Do You Think it Needs a Bow?

Writers: Dani, Miriah
Date Posted: 11th July 2019

Characters: Ristaliys, Aviday
Description: There's poetry, a hunky man, and the beginnings of an adventure
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 15 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentor Approved

Aviday

Aviday poked her head around the barrier between the two genders, her
eyes searching for one face in particular. Clutching a worn book in
her hand, her gaze flitted over several figures until she found a
familiar back. A very familiar bare back. Her cheeks flushed and eyes
widened before she quickly ducked her head back so he wouldn't
immediately see her. Fanning herself with the book for a moment, she
sighed, then peeked around again and noticed with a bit of
disappointment that he'd put a shirt on. With another wistful sigh,
she cleared her throat and called out. "Hey, Ristaliys...you got a
moment?"

Ristalius turned and smiled down at the young woman. "Hey, Avi. Sure.
What's up?"

Holding up the book, she stepped around the curtain, but stayed near
it, not wanting to get in trouble for being on the other side of the
barracks. "I found this and I thought you might like it." She shifted
from foot to foot, glancing quickly up at him, then down at the book
in her hands. She thrust it forward. "It's got some poems in it and
stuff and I thought I remembered that you liked that sort of thing,
right?"

He nodded as he took the book from her. "I do. I tend to read the
really bad ones. They make me laugh. Do you like reading?"

"I remembered." She gestured as if tucking a strand of hair behind her
ear, then realized that her hair wasn't really long enough to do that,
so instead of looking like an idiot, decided to tug on her earlobe.
"Uhm...yeah. I guess. I'm usually too busy and stuff to read much
though." She could never sit still long enough to read or absorb much,
so she didn't _really_ like it, but she didn't hate it either. "Are
you Standing this time?"

He nodded.. "Yeah. I plan on it. You want to go sit at the lake with me?"

Something inside Aviday simply melted at the offer. He was asking
_her_ of all people! Unaware that juvenile adoration shone in her
eyes, she stared up at him and nodded mutely.

He saw the look in her eyes and sighed inwardly a little. He knew he
needed to do something about it, since she was just a kid. Ever since
he had come to the Weyr, first River Bluff and now here, he had
noticed those looks on a lot of people. He started walking, knowing
she would keep up with him. When they reached the beach of the lake,
he picked out a shady spot that had been warmed by the sun recently.
"So, let's see what we have," he said as he pulled out the book she
had given him.

She plopped down on the beach and gazed up at him, her cheeks still
flushed as she stared up at him with wide eyes. "Will you read a few
poems to me?" She curled her knees up to rest her chin on them. "I've
heard you read before. You're really good at it."

"I wouldn't say I'm good at it, but. . " He shrugged a little. He was
curious as to the type of poetry she liked and wanted to dive into the
book. "Alright." He opened the book, turned a few pages and smiled a
little. This was on par with the things that made him laugh. He
started reading the poem and chuckled. "Avi. . .what did you find?" he
asked, amusement in his voice. "These are . . " he stopped and laughed
out loud. "Well, since you asked me to. . ." He cleared his throat and
began reading. "A man clad in kilt, left a Hold one evening fair, And
one could tell by how he walked, he'd drunk more than his share. He
staggered on until he could no longer keep his feet, then stumbled off
into the grass to sleep beside the street. Later on two young Holder
girls just happened to pass by, And one says to the other, with a
twinkle in her eye, 'You see yon sleeping man who is young and
handsome built? I wonder if it's true what they wear beneath their
kilt." He paused reading for a moment. "I've come across this term
once before in other harper stories, so I got curious. A kilt is like
a man-skirt." He looked at the book then at her. He recognized the
moment it started dawning on her what the girls were thinking. "Do you
want me to keep reading?"

Aviday's jaws dropped and she fell back laughing, her feet kicking.
"Hold girls don't know what men have? A man wearing a skirt?" She
wiped at her face and waved at him, giggling wildly as her brain
popped the images into her head. "Yes. Yes, keep going!"

He nodded as he caught his place back in the book. "They crept up to
the sleeping man, as quiet as could be. They lifted up his kilt about
an inch or so, just so they could see. And there behold for them to
view beneath his tartan skirt, was nothing but what he had been graced
with up upon his birth. They marveled for a moment, then one said
"We'd best be gone, but let's leave a present for our skyclad friend
before we move along." The other pulled a band from her hair, it was
the color blue, She marveled as she wrapped it round "Oh, it looks so
fair." She tied it, not too tight, so neatly in a bow. And there it
lay, beribboned, what the kilt did show. Later in the morning, he woke
to nature's call. He grumbled and he stumbled, heedless of it all.
Behind the bush, there he stood, gawking at what he saw. For there was
a ribbon, bright and blue, and he was in awe. In a startled voice he
says to what's before his eyes, He said, "Lad I don't know where
you've been but I see you won first prize"." Rystalius was laughing
halfway through the verses he read, and by the time he got done, his
eyes were watering with tears.

"My ribs hurt!" Aviday held her sides as she continued laughing,
wiping at her face. "Ow...ow...Oh Faranth...If only I had a ribbon
right now!" She scrubbed at her face and grinned at Ristaliys
impishly. "Do you ever wear a skirt?"

"Not that I know of. Usually, I wear leathers when I'm working and
just comfy pants when I'm not. Why?" He asked with a matching impish
smile her way. "You think I'd look good in one?"

Her eyes sparkled at him as she answered. "You'd look good in
anything." She flushed then cleared her throat. "I mean...sure. I
think so. I mean, you've got muscular legs and stuff, so I bet that
you would." Her cheeks turned even brighter as she stumbled over the
next words. "Not that I'm gonna lift it like those Holder girls or
anything. I know what a man looks like." Her eyes flew to his. "Not up
close and personal though! Just from the baths. And I've never put a
ribbon on one..." Her voice trailed off, the words stuttering with
embarrassment.

A part of him wanted to chuckle at her awkwardness, but he held it in.
He remembered those days well. "Well, I could see you doing that
_now_," he teased. "And thank you. About my legs I mean."

Her cheeks burned even brighter. "Oh no...I'm mean they're not that
pretty enough to get a ribbon or anything. And well..." She bit down
on her tongue, cursing her mouth for rambling on. "You're welcome!
Usually girls have the pretty legs, but men can have them too,
especially if they're all muscle-y, but when they're really hairy you
can't really tell and then it looks like they have a fur coat or
something. At least you're not like that."

The twists and turns of the conversation was making him smile even
more. He liked Avi. She was like a little sister he hadn't ever known
he had needed. Except that it was obvious that she didn't see him that
way. Still. . .He grinned again at her. "Oh, I've got a fair bit of
hairiness. And isn't that the purpose of a ribbon anyway? To make
things prettier?"

She sputtered at the mental images her brain unhelpfully supplied, her
mouth working to try to answer that. Heart pounding, she said the
first thing that popped into her mind. "I can get you a ribbon if you
wanna be pretty."

Ristaliys shifted and sat like a 'prim and proper' holder lady would
have. "And here I was, thinking I was already pretty," he said as he
batted his eyelashes at her with a grin.

"You are! I mean...you're handsome and but..." She pointed to his
waist, "those aren't and ..." Her voice faltered. "You know what I
mean." How had she ever gotten into this conversation? His grin made
her stomach do odd little flips and Aviday wished she could get
control back on this conversation and away from talking about the
prettiness of nether parts. Or any part of his parts. "Not that I
think yours isn't nice or anything but..." She groaned and covered her
face in her hands, completely embarrassed. "I'm sure it is." She
finally peeped.

Ristaliys couldn't help it. He reached over and tousled the young
woman's hair with a laugh. "Avi, you're so cute when you get all
flustered." He moved her hands from her cheeks and tilted her chin up
so her eyes could meet his. "And there's nothing wrong with thinking
guy's nethers aren't pretty. Now," he said as he let her chin go. "The
real question is, do you think I should get a kilt-skirt, or not?"

The ruffling of hair caused her to wrinkle her nose. It was something
people did to her all the time and it made her feel like she was just
a kid. But when he cupped her chin and lifted her head, the sight of
him made her sigh inwardly again with a dreamy wistfulness. She almost
didn't catch his question and blinked. "Uhm...sure." His legs would
look pretty in it, she decided. "But you have to show me how it
looks."

Ristaliys's eyes got a mischievous twinkle in them as he thought for a
moment. He sprang to his feet, grabbed Aviday's hand and pulled her up
out of the sand easily. "Then come on! Let's go on a man-skirt
kilt-finding adventure!"

"OOF!" Being tugged to her feet with a sudden giggle, she nodded and
held up a hand to the sky. "To the Weavercraft area!"

Last updated on the July 22nd 2019

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Do You Think it Needs a Bow?