What is this!? Flirting apprentices!? Call in the appy rules lecture, stat!
You go to the Hall's Lounge.
Hall's Lounge
Cozy to the point of downright stuffy this lounge exudes a salty briny air. Overstuffed and comfortable looking are the chairs of dark blue that reside at one end of this circular room. The smattering of tables that they surround are nothing more than tops with scarred wooden legs attached as well they should be. The bases of the tables and chairs are waterstained and marked by mild salt buildup. Rugs worn with age decorate the polished floor of this relaxation area soft greens and browns making barefeet swoon. Paintings of charts and various sea mammals and fish have been painstakingly added to the walls creating the atmosphere of their mother sea. To one side of the bridge is a wide ledge... [look closer]
Settled near the water is Terpsichore
Obvious exits:
Baths Men's Dorms Staff Hall Women's Dorms Infirmary Bridge Sea Lane
Rallaei slides in from the Arched Bridge.
Jessa is away from the furniture, well away in fact. She's found herself a clear area. And there twirls the Jess. Gotta practice the twirling and keep it good and all. And it's a good destresser.
Rallaei walks in, and rather quickly forgets why he's there. He forgets because Jessa is twirling, and this gives him every reason to gawk. And gawk he does, until his gawking is interrupted by a giggle he just can't hold back any longer. "What in the name of Faranth /are/ you doing?"
Jessa stops her twirling and just /glares/ at Rallaei. "I'm twirling," she says indignantly. And what the Shell is /he/ doing here? Grr. He's supposed to still be at Seacliffs. Not at Ista bothering her.
But don't tell him that, he'll just want to come to Ista more. "Oh, came to look on your radiant beauty, as always. Just didn't expect it to be spinning. Or twirling, or whatever you're calling it." His most charming of smiles is shot her way after that, as his head tilts to the side. "Why are you 'twirling'?"
If he thinks flattery is going to get him anywhere, he's wrong. Very wrong. Because Jess just gets more angry with his false flattery and all. Radiant beauty. Hah. Jess doesn't buy into his 'charming' smile at all. The senior appy tries to control her anger and manage somewhat of a civil response. She shrugs, "It's fun." And why not?
Rallaei nods, apparently accepting the reply. Somehow. "Well, good reason, then. Carry on. I'll just sit, watch, dream, fantasize, whatever." No word on what he's actually gonna fantasize about- probably burying her temporarily in the sand or something. So he seats himself on the floor, crosses his legs, and looks attentive.
Jessa wrinkles her nose at him. Fantasize, hah. Well, at least there's nothing sexual or dirty about sand. Unless Rallaei gets off on that or something. She takes a few steps away from him, towards the furniture, and then spots ... food! Senior appy makes a beeline for the stale meatrolls. Food. Yum.
Rallaei is displeased at being pushed off to the side like that. Good job on her part, supposedly. "Those don't smell too good," he offers to her with a light shudder. "I'd be careful, if I were you. You're liable to get sick, and we wouldn't want that pretty complexion marred by some unsightly paleness..."
"We? And who would -we- be?" Jessa is only one, after all. She's not plural. She disregards his warning with a shrug. "They taste fine, just a bit old." She grabs a few meatrolls and then plunks down with them. Time to regain that energy she used up while twirling.
"We," Rallaei stars, "Would be anyone who appreciates your fantastic looks as much as I do." A quirky little grin is offered here. "I mean, there's gotta be a few other people- because I can't be so mislead by my feelings for you that I'd take an ugly face for a pretty one- really, I hardly ever see you, so most of it has to be based on pure physical attraction." Ooh, he's on /fire/ today.
Jessa tilts her head to the side and raises a brow. "Oh? Is that so? You think I'm pretty, huh?" The senior appy gets up to go and get something to drink, because eating meatrolls makes one thirsty. Yes, Rallaei is on fire. Which is why the senior appy slowly approaches him with her meatrolls and drink, and then throws the contents of her glass at him. He needs to cool off. Really.
Rallaei's first intentions are to grin at her in response, tracking her with his eyes as she goes and gets the drink. It's only after he's effectively dripping that he notes, "Yes, I do. You may have an awful temper, and some sort of fetish for throwing the contents of your glass on guys, but yeah. I mean, I don't know if I want you entirely, I'm happy as I am, but... Well." And a bit of liquid running down the side of his head is licked at.
Jessa shakes her head at Rallaei and sighs. Luckily there's only one oversexed male running around in the Dolphincraft. At least, only one that Jess knows of and has had the misfortune to meet. "You're full of yourself," she notes dryly as she takes another bite of meatroll.
"How d'you figure that?" comes a perfectly civil query from the dripping boy. And he'll wait for her answer, though he does pull his shirt up (and expose that six-pack, yeah baby!) to wipe at his face. And then licks more at his lips as the beverage trickles here and there.
If Jess were some sort of empty headed swooning girl, she might go crazy over the bit of skin Rallaei is showing. But she's not. And this is the 'phincraft. You can't go swooning over every bit of skin that is revealed. It's going to happen. Folks wear swimsuits and divesuits. Skin gets revealed. No cause for excitement. Jess' reply comes in the form of a half-eaten meatroll thrown at Rallaei.
But not all folks are as obsessed about staying in shape as Rallaei? Seriously, he's maniacal. He scares his player sometimes. "Oh, come on, don't need to go all quiet on me now," is whined with the lightest of sniffles. "I just want to know why y'think I'm full of myself? I was only talkin' about you, after all- maybe I'm just full of you?"
Jessa is not impressed with Rallaei. "See, there y'go, thinking that you're great and all, and that I or any other female would swoon over you." Full of himself, he really is. And the staying in shape bit. It's just proof of that. "Go back to Seacliffs, I'm sure you've got some nice dumbglow there to swoon over you."
"I never said I wanted you to swoon over me," Rallaei notes with a shrug, getting to his feet, and tugging at a now-clingy wet tunic of sorts. "I just said I might possibly be swooning over you. And she's not a dumbglow, thanks." And just a bit of acid in his tone at that point. Then the smile, he'll do his best to smooth things over. "I can't win with you, can I?"
Jessa grins and shakes her head. "Nope." Oooh, so Rallaei /has/ managed to snag someone, eh? "Then go back to her, and don't swoon over me, /if/ you are swooning over me." Ewww. He's swooning over her. That's disgusting. Now Jess is going to have to take a nice long hot bath to cleanse herself. Impure.
"I'm not really swooning," Rallaei shrugs. "I'm just trying to find a way in. Y'know, go for another one of those times when you sit on m'shoulders and we terrorize pubs and that." A slight whuffle here. "Oh, the things we miss... You break m'heart, really you do. But I'm sure I had somethin' to do. Maybe in the library..." Here, he bows to her. "Lovely seeing you."
Jessa wrinkles her nose. They were never friends, were they? Never will be. "Right, shoo now. And don't bother coming back." Save himself the heartbreak. Now if he'll just leave she'll sneak off to the baths and cleanse herself. Bleh.
All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are © Anne McCaffrey 1967, 2000, all rights
reserved, and used by permission of the author.
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