Western Weyr - Weyrling Training Field
Near the tall black eastern wall of the crater is a cleared field. The earth there has been churned many times over by the landings and take offs of young dragons and only a few patches of grass cling to life in this active area. Wooden props and markers used to assist the weyrlings as they learn the precise manuvers required for the rescue and protection work that Western Weyr is famous for, litter the training field. Close to the rimwall, in the east where the sun is usually shaded is a large wooden slat barracks for the weyrlings to live in. Tropical trees and shrubs have been allowed to grow here, perfuming the air with a floral scent.
There's a storm brewing outside, and the electric buzz that hangs heavy in the air because of it has Rou'x wide awake and listening for that first clash of thunder to cut through the wild wind. She's already been awake for an hour at least, sitting snuggled between Indianath's paws, and finally the eager anticipation is starting to wear off. Leaving her sleeping lifemate behind she gets up to pad across to the next couch with near-silent footsteps so as not to wake anyone, settling lightly on the edge of sleeping Ir'e's cot - and then lying down alongside him, atop the covers. It's the first time they've been alone since the lagoon, and past time to break the ice, in her opinion. "Ir'e," she whispers, gently touching his shoulder. "Ir'e? Wake up…"
Ir'e has taken to shoving cotton, or really, whatever else is stable and good at blocking out noises, in his ears each night. His hunter instincts have not been a blessing for barrack's life. You'd think that he'd just get used to it but if anything it's gotten worse over time. Boo. So it's only when Rou is easing onto his cot and then touching his shoulder that the blue weyrling whirls around, with much more agilely than one might think for someone who was just asleep, and quite quickly tangles himself and his blankets with Rou'x. His head nestles up against her neck, lips skimming across that sensitive skin before he finally gains his wits and opens his eyes. Oops. As if Rou'x was a hot coal, he jerks back, blinking at her in the darkness. "Oh, hey Rou, sorry about.. that." Ahem. He wasn't having naughty dreams or anything.
"Hooooo boy," Rou'x chuckles, softly, reaching over to tap her finger against Ir'e's nose. Naughty kitty! "Whatcha freaking out for, huh? 'S'not like I'm gonna /bite/ nor nothing." She's amused, and reaches for the blanket to tuck it around the bluerider more comfortably. "Storm's coming. D'you wanna to go outside with me, for a bit? Or I can stay n' snuggle here in bed if y'want, but I'm tired've weird shit between us, Thei. We gotta get it fixed. Y'know…" She says the last consipiratorially, sitting up to look around them, then lying back down and waggling her eyebrows at her friend, "Everyone's asleep. Indy's asleep. You n' I could just get it out in the open right here, right now, have it /done/ with… whaddya say?"
Ir'e is blushing, not that the darkness is very good at revealing such a thing. "I try not to make a habit of accosting people in my sleep." He murmurs groggily before a yawn is tugging at his lips, "Best we go outside I think if you want to have any sort of conversation that makes sense. Get my blood going and all walking around." He struggles out of his blanket, wearing not much more than basically a pair of boxers and a loose sleeveless undershirt. Nice and comfy! "Weird shit?" He inquires as he reaches down to help her up off his cot and herd her towards the door. Perhaps he's just oblivious to the weird stuff he's been doing, or something, who knows, the guy is pretty clueless at times to say the least.
Rou'x's not dressed much differently really, in a vest and sleeping shorts. She's just got a whole lot more curves to fill hers out. "'Blood going' might be the wrong words t'use, Ir'e. Kinda sounds like you're wantin' me t'get you all… y'know. Hot n' bothered." They slip out in the night, and Rou'x leads Ir'e now, through the shadows and into the trees at the side of the training field. "Not that I'd /mind/," she murmurs, giving his hand a squeeze as they step into the forest. "You've not been feeling that shit between us? Since that dealio on the beach wi' Rhab?"
Ir'e stares at he a moment before chuckling softly under his breath, "There's lots of ways to get your blood going. But I think I need to get my mind away from that course of action. Will only get me into trouble." Maybe less trouble when they're actually allowed to be doing naughty stuff in the dark, but trouble nonetheless in other ways. "I'm trying to sort myself out, honestly. Rhab.. is a confusing lil shit." Theich admits, using his free hand to rub across the top of his sad pathetic excuse for hair. "I'm sorry if it's been weird. I mean. I dunno what he wants. He treats me like if we do you know, try to get into a committed relationship, that I'm just gunna cheat, so there's no point to even trying. And yet he's shoving people at me, sabotaging the whole thing. Ya know?"
"Fuck him, Ir'e. Fuck him. You got all this shit goin' that's /so/ much better'n what he is - that shit he played wi' me was just /wrong/." A peal of thunder rips through the sky above them, making Rou'x jump and automatically look skywards, counting out loud for the lightning. "Eight… nine… te—" And there it is, a flash through the canopy above. "Thei, don'tcha think you gotta have something better'n someone who's screwing you around? You're not even proper /together/, right? Whatcha putting up with it for?" She touches his arm softly, just above the elbow, and shakes her head before leaning in and hugging him. "You're a friend. 'S'not so much as I'd fancy a chance of bed-wrestlin' with you, but I just don't wanna see you hurt."
Ir'e takes a deep breath as those words filter through his mind, he sucks his top lip into his mouth a moment, thoughtful like, before releasing it to look up at the sky when the thunder hits. "It was wrong, and I'm really sorry he did that." A sigh falls away then and he's reaching up to flip hair he's always had to only end up with a handful of air. Bah. "There's something wrong with 'im." Ir'e admits, "Something deep, not just, he's doing it for shits and giggles, but that.. I dunno." He leans against the trunk of the nearest tree, shaking his head. "Normally I'm not one to fall for someone, ya know? I'm like you, I like having fun. But there's something with him, that draws me in, that makes me want to figure him out and.. rescue him." He laughs, rather shakily, "I found him the other day, bruises all over his body. Said he got it from a fall. And I've fallen lots of times hunting and never gotten stuff like that. I've been in lots of scuffles too ya know? And it looks like he took a pretty bad beating." Dark brows furrow as he near grows, "And yet his fists were just fine." Which means he didn't fight back. Which means someone was beating on someone that was pretty much defenseless. Grr.
"I'd've punched him, Thei, if I didn't know you liked him like you. I'd've /walloped/ him six days to the future. He's got you t'thank for me not doin' that. An' I /liked/ him, too. Wasn't doin' nothing wrong, just playin' around, an'… oooooft." Rou'x's little puff of frustration follows her leaning heavily against a tree as well, following Ir'e's lead. "Y'can't always save people that're like that though, I reckon. Some of them's just too fucked up. Y'gotta… y'gotta just let 'em /be/ and remember that if they were a bull or a ram or summat, you'd cut their balls off to chill 'em out a bit. Just picture 'em all woolly or wi' horns or whatever, and snip snip!" Her hand comes up to mimic scissors. "Y'could've mebbe had me, y'know. If you'd've liked me. 'S'not so easy to give a girl the snip, though."
"Don't hold your punches on my account, Rou. What he did to you, deserved a good slap or punch or something. He'd have deserved that and I wouldn't have stopped ya, or said much of anything to you about it." Okay, so Rou'x can officially hit Rhab and Ir'e won't care. Got it! "He's a hard nut to crack, that one. I didn't think he much cared for me honestly but.." The bluerider trails off, scuffing his toe about in the dirt. "He said he loves me. But I don't think he knows what love is. And I don't really either, but I dunno. I wanna try, I wanna see where this goes, regardless if it ends with me and a broken heart." There's a half-grin tossed at the brownrider then, "Ya can't hide from the adventure, or you'd never have any adventures." It's then that he shifts enough so that he can slip his hand along Rou'x jaw and gently rub at her cheek with his rather worn thumb. "Well, who knows what the future holds, right? Just 'cause I've decided to try to see this thing with Rhab through, doesn't mean that it'll work or not work in the end. So don't write me off too quickly."
The adventure note definitely strikes a chord with Rou'x, leaving her grinning lopsidedly when Ir'e cups her cheek. Her eyes close to little half-moons, her expression part-pleased, part-challenge. "D'you really reckon I'd write you off, y'nutter?" She laughs, bumping her cheek back against his hand and leaning up against him, arms slipping around his waist. It's a very squishy lean, on account of her curves, and she's got to tilt her head back a long way to still be able to see the bluerider's face. "I'm still gonna mess with you, y'know. Flirtin' n' shit like that, yeah? As if some fucker like that'n's gonna put me off my game." Scoffing, she leans back so they can see one another properly. "You an' I's meant to be going off on an aventure, remember? We said about it before, yeah? One of the islands, you n' me, huntin' n' shit for a few days. We still gonna — /hey/." A big drop of water splashes her right below her eye, and Rou'x scowls up at the sky as the deluge begins. "Aw, /shit/, how's it comin' so quick through the /trees/, Thei?"
Ir'e rolls his shoulders in that signature shrug he has down so well, "Well I dunno. I mean, I'm not trying to lead ya on or anything, and if Rhab and I ever figure out how this goes, I will try to be loyal and all. Loyal as a 'rider can be of course. But I can't tell you where it'll lead now. I asked him, ya know, if he wanted to move into my weyr, when I get one. But he was talking about going off and joining a craft. So who knows." 'cause obviously Ir'e doesn't know what's going on inside Rhabdoodle's lil head. "And you're allowed to do anything you want, darlin'. I'll only stop you if it gets to be too much. That fair?" And then his eyes light up, "The trip! Right! Impressing Yiska totally just put that out of my mind. He's such a sharding handful, you know? Hardly a moment's peace of mind." It's those rain drops that have his words coming to a halt as he tilts his head up and blinks as one nails him right between the eyes. "Maybe we should get back? You good or have anything else you wanna get off your chest?"
The way Rou'x looks up at Ir'e, she's not quite done yet. What's a little rain? "I gotta hundred things I wanna get off've my chest, and two things I wanna put /on/ it." Maybe he'll get what she's hinting at when she reaches for both of his hands and gives them a squeeze, while winking. "'S'not all coming out now. 'S'not all t'do wi' you, even. You nuzzled my neck though, Thei, kinda got me woken up a bit, y'know? I could've… no, fuck it, not could've, I /will/ ask y'for a kiss to mebbe soothe things for this poor brownrider that's all a-fluster. Y'can say no, I won't mind. It's justa scratch for an itch, I'm not askin' for a lifetime's commitment, but we could… we— nah, fuck that, won't go there now. Let's go to one of the islands, once we've graduated, yeah? No Rhab though, or we might have an unfortunate huntin' accident."
Ir'e arches a solitary brow as his lips twitch into a smirk. "Is that so?" And he totally gets some sort of meaning out of those words as his gaze drops down to her chest. "That'll teach you to wake a slumbering man when he's a dreaming." And then he's tugging her closer before his lips come down and he's pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "I can't do much with ya til I figure out what's up with Rhab. Just doesn't sit right with me, I aint no cheater." He loops his arm around her shoulders to start guiding her back towards the barracks. "No Rhabel, gotcha. No complaints here as long as Yiska's game. But I'm sure he is, he loves hunting, a bit too much I fear." Ever since that blue has gotten used to his wings, no wherry has been safe!
"Bah. Rhab. Bah bah bah." Rou'x rolls her eyes, but she can't hold the giggles back for long. "Friends wi' benefits. 'S'what I'm reckoning we should be. When we get set up in weyrs n' all, y'can come warm my bed whenever y'fancy it, s'long's I get the same, 'course. An' I /still/ can't believe you to went n' had /sex/ already! Y'gotta tell me you play top t' him, right? /Right/?" Slipping her fingers through his, she tilts her head towards the barracks, signalling it's time to go back in, now that they're damp from the rain and likely to get much wetter before they get indoors. "Y'alright, Thei. I like you, but I'm not lookin' for anythin', y'know? Y'do know, I know y'do." She slips her arms around his waist, walking alongside him while maintaining the huge, right the way up to the barracks entrance.