Start of a new page (Frost, 3/404

[Frost]

Srunae blinked in surprise when J'lon finally spoke, her fingers trying to reach for his when he touched her hands. He was sorry? For what? Shaffitall, it was so hard to understand how he thought sometimes... "J'lon, what do you have to be sorry for? You didn't do anything wrong. It was... just a surprise that you actually took me up on my offer. I had hoped you would, but... it didn't seem very likely..." Surely he realized that wasn't something he normally would do...? Or at least... that Srunae thought he would normally do? That and, she was self-conscious about herself in the nude, though he might not realize that. She hugged him tighter, refusing to let him go until this was sorted out.

Again, he was apologizing, with all his heart, and Srunae found herself dealing with a degree of frustration as well as awe. He thought it was his fault, she thought it was her fault, and all together things were getting irreparably awkward again. "J'lon, please don't go..." She said, nearly begging the man. What the shards was wrong with her? She'd never felt so abandoned in her life! "I really don't want you to..." She sighed, forehead against his poor, wet tunic. The man made her crazy in ways she could never understand, but he made her so happy, so, so very happy... and all she wanted was to hold him tight and never let go.

So, pressed against his newly soaked backside, completely nude and wondering what the shards she did wrong now, Srunae found the words just sliding out of her mouth. "I... I love you, J'lon." She said softly, eyes closing. "And I don't want you to go away." It was bad enough she'd managed to lose her first kiss to a flirtatious, kiss-stealing purplerider. She didn't want to lose the man she so adored over a stupid misunderstanding.

It was almost like a culture clash... though both parties were from the same culture.

[Crystalyn]

What did he have to be sorry for? What didn't he have to be sorry for? But he held his silence for the moment, hearing her out. She had wanted him to come, but hadn't expected him to? Well ... maybe that explained part of it. Despite how she'd offered, he'd managed to catch her unawares. How awkward was that. But before he could formulate something to say that wouldn't dig him deeper, she was talking again.

And ... she didn't want him to go. It was comforting, that. He hadn't completely ruined everything then. Even if things were still hardly getting any better. He had best step very carefully now. Trying to figure out what to say, trying to figure out what to do, J'lon just stood there, trying not to think on how she was leaning on him so. So warm. So soft. So sad. He squeezed her hand, trying to comfort her.

Whatever he had been thinking, he surely hadn't expected to hear what she said next. It wasn't exactly a shot out of the dark, some part of him had known that. But to hear it said ... it set his heart aglow. She loved him? He smiled a smile never smiled before. Peeling her hands free of his chest, he extracted himself from her tight embrace. Only to turn about and wrap her in a proper hug, enveloping her in his arms and holding her tight. "I love you too." He answered, half muffled himself now. "Srunae."

"I just ... I don't know what to do." J'lon admitted. "Everything is upside down and backward." It was sad, really. Why did the simplest things have to be so hard? "Please forgive me. I never meant to upset you. I want to make you happy."

[Frost]

Srunae was surprised, to say the least, at J'lon's movement in her arms, and still more surprised when he turned around and gave her a far more proper hug. She blushed profusely for a number of reasons, but the most prominent was his response. He loved her too? Her heart skipped a beat or three as her name was added on the end of that obviously heartfelt statement, not at all bothered by the muffled bit of it. She felt like she could fly away of her own accord, with no need for Tripeth's assistance. Srunae was no longer a fish, but a bird, so happy with itself it was singing.

His admission to knowing not what to do wasn't any sort of surprise to her. She didn't really know what to do either. She was just... sort of guessing. Sighing softly, she leaned her chin against his chest, gazing up into those handsome violet eyes of his. "You have no idea how happy you make me." She smiled gently, hugging him tightly and quite thankful for his excruciatingly warm embrace. Being out of the hot water for so long was making her a bit chilly! She sighed a little, playing with the hem of the back of J'lon's shirt in a slightly nervous fashion. "Every time I'm with you, I'm happy..." She grinned a bit, momentarily losing herself in his gaze. Faranth he had such pretty eyes!

"As for not knowing what to do, well... I'm in the same boat." She chuckled, her eyes shifting to one side before going back to his again. "I suppose... I was testing the waters with my invitation earlier. I wasn't sure what to expect, exactly." She certainly didn't expect him to suddenly feel as though he'd violated her or something, and so vastly upset her. But she wasn't upset... particularly now, being all wrapped up like a present in his arms like this. That she was essentially parading around without a stitch of clothing still, well... that seemed to be pretty much forgotten.

"I wasn't sure how... integrated into Weyrlife you are." She was well aware he'd never had to experience the dragon's lust, being bonded to a Pearl, and she knew she never would either, with her lovely Tripeth. But, standing for so many turns prior had left her pretty decently aware of the loosened standards of Weyrlife, though she hadn't yet lost her... innocence. Maybe her kiss, but not her innocence. She was careful about that one. But J'lon? She hadn't a clue if he'd observed the same sort of standards, or even wanted to partake in them.

Srunae, well... she was a touch oriented person from the get go. And the thought of being able to snuggle and hold each other close so much sooner in a relationship than she was brought up to believe? That was a plus in her book. And, as it was, he'd seen her pretty scorching close to nude before. Swimming in one's undergarments didn't leave much to the imagination. So it seemed... okay? Maybe not proper, by Hold standards, but at least tolerable?

While all these thoughts whirled around in her mind, she gazed deeply into those knowledgeable eyes of his, and soon her train of thought crashed somewhere in favor of admiring him. J'lon wasn't a pushover in the looks department, that was for sure. After a moment of consideration, she removed one arm from his grasp, as if to check that it wasn't asleep, and proceeded to pull the obviously taller fellow down by his shirt collar, so that she might plant a soft smooch on his cheek.

On the lips, as much as she wanted to, might scare him off, she decided, and she was quite happy to be all nice and warm like this. Releasing J'lon's shirt, she glanced down at herself and then back up at him. "I absolutely adore you... but I'm moving too fast for you to function, aren't I?" She smiled wryly, pressing closer in hopes of leeching some more warmth out of his probably wet clothes. Well, he hadn't run away yet...

[Crystalyn]

Apparently he did have no idea how happy he made her. Because to him it seemed he'd done nothing but screw things up for a very long time now. But ... maybe things weren't as they seemed. She did seem happy now. Well ... happier anyway. But that was always good. J'lon smiled at her, trying very hard to ignore the fact that she was standing there without a scrap of clothes on. Thankfully, for the most part, his own clothes were pulling double duty in covering her as well as him. My, but he hadn't known that a girl with no clothes on could derail thoughts so very easily!! But then, he'd never encountered an unclothed beauty before, either.

She seemed to be staring at him, and he couldn't help but stare back, wondering what thoughts were rolling around behind those oceans of hers. Such interminable depths that only hinted at what she could possibly be thinking.

Oh. Testing the waters. Haha ... he wondered if she meant that pun, since she had been in the water literally. "Oh." But it did explain why she'd been so startled to have him actually show up. If she hadn't expected him to ... well ... okay. Yeah, he could understand that. He wouldn't have expected it either. He just didn't do stuff like that. But she'd asked! And well ... a fellow in love did the strangest things. He was learning that the hard way. "I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, myself." He admitted. Which was why it had taken him so long to actually do so. Which probably hadn't helped ... she'd probably figured that since he hadn't yet, he wasn't going to. Oops.

"Integrated?" J'lon asked, pausing to think about what she might mean by that. "I ... uh ... not sure what you mean. I've been living here for, oh ... six or so turns now. Well ... sortof. Two of those weren't here here." He tried to explain futilely. He didn't know how secret the timing trip was supposed to be ... or even if he'd told her about it already or not. It did seem they talked about everything some days. "But um ... yeah. Integrated?" Sure, he wasn't the most socialized person there was, but she knew why that was.

She moved, he wasn't sure why or what her intentions were. But if she didn't want to be held, he wouldn't hold her against her will. Loosening his hold on her, he wasn't sure what to expect. Getting dragged down by his shirt certainly wasn't it, but he couldn't help but smile for the kiss to his cheek. Apparently, she wasn't going anywhere after all. He hugged her again, and couldn't help but laugh softly at her question. "You don't look like you're going anywhere to me." He answered, knowing full well that wasn't what she'd meant. But he couldn't resist. "But no. You're not. I just ... I'm not anticipating anything. So give me some time to formulate a response?" he asked. Function, he could do that. But sometimes the road stopped being under his feet rather suddenly and he would have to find it again to keep going. She seemed to have a talent for yanking it out from under him like that.

Holding her tight with one arm, he brushed some of the wet strands of hair away from her face, admiring her. Even if she was sopping wet. Srunae was too beautiful for words. Running his fingertips down the side of her face, he brought them under her jaw and back forward to her chin. In a moment of boldness he tilted her chin up and leaned down to kiss her back. But unlike her, he placed his squarely on her own lips, even if it was the tenderest and lightest of touches.

[Frost]

Srunae chuckled. Well, at least she wasn't the only one unsure of what to do with that situation. Silly her, thinking that it would be so easy once that bridge was reached... but eh, she had thought she knew his limits before she'd even offered. He was hitting her with new stuff everyday, it seemed... like what he was saying now.

Srunae mentally covered her face with her palm. He didn't understand what she meant by integrated... ah. "Well... how... err... how loose you are. Like, um, how most riders with flying and chasing dragons are really..." She found herself searching for the word, blushing slightly. She wasn't embarrassed, per se, but she wasn't exactly... comfortable either. "Well... casual with their relationships?" Unbothered by having sex with a number of different partners? Okay with sharing a weyr very soon after deciding they enjoy each other? "Um..." She smiled somewhat wryly before slightly gesturing at her current... state of undress. "That is, how many of your proper Holdbred views were still... intact." A couple of hers had escaped a long while ago, obviously.

She snuggled into his arms then, happy to be so close and so readily hugged. She chuckled at his initial response to her question, shaking her head a little. Of course he would think of some sort of joke that would fit that, silly boy. His next sentence was a real response, however, and she nodded at the end of it. She wasn't moving too fast. That was good. But he apparently wasn't very good at seeing these things coming. That was something she could work around. "I can do that, sure." She smiled slightly, azure eyes twinkling with laughter. This was going to work out, it seemed, and as his fingers found her wet mane, she became ever more sure of it.

She leaned her cheek into the palm of his hand as it slipped down the side of her face and under her jaw, causing her to sigh contentedly and her eyelids to flutter for a moment. Well, at least he wasn't afraid to touch her... and then came something she saw coming, and still didn't expect. A quick tilt of her chin and a slight lean, and J'lon's lips were against hers, softly, gently, as if she might break if he applied any more pressure than that. Her eyes were wide with surprise at first, but soon closed in favor of concentrating on how sweet he tasted, the hand on his shoulder finding its way into his dark hair.

She definitely hadn't scared him away, and that was more than enough of a triumph for Srunae to feel lots better about herself.

[Crystalyn]

J'lon paused, both physically and mentally as he came to understand what she meant. Integrated, then? "Uh ..." he started slowly. "I guess you could say I'm not?" He offered. "I mean ... uh." He'd never had a girlfriend before. Ever. Before or after Impression. Obviously he rode a Pearl, so not even dragon-induced meetings had happened. Shards, she knew he'd been more or less a recluse, afraid to socialize for fear of being found out. Why was she asking that? "I can't say as I've partaken in any of that ... uh ... kind of weyr life."

Okay. He might as well blurt it out for the world to know. He'd never kissed a girl before, much less done anything more than that.

But ... but ... apparently she didn't seem to care about that little detail. That he didn't know what he was doing. J'lon supported her in his arms as she seemed to just ... melt. Was that normal? He had no idea. But he wasn't about to let go of her, entirely thrilled to just get to hug her ... much less all this ... uh ...

It was getting awfully hard to think again. Much less with any coherency. Something small at the back of his mind was worrying and niggling about how she wasn't ... exactly... wearing anything. Still. But he really didn't care. She was covered, why worry?

Of course, he'd also forgotten that they'd left the door to her weyr standing wide open, too ... and her bath door was also open ... these things just failed to register on his awareness. Everything that existed was right there in his arms, holding him to what he'd thought was going to be a quick kiss.

[Frost]

Oh, by Faranth's golden egg, Srunae was in a Pernese metaphorical heaven. Not only was he smart, and handsome, and all kinds of fun when he wasn't a worry wort, he was a fantastic kisser. She broke the smooch after a moment longer, gently pulling back while her hand slid back down his neck. She considered what he had said prior to their smooch, doing her best to shake off the wonderful fuzzy feeling in favor of grasping the meaning of his words. Smiling happily, she gazed into his eyes again. "Partaking is a different beast... I meant... being open to it." She said softly, pulling him close again, now that her legs were no longer jelly.

"I've grown more open to snuggling and contact earlier on in a relationship, for example... though I've not partaken in any of it... until now." At least, willingly. She sighed and settled herself against him again, only acutely aware of her lack of clothing now, and still just as forgetful about the doors as J'lon... though she could have sworn they shut the door to her weyr. Just not the bathing room. Not that it mattered to her- all that mattered was the perfect man in her arms.

She hugged him a little tighter, the hand on his neck tracing a light circle as she pondered what to do next. Obviously, they had smooched. That was nice. She'd love to do it again, but it wouldn't do to overwhelm the poor boy!

... Plus, she was still stark nude. And still kinda cold.

Absently, she started to wonder how long it would take her hair to finally dry if she kept snuggling with him like this.

[Crystalyn]

She was getting after something, with all this questioning. That much was obvious. But what exactly she wanted from him, he couldn't guess. Clearly, she wanted to know what he was going to allow, or was comfortable with. But wasn't going to ask outright. Frustrating!

"Uh ... well... I ... really can't say?" He asked, not only at a loss for an answer, but also still awfully distracted. Who would have thought it would be so very hard to think straight on any given topic while having a nude girl leaning on their chest? It seemed to simple, but it was not.

It was an interesting thing to learn that she was as new to this whole thing as he was ... maybe that was why she wasn't so disturbed by his not knowing what he was doing? She didn't know any better to be capable of judging him badly.

He still felt somewhat awkward, having her standing there like that. Not knowing what to do about it. The longer he was still the more awkward he felt. Though those little touches she was doing to his neck were seriously distracting him from coherent thought again. Why was having her like this so very intoxicating?? "So this is partaking?" He asked, only realizing afterward how very stupid that sounded.

Argh.

Her skin was starting to feel chilled, though ... and even hugs weren't going to keep her warm. At least not while she was wet. So he stepped sideways, reaching for a towel with one hand. Just being dry and soft, it would feel far warmer than what she had to be feeling now. Letting her lean on him and hug him as she was, he shook the towel out and then draped it around her snugly. Something, anything to do. Something to take away the awkwardness. Something ... to keep him from drowning in those blue eyes of hers and stealing another kiss from her. Even if she had seemed to like it, he wasn't going to push his luck. He'd already pushed too far today, he was sure. Stepping so far out of line ...

Shards, he'd walked in on her in the bath. Hardly proper thing to do.

J'lon rubbed her shoulders gently, trying to help her warm up. "You feel cold." He said, quietly.

[Frost]

Srunae chuckled and shook her head, leaning her forehead against his chest for a moment as she considered her next plan of action, her next method of trying to coerce information from him that he seemed so unwilling to give. Or, if not unwilling, then too shy to gladly offer. She looked back up at him again, azure eyes locking with his violet ones. "Well... how soon would you..." She shrugged a little, finger still tracing those little circles upon his neck, her other arm holding him close as she looked for methods of posing more specific options to him. "Willingly be kissing, hugging, snuggling, and... well." She smiled kind of sheepishly, glancing towards the bath. "Bathing together." She looked to one side as she offered her logical train of thought for that last one. "Since it... it's fairly similar to going swimming together... just in a smaller pool of water." She chuckled nervously, and it took a moment or two for her to get the courage to look back up at him again. "In a relationship... without the issue of your girlfriend being a Weyrling?" Fairly easy way to garner what he would go for.

It was interesting to ponder just how new to all of this he was, taking into account his tendency to be a shut-in, his usually shy, hideaway nature. Srunae had one thing up on him- and she wasn't sure she was glad it happened or not. Someone stealing your first kiss, no matter how nice it might have been, wasn't something to chalk up to being fantastic. She blinked and smiled slyly at his fairly obvious question, chuckling. "This is partaking, yes... and it's proven to be quite enjoyable, despite the earlier... shortcomings." Shortcomings. Was that a good way to put it? Both thought they overshot the situation, and still had managed to fall short of the goal. So, perhaps it was. She shrugged a little.

Oh well.

She snuggled into his arms, ignoring the slight chill creeping up her spine. She was cold, the signs were there, but she didn't wanna move, shardit! Who would want to move, in their situation? She leaned on him some more, slightly surprised as he moved to grab a towel and shake it out, before wrapping it around her shoulders. Hit with a sudden, strange mixture of awe and disappointment, she blinked in surprise before he proceeded to rub at her shoulders. She smiled at his words, the awe overtaking the disappointment. What a sweetheart! "I'll be fine, don't worry." She said, taking her hand back long enough to tie the towel around her, like a makeshift dress, and wring out her hair, before she quickly wrapped her arms around him again. He wasn't getting away yet! "Although... another of your wonderful smooches would certainly help warm me up." She chuckled at her fairly brazen comment, for a holdgirl, one of her hands snaking its way back up his chest to settle on his jaw, fingers gently tracing the line from his chin to his ears. Well, if that didn't prove she liked his smooch, nothing would.

[Crystalyn]

She was wanting him to think, and to answer her questions. But thinking was proving nearly impossible. With her not exactly clad, so very beautiful. And messing with his neck. Why she was doing that, he didn't know. But it was massively distracting, sending unfamiliar tingles down his entire spine. He wasn't being ticklish ... he knew what ticklish felt like. This wasn't ticklish. Reaching up, he captured that hand to make her quit ... just so he could think. Think to answer her questions. But not to be insulting or worse, he pulled that same hand up to kiss her knuckles lightly.

Girlfriend. That word sounded like magic in his ears. It sounded good ... even if almost unbelievable. Girlfriend! She wanted to be his girlfriend. He wanted her to be his girlfriend. He felt like he was walking on cloud nine with no way down. Bathing with her would be entirely awkward to think about, he didn't know if he could handle that. For more reasons than one. Shards. But would he try to make her happy? Absolutely. "Entirely." He answered simply, with a wide smile.

But, as with all things, there was always a catch. A girlfriend not a weyrling. She ... Srunae was still a weyrling. She would be for three more agonizing months. He still had to wait. But he would. He would wait for her.

J'lon hugged her tight again after she secured the towel about her person. Now it wasn't quite so awkward. She was semi-dressed, so far as it went. He could think again ... sortof ... and she wasn't freezing to death anymore. Always a good thing. She was just too beautiful.

Or ... or ... well ... so much for that thought. At her comment about getting warmed up, he couldn't help himself. He grinned, and leaned in to kiss her again, lifting her and hugging her tightly. So much for any effort toward coherent thought. J'lon knew he was probably getting more than a little too carried away in all this. Too much giddiness. From realizing he hadn't lost her, but had instead gained the whole world in her.