Another Day of Chores (Z'dayi)

[blueaid]

Somewhere out in the bowl, catching some sun, being weird and elitist off by himself, Tremaith cracked open one eye very gradually. He wasn't exactly roused, not yet, but he was keeping tabs on Z'dayi's doings now-- and the bronze knew exactly how to put a stop to this when he decided it was time to do so. Intellectually, he could understand this perfectly: his rider was playing a game with Salina, unattached and easy, but Z'dayi was Tremaith's property, and this little goldrider was toeing the line. No trespassing: Violators will be prosecuted.

Inside, on the bench, with a goldrider across his lap, Z'dayi was aware of Tremaith's mental proximity. It started out easy enough, just a test of the waters; she sat, and the bronze seemed okay with that, so the game could progress. "Well, maybe it's not that simple." Big surprise! "But Deoneth's okay?" And that was a genuine question, one that didn't involve the cheeky smile, if briefly.

"Because next I kiss you. Wherever I can reach. And we see how well you're doing then."

But dragonet-factor was a significant new addendum to rules he'd refined over many Turns of seducing girls who should have just said "heck no I'm not sitting in your lap!"

[Xinnai]

"Deoneth's fine," Salina murmured quietly. And the gold was. She was lounging indolently by the lake, soaking in some much wanted sun and napping quite peacefully and deeply. She'd been worn out the day before and hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. She was growing at such a tremendous pace that it left her sleepless some nights. But if anything went to awry, she'd be awake in a snap. Both weyrlings knew the risks their dragons imposed.

"Kiss me?" Mouth twisted and she laughed softly, hands curling into balls underneath her arms as she glanced at him, brows raised high and skeptical. "And I'm not supposed to touch you?" She paused for a moment, as if to deliberate, her head cocked almost as if to shake. "All right. Do your worst then, Master Innuendo."

[blueaid]

A possessive warning, a reminder, a touch from Tremaith to Z'dayi. Whatever else happens, the bronze reiterates that his rider belongs to him. And Z'dayi knew it, gave just a moment's pause that could as easily be interpreted by Salina as a contemplation of what his worst could imply. He glanced down briefly at the resolute fold of her arms, his own hands still curled intently around the edge of the bench-- apparently the game went both ways.

"Let's see, let's see." Nowhere near her lips, maybe to avoid the intimacy of such, but he blew hair off the side of her neck and that's where he started. Good at playing, it's enough to say that he knew how to kiss a girl, how to find ticklish spots, how to make his breath warm, how to exploit all the sensitive skin at the curve of her neck. Potatoes may have gone unpealed, but there was certainly a lesson in something going on in here.

And it was a rare thing for Tremaith to speak, but he lobbed a phrase at Deoneth, his mental voice sort of raspy with disuse, creaky like a back-corridor that no one bothers to walk down; Wake up.

[Xinnai]

She laughed slightly at the brush of cool air against sensitive skin. The brush of lips was a bit more intimate and she found it telling that he started there. No lips for him-that was too private a touch. She shifted slightly, feeling a giggle build up in her throat. Shards, it tickled. Instead, she settled for a quiet sigh.

Deoneth awoke with a start, blinking opalescent eyes at the voice that contacted her. Not recognizing it, the small gold sat up. I am awake. She was still carrying her easy contentment from her nap when she felt her rider's emotions. All seemed to freeze for a moment and then Deoneth straightened up, pressing forward as if she could actually physically reach her that way. But sensing nothing too concerting, though she was a bit worried. Salina knew what she was doing though. Didn't she?

[blueaid]

A nip at her ear, an amused whisper into it, "They're gonna get us in trouble." Z'dayi bent his head back to the giggling spots, and a grin was easy enough to feel in the exploring lips. Tremaith's ire raised, yes, but let's refer back to Z'dayi's comments-- to what he wanted, something that was his, and apparently fooling around with women (even when he shouldn't be) fell into the category of the life outside of dragonriding. As much as this game was about playing with Salina, it was also about learning the boundaries of what Tremaith really considered his rightful place to interfere.

Then, happily, he asked, "Ticklish then?" All that without raising his head, with really peeling his lips off the skin at the base of her throat now. Yes, they'd been thrown into this tater-peeling business practically sight unseen, but he was quickly beginning to appreciate a lucky twist of fate.

Even if Tremaith was resentful of this interloper, this blond thing, this person who kept Z'dayi's mind occupied. With Deoneth awake, he vented a rush of cool displeasure at her. Words were gone again, only those sensations-- Dark things, dusty things, things better left undisturbed, these were the feelings that essayed from dragon to dragon. Something sacred in the dimness, and the sense that Salina disturbs things best left untouched.

[Xinnai]

Salina would have replied, even had mouth open to, when the clever bronzerider shifted to those spots again, the ones that buzzed with feeling and sent it right down to her reflexes, making her giggle lightly and squirm against those inquisitive lips. At his question, at the vibration that came from his voice, eyes rolled as she pressed her arms all the tighter to her chest. No way was she going to lose.

"How'd you know?" she asked sarcastically, although the effect was marred by the warmth that still slipped along her voice, induced by those brushes of flesh against flesh. She eyed him, wondering if she might be given a turn at this new game.

Deoneth slipped back down to sit, sinuous tail curling around her claws in a very feline move as she considered the impressions and feelings she got from Tremaith. In another part of her mind, she was keeping very very close watch on her rider. It would be best if they were left for later, yes, but I do believe that this was in equal parts Mine's idea as well as Yours.

The gold was trying to soothe and placate while making sure that the bronze knew it was not just Hers who had initiated this trouble. His had as well, and if he thought Salina wouldn't rise to baiting, he knew now he was dead wrong. Yes, so both their faults. Clearly.

[blueaid]

She could wonder away all afternoon when it was going to be her turn, but chances are that it wouldn't come to pass unless she asked. There were a few more rules than Z'dayi had made it seem like at the outset. How'd he know? He nipped again at one of those ticklish spots, followed with a brush of his nose, answered with a smirk in his voice, "Lucky guess."

Winning and losing weren't really the point of the game anyway. They could both sit there all day with their hands resolutely in their respective corners. The point was all in skin and lips and breath that grew a little tattered the longer he pursued this particular avenue of entertainment.

No denying it, and Tremaith knows perfectly well that Z'dayi's culpable. In an oddly pleasant way, he defers the entirety of blame to his idiot rider and removes any semblance of it from his mental image of Salina. The bronze wasn't especially soothed by the knowledge, it didn't change the fact that there was a thread of jealousy underlying the thoughts he shared with Deoneth. Nice try, though.

[Xinnai]

"Mmhmm." She shivered delicately at the feeling of teeth, of nose, fingers curling and uncurling beneath her arms. The man knew what he was doing, she'd give him that. Definitely knew what he was doing. Neck arched just a little closer as eyes slid closed in face of this dreamy little bubble of pleasure she'd not been expecting at all.

Deoneth "listened" to the bronze, running his thoughts through her head before she replied carefully. Her eyes were whirling a bit faster now. Salina was pushing bounds the gold would rather weren't pushed quite yet. I do not yet understand this compulsion of theirs, not completely, but I doubt they will push it too far. They would not hurt us. However...that Mine could need someone other than Hers... Deoneth trailed off thoughtfully, slightly agitated. She may have been a queen and her mind growing rapidly, but she was still a young dragon and didn't quite understand that side of nature yet.

[blueaid]

Be a dreamy little bubble of pleasure when they're called to task for all the unpeeled potatoes, wouldn't it?

But right now Z'dayi was at least distracted to complacency, with her collarbones and jawline and earlobes, her chin and occasionally brushes across her cheeks and closed eyelids, with just a little shift now and then or a flex of his fingers and arms to indicate that it wasn't entirely easy for him to play within the rules either. "And you were disappointed that it wasn't gonna be Ez'ki peeling taters with you," he remarked with a warm laugh into the hollow of her throat, an easy guess at the initial state of things.

Conversely, while Z'dayi found things going a little more apace, Tremaith seemed to be getting a better picture of what this was about. Really, it had nothing to do with him-and-Z'dayi, or even Z'dayi-and-Salina. This really was just a part of who the bronzeling was, someone physical and warm and eager and careless. And these were the inkling thoughts he tried to pass along to his clutchsister. Need each other? Tremaith doesn't think there's any need between them, just some weird thing with skin and lips and teeth that really doesn't make sense. It does seem strange to him, yes, he definitely agrees with that part. But he resolves slowly into a better understanding-- there's no emotion in there, just contact. Does Deoneth perhaps get the same impression?

[Xinnai]

Every brush against skin, the little laughs and warm sweepings of breath tested her control. She wanted to reach out, badly, and grab at him and do very many asunders to him, things that weren't strictly allowed within their present state. It was irrational, yes, but very true. Lips curved at his statement-statement and not question-as her head tilted to give him more access, inviting him to the long, pale length of her throat and the pulse that hummed lightly there.

"Mmm. And you were disappointed to see it was The Girl who was here, someone you didn't know, and not one of our other classmates." She laughed lightly, head tipping back farther so golden hair slid down back and shoulders in light waves, the ends just touching at his lap while in others, it pooled against him.

Deoneth concentrated for a moment, bringing her concentration to Salina's, pressing towards her lightly, enough that the girl wouldn't notice as they slipped in together, flush, for one moment one person. You are correct. There is no need. Mine just likes the contact, the feeling. She does not want, she does not need. She just likes. It settled the gold, made her feel more calm. She felt quite grateful to Tremaith for it. Mine acts not on those wants and needs but on play, on wanting to be touched be Yours. It is...confusing.

[blueaid]

"Noooo," answered Z'dayi, elongated that word so it stretched the length of kisses along her throat. "I was disappointed that there was a big pile of taters, nothing to do with you." And Salina arching like that had the effect of him leaning toward her, his lips eager not to pull from her, the contact sustained.

With a half-frustrated, half-delighted sound, something like a groan that got lost in between kisses, he confessed, "I take it back, you obviously ain't just a little girl." He'd played this game with women older than Salina, and they hadn't lasted as long, so kudos to her! And they sure hadn't thought of little things to test the man's resolve, the desire to catch up that soft hair with both hands, to cup the back of her neck and pull her back over. But--

Tremaith seems bemused and entertained at once, shares in Deoneth's confusion for their riders' collective sport. But he also seems thoughtful about it, about the idea of Z'dayi taking pleasure in Salina. Possessive still, unwilling that his rider should feel for any other, but the physicality is an intellectual problem for the bronze. What can it mean to "want" someone? Stupid concept.

[Xinnai]

"Mmm." It was simultaneous hum of pleasure and consent as he spoke. She could feel his words formed against her skin and it made her craving rise all the higher. But she wouldn't touch him, not yet, definitely not yet. She wanted to see how long she could draw it out, especially at the sound he made.

Eyes opened to slits as a smile ghosted at her lips. "I told you, didn't I?" The feeling of his lips against her skin created little shimmers of heat where they brushed, and gentle swipes at certain spots made her laugh breathlessly. Eyes closed again and she inclined neck closer towards him, hands still curled resolutely.

I know what it is to want, though not with the connotations others use for the word. I know what it is to want food, to want Mine and other things. But this physical want, this need as I have heard said...I do not understand it. Indeed, a very stupid concept.

[blueaid]

A nod, the brush of Z'dayi's nose in the process when he just barely lowers his head to accept Salina's point-- she did tell him, didn't she. But had he taken her at her word, unquestioning, would he now be busily engaged in discovering the taste of her? With a little scrape of his teeth across that little traipse of flesh just where neck curves to collarbone, with the apple of his cheek momentarily against the warm flutter of her pulse, he adds through a little breath-catch, "But some things you just gotta learn for yourself. Like why this side makes you tremble more than this side..." The puzzle illustrated with a nibble to the same spot on the other side of her neck.

But it's a game that can't stay static forever. It has to go forward, because it just can't go back. With a determined exhale hard against her, he released the bench and reached with both arms to fold around the goldrider, to draw her flush against him. For a moment, it wasn't technically a defeat, as his hands didn't actually touch her straightaway. But then they were caught up in a tangle of blond hair thredded through his fingers, one hand flush along the back of her neck. "I think the game's over," he admitted with an abrupt grind of his teeth.

And the reason was immediately obvious. Tremaith's thoughts rang clearly between his rider and Deoneth at once, a commandment that had everything to do with an inability to rationalize this game any further: Enough!

[Xinnai]

Another soft hum of approval left her as he continued their sneaky little game. She only half-listened to the words that rose to grace her ears, only paid half of her attention as they threaded through her mind in individual little snippets and blobs. The feelings were what she really concentrated on; the touch of teeth, the little of his every exhale, the feel of skin pressed to hers. "Uh-huh," she said as he illustrated gleaned knowledge-and he was right, she trembled at the one side and visibly did not at the next. "And othet things too, of course," she added, trying to at least contribute to their running sidebar.

She felt puff of breath, those grey eyes opening, staggering clear with just a hint of mist, as he encased her in his arms. She immediately felt entirely surrounded by him, small as she was. Salina watched Z'dayi, eyes wide at this very sudden movement, though they fluttered as fingers threaded through gold of hair, a hand pressed to her nape and words spit through bared teeth. She sighed, reluctant to move. Game over? So soon. It was such a shame.

Listen to him, Salina.[/color] The little gold abruptly spoke to her rider. Intentions go just a little too far now. Back off. You do not want to get into trouble. We do not want to.[/color] Salina sighed at this reminder, looking back up at the bronzerider across from her, sure his Tremaith had made the decision and not him. "I suppose you are right," she murmured. "It was getting in too far." But she reached up to wrap arms about his neck as eyes held to his, giving him back a little of what he'd given her. "The dragons do persist."

[blueaid]

Tremaith's point is made, and the fierceness subsides to a puff of mouldering disapproval. He knows, at the end, that he's the one who's really won this game, and-- even as he sends threadbare tendrils of gratitude toward Deoneth for her part in cooling Salina-- he clings to the parts of Z'dayi's mind that he wrests free. And what could the bronzerider do, knowing his dragon was satisfied to put and end to this little game of pleasure, but smile a tragedy at the girl caught up in his arms? He'd lost to her, and he'd lost to his dragon, and he found sad humor in both losses.

"Too far?" And his eyes found merriment to meet hers, his knees bent some to further tip Salina into him, against him. No, it couldn't go further, but he kept the girl close against him anyway, and he buried his face against the side of her neck, in the softness of her pale hair and warm skin. "Just too soon. We ain't done yet." His voice came out muffled but still tinged with promising laughter, still that smooth drawl. "We gotta pick up in a coupla months is all."

He tried to gloss over the fact that it'd be months, tried to sound unfettered, but the sigh gave him away a little there at the end. A brief kiss at her neck, just a light press of his lips in promise-- "Still a coupla things I could stand to learn for myself, I'm pretty sure."