Pink and Blue {K'dri}

[Zirin]

It was chilly; Nym always found the ‘weyrs’ in the rebel camp to be chilly at night, and with dawn an hour or so away, tonight was no exception. The old, worn tents and barely closed off holes did little to keep the breeze out. With a shudder, Nymari cuddled closer to the source of warmth beside her, not yet awake enough to realize that her warm pillow was, in fact, another person. She mumbled something, but while she was starting to wake, it was clear she was still very out of it.

It wouldn’t take much to wake her; movement or sound from her pillow or outside would have her awake within a heartbeat. Until then though, her body was more than content to cuddle up with K’dri’s. With sleepy sigh, she nuzzled into his shoulder. Outside, Iyiath still slept deeply, tired from his efforts in the flight.

[Elessar]

K'dri himself was still half in slumber. As something moved next to him, however, cuddling closer against his body, his eyes opened slowly. Blinking against the pre-dawn darkness, trying to bring focus to his sight, the rider's jaw nearly dropped when he saw who he was next to.

Like a dam breaking, his mind was hit with a flood of images. The flight... Nymari... K'dri found himself flushing a dull red as the memories rushed back. He was rather startled, then, to find his arms wrapped around a rather cuddly Nymari.

Turning slightly, he gasped in pain. What on earth?! And then he remembered. Bite marks extended from his neck down to his shoulders, and he could feel scratch marks on his back. His face reddened even more. Vicious little thing, wasn't she?!

[Zirin]

It was the gasp of pain that fully woke Nym from her slumber. Years of training had tought her to grab a knife at any sound and naturally an arm shot down to her waist to grab the small dagger she generally kept there. Of course, being as underdressed as she was, her knife was nowhere to be found, and in the blink of an eye she was sitting, trying to adjust in the dark enough to figure out where he beloved dagger went as well as pinpointing the source of the sound.

As he eyes fell onto K’dri’s form she paled, her first thought being that she had had too much wine at dinner and was thus having a strange dream. Of course, it didn’t take very long for the images of the night to come rushing back to her. She had… with K’dri…? How was it even possible, they both had male dragons!

With a squeak, she remembered she was sitting there, stark naked, and quicjly yanked up a blanket to cover herself in. She was glad the room was dark enough that her red face wouldn’t be seen, a small victory of sorts. Taking a deep breath she tried to force herself to remain calm. Shards, what had they been taught about flight etiquette? Next to nothing really... sharding rebels and their silly way of handling lessons!

Maybe… Maybe she could sneak out before K’dri woke up? She knew that wouldn’t work though, his gasp had pretty much guaranteed that he was awake enough to know she was leaving.. at least she assumed his training would make it so. Not to mention, she wasn’t going anywhere until she had located her knives and, if she was lucky, a pair of pants. She just had to stay calm until then… not so hard right? Just… lie back down… put some distance between herself and K’dri, and wait until her eyes had adjusted enough to see the floor. As she moved to lie back down, trying to put as much distance as she could between them, she couldn’t help but glance at the bluerider’s body and gulp nervously. “Faranth…” She sighed quietly to herself, wondering just what she had gotten herself into. No doubt it was that stupid, attractive, annoying old man's fault!

[Elessar]

It appeared that his gasp had woken her up, as in mere seconds in Weyrling was sitting up, obviously trying to figure things out. K'dri honestly couldn't blame her. It was... an odd situation, make no mistake. Both of them rode male dragons, so the whole situation was... odd. More than odd. It was strange, and awkward, and... odd.

Almost as soon as he had these thoughts, Nymari gave a squeak and pulled a blanket up to cover herself. K'dri grunted and sat up himself, running a hand over his jaw. He was sore all over, as if he had been beaten all night with mallets, not been... well, either way. "The blanket is useless," he pointed out in a droll sort of manner. "I've seen it all, anyway."

Wiping his eyes to try and clear his vision some more, he watched as Nymari seemed to steadily grow more and more panicked. K'dri counted himself lucky that the Weyrling didn't have her knives on her. If she did, he had the feeling that he'd already be skewered. He could only hope now that she didn't find any of his.

"Faranth, indeed," he grumbled, still trying to get things straight in his head, and waiting for the explosion that would inevitably come from Nymari. She was not going to be happy to find herself in bed with him, though he himself wasn't complaining. She was an attractive girl, and he had liked her for quite awhile. It was just rather depressing that she seemed to hate him. Rotating his shoulders, he grunted. Shards! He hadn't felt pain like this in a long time! What in Faranth's name had happened last night?!

[Zirin]

“Sh... shut up.” Nymari mumbled, stumbling over the words in her embarrassment. She didn’t like anyone even seeing her half-clothed, the idea of being completely naked near anyone outside the baths was beyond uncomfortable, and of course the fact it was K’dri who had seen her somehow made the entire thing worse. “You just don’t need to see it again! Ever!” She clutched the blanket tighter, rolling herself into a ball defensively. She even rolled to face away from him, though the movement finally brought to light her own flash of pain and an audible hiss as she tried to stop from crying out.

“What in Pern did you do to me?!” She exclaimed, sitting up again with another bout of pain, but making sure the blanket was covering her completely. She couldn’t remember a time her body had ever been so sore! Little did she know that her back was littered with bumps and bruises, and her neck and shoulders were a mess in their own right. Was it supposed to hurt this much? What happened now?! Would K’dri stop messing with her during their lessons, or would things become even worse? What was she going to do! She took a deep breath, doing what she could to keep herself from just bolting.

“What are you grumbling about?” She growled at him, every fibre of her being tense as she spoke, “You got what you wanted, didn’t you?” Her eyes continued to roam about the room, partially in search of her clothes and knives, and partially because she couldn't bring herself to look at K'dri.

[Elessar]

Well, she was taking this better than he expected? Kind of? As she rolled away, turning her back from him, K'dri sighed. Turning his own body so his back was to hers, he swung his legs from the bed. The cold stone of the makeshift "Weyr" made him hiss. It was cold as ice! And the damn Weyrling had all the blankets... he cast his eyes about for some clothes, but Nymari distracted him.

"What did I do to you?!" He nearly shouted. "If you weren't too sharding afraid to look at me, you'd see that my damn back looks like it got attacked by a feline, and you bit my neck and shoulders until I sharding bled!" Granted, it hadn't bothered him at the time, but if she was going to act like the wronged one, then he was going to fight back.

"And no, I didn't!" He snapped. "It was flight lust, Nymari! Flight lust!" Placing his head in his hands, he groaned, frustrated by the Weyrling and how difficult she was being. "You of all people should know that I don't just want to have relations with someone because of flight lust! It means more than that!" And if she didn't know how he felt about her, then she was as blind as a wher in broad daylight, and as stupid as a wherry.

[Zirin]

“I would never! I’m not some vicious, wild animal and you know it!” She yelled back just as loud, her voice sounding offended more than anything else. She glared at him, or at least attempted too for as long as she could before the outline of his naked body caused her to flush and look away. “How am I supposed to see something like that in the dark, idiot?” She continued, picking off the top blanket and tossing it at him. Of course she couldn’t see bruises and marks in the dark, especially not with this distance. The way he spoke of how vicious she apparently was made her falter, a memory becoming a tad clearer in her mind.

“You can’t blame me for what I did! You told me to and you liked… it…” A combination of the guilt hit her then. She was placing all her blame on K’dri because she was scared and uncomfortable. Though likely experienced in flights, K’dri could hardly be at fault for what had happened… she had felt how overpowering flightlust could be. Stupid.. sharding man! How dare he be innocent! She winced and looked away from him as he snapped, knowing she had crossed a line. She drew her knees up to her chest and glanced over at him.

“Sorry…” She practically whispered. She did know relationships meant more to him than that, despite the way he constantly messed with her. “I didn’t mean… I…” She buried her face onto her hands, not know what she should say. Should she apologize for everything or just excuse herself… what were the rules here?! The only rule she knew was to be nice. “Does it hurt?” She finally asked quietly, after a moment of thought.

[Elessar]

She yelled back at him, and he winced. He didn't want to make her angry. He wanted her to be happy. Anything, he would do anything for her to just be... happy. "I don't know, maybe if you weren't a hundred feet away from me you'd be able to see!" He replied before the blanket she tossed hit him right in the face. Untangling the blanket, he wrapped it gingerly around himself, and raised his feet back off of the stone and onto the bed, where they wouldn't freeze.

"While it was going on, you like it too!" Stupid! This whole argument was stupid! How had he let himself walk into this? He knew what flight lust was like, he should have somehow stopped himself! At the very thought K'dri almost laughed. There was no stopping when flight lust was involved, he knew that. But why, why did it have to be Nymari?!

At her whispered apology, he sighed. "It's okay," he murmured back. He paused for a moment. "Yes," he finally replied. "But there's nothing you or I can do about it." The rider paused again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... let this happen..." Hollow words, when flight lust was involved. "Can't we just... stop fighting?" He turned, resting a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder.

[Zirin]

She sighed, relaxing a bit now that there wasn’t a completely naked bluerider near her. It was amazing what a piece of fabric could do to the girl’s nerves. She did have to bite back a retort however. Knowing her luck, commenting on the distance being his fault would land her with a man that was way too close for comfort. No… for once challenging would not be a good idea.

She groaned into her blanket as he mentioned her liking it. Of course she had sharding liked it! Flight lust was involved and she had a very, very attractive man keeping her company; an attractive man who knew how to make her feel good. Sure, he wasn’t the man she wanted… but she certainly preferred K’dri over others. At least she knew him, and could trust him a bit.

“If you…” She paused, wondering if she was making a bad choice. “if you help me find my other blades I’ll help you with numbweed… you have some don’t you?” She didn’t particularly want to be within touching range of K’dri, but she did owe the man… she was probably the worst bedmate he had ever had. Maybe if she made a joke? "Tough guy can get cut by a blade without so much as a blink, but whines over a couple scratches?" Oh lord she was pathetic. She gave a quick scoff as he tried to be the good guy, knowing he had no control over it. The only way to have prevented it was to make sure neither of them were in the flightroom. She tensed and tried to pull away as he put a hand on her shoulder.

“Just don’t touch me!” She cried out, her voice full of the panic she had been trying to hide and her body immediately going rigid. They could declare themselves the best of friends for all she cared; Nym was just too afraid of K’dri trying to pull a fast one on her… again.

[Elessar]

"You didn't come to K'er's tent with any blades, so they're probably still in your own tent," he said quietly. "And yes, I do." Standing, but tucking the blanket around him so his bottom half remained covered, he rummaged around in the darkness until he found the jar of numbweed. It hadn't ever been used.

At her taunt, he nearly threw the jar across the room. Instead, he set it down rather roughly. "I don't need the sharding numbweed, I'm fine," he snapped. He knew he shouldn't react, that what she wanted was a reaction, but when she pulled away, yelling for him to not touch her, he didn't feel so bad any more. She was scared of him for Faranth's sake!

Gritting his teeth, K'dri sat back down on his bed. If she didn't like that... too bad. She could leave for all he cared. ...okay, he did care. But they had just spent a night together, and she still couldn't even stand for him to touch her! The thought made K'dri both angry and sad and guilty all at the same time.

Turning, he let the blanket fall from his frame, and attempted to push Nymari up against the stone wall of his Weyr. "Oh, I won't touch you," he purred. "I'll just kiss you." And he did.

[Zirin]

Her own tent… how far away was it from here? Would she be able to stumble there in the dark? She shook her head. If anything, the idea that flightlust had taken her so quickly that she hadn’t grabbed her knives was… terrifying really. More terrifying than waking up with K’dri, that much was obvious to Nym. Other than the yelling… this was actually going better than she was thinking it would go.

“Well sorry for wanting to be helpful, stupid,” She snapped back. He was the one complaining about all these bites and scratches! And people thought she was difficult, sheesh! She was just trying to help, to make up for how terrible she was being. For all that she complained of how horrible K’dri was, she was actually fond of the bluerider. He had shown himself to be different from the other rebels, and he had become her trusted mentor, even if she didn’t always like the way he did things.

As the blanket fell, Nym’s eyes opened wide, knowing she was suddenly in danger. “No…” She mouthed almost silently as he loomed, trying to force her towards the wall. “No, no , no,” Lips pressed against hers and Nym gave into her first instinct; shooting one hand out to grab his neck and try to push him away, while the other clenched into a fist which she promptly threw at his jaw, instinctively trying to knock him back.

“You son of a wherry!” She yelled, her entire body shaking as she grasped at his chest, “One day! Can’t you go one sharding day without trying to mess with me? You took my first and even that’s not enough to let me have a break and adjust?!”

[Elessar]

He snorted. K'dri knew well enough that she didn't really want to be helpful. She wanted to run, far far away, and never look back. She was scared of him. And he couldn't even figure out why! Sure, he kissed her, but that was a nice thing to do, an expression of affection!

As he moved in, her fist collided solidly with his face, and he backed up, holding a hand over his eye. "By the first egg!" He shouted, blinking rapidly. He could already tell he would have a black eye, and his face was already swelling.

Straightening, he snorted. "You punch like a girl," he sneered. "And no, I can't even give you one day! You should learn to adjust faster."

[Zirin]

Ha! For a ‘girly’ punch, he sure had recoiled fast! She hoped it bruised, hoped it left something for her to point at as a reminder not to get carried away with her. She shook her hand, enjoying the tingling in her knuckles from impact. She felt better now, oddly enough. Well, at least she felt a little more relaxed physically.

“I see.” She replied coldly, for the first time a hint of dislike actually evident in her voice. She hated thieves of any kind, and no matter how attractive K’dri was, she wouldn’t like him any more than a thief if he continued. Wrapping the blanket around herself as best she could, Nym shuffled to the edge of the bed. She stood and managed all of two steps before her legs collapsed under her.

“Shards!” She groaned, glaring at the floor as if it was to blame. It seemed she was stuck there until her legs hardened up. “Why me, K’dri?” She asked, not moving from her place on the floor. “Why not some nice, experienced greenrider. Or a crafter looking for a good time?”

[Elessar]

Oh, he knew she'd be proud of giving him a black eye, that was for sure. K'dri was not happy for letting her get that shot in. He should have moved quicker... or expected her to try and hit him. After all, she didn't want him to touch her.

He jumped when she fell, but made no move to help her up. "Why you? Because you, of all people, fight back." Sitting on the edge of his bed, he watched her for a few moments, his blue eyes glinting. "And because you, of all people, give me a challenge. You're not like these other Rebels. You're stubborn, and you're fierce. That's why."

He eyed her for a few more moments before sighing. "I'd help you up, but you don't want me to touch you, so I suppose I'll just watch," he commented lazily. Oh, he could be so mean when he wanted to be!

[Zirin]

“Oh do enjoy the show, it’s your fault I can’t walk, prick.” She scoffed at him, though in a weird way she was glad he didn’t offer to help; she would have rejected it anyways. She didn’t like needing to get help. She was exactly as K’dri had said; stubborn. “I’m so glad I’m a prize to be won after a good challenge.” She grabbed the edge of the bed and began pulling herself up, grumbling as he legs seemed to fight her. Shards, she certainly wasn’t getting out of the tent on her own, unless she dragged herself along the floor. Sadly, Nym’s dignity wouldn’t allow her to do that.

“See, I don’t need your help,” she grumbled, seating herself on the bed angrily and, much to her annoyance, it wasn’t very far from K’dri. She glanced over at him, her eyes going over the marks she could see now. There was just no way those were hers… right? He must be lying. She reached out a hand to touch one, but hesitated. She knew it wasn’t fair to expect him to allow touching when she freaked out so much about it. For Nym, this was an entirely new experience, and one that went against the way she was raised. A Holdgirl was supposed to save herself for marriage, and though Nym knew that would never happen as a ‘rider, it was still hard to change that way of thinking.

“I shouldn’t have freaked out on you like that… You’re a nice guy K’dri, at least, when you aren’t stealing kisses.” She shifted uncomfortably and glanced over his shoulders again, before reaching out and placing hand on his shoulder, her touch gentle and shaking slightly. Of course she was nervous that he would retaliate somehow.

“Did I really… do all this?” Her fingers trailed lightly over one of the bruises. For all that Nym liked causing harm with her blades, she actually didn’t like needlessly hurting others, especially when she considered them to be friends. Yet, that’s all she seemed to be doing this morning.