Ista Weyr - Stables
Several stalls, about a dozen on each side of a wide corridor. There's the smell of fresh hay and straw, the floor is covered in it. Other, less pleasant smells are also present, like sweating runner. There's an area for supplies, and stares leading to the loft.
Mid-morning, the day after the early morning return from the Traders in Nerat, and S'u is once again looking for Aliona. Certainly, one may have expected him to avoid her for at least another day or two once he sobered up enough to realize how he'd behaved, but there he is. Stepping into the stables, he's pausing for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the dim environment. Rather than lifting his voice to call out - having learned his lesson on that front and having no desire to bring on the ire of the stablehands - he's stepping down the center breezeway, glancing over the stall doors as he goes, looking more relaxed than he has in the last sevenday - and at least for now running into no minor mishaps. No tripping, no elbows on beams… perhaps his bad luck is at an end.
Aliona is hiding, though not from S'u but from the world in general. Even though she's in the stall that houses Tiba, as one would expect, the trader girl is tucked away at the back and her presence given away mostly from the faint noises of a brush against the runner nobody else is allowed to touch. The horse herself gives a small snort of greeting to S'u, tail swishing as she takes a step to the side to reveal a rather dirty looking Aliona - the mud on her skin matching the marks that she's valiantly trying to brush off of Tiba.
Certainly, S'u nearly misses the trader girl, halfway past the prized runner's stall before the wicker has him pausing, and he catches sight of the teen, tucked away there in the back. Hesitating for a moment, he backpedals, moving to lean against the stall door, arms folded across the top of it, resting his chin on them as he stays quiet. Finally, after a long moment, he's piping up without preamble, "I.. I got rid of it."
Brush, brush, bru…. Aliona pauses mid brush to stare at S'u. "You what? When? Who did you give it to? They didn't short change us did they?" His coin has once again become communal, even though the problems it caused were all his to deal with. "You didn't do something stupid with it did you? Oh shell, you bet it didn't you? You lost it at poker."
"I didn't bet it!" S'u protests, a little bit too loudly, which earns him a nervous whicker from the next stall and a disapproving glare from one of the grooms that is walking by with a bucket of feed in his hands. "I didn't bet it.." He repeats more quietly this time, though his eyes are noticeably avoiding Aliona. "I… No one would take it. It didn't do us any good. So… I… I left it. For the Weyrwoman. Its probably stolen anyway."
Aliona blinks a few times, then nods slowly, "I… guess. Where did you leave it?" It's fairly clear that in her mind she's thinking about how easy it might be to go and retrieve it, but she grins as she comments, "just as well i didn't bother ordering that dress that I wanted then, can't afford it now."
"In the records room… I figured it was a good place… That one of them would find it." He shrugs a little. "I mean.. I.. I dunno. I thought it was a good place." And then as she mentions the dress, he squeaks a little, looking more than just a little guilty. "Oh… shards." He whispers, biting his lip. "I.. Maybe.. You can have my marks I made… I mean… I got some for graduation… Since… Since I mean its was half yours, I guess." Guilt.
Aliona stands looking at him for a second, head tilted over to one side, and then simply begins to laugh. "S'u. Shut up. I'm not going to take you marks, so don't even think about it. It was a fantasy dress. To go along with my fantasy cottage by the beach and my fantast herd of runners. Was never going to happen even if we had been able to split the coin. You can't tell me you didn't hope though, just a little, for something."
S'u blushes darkly as she starts to laugh at him, sinking down behind the stable door, trying to hide from her, and looking quite sheepish as he does so. "Doesn't have to be a fantasy.. I mean, maybe I can go get it back… And… I dunno." He stammers a little, still half-hiding. "Maybe, I guess. I don't even know what I'd want…"
Aliona gives Tiba a pat, and then shuffles her way past the runner to stare at S'u until he has no choice but to look back or feel silly. "S'u, trust me, even you wouldn't be able to afford it. Was made for a Lady, there ain't no way it would do for me. But I'm still allowed to dream, ain't a crime. Everyone does it."
S'u tries -so- hard to avoid looking at Aliona. So very, very hard. But then, he's feeling stupid, wrinkling his nose and turning to look up at her. "I think you'd look good in something fancy, though." He offers with a continued blush lingering on his face. "What color was it?" He asks, after a moment, more curious than he should be.
As soon as S'u looks up at her Aliona crosses her eyes and grins, staying that way for a moment and then relaxing. "Blue, not that it matters because you ain't going to be able to get it back from the Lady it was made for. Seriously S'u, it was a commission, not for normal folks. Anyway, thought you liked me in my normal clothes?"
S'u dissolves into laughter then as she crosses her eyes, shaking his head and moving to reach for her arm, giving her a little shake to try and get her to go back to normal. "I was just wondering!" He counters, and then shakes his head. "I do!" He offers with a smirk. "Well, I mean. I think I like you in anything."
Aliona grins, grabbing for his hand to keep it where it is. "Or out of anything?" She elaves the comment hanging for a second, then adds, "Thought you were going to avoid me when we got back. Seemed like you weren't too happy."
S'u is caught, and he's freezing, tense for a moment before he blushes. "Out of anything too." He admits after a moment, biting his lip to hide his smirk. "My head was killing me. And your grandma was being all creepy…" He tries to explain. "It wasn't you, I promise."
Aliona rties on a seriuos expression for a moment, then laughs. "Whan AIN'T my grandma scary, she does that all the time. She put the eye on you? That's actually for real, she's weird that way. Makes things happen to people if she thinks they're going to hurt one of us. She's a bit… well I reckon she'd send a mindhealer to a mindhealer, if you know what I mean. She's amazing though."
"I was half afraid I was going to wake up, and she was gonna be hovering over us, just.. staring that stare of hers, and that…" And he's suddenly clearing his throat, shaking his head and blushing as he shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Uh, never mind.." He finishes, cutting off his previous ramble which probably involved various part shriving up and falling off.
Aliona tries her best to not laugh, ducking her head away from hi mfor a second, but it's not long before her shoulders are shaking and the giggles break free, "Well she was in the next wagon. She ain't all that bad really, promise. She's not gonna come stalking you or nothing, though if we go back again she might stare some more." Moving away from the door a little she starts to pull it open. "You can come in you know."
S'u hesitates for a moment before he's stepping back to push the stall door open enough to slip in, closing it behind him and giving it a push shut. "If you say so… Though, you can't say that the staring isn't totally creepy." He offers, and then leans a little, tilting his head to look her over. "What happened to you anyway? Mud puddle?"
"You get used t'it." Aliona grins at him, casually leaning against the wall of the stall. "And after a while you start practicin' it yourself and then you stare at folks too. It's fun, makes them really feel weirded out sometimes. Huh?" She blinks and then looks down at herself a second, then laughs. "Oh, yeah, something like that. Went for a ride earlier cause I was mad and sometimes it ain't too sensible to just keep runnin' an' not look at the ground a bit better."
"For some reason I hardly think that taking up staring will help me get any girls into bed. Probably just make sure they avoid me." S'u makes a face at that, before she's laughing, and he's reaching over to try and rub a spot of dried dirt off her face. "You look like you got in a fight with an angry weyr brat, you know." A pause, and he hurriedly drops his hand as he realizes what he's doing.
Aliona shakes her head, "Nah, it ain't good for that. Keeping them out of it, works for that. Scares people off in a second if you need to." She simply grins as he rubs at her face, not moving to swat his hand away, though she does have to hold one hand up to stop Tiba from crowding them too much. "Got into a fight with an angry marsh, but I'll say it was a weyrbrat if anyone asks."
"I'm pretty sure the marsh won, too.." He murmurs, smirking a little, and then lifts a hand to gently pat the side of the runner as she shifts a little. "Best excuse for some things though, is to just say 'You should see the other guy'… No one even asked about my black eye, after that." The black eye which thankfully has all but completely faded.
"And you got yourself a pretty good reputation too I bet." Aliona grins, head tilting to one side as she focusses on where the bruising used to be. "Not quite the same with mud, less you claim you were wrestling in it and then people ain't too interested in much beyond who it was with an' what you were wearing."
"Might earn yourself a pretty good reputation for that one, too… Depending if you answer right." He winks, and then shakes his head a little bit. "Shards, you'd have my interest either way, as long as it was you.." A pause. "Have even more of my interest if it was with me." Tease.
Aliona thinks for a second, then nods, "Probably would, could sell tickets. Might even make a good act for when I can't ride any more. What do you think, do I look like a professional mud wrestler? Reckon the weyrwoman would be willing to use that coin to set us up a proper pool?"
"You could get that fancy blue dress for when you finished too, I wager…" S'u comments after a moment, a smile appearing on his face. And then, he's laughing, nodding hurriedly. "From what I've seen, I reckon she'd be willing to wrestle you in it too."
"Could wrestle in it you mean!" Aliona comments, taking the idea far too far for reality, but then she's commenting abiout the weyrwoman and she's blinking at him. "What? I didn't think she was into girls. An' I hate t'disappoint you but I ain't into them neither, other than the idea of having a fake fight for money."
There's a blink, and a stare at Aliona, and then he's laughing, shaking his head. "Shards of course I know you ain't into girls. I promise… I'm glad! I would have -no- chance then." He smirks, and the waves a hand. "Haven't you seen her? Playing around in the garden, always a mess… Probably be right up her alley, if the marks were right."
Aliona continues to talk over him for the first moment, until it sinks in that actually he was agreeing with her. "Very much into guys, loudly and enthusiastically into guys. The more the merrier, though I ain't done that so don't go thinkin' I'm like… that…." She slowly trails off realising she's over-explaining. "I guess is she were up forit then we could. Might be fun, raise some marks for… somethin'."
"A bright blue dress." He smirks, having grinned all the way through her loud explanation of how into guys she is. And then, being S'u, taking a risk, he's leaning to drop a kiss - or at least try - on that muddy cheek of hers. "Zet needs me. I'll find you later, Ali." And with a wink, he's ducking away and out of the stable.
Aliona laughs, "Yeah, one of those. Two of those! Shells, get me a wardrobe and fill it full of those!" Idea… taken too far. She's still half daydreaming when he leans in for the kiss, and misses a perfect opportunity to make it a proper one. Cheek it is instead and she grins, "You better or I'll get my Gran'ma to come stare at you!" She watches as he leaves and then goes back to brushing her runner, but this time with a smile and a plan for how to pitch the idea at the weyrwoman.
