LOG: A Different Kind of Riding.
Date: Day 26, Month 8, Turn 23
Location: Nighthearth, High Reaches Weyr
Synopsis: Insomnia and innuendo. Eventually, names.
Nighthearth, High Reaches Weyr
With its entrance located between the kitchen and the living cavern, this tiny bubble cavern is cozy, always kept warm and is filled with comfortable chairs and a small round table. At the far end, there's a hearth, outlined in ruddy, aging bricks, where a pot of stew simmers in the evening hours. Generally quiet, the nighthearth is the haunt of insomniacs and those seeking quiet from the bustle of daily Weyr life.
The nighthearth must be the haunt for insomniacs, for at this time of night there's Jolie sitting over at the table with her trusty backpack at her side. The tall woman is sitting close to what few lighting she could reach, busy at composing a letter at the table - or rather, she /seems/ to be trying to compose one with all the sudden scratches of the writing stylus across the sheet of hide she seems to be doing. She faces the kitchen with her calm demeanor, clearly not expecting any visitors into the tiny cavern as to be on her guard.
K'del's bare feet make very little sound as he pads in from the caverns, the state of his hair (standing up) and his clothes (misbuttoned, sans knot) suggesting that he, at least, /has/ been asleep-- or at least in bed trying. He's halfway to the klah pot before he seems to actively register Jolie's presence, stopping short, somewhat awkwardly - he then clears his throat, presumably as an attempt not to startle the young woman.
The clearing of throat is quick to get the stablehand's attention. Jolie stops whatever she was writing and shoots a sharp glance in K'del's direction, eyes narrowed at his sudden presence. The tense of shoulders is quick, a reflex, her gaze flicking over his hands first before taking in the rest of him. Then, perhaps realizing there was no threat, the woman visibly relaxes and straightens up in her chair. Seeming to gauge the direction he was going, "Couldn't sleep either?" she's asking at the same time as she sets the writing stylus down and starts to fold up the letter. All calm-like.
In the fractions of a second it takes for Jolie to register and react to his presence, K'del is quite still, and shows no particular expression on his face. As she begins to fold up the letter, he begins to move again, crossing the rest of the distance to the klah pot and an empty mug, the former used to fill the latter. "Mm," he agrees, wrapping both hands around the mug. "Too much on my mind, maybe." The tall young man swings around, leaning up against the stone wall near the hearth, facing Jolie. "Hope I didn't interrupt anything." He's apologetic.
"I find a good bottle of brandy a comfort to soothing a restless mind," Jolie seems to understand there, her letter getting slipped into her inner coat pocket. She tracks his movements, his progress, watching him from where she sat with a keen interest that could be taken as almost predatory if not for the relaxed set of her shoulders. "Or a warm bed," she's perhaps deliberately belated in adding the light innuendo as it is, the smirk there and gone. To his last, "It's hard to put into words what I want to write," she answers on that, studying him now as she speaks in that low, easy and deep voice. "An interruption is probably best." Head tilts. "Sounds like you need a stranger's ear," she offers in a contemplative air, chin dropping a little as she languidly leans back away from the table and more into the shadow of the cavern.
K'del matches Jolie's smirk, though it's undeniably light, as his head tips back against the cool stone of the wall. "If all it took were a warm bed," he remarks, lightly, his gaze now floating up about the far wall. "Or the brandy." Beat. "Reckon it's-- mm. Probably as hard to put into words as what you were trying to write. Complicated. Doesn't matter." He lifts his mug towards his mouth, blowing on the warm liquid, then takes a sip. "Sometimes just getting up and moving around for a while helps, you know?"
Jolie's chuckle is low and short, rusty-sounding in the low noises of the small cavern. Her fingers rapping lightly against the table surface, "So we are both....ahhh, tongue-tied?" she summarizes, brows lifting in interest at his words. "A shame I didn't think to bring the brandy then. I had a good bottle bought off some traders during my travels." Nodding towards his current drink of choice, "Works better than klah, at the least," she adds, her amusement barely there now before she looks away towards the hearth. "I like to take a ride late at night," she admits after a spell from his last comment, her the light of the fire playing in her eyes. "Helps. Just....riding free, you know? Not have to think about anything other than whether you'll fall or not. Seeing the stars above go by..." Fingers lift and splay out infront of her as if to wave her poetic-sounding words away. "Try riding sometime," she suggests then, turning her gaze his way once more. "I may have the right runner for you, if you do."
With a glance down at his mug, K'del admits, "Pretty sure klah is probably, like, the worst thing to drink. But coming /here/ to get /klah/ felt like something to do." The mug gets transferred from one hand to the other, shuffled idly, as his attention slides back towards Jolie. "Riding," he repeats. "Riding a runner. Huh." The idea seems to amuse him for some reason, though there's no explanation as to why in his words. "Haven't done that in turns. Or much at all, really. But I see the appeal - that kind of ride. Just you and the darkness, and that comforting warmth between your thighs." He pauses after that; coughs. Perhaps he didn't mean that the way it sounds.
"That hard up, huh?" Jolie probably didn't mean /that/ the way it sounds as she glances briefly at the mug K'del holds, but that doesn't excuse the thin crooked smile that touches her lips. "There's something to be said about it," she moves on, talking about the thrill of riding at night to his amusement with it. "The appeal of such...comforting warmth between thighs?" There's laughter at that before adding, "No better feeling. Perhaps such night activity is what you need to loosen your tongue." She lingers on the play of words, her gaze lingering on K'del before she straightens up and shifts boots to the ground. "I'm curious, stranger," she drawls, leaning her elbow against the table as she turns more to face him in her seat. "If you haven't done /that/ in turns, then what occupies your time?" and her gaze shifts openly over his shoulders for the missing shoulderknot.
K'del meets Jolie's lingering gaze squarely, his lips quirking in undenied mirth, his brows raising just ever so slightly. "Mm-mm," he murmurs, in the wake of her 'no better feeling', clearing enjoying the joke, though he doesn't interrupt the rest of her words. Something in her last question seems to disappoint him, though, a flicker passing across his expression before it's banished by a return of the smile. "Do a different kind of riding," is what he says, after a moment's pause. "Or more than one, maybe. Just-- no runners."
"A different kind of riding." Jolie echoes those words, seeming to taste them like wine before she shakes her head and lifts her face away to regard the man with more interest. "That's leaving a lot up to interpretation. A mind like /mine/...." a hand lifts and a finger taps a few times to the side of her head slowly. She does catch that minute flicker of disappointment though, her brows lifting imperceptibly at it as she lets her crooked grin linger in an almost challenge. "You don't talk much," she decides to say then with a little swagger to her head, those simple words sounding a lot more like a double meaning than she perhaps meant. "I like that. I'm finding people talk too much here." Her assessment of him goes beyond his words, her gaze letting off his shoulders to his lips, then his blue eyes in her consideration of him. It's likely her study is mean to either disarm or unnerve, and the woman seems to be drawing entertainment from it.
It certainly /is/ getting a bit much, her assessment. K'del's gaze flickers away from her, as though this will make it easier, but there's still a looseness to his shoulders, at least. In all innocence, at least feigned, "Wouldn't know a thing about that. Minds like yours, or what I can only presume... All I meant is I'm a Dragonrider. My dragon, not sure he'd appreciate my riding /runners/." But other things? Well. "Can talk plenty when I want to. But it's late, and-- well." He's staring at the wall, now, breezily considering it, though his attention flicks back every so often. "You intend to eat me up with that gaze of yours?" he wonders, idly. "Or just dig out all my secrets?"
"First time for everything," Jolie is wry on that, her fingers dropping back on the table as she leans back into the seat. "Dealing with minds like mine. Your dragon." That gets her attention, not that he hadn't had already. Her smile baring teeth now, "Of course, but what /would/ he appreciate you riding other than him?" Oh yes. She'll follow down that path, and perhaps she's not expecting it answered for she's quick to address the latter spoken without breaking that intense gaze of her. Always assessing. Always studying. "Action's better than words," she seems to agree with that with an incline of her head, "and does it bother you?" She doesn't address to which this is meant for - her staring or her trying to steal his secrets, but she /does/ tack on, "If I dig further, will I succeed this night?" A brow lifts, her gaze turning daring.
An undeniably amused smile marks K'del's response to Jolie's first remark, one that doesn't much fade as he answers her first question: "Reckon he's the tolerant sort, for the most part. Haven't had any complaints from him yet, at least. And I /do/ ride." He looks smug for it, too. As for that last question, he tips his head to the side, considering her directly for a few long moments. "Depends on your definition of success, maybe. What're you digging for? Got something in mind?" There's no answer to whether it bothers him, but he seems less inclined to turn his attention away, now, though whether that will last... He sets his mug down, mostly undrunk.
Smug meets smug - or, at least a highly amused stablehand. "Good," Jolie clips that word given, nodding. "Perhaps he'll tolerate you riding with me sometime. I could use the company." Sounds so innocent, right? As to secrets, this gets the brunt of her attention as she shifts her weight in her chair, crosses her legs and steals a finger to idly brush across her bottom lip as she considers his questions. Staring back at his study of her, "Any and everything," she answers that one flippantly, her finger lightly brushing back and forth. "You're a dragonrider. You like to ride. Tell me something else. Perhaps it'll keep your mind off the reason you're here, lurking by the klah pot at this hour?" Brow lifts to that. "If it hasn't already."
"He'll be terribly jealous, if I go for an adventure without him," says K'del, oh-so-conversational. "But I'm sure he'll understand. We all need some company, sometimes, and my dragon? He's never exactly lacking in it." Whatever that means. Regardless, it seems to be a yes-- to something, at least. He slings his hands into the pockets of his trousers, loose, so that they droop lazily about his sides, as he admits, "Reckon I'm feeling better already, it's true. But. Something else? I'm from Tillek. Hold boy, originally. Worked as a handyman for a while. Better than the grapes. What do you want to know?"
Terribly jealous? Jolie clicks her tongue against her teeth. "Ya want an /adventure/? Now, that might have to cost ya." She's playful again, though it's more of a weary one. "Could put something together. Might involve a bar and a brawl or two. You buying me drinks." She's almost certainly teasing and joking at this point, now seeming more at ease with the dragonrider than before when he arrived. She looks pleased that he is feeling better, her single nod a slow one before she addresses the last. She takes in the information he does give, seeming to regard each and every piece to him with her intense gaze before his question causes her to pause and uncross her legs with her heavy booted feet audibly hitting the ground. Getting to her feet, "Yer name," she decided to answer simply after a long pause, hands going into pockets once she leans casually against the table. "I want to know yer name, Hold boy." Such challenge in her tone with just a small touch of danger as she sends him the glimmers of a smile, "That is all I want to know. For now." The 'why', she leaves off, content in this little game for the moment.
"/Cost/ me." K'del makes a sound as though he disapproves, though the sentiment doesn't extend as far as his expression; he still looks amused. "Dunno as I'm so high maintenance as all that, though. Company is the important bit, mm?" He gets all that out as though he's avoiding her request, blithe and merry despite the nose-wrinkle that immediately followed her last. But finally, really, there's no avoiding it altogether. "There's a kid's story about that, isn't there? Something about guessing a name. But you're not going to guess... and I'm not going to avoid it, am I?" There's a measured pause, though not enough time for her to break in and interrupt him before he says, "But you'll tell me yours, too. I'm K'del." Which apparently embarrasses him, turning his cheeks faintly pink.
"I'll make it worth yer while," Jolie doesn't seem put off at the least by that stint of disapproval, hitching a half-shrug to her own words. "And, yer don't gotta be high maintenance with me. Do /I/ look it?" Hands in pockets go out as if she poses, showing off her worn-looking clothes before the covered hands drop. No words to the company bit, but her slanted smirk is answer enough to it. As to her request, she's silent to it all - watching him, listening, staying her butt leaning up against that table all casual-like. No, she wasn't going to guess, and that brief flash of teeth confirms that. Even the avoidance part. So once that name she seeks drop, Jolie can't help that brief flash of recognition at it that registers on her face. It's there and gone, the woman regarding those faintly pink cheeks before meeting his blue eyes. Lips thin briefly. "Weyrleader," she states the title almost formally, but there's still that hint of amusement from their banter and game-playing. Eyes regarding him anew now, but without that respect for authority that seems to come over others when being faced with the Weyrleader, "So that's /you/. Very nice," and whether that's intended for his title or he himself, she doesn't elaborate. Then, "Jolie," she gives her name easily with little hesitation. "Jolie of Keogh. Likes to ride at night...and apparently who likes to ask Weyrleaders to join her in her spare time." Humorous to the last.
All K'del manages is a grin to the first part of Jolie's response, probably because he's more than a little distracted by that point. Later, in the wake of her reaction to his revelation, he shifts his shoulders awkwardly. Not that it stops him from watching her intently, though. "Jolie, who likes to ask knotless men she meets in the caverns to join her in her spare time," he corrects, with a twist of his lips - mirth, probably. "Besides which, nothing wrong with it, Weyrleader or not. Still--" He breaks off. He's still what? "I'm off duty, and even if I weren't, well, I'd probably /still/ be willing to go riding with you." So there? "Regardless, it's a pleasure to meet you, Jolie-of-Keogh."
"I tend to be impulsive that way," Jolie admits on her asking knotless men about without apology, and not seeming to apologize for the other things said either. "Why not?" Why not indeed. Still K'del's not exactly denying her that ride, and she's sending him a crooked smile for that. Nodding once, "I'd probably still ask ya, whether yer were off-duty or not," she puts in with non-chalance to his own as she finally straightens up her posture and pushes off from the table. "Come by the stables in the evening. I'm usually there, if not here." That's her final offer, instructions and all, before the stablehand's bending to grab up her backpack and slinging it over one shoulder. The Weyrleader's last gets a mischievious look over her shoulder, the woman passing him one more and final study before, "Pleasure was mine, K'del," she answers easily in her deep alto. "I hope you find the peace ya were looking for tonite. And if not...." there's low chuckle as she steps towards the entrance, "...well. I still have that bottle of brandy."
K'del's eyes dance with mirth, his head tipped back and showing a broad grin in response to what Jolie says. "I'll do that," he says, presumably of coming around to the stables; he seems genuine enough in it, too. A sharp forward bob of the head follows, as she excuses herself; he draws himself away from the wall to nod a second time, concluding, outright laughter following her towards the entrance. "I'll keep you to that-- that brandy. Good night, Jolie."
"Then I've succeeded." That's the words Jolie gives from something said before - perhaps from a question asked much earlier to his answers. She tips her head briefly and heads off, her short hair swinging in the movement as she leaves with laughter following in her wake along with an amused, "Later, K'del."
Location: Nighthearth, High Reaches Weyr
Synopsis: Insomnia and innuendo. Eventually, names.
Nighthearth, High Reaches Weyr
With its entrance located between the kitchen and the living cavern, this tiny bubble cavern is cozy, always kept warm and is filled with comfortable chairs and a small round table. At the far end, there's a hearth, outlined in ruddy, aging bricks, where a pot of stew simmers in the evening hours. Generally quiet, the nighthearth is the haunt of insomniacs and those seeking quiet from the bustle of daily Weyr life.
The nighthearth must be the haunt for insomniacs, for at this time of night there's Jolie sitting over at the table with her trusty backpack at her side. The tall woman is sitting close to what few lighting she could reach, busy at composing a letter at the table - or rather, she /seems/ to be trying to compose one with all the sudden scratches of the writing stylus across the sheet of hide she seems to be doing. She faces the kitchen with her calm demeanor, clearly not expecting any visitors into the tiny cavern as to be on her guard.
K'del's bare feet make very little sound as he pads in from the caverns, the state of his hair (standing up) and his clothes (misbuttoned, sans knot) suggesting that he, at least, /has/ been asleep-- or at least in bed trying. He's halfway to the klah pot before he seems to actively register Jolie's presence, stopping short, somewhat awkwardly - he then clears his throat, presumably as an attempt not to startle the young woman.
The clearing of throat is quick to get the stablehand's attention. Jolie stops whatever she was writing and shoots a sharp glance in K'del's direction, eyes narrowed at his sudden presence. The tense of shoulders is quick, a reflex, her gaze flicking over his hands first before taking in the rest of him. Then, perhaps realizing there was no threat, the woman visibly relaxes and straightens up in her chair. Seeming to gauge the direction he was going, "Couldn't sleep either?" she's asking at the same time as she sets the writing stylus down and starts to fold up the letter. All calm-like.
In the fractions of a second it takes for Jolie to register and react to his presence, K'del is quite still, and shows no particular expression on his face. As she begins to fold up the letter, he begins to move again, crossing the rest of the distance to the klah pot and an empty mug, the former used to fill the latter. "Mm," he agrees, wrapping both hands around the mug. "Too much on my mind, maybe." The tall young man swings around, leaning up against the stone wall near the hearth, facing Jolie. "Hope I didn't interrupt anything." He's apologetic.
"I find a good bottle of brandy a comfort to soothing a restless mind," Jolie seems to understand there, her letter getting slipped into her inner coat pocket. She tracks his movements, his progress, watching him from where she sat with a keen interest that could be taken as almost predatory if not for the relaxed set of her shoulders. "Or a warm bed," she's perhaps deliberately belated in adding the light innuendo as it is, the smirk there and gone. To his last, "It's hard to put into words what I want to write," she answers on that, studying him now as she speaks in that low, easy and deep voice. "An interruption is probably best." Head tilts. "Sounds like you need a stranger's ear," she offers in a contemplative air, chin dropping a little as she languidly leans back away from the table and more into the shadow of the cavern.
K'del matches Jolie's smirk, though it's undeniably light, as his head tips back against the cool stone of the wall. "If all it took were a warm bed," he remarks, lightly, his gaze now floating up about the far wall. "Or the brandy." Beat. "Reckon it's-- mm. Probably as hard to put into words as what you were trying to write. Complicated. Doesn't matter." He lifts his mug towards his mouth, blowing on the warm liquid, then takes a sip. "Sometimes just getting up and moving around for a while helps, you know?"
Jolie's chuckle is low and short, rusty-sounding in the low noises of the small cavern. Her fingers rapping lightly against the table surface, "So we are both....ahhh, tongue-tied?" she summarizes, brows lifting in interest at his words. "A shame I didn't think to bring the brandy then. I had a good bottle bought off some traders during my travels." Nodding towards his current drink of choice, "Works better than klah, at the least," she adds, her amusement barely there now before she looks away towards the hearth. "I like to take a ride late at night," she admits after a spell from his last comment, her the light of the fire playing in her eyes. "Helps. Just....riding free, you know? Not have to think about anything other than whether you'll fall or not. Seeing the stars above go by..." Fingers lift and splay out infront of her as if to wave her poetic-sounding words away. "Try riding sometime," she suggests then, turning her gaze his way once more. "I may have the right runner for you, if you do."
With a glance down at his mug, K'del admits, "Pretty sure klah is probably, like, the worst thing to drink. But coming /here/ to get /klah/ felt like something to do." The mug gets transferred from one hand to the other, shuffled idly, as his attention slides back towards Jolie. "Riding," he repeats. "Riding a runner. Huh." The idea seems to amuse him for some reason, though there's no explanation as to why in his words. "Haven't done that in turns. Or much at all, really. But I see the appeal - that kind of ride. Just you and the darkness, and that comforting warmth between your thighs." He pauses after that; coughs. Perhaps he didn't mean that the way it sounds.
"That hard up, huh?" Jolie probably didn't mean /that/ the way it sounds as she glances briefly at the mug K'del holds, but that doesn't excuse the thin crooked smile that touches her lips. "There's something to be said about it," she moves on, talking about the thrill of riding at night to his amusement with it. "The appeal of such...comforting warmth between thighs?" There's laughter at that before adding, "No better feeling. Perhaps such night activity is what you need to loosen your tongue." She lingers on the play of words, her gaze lingering on K'del before she straightens up and shifts boots to the ground. "I'm curious, stranger," she drawls, leaning her elbow against the table as she turns more to face him in her seat. "If you haven't done /that/ in turns, then what occupies your time?" and her gaze shifts openly over his shoulders for the missing shoulderknot.
K'del meets Jolie's lingering gaze squarely, his lips quirking in undenied mirth, his brows raising just ever so slightly. "Mm-mm," he murmurs, in the wake of her 'no better feeling', clearing enjoying the joke, though he doesn't interrupt the rest of her words. Something in her last question seems to disappoint him, though, a flicker passing across his expression before it's banished by a return of the smile. "Do a different kind of riding," is what he says, after a moment's pause. "Or more than one, maybe. Just-- no runners."
"A different kind of riding." Jolie echoes those words, seeming to taste them like wine before she shakes her head and lifts her face away to regard the man with more interest. "That's leaving a lot up to interpretation. A mind like /mine/...." a hand lifts and a finger taps a few times to the side of her head slowly. She does catch that minute flicker of disappointment though, her brows lifting imperceptibly at it as she lets her crooked grin linger in an almost challenge. "You don't talk much," she decides to say then with a little swagger to her head, those simple words sounding a lot more like a double meaning than she perhaps meant. "I like that. I'm finding people talk too much here." Her assessment of him goes beyond his words, her gaze letting off his shoulders to his lips, then his blue eyes in her consideration of him. It's likely her study is mean to either disarm or unnerve, and the woman seems to be drawing entertainment from it.
It certainly /is/ getting a bit much, her assessment. K'del's gaze flickers away from her, as though this will make it easier, but there's still a looseness to his shoulders, at least. In all innocence, at least feigned, "Wouldn't know a thing about that. Minds like yours, or what I can only presume... All I meant is I'm a Dragonrider. My dragon, not sure he'd appreciate my riding /runners/." But other things? Well. "Can talk plenty when I want to. But it's late, and-- well." He's staring at the wall, now, breezily considering it, though his attention flicks back every so often. "You intend to eat me up with that gaze of yours?" he wonders, idly. "Or just dig out all my secrets?"
"First time for everything," Jolie is wry on that, her fingers dropping back on the table as she leans back into the seat. "Dealing with minds like mine. Your dragon." That gets her attention, not that he hadn't had already. Her smile baring teeth now, "Of course, but what /would/ he appreciate you riding other than him?" Oh yes. She'll follow down that path, and perhaps she's not expecting it answered for she's quick to address the latter spoken without breaking that intense gaze of her. Always assessing. Always studying. "Action's better than words," she seems to agree with that with an incline of her head, "and does it bother you?" She doesn't address to which this is meant for - her staring or her trying to steal his secrets, but she /does/ tack on, "If I dig further, will I succeed this night?" A brow lifts, her gaze turning daring.
An undeniably amused smile marks K'del's response to Jolie's first remark, one that doesn't much fade as he answers her first question: "Reckon he's the tolerant sort, for the most part. Haven't had any complaints from him yet, at least. And I /do/ ride." He looks smug for it, too. As for that last question, he tips his head to the side, considering her directly for a few long moments. "Depends on your definition of success, maybe. What're you digging for? Got something in mind?" There's no answer to whether it bothers him, but he seems less inclined to turn his attention away, now, though whether that will last... He sets his mug down, mostly undrunk.
Smug meets smug - or, at least a highly amused stablehand. "Good," Jolie clips that word given, nodding. "Perhaps he'll tolerate you riding with me sometime. I could use the company." Sounds so innocent, right? As to secrets, this gets the brunt of her attention as she shifts her weight in her chair, crosses her legs and steals a finger to idly brush across her bottom lip as she considers his questions. Staring back at his study of her, "Any and everything," she answers that one flippantly, her finger lightly brushing back and forth. "You're a dragonrider. You like to ride. Tell me something else. Perhaps it'll keep your mind off the reason you're here, lurking by the klah pot at this hour?" Brow lifts to that. "If it hasn't already."
"He'll be terribly jealous, if I go for an adventure without him," says K'del, oh-so-conversational. "But I'm sure he'll understand. We all need some company, sometimes, and my dragon? He's never exactly lacking in it." Whatever that means. Regardless, it seems to be a yes-- to something, at least. He slings his hands into the pockets of his trousers, loose, so that they droop lazily about his sides, as he admits, "Reckon I'm feeling better already, it's true. But. Something else? I'm from Tillek. Hold boy, originally. Worked as a handyman for a while. Better than the grapes. What do you want to know?"
Terribly jealous? Jolie clicks her tongue against her teeth. "Ya want an /adventure/? Now, that might have to cost ya." She's playful again, though it's more of a weary one. "Could put something together. Might involve a bar and a brawl or two. You buying me drinks." She's almost certainly teasing and joking at this point, now seeming more at ease with the dragonrider than before when he arrived. She looks pleased that he is feeling better, her single nod a slow one before she addresses the last. She takes in the information he does give, seeming to regard each and every piece to him with her intense gaze before his question causes her to pause and uncross her legs with her heavy booted feet audibly hitting the ground. Getting to her feet, "Yer name," she decided to answer simply after a long pause, hands going into pockets once she leans casually against the table. "I want to know yer name, Hold boy." Such challenge in her tone with just a small touch of danger as she sends him the glimmers of a smile, "That is all I want to know. For now." The 'why', she leaves off, content in this little game for the moment.
"/Cost/ me." K'del makes a sound as though he disapproves, though the sentiment doesn't extend as far as his expression; he still looks amused. "Dunno as I'm so high maintenance as all that, though. Company is the important bit, mm?" He gets all that out as though he's avoiding her request, blithe and merry despite the nose-wrinkle that immediately followed her last. But finally, really, there's no avoiding it altogether. "There's a kid's story about that, isn't there? Something about guessing a name. But you're not going to guess... and I'm not going to avoid it, am I?" There's a measured pause, though not enough time for her to break in and interrupt him before he says, "But you'll tell me yours, too. I'm K'del." Which apparently embarrasses him, turning his cheeks faintly pink.
"I'll make it worth yer while," Jolie doesn't seem put off at the least by that stint of disapproval, hitching a half-shrug to her own words. "And, yer don't gotta be high maintenance with me. Do /I/ look it?" Hands in pockets go out as if she poses, showing off her worn-looking clothes before the covered hands drop. No words to the company bit, but her slanted smirk is answer enough to it. As to her request, she's silent to it all - watching him, listening, staying her butt leaning up against that table all casual-like. No, she wasn't going to guess, and that brief flash of teeth confirms that. Even the avoidance part. So once that name she seeks drop, Jolie can't help that brief flash of recognition at it that registers on her face. It's there and gone, the woman regarding those faintly pink cheeks before meeting his blue eyes. Lips thin briefly. "Weyrleader," she states the title almost formally, but there's still that hint of amusement from their banter and game-playing. Eyes regarding him anew now, but without that respect for authority that seems to come over others when being faced with the Weyrleader, "So that's /you/. Very nice," and whether that's intended for his title or he himself, she doesn't elaborate. Then, "Jolie," she gives her name easily with little hesitation. "Jolie of Keogh. Likes to ride at night...and apparently who likes to ask Weyrleaders to join her in her spare time." Humorous to the last.
All K'del manages is a grin to the first part of Jolie's response, probably because he's more than a little distracted by that point. Later, in the wake of her reaction to his revelation, he shifts his shoulders awkwardly. Not that it stops him from watching her intently, though. "Jolie, who likes to ask knotless men she meets in the caverns to join her in her spare time," he corrects, with a twist of his lips - mirth, probably. "Besides which, nothing wrong with it, Weyrleader or not. Still--" He breaks off. He's still what? "I'm off duty, and even if I weren't, well, I'd probably /still/ be willing to go riding with you." So there? "Regardless, it's a pleasure to meet you, Jolie-of-Keogh."
"I tend to be impulsive that way," Jolie admits on her asking knotless men about without apology, and not seeming to apologize for the other things said either. "Why not?" Why not indeed. Still K'del's not exactly denying her that ride, and she's sending him a crooked smile for that. Nodding once, "I'd probably still ask ya, whether yer were off-duty or not," she puts in with non-chalance to his own as she finally straightens up her posture and pushes off from the table. "Come by the stables in the evening. I'm usually there, if not here." That's her final offer, instructions and all, before the stablehand's bending to grab up her backpack and slinging it over one shoulder. The Weyrleader's last gets a mischievious look over her shoulder, the woman passing him one more and final study before, "Pleasure was mine, K'del," she answers easily in her deep alto. "I hope you find the peace ya were looking for tonite. And if not...." there's low chuckle as she steps towards the entrance, "...well. I still have that bottle of brandy."
K'del's eyes dance with mirth, his head tipped back and showing a broad grin in response to what Jolie says. "I'll do that," he says, presumably of coming around to the stables; he seems genuine enough in it, too. A sharp forward bob of the head follows, as she excuses herself; he draws himself away from the wall to nod a second time, concluding, outright laughter following her towards the entrance. "I'll keep you to that-- that brandy. Good night, Jolie."
"Then I've succeeded." That's the words Jolie gives from something said before - perhaps from a question asked much earlier to his answers. She tips her head briefly and heads off, her short hair swinging in the movement as she leaves with laughter following in her wake along with an amused, "Later, K'del."