Temporary Ceasefire

Western Weyr - Living Caverns
Here is the center of Weyr life, the living caverns. These two main rooms were man-shaped from smaller caves, and are joined by a carved arch with depictions of dragons in flight and dolphins leaping in swirling waves. One room has many round stone and wooden tables and a stone fire-pit instead of a hearth. Over the round-walled, gas fired pit is a large conical hood made of polished bronze, with reliefs of dragons with their riders flying over ships guided by dolphins. This hood and chimney keeps the room smoke-free. Through the archway is an enormous hall, with long tables and benches, some carved from the rock floor, many crafted of wood. This room is a combination dining and meeting hall, and can seat over 300 comfortably. Above both rooms, angled shafts lined with polished metal bring in sunlight during the day. Electric lights also burn, day and night.


Aren't people that are gulping down wine like it's going out of fashion normally hanging out about the Tiki lounge? Apparently not, as the night hours have rolled in and the living caverns has been pretty much abandoned after the 'normal' dinner hours have passed, Ir'e has been left behind. There's a mostly empty skin of wine flopped upon the table and an empty glass sitting before him. It's that glass he's currently glaring at. Those normally bright and playful brown eyes might appear darker, more filled with some underlying emotion that the bluerider currently isn't expression. He's slumped against the table, his arms folded in front of him and his head resting on his hands. Whatever that glass did to him, he's apparently determined to win this staring contest.

Sadly lacking in the booze department is Rou'x, who slips into the caverns bearing a pile of paperwork. She's hardly been seen outside of drills since receiving her new knot, and she looks tired, a little paler than usual, with her hair for once not braided or pinned up and out of the way, but left loose to hang down almost past her wide backside, wet from a recent washing. The stack of paper is dropped onto a table and abandoned while she goes to rustle up some grub for herself, returning with a massive portion that suggests she's not yet found the time to eat today. Her paperwork is ignored while she starts to tuck in, sipping on a glass of juice in between bites.

Uh oh, Rou's been spotted. Those cool earthy hued eyes dance to the brownrider and take only moments to realize who she is, even in his rather liquored up state. The cup and skin are promptly abandoned as the bluerider swaggers over to Rou'x's table and plops down. The dark expression on his face shows that he cares very little for the brownrider and her extra helping of new paperwork. "So." The word is crisp, not slurred in the least. "Did you go to the healers yet?" Best place to start afterall would be if she is or isn't carrying his kid before he makes a bigger ass of himself. A clump of chin-length hair flops into his eyes and he makes no move to push it away, staring, unblinking, at Rou'x.

Rou'x's expression darkens when she spots Ir'e heading her way, and, uncharacteristically for her, she hunches over a little resting her elbow on the table and propping her head up with her palm on her cheek. It's no easy task ignoring the bluerider though, especially not when he's so loomingly /there/ beside her. She sighs heavily before to look up at him, her expression carefully schooled into neutrality. "Yes." That's it - just one single, crisp syllable, before she turns back to her plate and spears another piece of meat to chew on.

"And..? Are you or aren't you?" The bluerider nearly growls the words before more quickly tumble out, "It's like fucking pulling teeth with you, isn't it?" Ir'e's temper flares and it most definitely would be rather impossible to simply ignore him. He shifts in his chair, finding it close to impossible to find a comfortable spot when all you want to do is strangle someone. Brownriders are infuriating! Or perhaps it was just Rou at the moment.

"Calm down, Ir'e." Rou'x gives him a look, eyes narrowed in warning from beneath the thick swag of her bangs. "I came down here for dinner n' work, not t'get yelled at by someone who ain't got no right to be yellin' at me." She looks away from him, cutting through another slice of what looks like wherry meat, then slowly chewing on it before swallowing. "P'haps it'll cool that temper've yours -" hah, like she's one to talk - "if I tell ya that you've hit the thread-be-damned jackpot?"

Ir'e gets a rather incredulous look upon his face at her words, "I don't have a right to be yelling at you? When you were drinking yourself silly while carrying my kid?" Yeah, he's not about to let that one slide anytime soon sadly. But then for whatever reason his anger bleeds away and he's left to just eye her, study her perhaps. It's only then that his gaze dances over the paperwork. Sure, he heard about it through the grapevine, that Rou'x got herself promoted and all, but it's another thing to actually see it. His arms come up and cross over his wide chest, "You decided whatcha gunna do?" At least he's not yelling anymore, he just looks mighty unhappy at he moment.

Rou'x frowns down at her plate, pushing away what's left on it. She slides her juice towards her, leans back in her chair, and sighs. Her fingers play in the condensation formed on the glass, while her gaze slowly turns to the bluerider. "I woulda thought the more pertinent question would be 'are you sure it's mine?' You ain't the only guy I've been with in the past few months, Ir'e." But she doesn't seem able to keep up the game for much longer, as she quickly follows on. "But the healers reckon it's two months or summat, which puts you right in the number one spot."

"Considering you were sick before you won S'ol's flight I was pretty sure it was mine." Ir'e states matter-of-factly. He watches her fingers slide across the glass and then heaves a sigh, "So then what're you going to do with our child?" He presses again, letting his eyes lift so that he meets her gaze for only a moment before jerking his head and gaze away. "You know how much it means to me. You know I'd do anything to keep it." As for what he exactly means by that, well, he starts shifting again, getting a rather uncomfortable pinched look to his brows. "What would it take, Rou'x? What do you want from me so that you won't just toss its life away since you now have your position to think about?" He falls silent a moment, words tick through his brain before he selects a few, throwing them out in a rush, "If.. if I.." His eyes squeeze shut and he doesn't say anything else.

"I ain't gonna do fuck all with ya if you're gonna keep on being a fuckin' /ass/ to me, Ir'e. If you lay another finger on me…" The shaking is apparently still very much in the forefront of Rou'x's mind as she lays down her cold warning, fingers balling into a fist where her hand lies on the table. But her heart doesn't seem to be fully in it as she slumps forward, hiding her face in her hands, with her elbows resting on the table. "I'm a wingleader now, Ir'e. Still workin' wi' the Weyrleader and A'wrn t' get settled in, but the knot's there on my shoulder n' I ain't gonna be pushed around or shook by /no-one/ any more'n I'm gonna let people guilt me into doin' what they want. Y'got me?"

It isn't as if he even shook her that /hard/ and she's the one who sucker punched him with a hell of a lot more force than he's ever used on her. His gaze narrows and his lips form into a tight line. And he's being oh so aggressive right now that he deserves getting threatened like that. "Well, 'suppose that settles that now, don't it?" He stands and pauses just long enough to glance down at her before he's moving off back to his table to slump down and splash some more wine into his once abandoned cup.

When Ir'e gets up to walk away, Rou'x groans softly, waiting until he's far enough away before lifting her head to look over to him. Her papers are looked at longingly, as if they provide a happy refuge from what she's about to take a plunge into, but eventually she gets up and follows the bluerider's path, leaning down onto his table. "Ir'e." Without asking she slips into the seat opposite him, crossing her hands over her soft tummy and staring down at them where they rest.

Ir'e swishes the wine around in the cup, watching the red color slosh with much more interest than he really has in it. He doesn't look up when she comes to join him, he doesn't really do much of anything but swirl that cup. "What do you /want/, Rou? You've made your decision, and me trying to plead my side doesn't seem to be doing much of anything." It's only then he finally turns his head to look at her. "Rhab thinks you want me." Rhab also said a lot of other things the bluerider's not entirely sure he wants to repeat.

"Didja even stop /'n/ listen to what I'd decided, Ir'e? Cos I'm pretty damned sure I ain't toldja /shit/ yet." It's Rou'x's turn to get heated now, fingers curling tight around the edge of the table and a scowl crinkling her brow. "You wanna know what I want? I want my fuckin' best friend back. I want this shit t' stop, n' not because I'm giving up what I want for /you/. You've been fuckin' /blackmailin'/ me wi' this shit Ir'e, and you're… you… you make it even harder to…" Her voice cracks, her anger suddenly turning into the threat of tears. "An' fuck you. Fuck you if y'even think - /think/! - that I got it in me t' go hurt… /it/." She scrunches her eyes shut, then shakes her head and looks away, bottom lip pushed out and on the verge of quivering.

Ir'e's mind spins and the solution he comes up with probably isn't something he would have come up with if he had had a bit less to drink. But he holds fast to that decision, feeling as if that's the only one left to him. "Blackmailing you? How the hell can I blackmail you when you hold all the cards, Rou?" Bushy brows come together before his eyes slide once more and he reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "And you're the one who was telling me you might want to send it to your family and send it away from me and going on about how you have your career to worry about. What the fuck am I supposed to think when you're talking like that?" Seriously, what conclusions is one supposed to jump to with talk like that? "But you know what? I'll make it real simple on you Rou, do whatever the fuck you wanna do. But.. I can't deal with this anymore. It's ripping my heart out and I.. I can't do this no more." And with that, he reaches forward to tilt her chin and place a searing kiss 'pon those lips of hers. He pulls away and the words come away in a sigh, "I can't give ya what you want." Because her best friend is pretty much gone right now. Having worked himself into this mess where everything he says and does with everyone just makes it worse. He pushes out of his chair and turns to leave.

"Ir'e /stop/. Thei. Stop. /Stop it/." By the time she's out of the daze caused by his kiss, Rou'x scrambles to her feet and stumbles awkwardly around the table, still plagued by her limp even though it's noticeably less now. She turns pleading eyes up to him, curling her fingers into the front of his tunic to stop him… and using a bit of her substantial weight to help to that end, too. "Theroux." Perhaps a random word, but just saying it makes Rou'x nose wrinkle and her bottom lip jut out as she battles the tears that are stinging her honey-coloured eyes. "I… picked a name. Theroux." She draws in a shuddering deep breath, resting her forehead briefly against his chest. "But I can't /do/ this. I can't, not if you're angry wi' me. You're too important t'me, Thei, n'… mebbe Rhabel were right, though prob'ly not in the way he thinks. I do want you, but it's… it's complicated, Ir'e, but I need you now. I /need/ you."

Ir'e wasn't really expecting all that. So when he's physically stopped, he doesn't really make any sort of struggle to get away from her. So instead he just kind of stands there and stares at her. Blink. Blink. It's only when she's resting her head against his chest that his arms instinctually, it isn't as if he wanted to drag her closer to him, it just kind of happened. A sigh falls away, rushing warmly over Rou's head. Rhab was probably right about Rou though, he's a pretty observant cookie. "Theroux." That's the only thing he says but he doesn't seem to be jumping for joy at all those words. "Why do you need me, Rou? What do you need from me?" Because he's still not sure he can give it. Even if his weyrmate is all but throwing him at Rou, which is an all-around different type of painful experience.

"I don't need sex. I don't need romance, or anything anywhere near that sorta shit." It's almost an echo of a conversation held months back, way before the possibility of their current situation was even conceivable, let alone conceived… literally. Rou'x bites the bullet and swallows her pride, but she's unable to look up at Ir'e as she makes her admission in a husky whisper. "I need your help, Thei. I need your friendship - I need /that/ sorta love from you, the sort I can give back to ya. I need things I can't even define right now, but I know I'm gonna know them when I see them. It sounds like a fuckload've shit to want but it ain't, Thei, it really ain't all that much… it's just askin' ya to'help fix this shit."

Rou doesn't need to have sex? Gasp! Color Ir'e surprised. "Alright. I can try to help." He wants to ask more but tat the same time he doesn't want to push her past what she can handle. It doesn't even sound as if she /knows/ what exactly she can handle or what she really wants with this whole mess, she just sounds.. scared. "Just tell me what you need when you need it, and if I can do it, I will." That's all he can really give her though and his arms slowly drop away before he dips in to give her a kiss on her forehead, all brotherly like or something. "That work for you?"

Rou'x nods her head gently, scrubbing at her eyes with the heels of her hands. "I just need ya t' be my friend again, Ir'e. I sound like a fuckin' 10-turn old sayin' it, but you've got no idea how much I've been hurting. Everything these past two months's been chippin' away at me n' I have — mebbe /had/ — Kee, but much as I love her I can't… can't…" She bites down on her lip, looking off into the middle distance. "She ain't you, Ir'e," the brownrider concludes, dropping her gaze to her toes.

Well no one can be Ir'e! What a horrible world it would be with two of this jackass living in it. What a horrible thought! But nonetheless the bluerider is somewhat confused in what she means, that she loves Keely but that she just isn't him. So he blinks passively at her and can only offer her a shrug. "Well no one's me, but me." He states, obviously confused. "Can't say the past few months have been all fun and games for me either. Was scared to death that Rhabel would leave me 'cause he doesn't want kids." Pause, huff, "That sucked. That still sucks."

Sniffing wetly but with a hint of a lopsided smile for the first time, Rou'x nods her head sympathetically. She rubs at her eyes again, then at her cheeks, then slips her arms gently around Ir'e's waist and leans against him. "The worst've it f' me is that I think I mighta lost Keely." She sniffs again, burrowing her face against the bluerider's chest. After a moment of that she leans back, smoothes down the creases in his tunic with both hands, then sighs. "I gotta go finish all that paperwork. All these damn reports're takin' ages t' finish."

"I heard her and Rhab talking last night." Not that Ir'e heard much of what was being said as he was mostly asleep when the conversation was going on, but hey, he recognized her voice in his half-asleep state at the very least. "Maybe, maybe not. Chin up." He offers, reaching out to tap his index finger against her chin before he give her a little bit of a push towards that paperwork. "You, go and get your work done and I'll go and sleep over this hangover that I'm sure is gunna hit me hard." And with that he's already heading off towards the bowl where his not-so-nice lifemate awaits.

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