[PRP] Wrong Time, Wrong Place, Wrong Us [Dolmar/Shahera]

[ShinosBee]

The candlemark was late, the night dark and full of terrors, not the least of which was the raging storm outside. Through stone and wood and metal the gale was muted, only the lowest rumbles of crashing thunder and a constant quiet rush of thousands of raindrops falling to fill the air. Deep inside Western's records rooms to the dim glow of a number of candles, several figures were mulling about. Low voices murmured, though the storm and stone silenced the whispers long before they left the cavern to spread down the hall to where rooms and weyrs were full of their occupants turning in for the night. One stood from a table, scooping up a bundle of scrolls and leaving through that same passage, and a few moments later another sighed, bookmarking their place and heading out as well.

Night had come, and beds were calling. But still two more figures remained, heads bent over a certain record.

There was a familiarity to their forms, leaned together almost shoulder to shoulder without hesitation. A careful observer would be able to read amusement in the casual stance of the shorter of the two, and a mild irritation or stress in the cant of the spine of the taller, but they seemed amiable enough. They were certainly working together with a sort of practiced ease, hands flicking out to dust over the record, tracing lines over and past each other's arms with the lightest of unflinching touches as they wove along down the most recent history of Western Weyr's clutches.

"I'm telling you Shahera, it's overdue," Came the low, smooth voice of one, fingers curving to make a near-fist as he gestured to where the record ended, dark lines of ink giving way to pale untouched parchment. "We've been waiting months. The old records say that golds began to rise more often when thread fell. It's been a thousand turns and more, but seems consistent enough in any Pass before. So why not now?"

Neither of them could know it, secreted away among old books and scrolls and the names of the long-dead, but they didn't have much longer to wait. Not at all.

faesinger

 

[faesinger]

“It does seem to be overdue if we follow the progression of the past. But this isn’t the necessarily the same, is it? Thread stopped for a long time. Who knows what changed in the Golds in all those years.” Sahera sighed and pushed back from the table. “Going over records isn’t going to change when it will happen.” She had humored Dolly enough and was quite tired of looking at scrolls and papers.

Giving the records on the table a shove, she hopped up and perched on the edge her feet swinging. “You really need to relax more, you know? Always so tense about what the future will bring. I get planning and plotting can be fun and all, but really, do you ever just act?” The only reason she was bringing this up was that they were now alone and were unlikely to be interrupted. It was probably the only situation in which she could push hard enough to get him to actually answer her truthfully. She reached up and tapped Dolly on the forehead, lines around her eyes indicating she was laughing inside. “You think too much.”

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

"I suppose that's true, but that's why we've been looking even further back. If things didn't change in the long intervals before, why now? Did something shift because the dragons thought it was gone?" That seemed unlikely. He grunted as she knocked the records to the side, his brow furrowing at the rough treatment of the scrolls, several of which were undoubtedly old and fragile. And then hopped up, her infuriatingly short legs swinging away as if her entire future didn't hinge entirely on some dragon choosing now as the time to mate. Always so focused on the present...

Her tap to his forhead made him startle, eyes widening then narrowing. With anyone else (Marinel aside) he'd have been livid inside...but he was unfortunately used to having Shahera's paws all over him. "Acting without thoughts can ruin any plans I might have made or want to make. An idiotic action could tear down everything. I think it is you, Shahera," And perhaps because they were alone, or because of something in the air perhaps, he reached out one slender finger to jab her forehead right back. "That does not think enough." His eyes did not crinkle like hers, no he'd never stoop that low...but they did narrow just slightly.

Honestly, despite the wait, life was looking better and better these days. He had his twin, his plans for life. A few...friends, even. If they counted as friends...And in the distance, the echoing roar of a furious golden dragon.

faesinger

 

[faesinger]

Shahera laughed. “Probably,” she agreed. It was more fun to just act sometimes and it had been known to get her in trouble. She did give a giant grin to Dolly as he jabbed her back. “See? you’re learning, already!” She raised one hand triumphantly in the air. “Never say you aren’t a quick study.”

The gold roar in the distance penetrated the records room. Shahera looked up at the ceiling, her arm still raised. “Huh.” Slowly she brought her arm down. “Looks like the wait might be over.” The words were slow and thoughtful, an interesting contrast to what she had just been talking about. Then she laughed lightly again and shook her head. “You always did have perfect timing.”

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

Whatever blithe jab Dolmar'd planned to make back at Shahera was long lost in the bellow of the gold. For a moment, just a moment, his face was unguarded, and the emotions he kept clamped inside showed perfectly clear. Excitement. Hope. Raw, furious ambition, and smug confidence. "As if I could be anything else but perfect," He nearly purred, one corner of his mouth tugging upwards in a disgustingly cocky smirk. He was backed by an answering roar, then another, and another. On their heels, a wave of emotion that was nearly physical, rolling over the occupants of the weyr like a tide. Heat rushed into Dolmar's bones, and for a blinding instant he was keenly aware of how near Shahera was, how familiar he was with her, how her skin radiated warmth, even when his own hands had been so cold...

He had jerked away from the tables, his signature scowl fixed back in place as he scooped up an arm full of records, rolling the scrolls quickly but neatly back up, and stuffing them, if with more force than the valuable items perhaps merited, into their shelves. And he kept his back pointedly to the young woman, seething as if the crashing feelings from the flight now raging overhead were her fault. Well, he was having none of it. No thank you. He would not debase himself that way. And even if he had planned to, he would never do so with her.

She'd never let him live it down if he did, and frankly she was enough of an earache already. No, he'd take a migraine tomorrow, thank you. "Going to go find some tree to climb?" He quipped over his shoulder, half expecting her to already be gone. She'd always been the sort to enjoy a bit of fun and excitement, he'd assumed.

faesinger

 

[faesinger]

Even as the wave of emotions and needs crashed over her, Shahera still rolled her eyes at Dolmar’s claim of perfection at all times. She knew for a fact that he had his missteps and mishaps the same as any other person. That was an argument for another time now. It was time for something very different. She was aware of how close he was and she was willing to become even closer, when he suddenly wasn’t there.

With her head cocked to the left curiously, Shahera watched Dolmar move about and fussed? Yes, he was fussing with the records. That was all she could call it. He was fussing, like some innocent virgin girl who didn’t know what to do with herself. A grin slowly crept across her face. Could it be? This could be interesting, she thought, let’s see where it goes.

She hopped down off the table lightly and walked over to behind Dolmar steps carefully not making sound. As he quipped at her about a tree her grin grew even more. From right behind Dolmar, close enough to touch but not touching, she said quietly, “I was not aware you were into those sorts of acrobatics. You always seemed to like to keep your feet on the ground.”

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

If Dolmar'd had long hair, it'd have all felt on end at the sudden voice just behind him, the almost preternatural awareness of her breath ghosting over his shoulder and across the base of his neck. Sheer force of will kept him from tensing, and thump! Thump! Thump! He continued slamming the records home in their shelving without pause. The sooner he put this all away, the sooner he could vacate the premises. He could just leave them be, no one would blame anyone in the weyr for leaving a mess on the night of a flight...but he was above that, shard it! The flight might herald massive change in his life, but it would not change who he was if he had anything to say about it.

Even if Shahera was all but daring him to become someone else, if just for now, this moment, this night.

What would it be like, he couldn't help but wonder. To give in, to turn, grab her by the shoulders, and engage in an entirely more intimate dance than any they'd practiced before? Despite his glacial attitude, he was still a living, breathing, desirous being, wasn't he? The roaring screams ahead seemed to encourage that sort of mentality. And he did know just how flexible she could be...And he knew she knew, as much as he might hate it, how to pluck the strings of his body like a finely tuned instrument...

The last of the records slammed home in the shelf with a dull bang of finality. "Someone has to," His words were little more than a whisper, or perhaps they were just quiet below the storm overhead. "One of us has to..." He twisted, too tall to be quite pinned between her and the wall, to stare her down, and stare down at her. His olive eyes were blown wide, and with a tremor that could be any number of things, his hand reached out. Slender fingers caught and trailed through a dark, twisting lock of her hair. She really did have quite fine features...He gave her grief over her wild fashion sense, but deep down he knew that anyone who could be his partner (in dance, or otherwise) would have to be something special to stand up at his side. To be worth his time and attention...

faesinger

 

[faesinger]

She waited patiently, humming softly and swaying, as Dolmar rather aggressively put away the scrolls. Shahera would appear to have all the time in the world to wait except for a slight narrowing of the eyes as the flight above them carried on. She didn’t really know what she was doing anymore. She should be going and finding someone to dance with that night. Instead here she was, with the one person she knew didn’t want to dance at all. But the temptation to cause chaos was too great at that moment. Even if it was chaos in only one person.

“Has to what?” She asked softly, looking up at Dolmar with wide innocent eyes belied by a slight crinkle around the edges that said she was laughing inside again. She reached up and ghosted a hand across his shoulder, trailing her fingers along the top of his arm, and then pushed a scroll that was threatening to fall out back into place with a decided thump.

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

The air seemed to go still and cold as her hand rose to trail a path of fire across his shoulder. It brought their forms closer, nearly pressed together, eyes locked as time ticked on, creeping ever so slowly towards...something.

And then the slam of the scroll into the shelf jarred Dolmar out of whatever trance the flight had put him under. Like a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head. He gave a shudder and let the curl of her hair slip from his grasp as his eyes pinched shut, brows furrowing as the sharp lance of what would surely become a migraine slid into place just behind his forehead. Gently but firmly his hands moved to her shoulders, pressing her back, away from him to arms' length and keeping her there at bay.

"One of us has to keep our feet on the ground," He reasserted, the words half-grit through a clenched jaw. Already he could feel the flight's desires leeching back in...He met her eyes again, a light of anger behind them now (and perhaps just a bit of fear). "Go find yourself something, if that's what you want." Before he could make the wrong choice, and do something unseemly.

faesinger

 

[faesinger]

She allowed herself to be pushed back with only a small resistance. Sighing, Shahera let her hand drop to her side. The fun had been had and she was getting worried that if she didn’t go now she would not be able to go.

Almost without her thinking about it her hand came back up and caressed his face lightly trying to smooth out the furrows in his brow. “You better hope you impress a white then, if this is the way you want it.” There was a sadness behind the teasing tone. How much of his life would he spend denying himself everything? She had been trying for a long time to get him to allow himself to live but today was not one of those days to keep pushing.

She stepped back and turned to pick up her things.

ShinosBee

 

[ShinosBee]

He nearly flinched from her touch—not out of revulsion, as perhaps she thought, but out of a keen awareness of how very tenuous his grip on the controls had become—before she at least gave up the ghost. She backed down, and he felt his racing heart begin at last to slow. The pounding in his head grew in time with the beat, and he took a moment to lean back, the ridge of the cool wooden shelving pressing into the back of his skull, briefly spreading the pain, but lessening it for the spread. To her comment he said nothing. It didn't matter. Let her think what she liked of him. She'd only ever been trying to get a rise from him, and today would not be the day he let her.

He had better things to spend his time on that rolling in the furs with the first interested party. He had more control than a hedonist like herself. But she was something near to being a friend, and so the sooner he sent her packing, the better. Give her time to find more willing arms to fall into, he told himself. And retreat, hide out, and grit his teeth against the pounding ache and the surging blood.

At last she put her back to him, and with as much calm and poise as he could manage, he ducked around her. His path towards the door was brisk, slightly stiff, but more or less unharried. He wasn't running away, certainly not. "I suspect the Weyr will have a bit of a lie-in, come morning. If lessons go on and you're late, I'll keep notes for you," he'd paused in the doorway just long enough to call back over his shoulder, not even a tremor to his oil-smooth voice. And then he was gone, down the hall, into the darkness, leaving the both of them alone.

faesinger