Who

Kyara, R'xim

What

Backscene. What happens after Liareth's flight. (Hint: Rix doesn't get punched in the face.)

Flight aftermath

When

It is evening of the first day of the eighth month of the eighth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Mirror Cavern, Igen Weyr

OOC Date 15 Aug 2016 04:00

 

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"Pretty sure I see what I see, with or without it."


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Mirror Cavern

Cordoned off from the lake under a cape of stone is a sheltered grotto sized like a dragon weyr. Running water dribbles over the entrance not in any great torrent but lesser strings of liquid. Within, isolated waters assume a perfectly protected calmness pitching prisms of refracted light onto the walls and dome-like ceiling. How they flash when the pool's crystal clear surface is disturbed, serpents of light scattering like tunnel snakes from a lantern. Surfaces are naturally unfinished which explains the varying depths, 2-12 feet, and ability to be comfortly seated. As with any small cavern sounds have a way of being amplified be they swim strokes or nuggets of gossip.


Daylight had been waning fairly quickly when Liareth decided to rise. Therefore, by the time she and Shalnth end up plunging into the lake, and well after Kyara and R'xim vanish into the Mirror Cavern, twilight has set in, the heat of the summer day finally beginning to ebb beneath the hazy glitter of stars beyond where they've ended up. But there is light here - just a bit. The familiar soft, green illumination of glows grants just enough to see by, though it's definitely not something one usually finds in the Mirror Cavern. Kyara had clearly anticipated ending up here. The basket sits upon a ledge, a leather satchel waiting near it - both ignored for now as senses return in the wake of dragonlust's fire. Not much time has passed, in truth, though it always feels like it stretches in the aftermath, to her. She shifts, eyes slitting open to register the glowlight and the soft lapping of warm water. She's tucked against R'xim, having reflexively curled up against him at some point, and lifts her head, blinking to focus upon him. Quiet for now. Thoughtful. Waiting until he moves as well before saying anything.

Flights are an intense storm of draconic power that render R'xim nearly unconscious after victory is claimed. It's a while until he moves upon the grit of sand where he and Kyara rest, and he winces when aggrieved skin scrapes against the stone. The groggy feeling is similar to that of a night full of partying in his younger days, a dull throbbing headache and stiff muscles let him know that he's not a young buck anymore — which could be why Shalnth doesn't chase as often as he used to. R'xim cracks open his eyes and stares up at the cavern's ceiling as he continue to lay still with a body curled up next to him. His arm, however, is pinned beneath said body and begins to tingle when he grows conscious of where he's at. Forgive him, he's slow to move.

Ah yes, sand. It gets even in here because of the summer dusters. At least there's water right there, though actually utilizing it isn't particularly high on Kyara's list of priorities just yet. When she realizes that part of what she's laying on is R'xim's arm, she moves again, this time making a small sound of protest herself as sand and stone scrape skin. Braced on one arm and settled on one hip, she frees R'xim's arm and looks down at him, studying his face as he opens his eyes. "Sorry," she murmurs, one corner of her mouth quirking upward almost shyly as she lightly touches his bicep. "It was a good pillow…except for rock being underneath." Which isn't proving comfortable for either of them. "Are you alright?" Probably not something the greenrider in the chase usually asks, except amber eyes are flickering down along him now, clearly searching for something before returning to his face with soft curiosity.

Once the pressure is off his arm, the tingle intensifies as R'xim attempts to sit up. "No problem." There about a thousand different curse words that he could me mouthing off right about now, but he doesn't. Instead, he looks around the cavern as if he's rather familiar with the area. He is. Very much so. His left hand rubs at his tingling bicep and he glances down at his arm while he massages the ache away. "The last time Shalnth won a flight, I wound up here. Must be my lucky place." It's an ill attempt at humor, and a reminder at how long ago the bronze chased after a glowing hide. Lifting his eyes, Rix looks over at Kyara for a brief inspection. "You okay?"

Kyara doesn't really believe him, but doesn't comment, instead glancing around the cavern herself and chuckling softly at R'xim's words and seeming rather at ease in his presence. "I've ended up here before, too. If it's hot, I try to aim here. Though aiming to also stay in the water would probably be more comfortable." Note to self for next time, though she probably won't remember in the moment. To his question, she nods, giving a quiet hum of affirmation before speaking. "Ah…more than, to be honest," she admits with a slight flush as she tests muscles with a series of little shifts. Everything seems to be just fine. "You might want to let me look at your back, though, if you feel anything. I tend to…leave marks." Which, by the deepening of the color to her cheeks, is completely unconscious thing.

"Been through worse." R'xim says with a grunt while straightening. It's with careful movement that he maneuvers so Kyara can take a look at his back for whatever scrapes and sand might be on his skin. A jagged, angry looking scar is carved into his back at a diagonal line from shoulder to hip bone — a near fatal reminder of a threadfall long past. "Probably nothing I don't deserve anyway." Charismatic @$$hole that he is. Furrowed brows have him eyeing his arm again and he shakes it to help get rid of the god awful tingling. "But, it's been a while since I felt this kind of hangover." Turns, actually. Shalnth is either really picky or not wanting to put up with Rix during the aftermath of any flight.

Worse, indeed. The darkly burnished arc of Kyara's eyebrows lift slowly as the Threadscore across R'xim's back comes into view. She isn't devoid of scoring herself, the pale slant of her first still visible along the outside of her right thigh. But it's nothing compared to his. One leg folds before her as she sits behind him, the other bent off to the side while she gently brushed away the sand from his skin. She can't help the trace of her fingertips along the scar, something reflexive that she tends to do upon seeing such things, as though she could somehow dimish it just with a touch. Then she reminds herself what she's really supposed to be doing and gets to actual inspection, still having to brush away sand here and there. His first comment has her pausing, fingers upon his shoulder as she tilts her head to view his profile a bit more clearly. "You haven't done anything I would get you for," she notes softly, a bit bemused as she continues on. Noting how he still works on the tingling in his arm, she moves her hands to the affected shoulder and starts working little circles into the muscle with her thumbs in an attempt to help the matter. "He must have pulled you pretty far under," she muses, almost distracted in her concentration for the moment.

R'xim does a decent job at sitting there like a feral feline as Kyara brushes away the grit of sand from his back. He notes that slight pause as nimble fingertips trace a part of the scar seared into his flesh. She's looking at the damage, it's not difficult to tell. "We don't work together very often." Except for Parhelion PT on an occasional basis. "And people tend to tolerate me when they're not around me every day." Ask the rest of leadership when he's required to sit in on certain meetings — it's a miracle no one has snapped or jumped over the table to strangle him. The gentle circles worked into his shoulder muscle slowly begin to soften the prickly attitude that he's otherwise known for, and he stares out at the water as Kyara continues her ministrations. "He usually does. When he chases, he means to catch." A moment of silence lingers between them and the gentle laps of water are the only sounds that break it until he speaks again. "He chucked a dead herdbeast at Kadanth when they were blooding for Rhiscorath's first flight."

"True," Kyara concedes, her tone the soft, almost drawled near-monotone that tends to come with concentration, "but it takes a lot to get under my skin. More than it used to before I worked with weyrlings." Everything directed her way, from apathy to outright hatred, she's had to learn to handle. A little grin flickers across her features, something he'll hear coloring her voice since he can't actually see it. "I might surprise you, if I were around you more." Having moved out over his shoulder, she works her way down to the start of his arm, the circling of her thumbs widening and digging in a little more but not quickening. The comment about Kadanth elicits a quiet ripple of laughter. "I can picture that. Did he actually hit Kadanth?"

R'xim would normally shudder at the thought of working with weyrlings if he weren't in the presence of an AWLM. Could be that he doesn't want to insult the woman who's making his arm feel normal again. With the tingling gone, Rix also isn't one for turning down a massage when it's being given so freely — that'd just be plain stupid. "Kadanth knew him well enough to not get in his way, and he also knew when to dodge a flying carcass." The memory draws a short-lived smirk across his expression as he holds his arm out for easier access to nimble fingertips. "I'm not…" He thinks about this for a split second. "Entirely sure of his motivation this time." For chasing Liareth.

If she knew R'xim's thoughts on the matter, Kyara would likely just give another bit of a laugh. Others have been plenty vocal in their horror at the mere idea of handling weyrlings in front of her. It simply isn't something every rider is built for…and many don't know they are until they're thrust into it. As the bronzerider extends his arm a bit more in order to ease her path, Kyara's lips tilt into a somewhat impish bit of a smile, her ministrations continuing without pause. If he's just enjoying it now, it's equally true that she's enjoying giving it. To say she doesn't appreciate what she sees would a be a lie, especially now that Liareth's dragonlust has mostly relinquished its grip on her mind. And if R'xim isn't in any particular hurry to have her stop, then, well…she won't. "Lia tends to bring out the ones who haven't chased in a while sometimes," she notes, slightly amused at the pattern. "Like Sargaeroth." Whom she hasn't seen or hear of chasing anyone at Igen EVER. "Regardless of his motivation, though," she goes on a bit more softly, "I'm glad he won."

"At least Shalnth isn't the type to chase any green that glows." R'xim says with a snort. "Like Tavuqth does. No wonder Th'bek," That poor bastard. "Wasn't anywhere in sight." Little does he know that the Arroyo wingleader was drunk on a ledge the entire time. "I'd throw myself ::between:: if I had to do this every day." Rix squints over at the waterfall entryway and winces a bit. "Or night." When he thinks that Kyara has had enough, he lowers his arm and glances around for his swim trunks that could be strewn just about anywhere in this cavern. Maybe he'll find them if he gets up to take a rinse in the water. It requires moving, though. "If she has that effect, she must have some regulars." A beat, "How often does she go up?"

"I can't even imagine how much of a pain that would be," Kyara agrees, rueful, and glances toward the threshold herself, smirking enough to wrinkle her nose a bit. "For your sake, I'm glad he doesn't, too." She lets her fingers slip away as R'xim lowers his arm, watching how he moves it and satisfied that it seems she's helped. Then he starts looking around for his trunks, and she suddenly becomes a bit more aware of her own state of undress and starts keeping an eye out for her swimsuit as well. "Every four months or so," she replies, shifting to end up a bit more beside him rather than behind, letting one long leg slip into the water as she turns. "Though it stretches. I can say she'll go up three times a Turn without fail, but the number of months between is never the same."

R'xim shakes his head when the math is revealed and exhales a breath through his nose when he looks over at the glowbasket. "Then you're savvy to it." Clearly the greenrider is used to the event if she has some lighting already arranged so they can at least see their immediate surroundings. Rix does his best to not look over at Kyara when she moves beside him, even if Turns of Weyr-life have wiped out what modesty he once had. There's still a sense of propriety that helps ease the awkwardness if there is any between them — it difficult to say at the moment. "Shalnth is older than most people think, which is likely why he doesn't chase that often." Rix winces again and lifts a hand to scratch the side of his stubbled chin. "Just don't tell him I said that. Else he might try to prove me wrong."

Kyara sighs, a sound that manages to be both a bit of a snort and a snatch of laughter at the same time leaving her throat. "I try to be," she says, pulling some loose-flying hair back over her shoulder as she takes another briefly glance around in search of clothing - hers or his. She notes his choice not to look her way with curiosity, a slight tilt of her head given as she studies his profile again. She isn't truly shy about being bared anymore, out of necessity as well as finally learning to be comfortable in her own skin, and she doesn't really feel a sense of awkwardness so much as…a subtle sort of caution. "He won't hear it from me," she chuckles, and lets a beat of silence pass before speaking again, softly. "R'xim…" A simple bid to draw his attention, even if just for a moment.

The same hand that scratches the side of his face is then run through his hair to smooth back whatever mess has occurred in the last candlemark or so. Bits and pieces of the flight flicker in R'xim's mind as a montage that's coming back to him now that he's otherwise fully lucid. It takes some time coming out of the draconic half of his mind and it helps that he's not rushing out of the cavern in a drunken, stumbling haze. Are those his swim trunks? He's distracted and squinting over at something on the ledge when Kyara says his name and pulls him back into the moment. He glances over at her, slightly curious. Slightly cautious. "Yeah?"

It might be safely said that Kyara is never fully out from under Liareth's influence until a handful of candlemarks have passed, though her recollection of anything both during and in the aftermath has sharpened over the Turns. She's probably about where R'xim is on that count now. The manner in which he regards her when she successfully snags his attention draws a subtle smile for how it mirrors her own state. It flickers as she hesitates slightly, seeming momentarily at odds with herself. After a few beats, however, she works past it and leans into his shoulder to kiss him lightly. It isn't precisely a chaste thing, all things considered, nor is it solicitous, but it is appreciative. Sweet, perhaps, might be a good term. It doesn't linger, since she doesn't wish to presume it would be welcome for her to do so, but she does keep her gaze trained on his face to gauge his reaction. "Thank you," she murmurs, not elaborating just yet. Just watching.

Not entirely sure what he did to deserve that, R'xim's expression morphs from slightly curious to slightly confused. He'll let Kyara kiss him, though, since he's never one to refuse a beautiful woman — flight or no flight. And when the kiss is broken, he takes a moment to study her face how that he's close enough without his dragon's influence to remember her features. "For what?" Seriously, he hasn't a clue. Usually at this time he's hitching a ride with Shalnth to the baths or getting slapped and shoved out onto a weyr ledge half naked. This entire experience thus far has been the polar opposite from the last flight that lead him to this cavern, and he's having another montage of flickering memories flash through his mind to add to his confusion. His hides it well, though. Probably because he's looking at the greenrider's eyes and red hair and fair skin — a far cry from his usual blonde preference.

"Well…" Still close enough to be in light contact, Kyara relaxes as she observes R'xim's reaction, a smile lingering on her lips for it. She lets her chin rest lightly on his shoulder, amber gaze flicking down and away for a moment as she considers how best to put it. "Despite how rough around the edges you are so much of the time…for not being an ass." When her eyes return to him, she can see him studying her, the passage of his eyes and the flickering of her own scattered memories pulling a gentle glow of rose to her cheeks that's likely evident even in the dim lighting. It even deepens with her next, a somewhat cheeky smirk curving full lips to one side. "And for…a time I'm going to like remembering." She has no qualms being honest about it; nothing she's recalling is unpleasant in the least, though neither of them were directly responsible for it. Even as the result of a flight, if it was good, she's not about to keep the fact to herself.

Wow, this is certainly a first. As R'xim makes an attempt to recall all of the flights Shalnth has won, he can't seem to bring up a memory where the greenrider (or queenrider) thanked him for… not being an ass. He stares at Kyara in a dubious manner until he peels his gaze away to rasp laughter that spreads throughout the cavern. Settling after a moment, Rix just shakes his head at the thought. "Pretty sure that's still the flight talking, Kyara." he says with a grunt as he maneuvers to stand. He's slow to get up, straightening to full height and then rolling those shoulders again to loosen muscles that Kyara hadn't touched. "Once upon a time I had manners. They surface every now and again to trick people into thinking I'm a nice guy." A smirk curves his lips and he holds out a hand for Kyara to help her up if she desires. "Here's better and cooler than the baths. Let's rinse so I can go find my dragon." Who has yet to tell him where he is — somewhere close to Liareth, no doubt.

"Pretty sure I see what I see, with or without it," Kyara counters, shifting back to give R'xim more room to rise. The wandering of her eyes along him as he does so, however, might still be the flight. Then again, it might only be in part. She accept the hand he holds down and unfolds, having to look up at him in the end and suddenly struck by the difference in their heights. Her lips smirk to match his as her free hand trips fingertips up his chest, teasing. "I haven't said I think you're a nice guy," she points out, tapping the end of his chin gently and then dropping her hand to brush away some sand clinging to her hip. "I just think I like you anyway, whatever you may be." With that, and a subtle glint of something that could be construed as challenge, she steps off the stone lip they've been occupying and into the water, quickly submerging and then rising again to make another attempt at finding their clothes. Liareth…well. All she knows is that Liareth is sated and contentedly sleeping for now.

R'xim watches Kyara jump into the cool water with interest as the tingling sensation of his lifemate finally surfaces in the back of his mind. Shalnth, smug. The bronze is resting close to a sleeping Liareth and dwells in the fact that, for at least the rest of the night, the green is his. "Good. I'd hate for a rumor to start spreading." That he's a nice guy. Perish the thought. Soon after, he jumps into the water now that Kyara has surfaced and begins the process of locating a pair of swim trunks and one small bikini. His own garment isn't that difficult to find — it's over there, near the shallow part of the pool's edge — and he juuust might take his time looking for hers. Since Kyara isn't kicking him out, Rix might as well enjoy the company while Rukbat remains hidden beneath the horizon. There’s no point in rushing out, right? Of course not~

Provided Shalnth doesn't get outright insufferable, Liareth is perfectly content to stay curled up with the bronze all night. When he stirs, she does, briefly, and Kyara chuckles, partly in response to the mental check-in and partly to R'xim's comment. It's quite possible that she's deliberately taking her time as well. No point in rushing, indeed. Eventually, however, the waiting satchel will be grabbed, the glowbasket shuttered, and the two riders will emerge into the evening. A tumultuous end to the day…but hey, there was no slapping involved! Winning all around.

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