Who

Francis, Sorvani, A'hali

What

The morning after GDI A'hali

When

It is morning of the sixteenth day of the eleventh month of the ninth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Oriecorth's weyr, Southern Weyr

OOC Date 07 Jan 2017 11:00

 

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Oriecorth's weyr

Think 'shabby chic.' The walls are painted a mellow cream color that flows nicely into the pearly whites - with just a few splashes of pink here and there, just enough to femme it up without making it especially girly - that dominate the furnishings. Francis's overstuffed mattress is in use on a white metal-framed daybed, tucked into the sleeping alcove with a canopy overhead from which drape pleated, off-white curtains. Accent pillows grab color from a vase on the bedside table, where a pink rose droops artfully, and the quilt and wash basin continue this mostly-white motif. The second-hand desk looks right at home with a few new accessories: an antiqued lamp-style glow holder, a chair with a new cushion on it, a smart new inkwell with a cut-glass stopper. Easy-chair and afghan remain, now with an ottoman, and the rug has been smartly cleaned and left in place. Here and there, little extra touches just tie it all together: framed ink drawings on the wall, glowlamps with romantically pink shades, touches of gold-and-brass that offset the white-and-pink.


Oriecorth chose this high-up weyr for the view but a bonus is it's impossible to reach without the power of flight; with the green sprawled across the entryway and Ferdinand setting himself on watch in the easy chair the girls are about as safe as anyone can be in Southern, even if sleep doesn't come for awhile (quit it pervs). When the morning light filters into the weyr, Francis rolls out of bed and, contrary to her usual morning routine of getting ready to greet the day neat and tidy, puts her boots on with the clothes she's been wearing since the night before to give a drowsy Ferdi a lift down to the ground. Minutes later she returns to the weyr, Oriecorth snaking in behind her and curling up on her couch.

Sorvani has had many days where she didn't know where she was going to lay her head at night when she woke in the morning. She was not expecting yesterday to be one of them. Her consciousness comes with the gradual invading light into the strange weyr. She heard Francis and Ferdinand leave, but it isn't until Francis returns that her gentle stirrings become an actual 'I'm awake now' stretch. "Hey." She greets rubbing at her eyes, she's also fully dressed, even if she's tangled in the blankets. "Thanks for letting me stay." First things first.

"Any time." The greenrider offers a tired smile and drifts around the frilly weyr, autopiloting her morning tasks which include dropping a few bread crumbs into a pair of fishbowls on her desk and peeking in at Kobi in his covered cage; from whence comes a sleepy soft "Fuck off mama," and so Francis leaves him to snooze awhile longer. Finally she lights a little brazier and asks, "Would you like some tea? Or I may still have some klah bark around here." Can't have a proper chat without breakfast drinks.

"Klah would be amazing, if it's not too much trouble." Sorvani answers quickly, she needs her stimulant. There is a sad little face at the clearly still sleeping Kobi, but that soon fades as she wriggles her way out from the covers and the sleeping alcove. Yawning she manages to get to her feet without too much stumbling. Today she is not a morning person. "I need more sleep." She offers by way of apology, making her way to the chair Ferdinand so recently left and sitting down on that to watch and wait. Polite people like doing things for their guests right?

"It might be a little weak; I haven't made klah in awhile." Still, she knows exactly where it is and gets a mug ready to steep once the water on the brazier is hot. The motions seem deeply ingrained and almost ritualistic; this is Francis at her most domestic and it is pretty damned domestic. "You can stay here as long as you like, get a little more rest. Though you'd be stuck up here until I or another rider could get you down." She stifles a yawn with the back of her hand and then, after an awkward pause, "So you moved in with Hali?" Now that there's time to talk about it, and caffeine coming.

Not even her early morning sleepwalker shamble can keep that massive grin from Sorvani's face. "Yes." That one simple word rising before her grin is joined by a giggle. There is totally a whole story there. And then it all drops like a lead balloon. "Yesterday." Yeah, she hasn't even had time to process everything from yesterday. While her mouth is inclined to keep on smiling as one hand plays with her lips, the rest of her face stays thoughtful. "I'm sorry about last night. And thank you again."

Francis looks up from her klah preparations at radiant Sorvani and her smile in return is genuine but tinged with a little edge of perhaps wistfulness. "Congratulations. That was…fast." No judgement in her tone though, as she pours some of the hot water into the mug. "How do you take it?" The klah. She waves off the apology with a free hand. "Please don't be. I don't see how any of that could possibly have been your fault. I'm glad I could help?" Hopefully that was helping.

Sorvani smiles again. "I've never felt this way for anyone." She admits with a shrug, but she's not particularly repentant. "And it seemed like the right thing to do." And she never really says no to A'hali. "Anyway I can get it. Sweetner at the very lest." But her reply suggests she's not expecting Francis to have a klah-carts worth of klah-fixings stashed in her weyr. "I was…surprised." Thats a mild understatement to describe her reaction.

There's a quiet little breath of a laugh from Francis because, "Yes, I understand how that one goes," and despite Sorvani's words brings her the mug and a little pot of sweetner because she has that, though no milk is forthcoming. Back to the brazier, she starts working on the next mug, this one containing a measure of tea leaves in a strainer. "But then…there's that other man. The one with the sword." Nope, she did not miss that.

Palm trees, clear azure water, and a sense of peace descend upon Oriecorth, Ohanaveth's quiet mindvoice. « A'hali wishes to know if Sorvani is still there? » And more unspoken, if he can come and bring his lifemate with him.

Sorvani takes a moment to put two…no okay three spoonfuls of sugar into her klah, before sipping with a worried frown - thoughts of A'hali a little more distant than last nights kerfuffle. Now it is time for her to do her version of protection. "He's the last person I was expecting when I got home." Which is entirely true. "I don't know about any of it…I haven't spoken to Hal…" There is a definite ripple of fear and longing in her voice which she will try and soothe with more sipping.

Oriecorth lifts her narrow head from where she's curled on her couch inside and a cold front meets Ohanaveth's tropical domain; it's not an attack or a rebuff but it's certainly a stark, stark contrast. « Yes. » There's a pause, a relay with her rider that prompts, « Come if you like. » Francis glances up at Sorvani not long after Orie stirs. "Hali's on his way." The 'maybe we'll get some answers' is merely implied.

Ohanaveth lands outside with a solid THUMP which can be heard within. He never was very graceful on the ground. And then it's A'hali ducking his head down at the entrance and entering with real confusion on his face and Sorvani's note in his hand. He holds it up as if that asks all the questions possible. He's come straight from the infirmary and it shows in a green slick of Ichor on one elbow.

A'hali has questions? So does everyone else, he'll have to get in line. Sorvani barely has time to work her way through all of the complicated expressions she has at Francis' announcement, before the brown rider himself comes striding in. Despite her unbrushed hair and wrinkled clothes the first thing she is going to do is put her mug (and the sweetner) down and go to him for a reassuring hug. Exactly whom it is reassuring can be debated. Then aware that this might not be the location for anything more (cos poor Francis) she'll step back with a "Hi." Conversations with A'hali usually start with one syllable and go up from there.

Francis merely politely averts her gaze during all that hugging, waiting until that's done before offering, "Klah? Tea?" Her tone is carefully neutral. Oriecorth pointedly remains on her couch inside, leaving Ohanaveth to his own devices out on the ledge.

Hal has good hugs. They involve a full wrap and Sorvani getting pulled close against him. Hopefully she doesn't mind the ichor there. When she backs up A'hali looks downwards, confusion written on his faces. "You did not come home?" Apparently Drex didn't fill the brownrider in on much when he found the note, because A'hali is in the DARK. Looking up at Francis he shakes his head no with a quiet, "thank you."

"I did." She points to the note that is very real definitive proof that she did come home long enough at least to write it. "But there was a strange man there. I…" did not react well. "…came here instead." Because the first thing you need to do in the morning after two very different sleepless nights is juggle an extremely complex situation not of your making. "I didn't want you to worry." Which is why she left the note. "Have you been home?" She asks, because she has noticed the ichor, even if she's not paying it much mind.

Francis quietly continues to prepare her own tea then, though she glances up and interjects, "A man with a sword, whom Ferdi did not know." The ichor smear gets a grim look, perhaps the greenrider has some idea from whence it originates, but she doesn't mention it.

A'hali, still super puzzled. "Drex?" At least, that's who A'hali is going to assume both of them are talking about. "The sword is his." He confirms that part, but obviously it doesn't bother the large man as much as it does the two women. As for Sorvani's question A'hali shakes his head. "Lanaresth will be fine, stayed in the infirmary." The information is provided for Francis, as A'hali makes a leap that infers what she'd want to know.

Francis did not react well either, which is what she attempts to communicate to A'hali with a significant glance. That glance eases into a sympathetic grimace as he shakes his head. Now she feels a bit crap. "I'm sorry." Does that fix anything? She'll just throw it out anyway. "The sword needs to go A'hali." She says softly, giving his hand a squeeze before going to retrieve her klah. It may be watery and not exactly to her liking, but it is hot and it is stimulating and she needs it right now.

Francis nods her head to A'hali's dragon report, the tiniest of nods, but with that cleared up her lips thin and she looks very unhappy at the brownrider's answer. "A stranger. An armed stranger, in her home." So she only just moved in there, let us not quibble. And Fran'll not go as easy on him as Sorvani.

"Did he hurt you?" That common room looked WAY too clean for anything bad to have gone on unless Drex is literally the best cleaner in all of Pern. A glance between Francis and Sorvani as squeezes the latter's hand reassuringly. "I meant to introduce you. But the call came abruptly…" And A'hali then spent the rest of the night in the dragon infirmary.

Sorvani takes another sip of the klah, only her grip around the handle betraying some of the tension she is feeling. "He scared me." She answers with a shake of her head. "The sword needs to go." She repeats, firmly. She'll let Francis take up the angry part of this arguement gratefully.

Francis would have her arms crossed except she's got her tea in one hand; her jaw is set. Clearly she feels that far more than the sword needs to go, but it's a delicate path to tread, a disagreement between a couple so for the moment she keeps her thoughts to herself. Not so with Oriecorth, who without moving from her curl on her couch sends them right on out to Ohanaveth with all the gentle warmth of an icicle snapping off an eave. « My rider will speak with yours later. Alone. » It is not a request.

A'hali is still very confused and it shows on his face, but he'll appologize anyway. "I am sorry." It's heartfelt, "I did not know…" that she would be afraid of a random stranger? For introducing the stranger? A'hali just knows she was afraid so she's apologizing for that. When Ohanaveth shares the icy thought from the green A'hali shoots a glance at the silent Francis. "I am sorry." Just keep it simple. "Come home now?" A quiet request to Sorvani. "I'll introduce you proper, and ask about the sword."

Sorvani will just chug the last of her klah, proving once again that Igenite's mouths are indeed bomb-proof. "I know you didn't. It's okay." She reassures him first before searching for somewhere to put her now empty mug. Somewhere close to Francis seems like a good idea. "Thank you again." For letting her stay, and for being a friend. "We should…" Go away and try to let Francis find some peace in the morning, also get changed out of yesterdays clothes. "We should clean you up a little first." She counters A'hali's request with one of her own.

Francis has perked 'really?' eyebrows for all these apologies, but an earnest if slightly stilted "You're welcome," for Sorvani. And she'll just stand there awkwardly with her tea until everyone clears out.

There's more than one significant glance from A'hali to Francis before Sorvani mentions getting cleaned up. THAT has him looking down at himself and finally realizing the line of Ichor stubbornly clinging to his arm. Oh. He'll nod in agreement for Sorvani's suggestion and offers her his hand before heading outwards towards Ohanaveth.

Sorvani gladly takes pretty much whatever A'hali is offering, so his hand is taken gore and all. "Thank you Francis." She has her own private conversation to have with the brown-rider now. Then she'll follow A'hali out to Ohanaveth and they'll stop awkwarding in Francis' space.

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