Flirting 101

Writers: Eimi, Rochelle
Date Posted: 14th August 2006

Characters: Eleada, R'mer
Description: Eleada offers to teach R'mer how to flirt.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 6 of Turn 3

Gliorith surveyed her oily body with pleasure, watching the sun play across her hide. ):I am beautiful.:{ She thought proudly at her rider, who chuckled. **Yes you are. Now stretch that leg of yours. Can't have you limping in front of the boys.**

Gliorith snorted, and ambled over to a nearby blue, preening herself to catch his attention. Eleada laughed, but stopped as she caught sight of a familiar young bronze. A short stroll revealed Hanunth's rider and an older woman. It looked like R'mer was obviously uncomfortable, so she strode casually over.

"Hi, handsome." She called out as the other woman gave her a dirty look and walked away. "How's Hanunth?"

"Um..." R'mer watched the woman walk away, knowing he had done _something_ wrong, but not quite sure what. "He's fine, thanks."

She followed his gaze, raising an eyebrow. "Problems?"

"Well... I'm not sure," the bronze weyrling said with a slight shrug. "I mean, I know she was trying to talk to me about something, but I know I wasn't responding the way she'd have liked."

"Really?" Eleada fought to control a smile. Considering the dirty look she'd just received and her last encounter with R'mer, she had a fair idea what was going on. But just in case... "Well, I might be able to help. What was she saying?"

"I don't know," he said with a shrug. "She asked if I had much experience with being a bronzerider, and I said that he hadn't started flying yet, and she said that wasn't what she was talking about. And then she asked when I was going to be a Senior Weyrling and I told her and she said that after that she would teach me what being a bronzerider was all about. So I told her that it was ok because we're learning about all that in class, and I really felt uncomfortable with the way she was staring at me, and then she just kinda got annoyed with me."

She couldn't help it. She started laughing. **Oh Faranth! Experience with being a bronzerider...** "Experience..." She gasped out. "R'mer...
do you have any idea... why she was asking about... Senior Weyrlings?"

R'mer could feel the blush creeping up from his toes. Shards, what an idiot. Realization was dawning on him way too late. "Yes," he finally mumbled, looking down at the toe of his boot digging in the sand. He just wanted to bury himself and hide from her. The weyrling knew he looked every bit the back-of-/between/ fool he was. She saw the blush and the way he averted his eyes, and tried to stop laughing. Shards... "I'm sorry, R'mer. I didn't mean to embarrass you.
You really don't have much experience with flirting at all, do you?"

He shrugged a shoulder slightly. "I guess not," he muttered.

He was really embarrassed, she realized with a pang. She hadn't meant to do that. Shards... well... hmm. Why not? She liked him. He had a cute smile, and was going to have to learn somehow. It might help him adjust, and she might get a good friend out of it. It wouldn't hurt to ask, and it certainly wouldn't be the first time she'd taken someone under her wing.

"Would you like me to teach you?" She asked gently.

"Now you're just trying to flirt," he snorted. She should have gotten the hint that he wasn't that good at it.

**All right, I probably deserved that after our last meeting** she decided.

"No, I'm not." She said calmly, careful not to let even the slightest of inflections mar her tone or body language. "I mean it, R'mer. It isn't the first time I've offered to teach someone. I just thought that it might help you adjust to the weyr a little faster if you knew when someone was being serious or not."

Well, she _seemed_ sincere. "But, I'm just a junior weyrling still. I'm not supposed to... you know."

Eleada smiled. "I won't ask you to approach anyone, unless you are practicing on me, and I'm not interested unless Hanunth flies Gliorith, and that won't be for a few turns yet. I think you'd be safe. Besides, aren't you less likely to upset Hanunth if you know someone is flirting with you, and how to deal with it?"

It made sense... "I suppose so," he nodded. "And I suppose it would make me feel a little better too," R'mer added with a slight smile.

She laughed softly. "That's the idea. I never did understand why they didn't make it required training for weyrlings. I remember watching my mother force my older brothers to practice with my sister, so they wouldn't be caught unawares. Now _that_ is embarrassing."

The thought made R'mer squirm. "Its wrong to... to _flirt_ with your _sister_."

She chuckled at the memory. "That's what they thought. But it worked.
You never saw someone learn so fast! I think I laughed myself half to death, but having someone to practice on does make it easier." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "So when do you want to start? Now?"

"Ummm... sure. I guess." Though it may take him a moment to get the taste of his mouth at the thought of flirting with his sister... "If you like."

"Okay." She flopped down on the ground, and patted the sand next to her.
"Lesson one. There are three parts to flirting. The words that are said, the body language and tone of voice used, and the mindset of the people involved. Follow me so far?"

"Maybe," he said as he got down on the sand beside her. It already sounded confusing.

"It takes a while to figure out, so feel free to ask questions." She said, scooting a bit to face him better. "Now, you can flirt with your words or your body language and tone, or both. We'll leave the mindset for later. Flirting with words is obvious, like 'Hi gorgeous, want to curl up with a bottle of wine in bed' sort of thing. Flirting with body language and tone can be more subtle." She shifted her posture, leaning forward so he could get a good view of her feminine assets and stared at him with smoldering eyes. "Like this." She whispered breathlessly.

"Ok, maybe we had better stick to just a spoken demonstration," he said, shifting away a little uncomfortably. Her feminine assets were way too distracting, especially considering how long weyrlinghood seemed to be taking.

She chuckled, shifting back to her original position. "All right, but just for now. You can't learn to recognize the body language with just a spoken demonstration. And if you don't know what it looks like, you're far more likely to upset Hanunth if it catches you by surprise." She looked around. "Speaking of, where did he go?"

"He's swimming in circles around your green and that blue over there."

Eleada smiled fondly, spotting the enthusiastic young bronze doing laps around Gliorith and the blue she'd targeted. Gliorith was amused by the weyrling's antics, and splashed some water at Hanunth. Then she shrieked in delight as the blue decided to get into the water war.

"Yeah..." Eleada trailed off, and shook her head, "Dragons." She looked back at R'mer. "I think we might have to put this off a while, or those three will drench us. Do you want me to catch you later, or is there a time that would be good for you?"

"Maybe on the restday?" R'mer suggested.

"You're the boss. I'm taking my sons on a picnic in the afternoon, so I'll hunt you down sometime in the morning, all right?." She said, running her plan for that restday through her mind.

Mornings were good for him. "All right. I never sleep in anyway."

She chuckled. She remembered weyrlinghood all too well. "I'll see you then, handsome. Have fun with Hanunth -and good luck with the ladies until then."

Last updated on the August 14th 2006

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Flirting 101