Manhandled

Writers: Iluva, Shawna
Date Posted: 8th December 2024

Characters: Cirina, R'fayne
Description: They catch up and have a nice chat
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 21 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: O’rosin, N’vanik, Ç’pier (not by name), Saedyna (not by name), Ciara

R'fayne

There were a few things on R’fayne’s mind that day when Skadith backwinged onto the sun-swept Weyrbowl, but for some reason none of them properly registered once he caught sight of Cirina. Only the opportunity sprouting before his eyes.

Now. Ordinarily he wouldn’t hunt a girl down in the middle of the bowl for information. Though the Weyr was often overcrowded, there were plenty of places to pull her into conversation, public, discreet, other. The dining hall, the bathing pools, the stairwells. Unfortunately, cornering a girl in a cupboard could get you landed in front of N’vanik and castrated these days.

But. He wouldn’t ordinarily be seeking it out on a holdkid, either. A skittish brownrider with intrigue and distrust at war in his eyes wasn’t his usual bent. And Faranth, there were easier ways to get laid - now more than ever.

It wasn’t his intention to come up alongside Cirina so quickly, but with Skadith also chasing almost every other day R'fayne's blood was a slick feed of endorphins. Instinct and urge and muscle memory (whose?) said to _grab_ and he caught her by the arm like it was fluttering in the wind. No, he realized, he caught her arm like it was shooting madly through the air, like it was a _challenge_. One thing was clear - she wasn’t getting away.

“Cirina,” R'fayne forced himself to let her go, “Faranth, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” or yank her, technically.

Cirina let out a sound that was somewhere between a squeak and a yelp, and was already making a fist when she whirled around. For a moment there was a flurry of little brown wings as Digger lunged for the hand grabbing her upper arm. It was only the fact that R’fayne was already pulling away that saved him from a more serious bite as the brown firelizard hissed his disapproval, eyes whirling red. The fist loosened and instead of hitting her assailant, Cirina reached up to soothe her pet. “Shards, R’fayne, would it have killed you to just say my name?”

Her alarm did simmer down when she realized who had grabbed her, if not why, and she pulled Digger off her shoulder and into her arms to calm him down. “Whaddo you want?” Her normally cheerful face was twisted into an annoyed scowl, “Other than to scare me out of my skin?” She decidedly did not apologize for Digger’s assault, though her eyes did go to R’fayne’s hand to see if he’d managed to draw blood.

R’fayne had briefly hoped Cirina would accept an apologetic wince, but then in a brown fury the wince expanded into the face of very real pain. “Ahh!” He shouted, hand retracting with an irate hiss.

It was a little hard to fault Digger for being a good lizard (and truthfully he was more annoyed at himself than the firelizard for not noticing him there), but it was a lot easier with the two scrape marks down his hand. Nothing major, thankfully. He tried not to scowl too deeply back at her as he wiped away the blood.

“That wasn’t my intent, but I guess I deserved that.” He answered dryly. “Sorry. I haven't seen you around and needed to ask you some things. I wasn't trying to scare you.” He emphasized the last part to Digger, glaring at the brown flit before he addressed Cirina.

And then **Kill me** was the next immediate thought, except she was the only person R'fayne knew to ask.

**Oh you're gonna love this,** R'fayne held no illusions of how Cirina might react when he told her _why_: “O’rosin,” but at least the name came out evenly as his heart slowed its hammering. “What are you willing to tell me about him?”

“You did deserve it,” Cirina sniffed, but then she made an obvious and conscious effort to let go of her irritation. “I’ve been the same place I’ve always been,” she said. Which was another sore point. He wasn’t exactly winning points with the candidate.

Her expression changed to suspicion when he told her what he wanted, and her eyes narrowed, “O’rosin is my friend. My very good friend. What do you want to know about him? Maybe I’ll tell you. Maybe,” she stressed. “But can we at least go sit in the shade?”

“Yeah. There by the lake?” He nodded to the small stand of trees lounging in the massive shadow of the weyrrim at this hour, keeping a ‘respectful’ distance from the girl and her fanged friend as they sat near the shore.

Turns out seeking shade was a good idea, though R’fayne didn’t really want to voice that to Cirina. Partly out of irritation, though that was fading as they sat with the water lapping at their feet, and partly because his blood was trying to cool.

“Good idea.” He said anyway, leaning on an elbow to openly observe her observing his smirk. “So. What, uh, what are you afraid I’m gonna do to him?”

“I’m afraid you're just looking for ways to be awful to him. Are you mad he got a brown and you Impressed blue? We all know you had ambitions.” Cirina settled on the ground and Digger crawled down to her lap, letting her pet him idly even as he kept one wary eye on R’fayne. “O’rosin has had enough stress, he doesn't need you adding any.”

“Yeah I’m jealous he got a brown. Sometimes.” He admitted, more easily than he realized. It was disturbing to hear what she really thought of him - that his intentions were purely antagonistic - though he could understand why. R’fayne exhaled. “I just… saw my future differently. I was counting on it, y'know? Other ‘ambitions’ or whatever you’re all calling it. It was stupid, but they’re gone now anyhow.” Yet despite the white hot anger of what a blue meant for them, Skadith had never once wavered.

A sobering thought, a tight feeling. “Look, Cirina, relax.” R’fayne said. “I'm thinking more along the lines of relieving stress. You know, for _fun_. I gotta fly ‘Fall with him soon and he’s interesting. Tense. Cute in a stray canine sorta way.”

“You don’t have to tell me about expectations. I never expected to still be… here. Maybe I would have made some different choices,” Cirina said, with a hint of unhidden bitterness. “He is cute, isn’t he? Pity he doesn’t like girls,” Cirina’s voice was casual, but her eyes were laser focused on R’fayne, trying to read his expression. His reaction would determine if was the last thing she said on the matter.

“Yeah, I think I would have, too.” R'fayne replied with a sigh. Then tilting his head slightly to one side, he considered the poorly veiled implications of what she said. Afterall, he did have _some_ idea of what O'rosin liked (and didn’t like) by now, otherwise he could have saved himself a hand wound.

“Not into girls? That is a pity.” R’fayne's tone stayed mild. He was watching Cirina as well, not quite as intensely as she was, but alert. “Do you want me to ask what his feelings are about guys? You know he's not exactly subtle. I've seen him staring harder than some of the Starcrafters with a telescope.”

Cirina frowned again, but this time it was more of a considering frown, and she leaned back on her elbows, getting more comfortable to consider the thought, “I honestly wonder what he'd say if you asked him. I’ve also noticed some staring, but I'm not sure he's noticed. Maybe I should ask him. You know how upset some of the holders can be at the thought. And there's a chance he has some of those opinions about what brownriders should or shouldn't like… maybe?” She trailed off, having reached the end of that train of thought. Honestly she wasn't sure. It hadn’t come up in their conversations.

“I'm not sure me asking’s gonna do much good. In the bathing pool he couldn't talk or even look down - not on purpose anyway.” Despite the snort, R'fayne sounded faintly puzzled by that. He gestured to their shaded spot, “Hence why we’re here.”

Blowing out a breath dramatically, Cirina said, “I could ask him. If you’re interested. You’d owe me though. Big time.” There were worse options in the Weyr than R’fayne, though perhaps he was the one that surprised her the most.

“Figures.” R’fayne scoffed, and while a part of him did not want to be beholden to Cirina in any capacity, on any level, he’d already assumed her help wouldn't come without a price.

He studied her for a moment - there were certainly worse people and far worse things to have to do than give a red-haired girl a ride somewhere, or finagle a finer vintage of Southern wine - and he might have even found her protectiveness a little endearing. “Keep it to what we newly minted riders can do and fine, it’s a deal.”

“No worries there. My restrictions are stricter than yours. Sometimes I just like seeing something other than the same old Weyr, and I love my mom, but it's not fun needing her for a ride everywhere. Alright, give me a couple of days and I'll talk to O’rosin. I'll send Digger with a note next time so you don't have to manhandle me in the middle of the Weyrbowl next time.” Assuming they were done, she bounced back to her feet and put Digger back on her shoulder, ignoring his sleepy protests before he nestled back under her hair.

They were done, as a moment later Skadith winged down from the heights with a solid thump. He rumbled a brief greeting to Cirina and Digger, eyes a steady green. R’fayne rose and ran a hand through his hair, his ego irritated but intact. He had half a mind to just tell O’rosin to stop by, all this note passing felt foolish, but he decided to defer to her judgment, “you know where to find me and Skadith.”

Last updated on the December 16th 2024

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Manhandled