems like it's at least a little important, maybe not dire, because she is giving him big brown eyes as opposed to narrowed 'omg' eyes. "And yes, he does seem very nice."
"Heh," P'draig's head shakes along with that. "We'll see I guess, if she's able to be nice," is his more expansive assessment, looks down as Nenita leans a little, lets his arm linger for the duration until she tugs on it and his eyebrows go flying upward. "Wait ... what?" He seems both amused and puzzled at the same time, though he's pretty much letting her wreak havoc on his arm. Big brown eyes though. Tsk. "What're you up to Nenny?"
"I told Loe if she worked out she could take her as an assistant. I don't really know how that worked out, maybe not at all." There's a faint hint of regret there. But it's easy to move on from that so she can bat her eyelashes and give him a coy smile, "What do you mean? I'm absolutely not up to anything. I'm just, playing a little game. It's called the 'When will Josian figure out I'm the Weyrwoman' game."
"Yeah? Hm. I'd be keeping her on the books then, rather than taking care of people, with the way she was talking," P'draig says candidly then eyes that coy lash-batting suspiciously, even though his free hand is coming around with the aim of capturing her chin between fingers. "Mmmhm. A little game," he says laughingly. "Annnd what happens when he figures it out?"
"A little game." Nenita repeats when he captures her chin, "It's nice to be Nen and not be the Weyrwoman with the big hulking dragon that could eat people if she wanted to." There's a rueful smile and she lifts her shoulders, "I don't know. He probably goes straight to acting like plenty of other people do, maybe. Of course there's the possibility that I'm not really giving him enough of a chance. But. He seemed just as entertained as I was the other night."
"Oh Nenny," P'draig says softly in the face of that rueful smile and his thumb starts to brush lightly along her jaw, then stops suddenly and his hand drops away. "Yeah. I can't blame you for just wanting to be yourself. It can get too easy to vanish into the knot and the title and ..." he trails off, looks out across the pool's dark water. "Well it's good you're both getting some fun out of it it at least. And you have my word, I won't say anything to him to give it away."
Nenita's chin tilts just a little towards the brush of his thumb before she clears her throat. When his hand drops, she also pulls back a touch. "It's really easy." She agrees, looking out towards that pool and brushing back loose bits of hair. "And yeah, it was fun. I sort of enjoyed it, though I might have felt a little guilty afterwards." The rueful grin is back before she splashes her feet in the water, like a physical cue of something. "Anyway, you better not. I'd be very disappointed. Very."
"So long as no one's feelings get hurt, should be a pretty safe game to play," P'draig offers over after a moment and his eyes crinkling up at the corners with his smile. "Try not to feel guilty before you have something to feel guilty about I guess," he adds and pushes away from the rock. "My word," he promises, a finger uplifted, then moves away to slide into the pool. He ducks under the water, comes back up dripping and swims out and away to complete a full lap of the pool, before coming back, arms folded beneath his chest to hold up his weight, just a few inches over from where Nenita's feet dangle into the water.
"I guess you're right." Nenita replies, slowly. Her feet move back and forth through the water languidly before her shoulders lift. "I'm pretty much entitled to enjoy joking around with someone. This is all in my head anyway." She bends over and splashes some water towards P'draig when he resurfaces again. "I need to go back to the weyr. There's someone that I have to talk to. I'll catch you later though, alright?"
"You're definitely entitled to still being yourself," P'draig answers seriously and starts to reach for one dangling foot, ducking that splash with a grin. He hestitates for a fraction of a second, before completing the contact and gives that foot a friendly little shake and retreats. "Don't work too hard," Paddy tells her seriously enough, though there's the lilt of teasing in his voice too. "I'll be here for a little while," he answers for 'later'. "Or you know where to find me otherwise. I've also got some new things I've been trying out for you to taste. So let me know which days this seven, I can bring you lunch."
"You know the way to my heart, Paddy. Though my stomach." Nenita grins impishly as she begins to stand, pulling her sandals on quickly. Luckily she doesn't have anything else that she needs to collect. "I'll keep that being myself thing in mind. It might come in handy one of these days." With that last parting remark, she's heading off down the path and back towards the bowl. Her step just a little quick as she goes.
If the lowermost of P'draig's hands just tightened around a bit of rocky outcropping it'd be hard to notice in the dark. "I knew all that cooking would come in handy for something," he quips gaily however and smiles again. "And I'll bet it will. See you, Nenny," Paddy bids farewell casually, though he stays put at the pool's edge, watching the Weyrwoman until she's out of sight. Once she's gone, he turns around and leans his head back against rock, gaze on the sky for a bit. After a few minutes, the water ripples as he starts to swim again. A lot of laps. Lots.
When: Night, day 12, month 5, turn 22 of Interval 10.
Where: Garden and Pool, Ista Weyr
What: Paddy meets Eirlys, who is pretty snippy with him and odd with the Weyrwoman when Nenita comes along. Then there's catch up with Nenny.
Garden and Pool, Ista Weyr(#456RJ)
From bowl to waterfall, the gardens of Ista stretch out across the plateau. Nearest the bowl are the practical plants--the herbs and crops and an orchard of fruit trees--but the closer to the stream one ventures, the more fanciful the foliage becomes. Lush dark leaves, flowers as big as a hand, jungle creepers hanging from old-growth trees--like most of Ista, the plant life grows rampant here, everything outsized and richly green. The streambanks in particular are impressively overgrown, until every rock is moss-covered and pockets of still water in pools on the banks teem with algae.
Only the waterfall itself seems to have escaped the onslaught of flora, cutting a channel through the rock and falling toward the pool below. The craggy cliffs leading downward post a number of places to sit and swing your feet, or to wade in the shallow puddles that collect in dips in rocks and around the edges of the water. For all the cliffs and their outcroppings, however, the best way down is still the steep, slick stairs switchbacking down the rock face.
In the midst of the garden lawn, a large pavillion sits, often a hub of activity in the area.
Contents:
There's not much that could be considered predatory about Eirlys at this moment in the evening, discounting the fact that, oh yes, she's out lurking in the dark and eyeing passersby with more interest than might be natural for one stranger noticing another. She pretends interest in the book set out on the ground before her, glow beside it, until anyone strays too close to the little area of greenery that she's claimed as hers, when it's either a slow smile or a cold stare that she sports, depending on who it might be. Right now, a boy about her own age holds her attention as he walks past without looking at her no matter how long she tries to catch his eye.
Cheery whistling accompanies P'draig's progress across the plateau to the gardens. A towel is slung around his neck, the pool proper his apparent destination, all feet bare and whatnot. Eirlys' glow draws attention, and the brownrider's whistling trails off as he offers over a friendly grin. "Nice night for reading out in the fresh air."
P'draig's voice makes the laundress start and she immediately looks from her present target over to the brownrider, mouth half-open as if to say something. She doesn't and Eirlys dismisses him almost as quickly as she looked over, eyes seeking out the boy that she was studying, only to find him too far away now to attract his attention without running after him. Back to P'draig. "Thanks a lot," she mutters, not far from bratty with it. "It /might/ have been a nice night for other things, but now..." She shakes her head. "You want this book? I'm not exactly concentrating on it."
Gray-blue eyes track the boy for a moment, then return to Eirlys and he shakes his head. "Thanks, but I'm about to go take a dip. I don't think a book and the water really mix all that well," he answers and his grin quirks to the side, amused. "Should I even ask what 'other things' it's a nice night for?" Both of his hands wrap around the ends of his towel and give it a tug, chin dropping to chest as he looks down at the blonde. "Seems like I haven't really seen you around much ... new to Ista?"
"Don't care if it doesn't survive, you know? It's just a book." Eirlys shrugs and slams the text shut, even uncurls her legs and parks her feet atop it. "What do you think most people get up to at night, given the chance?" she questions with a harsh little smirk. "Not so new anymore, but here doesn't feel like home yet, so you're not far off the mark. I do the laundry; it's not exactly high profile. Eirlys."
"Mm. If you got it out of the library, someone there might care," P'draig points out and rocks back a little on his heels. "We-ll, depends on the person really," he replies with a hint of mirth in his voice and eyes. "My eight year old daughter, given the chance would probably take that book if it's about something interesting to her and read it all night. But I'll err on the side of what a lot of adults would rather be getting up to," and shoots another look in the direction that boy went. "I'm sorry if I blew your chances with that fellow. And I think it takes time after any move for a place to feel right." He squats down, holds out a hand to shake. "Might not be high profile, but if we didn't have laundry people, we really would all be walking around naked all the time. P'draig. Brown Jekzith's. And I run the restaurant down on the beach, the Beach House."
"Nabbed it off some guy last night. Not like he's going to miss it - looked like he had hundreds of them stashed away in his weyr," Eirlys states, toes curling round the spine of the book. She too looks over after her lost target and shrugs one shoulder, admitting, "He looked like he was work anyway," resigned to what she's lost. She just looks at P'draig's offered hand for a moment, just a bit wary, then offers her own in return. "Nice to meet you," the blonde goes on, voice that of one just going through the motions to satisfy manners. "Nothing wrong with walking round naked. At least then you'd know what you were getting when you... wanted to get it."
"Risky that, he could be a collector," P'draig notes, grip firm, calluses across the palm as he shakes hands. "Too much work to be worth it?" the brownrider asks with a touch of amusement. "I guess sometimes that's kind of the question isn't it? Are the /really/ easy ones going to be worth it, or is it just better to be able to cut to the chase?" He chuckles at her perspective on walking around naked. "On a purely physical scale at least."
"I'm sure he wasn't /that/ boring. Not when I was with him, anyhow," Eirlys remarks with another smirk, no sign of her prying the book up from the ground to save it. "And in my experience, it's better just to get all the dancing around the issue and the words out of the way. You won't find me trailing around after someone. Generally, I'd think most people know within two minutes exactly what they want from each other." She leans back, planting her hands behind her. "And if you make some mistakes, then you make some mistakes."
P'draig's head tips back and he laughs merrily. "Bring out the best in people then, do you?" he queries, a hint of teasing in his voice. "If you're really just focused on the one thing. Though flirting can be fun," Paddy claims. "And ... you don't think that what people want from each other can change over time?" He asks this with frank curiousity, arms folding across the top of his knees.
Fingers flex and dig into the ground. "I was more interesting than the books at the time," is all Eirlys returns on that score, though it's too late for her to hide how she flinches. "Flirting is only fun so long as someone's not leading you on. Don't start something you won't finish. Women like that give us all a bad reputation." She shakes her head, her laughter low and cold. "Never met a guy who wanted to keep me. Or a guy I wanted to keep. There's never been 'time'. If it's what you both want, then fine, but one of you is always going to have to be the ass that makes the suggestion and risks sending the other running. Let me guess: you're the hopeless romantic sort?"
"I'll have to credit that and agree that you'd be more interesting than the books I've read," P'draig answers with a renewed grin and a shift of his thumb to rub at the side of his jaw. "I think there's a difference between flirting for the sake of flirting, if, as you say, both parties are aware. Teasing though, mmm yeah. Frustrating." His thumb pauses and his arm drops back down, crossing atop the other. "There's a lot of truth in that. It's always a risk to leave yourself open like that." He shakes his head though, laughing a little. "Not really. I'm ... hm. I'm not really sure how to pigeon-hole myself these days. I guess you could say that I'm ... flexible." His hand lifts, moves to rub at the back of his neck. "At any rate, care to join me for a swim? It might net you a better catch than reading."
"Yeah, well, that's never going to be me," Eirlys firmly declares. "Everyone else can run around deluding themselves. At least I'm honest about what I want." That poor book beneath her feet gets stamped further into the ground with one foot for emphasis. She tips her head back and looks across at the crouching brownrider some more from her almost-sprawl on the ground, deciding, "You sound complicated." Considering for a few moments, she grimaces, apparently not terribly enthused by the thought of a swim, but says, "Maybe I'll just perch on the side of the pool and watch."
Poor book. Paddy reaches down and knocks knuckles against its cover where Eirlys' feet are not. "Never can tell what tomorrow brings," he replies and then laughs. "My weyrmate accuses me of that all the time. That and being a workaholic. And perch away. But I'm going to get in a little bit of relaxation while I can, anyone's belief that I don't know /how/ to aside," the brownrider claims and pushes upright, holds a hand down to the blonde politely, meaning to help her to her feet.
Nenita is just taking a stroll through the general area when she happens to arrive by the two out by the pool. The book stamping catches her ears, as well as the sound of conversation spoken by familiar voices. The goldrider re-directs her walk to take her closer and soon the sight of P'draig and Eirlys comes into view. "Evening!" She calls before getting /too/ close. Wouldn't want to interrupt anything.
Abused reading material scrabbled from the ground and Eirlys stands, reaching for P'draig's hand in the process without thanks. "Oh, Faranth, you're one of those cheery ones, aren't you? Just don't smile too often or I might have to-" Already she's stepped away of her own volition, to retrieve the glow, but Nenita's voice has her taking another half-step away, book tucked under one arm. "Evening," she returns in a flat voice, not rude, just very guarded, gaze already tracking the Weyrwoman closely.
P'draig helps Eirlys up and starts to turn towards the pool when the Weyrwoman's hail sounds and he pauses, looks her way. The smile Nenita gets is warm, fond even. "Evening, Nenita. Great weather lately. Glad to see you out from behind the desk," he tells her sincerely and then shoots Eirlys another amused look. "Unless I'm not cheerful. I think 'easygoing' applies." The blonde's manner lifts his brows a little but he only looks back towards Nenita, hands returned to the towel that hangs around his neck and gives it a little tug. "I was aiming for a swim, Eirlys says she'd rather perch and watch. If you'd like, I'm sure you could join for either perching or swimming."
Nenita gives the laundress a bright, charming sort of smile but doesn't go to join her or stand too close. She stays more on the brownrider's side of things, sliding her arms across her chest and allowing them to rest there. "Very good weather lately, unseasonable really. Too bad it's only going to get more wet." At the mention of going into the pool she makes a little displeased face. "No, that's alright. But thank you. I'm just sort of passing though, no suit or anything either."
Smiling gets... no smile, unsurprisingly, and Eirlys makes to speak even as she glowers, though - luckily for her - gets interrupted by someone yelling her name and therefore has to keep back whatever she might have launched at Nenita. She glances back over one shoulder and her expression brightens a little, then turns more calculating. When she turns back, she gestures towards both gold and brownrider as if to pair them up, saying, "You go, be easygoing - if that's possible if some cases. I'm afraid it looks like I might have plans for this evening after all." No goodbye, just a nod, and she's off at a trot over to the man calling for her.
"Pretty inevitable, it'll be cooler down by the beach though, with the sea breeze," P'draig remarks further about the weather and starts to say something to Eirlys when her name gets called so. His parting words are sincere, if faintly bemused: "Enjoy your evening, Eirlys." And then he's quiet while the laundress patters off, lets out a breath once she's gone. "Now that was an interesting conversation. Sort of," he remarks and tilts a look over at Nenita. "Still just passing through?" Paddy asks after a moment's pause.
That lack of smile somehow manages to get Nenita's to grow a little wider, it's really probably more of a smirk as the laundress heads off. "Good night! See you real soon!" It sounds like she means it too as she turns back to Paddy. The smirk fades and it's now a more natural and friendly curve of the mouth. "It's entirely possible that I'll take up a perching position now. Though again, I'm not entirely up to the whole swimming thing tonight."
Squinting a little, P'draig actually starts to chuckle at those shifts in Nenita's expression. "What's up with you two?" he asks curiously and holds out a hand towards Nenita in far less formal fashion than he did the laundress. "And it'd be great to have some company, even if it's just the perching kind. I can tell you all about how the restaurant is doing if you like, or less business-y things."
"She's a little bit of a bitch. And she was a little bit of one when I asked her what she was doing once. She got snippy so I just... reassigned her. To working with Loe for a few sevens." Nenita briefly glances over shoulder in other woman's direction. "I don't think she likes me very much, but that's sort of her problem. Hm?" She takes P'draig's hand, fitting hers into his pretty comfortable and allowing any leading on to occur that he's about to do. "Oh, maybe the less business-y kind. Just for tonight."
"A bitch ... good to know," P'draig says in an easy-going manner. "She seems ... pretty convinced that she knows how everything works," the brownrider says slowly then smiles again and curls his fingers warmly around Nenita's. "Yeah. That's just a sign of bad taste, not liking you," he adds and steps away toward the pool, pace as easy-going as his manner. "Okay, skip the business." And he leans her way, aiming to bump her shoulder gently. "How've you been?" It's not a long walk to the water and once there, he'll drop his towel onto a rock.
"Yeah, well. I guess I showed her or something. You can't just go around being nasty to the Weyrwoman. And keep on being nasty after she's like 'Uh, hey. I'm the Weyrwoman. My dragon could absolutely eat you.'. But maybe I'm just old fashioned or something. I would have never imagined talking like that to Fayre or anyone else." The shoulder bump gets a grin and she glances up briefly, but not so long that she loses footing or anything. "I've been alright, the same old, same old. What about you? How's the kids and T'mic?"
"Mm. Can't really go around being nasty to anyone, really," P'draig remarks though he laughs again about Safriath. "Would she?" he queries, grinning and lets go of her hand long enough to pull off his shirt and toss shorts onto that rock too. Swim gear underneath. "I don't know if it's old-fashioned, but it's smart to be respectful," the brownrider says with a roll of his shoulders and leans against the rock. "So, swamped with paperwork, dealing with crazy people, and getting a breath in edgewise when you can," he states, more than questions and nods. "Pretty good. Enjoying the cooking, meeting lots of new people because of it. Palia's helping out a lot with the restaurant. She's a great little hostess. Mic's about the same as usual."
Nenita seems surprised that P'draig is stripping and... not naked underneath. But she doesn't comment on it outloud. "I guess that's true. I guess I was just sort of surprised by the gall of it. And if she's being like that to me how is she with other people?" With their hands unlinked she stretches her arms and drops down onto the rock, pulling her sandals off and letting her feet fall into the water. "Yes, that seems to be the general state of my life. For now, forever maybe." There's a rueful grin then, "I'm glad to hear your kids are adjusting to new home. New environment."
"A little snippy, to be honest," P'draig remarks about Eirlys. "At least with me. She was annoyed that shot her chances at hooking another guy who was wandering through here. And apparently flirting is the same as being a tease," he notes further then shoots Nenita a sympathetic look. "Yeah. The paperwork is pretty inescapable." He reaches over then, arm heading for her shoulders to slide around briefly in a light hug. "They like it down at the beach. Not that they're not still spending time up in the caverns either," he says with a little nod. "I met that new healer, Josian. Seems like a good egg. I've got high hopes he'll be able to get Dylan to go in for regular checkups without any drama."
"Right. I think that just brought her down a couple of more notches than she might have been originally." Which from the sounds of earlier conversation, probably wasn't a whole lot. She seems amenable to the brief hug, even leaning into it a little. When he mentions the new healer though, she turns and gives his arm a tug. "You are not allowed to answer any questions about me if he asks. You can't tell him my name either." This seems like it's at least a little important, maybe not dire, because she is giving him big brown eyes as opposed to narrowed 'omg' eyes. "And yes, he does seem very nice."
"Heh," P'draig's head shakes along with that. "We'll see I guess, if she's able to be nice," is his more expansive assessment, looks down as Nenita leans a little, lets his arm linger for the duration until she tugs on it and his eyebrows go flying upward. "Wait ... what?" He seems both amused and puzzled at the same time, though he's pretty much letting her wreak havoc on his arm. Big brown eyes though. Tsk. "What're you up to Nenny?"
"I told Loe if she worked out she could take her as an assistant. I don't really know how that worked out, maybe not at all." There's a faint hint of regret there. But it's easy to move on from that so she can bat her eyelashes and give him a coy smile, "What do you mean? I'm absolutely not up to anything. I'm just, playing a little game. It's called the 'When will Josian figure out I'm the Weyrwoman' game."
"Yeah? Hm. I'd be keeping her on the books then, rather than taking care of people, with the way she was talking," P'draig says candidly then eyes that coy lash-batting suspiciously, even though his free hand is coming around with the aim of capturing her chin between fingers. "Mmmhm. A little game," he says laughingly. "Annnd what happens when he figures it out?"
"A little game." Nenita repeats when he captures her chin, "It's nice to be Nen and not be the Weyrwoman with the big hulking dragon that could eat people if she wanted to." There's a rueful smile and she lifts her shoulders, "I don't know. He probably goes straight to acting like plenty of other people do, maybe. Of course there's the possibility that I'm not really giving him enough of a chance. But. He seemed just as entertained as I was the other night."
"Oh Nenny," P'draig says softly in the face of that rueful smile and his thumb starts to brush lightly along her jaw, then stops suddenly and his hand drops away. "Yeah. I can't blame you for just wanting to be yourself. It can get too easy to vanish into the knot and the title and ..." he trails off, looks out across the pool's dark water. "Well it's good you're both getting some fun out of it it at least. And you have my word, I won't say anything to him to give it away."
Nenita's chin tilts just a little towards the brush of his thumb before she clears her throat. When his hand drops, she also pulls back a touch. "It's really easy." She agrees, looking out towards that pool and brushing back loose bits of hair. "And yeah, it was fun. I sort of enjoyed it, though I might have felt a little guilty afterwards." The rueful grin is back before she splashes her feet in the water, like a physical cue of something. "Anyway, you better not. I'd be very disappointed. Very."
"So long as no one's feelings get hurt, should be a pretty safe game to play," P'draig offers over after a moment and his eyes crinkling up at the corners with his smile. "Try not to feel guilty before you have something to feel guilty about I guess," he adds and pushes away from the rock. "My word," he promises, a finger uplifted, then moves away to slide into the pool. He ducks under the water, comes back up dripping and swims out and away to complete a full lap of the pool, before coming back, arms folded beneath his chest to hold up his weight, just a few inches over from where Nenita's feet dangle into the water.
"I guess you're right." Nenita replies, slowly. Her feet move back and forth through the water languidly before her shoulders lift. "I'm pretty much entitled to enjoy joking around with someone. This is all in my head anyway." She bends over and splashes some water towards P'draig when he resurfaces again. "I need to go back to the weyr. There's someone that I have to talk to. I'll catch you later though, alright?"
"You're definitely entitled to still being yourself," P'draig answers seriously and starts to reach for one dangling foot, ducking that splash with a grin. He hestitates for a fraction of a second, before completing the contact and gives that foot a friendly little shake and retreats. "Don't work too hard," Paddy tells her seriously enough, though there's the lilt of teasing in his voice too. "I'll be here for a little while," he answers for 'later'. "Or you know where to find me otherwise. I've also got some new things I've been trying out for you to taste. So let me know which days this seven, I can bring you lunch."
"You know the way to my heart, Paddy. Though my stomach." Nenita grins impishly as she begins to stand, pulling her sandals on quickly. Luckily she doesn't have anything else that she needs to collect. "I'll keep that being myself thing in mind. It might come in handy one of these days." With that last parting remark, she's heading off down the path and back towards the bowl. Her step just a little quick as she goes.
If the lowermost of P'draig's hands just tightened around a bit of rocky outcropping it'd be hard to notice in the dark. "I knew all that cooking would come in handy for something," he quips gaily however and smiles again. "And I'll bet it will. See you, Nenny," Paddy bids farewell casually, though he stays put at the pool's edge, watching the Weyrwoman until she's out of sight. Once she's gone, he turns around and leans his head back against rock, gaze on the sky for a bit. After a few minutes, the water ripples as he starts to swim again. A lot of laps. Lots.