Xanadu Weyr – Forest
In sharp contrast to the treeless, carefully manicured look of the main clearing, the forest is full of trees, and maintains most of its natural look. Wild flowers grow in their seasons, bordering the road leading from the main clearing as weaves its way between the stands of trees - wide enough for traffic of all types, even draconic. Leading off are several smaller, less worn trails, which branch outwards, making their way to private residences and other attractions - the theater for example. The road, though, continues on eastward, to the feeding grounds and the mine, and beyond that, to the coastal road out of Xanadu's territory.
Amongst the normal weyrs scattered amongst the trees, there is one that is undergoing construction. A large, four-sided structure is protruding, supported by thick wood beams, bearing a ledge, and four large clock faces. It towers over the trees, creating quite a sight for arriving riders.
It's a little quieter with the Candidates gone to survival training and the Weyrling staff off with them. But only a little. The sands are just as hot and the paperwork just as demanding. As directed by the healers, Thea is working at de-stressing and thus today she's taking a break from the sweltering sands and headed off on a walk into the forest to enjoy the fall colors and the bright afternoon sunshine… in the shade, go figure.
There's nothing wrong with enjoying the sunshine from the shade. Especially when you've just spent how long on the sands. Thea has a stalker though. Well in the form of D'had stalking down the path behind her. He's even managed to be quiet enough to escape her attention by his calculations given she hasn't looked back. Closer, closer… And then one hand quickly slides over her mouth holding her tight against him while a finger on the other jabbing into her back. "Scream an' I gut ya like a fish," he says lowly in her ear. There might just be a hint of teasing in that tone of his, and she might just manage to recognize something in that growl, but then again she might well not.
Now Thea hasn't been in the woods for a long, long time and she's walked quite a ways out into the deeper forest that borders upon the wilds that cloak the foothills to that mountain range behind Xanadu. The growth is thick, although brightened by the reds and yellows, it is still isolated, and memories of her previous times out here being what they are, she's fairly easy to startle when she's grabbed. There's a hand over her mouth, so she can't scream, but she tries. With a sharp inhale through her nose, her outcry is rather muffled as she throws her head back against the shoulder behind her while writhing in that grasp trying to get away. Pretty obvious she didn't recognize that voice.
D'had grins to himself. Okay, so it's mean of him, but oh so amusing. It doesn't take much for him to turn her around and back her into a tree given where they are and the path not being so very wide. Hand is replaced with lips, hands pinning arms down and back.
Thea barely has time to note the build and hair color of the man who has her before she's feeling rough bark against her back, the move being so fast and he's so close that she really doesn't have time to focus on his face and then he is too close for her to see him clearly. The breath she draws to scream long and loud is cut off by his mouth on hers before she can finish it, her struggles ineffectual against the stronger man as she tries, and fails not to panic. There's really only one direction she can move with that tree against her back and that's forward - with one of her legs. She tries to lift a knee and push him away.
D'had is, thankfully, smart enough to expect that when he realizes she doesn't know who it is and that knee will find him positioned just right so as to avoid getting hit where it counts. "Now now sweetheart," he mutters around her lips, "What'd Ah say bout screamin? Be a good girl, hmm." If only she could have seen herself, or his grin…
Ahh, but she didn't and still can't and so Thea fights whoever this is, that mutter of his going unrecognized. Her knee may miss that vulnerable spot, but it meets his hipbone, not hard mind, but there's something to push against and she'll use that tree trunk behind her for leverage. Her head is effectively pinned along with the rest of her, so she's not really able to do much about that, but she's trying to twist her wrists out of his grasp, her breath warm on his cheek through her nose as her breathing speeds up.
"Hey now," D'had huffs. Not hard, but he still felt it enough along with her struggling to realize that she really is scared and not just playing along. "Hey, it's okay," he tries to assure while attempting to get an arm around behind her and pull her to him in a comforting fashion.
His normal voice cuts through the haze of Thea's blind reaction and his arm pulls her to him and away from that tree far enough that she can get her head back to see his face. It has all happened so fast that the faint roar from the hatching grounds only now reaches them. The weyrwoman is left to blink at her weyrmate in stunned surprise, while likely calming Seryth in the process. Her chest rises and falls as she catches her breath, for the moment saying not a word.
"Shh, shh," D'had whispers, one hand lifting to brush hair back from her face and back behind her ear, the other rubbing her back. "It's alright," he says again. "You okay?" he finally thinks to ask, wincing at that distant sound comes from the gold. Go figure he didn't think of that one at the moment he jumped his weyrmate.
Since Thea's wrists are not being held any longer, her hands are now resting against his chest, bracing herself up while her legs stop shaking. "Yeah," she finally says giving him a perplexed and somewhat long measuring look. She's not angry, her startlement fading rapidly to be replaced by wary amusement. "Siebith go up after Maglinoth and miss?" It's the only thing that comes to mind for his behavior.
"Shh," D'had says again, a hand still gently rubbing her back as he holds her. "Always miss ya," he replies, pressing a kiss to her forehead before offering a concerned smile to her. "But yeah, he was up.." And he came to her? Aww.
Thea laughs with a shaky breath out, brow wrinkling in a bit of baffement, "I know you do- I meant did he miss the green," she explains. But then if Siebith's been up, she's not expecting a lot of sense from him right now. "I'm alright," she assures him, but surely he'll understand if she leans against him until her legs are no longer rubber. And she's of course not minding at all that he came to her, but she's waiting on his whim. "That was… um… too bad I didn't know it was you." Sea green eyes are twinkling now.
"Was sorta the point…" D'had admits a bit sheepishly. "Worked better in my head though…" Then again in his head she was supposed to realize somewhere in there that it was him and then he was supposed to get that look from her. And no, that look does not go unnoticed now. "Oh? Well.. we could always try it again…"
Thea hides a grin at that sheepish admission, lips twitch, but that is all, although her eyes dance. "Well," she drawls, "if you didn't want me to know it was you, I guess you were wanting a fight." He knows she doesn't go for anyone else's kiss. "It was certainly… passionate." At least that's one way to describe it. Nevermind that sheer terror was the passion she's likely describing on her part. She tilts her head to eye him for a moment, then gives him 'that look', "We couuuld." Teasing now, she smirks, "Is… this where I run and you try to catch me?" Smug, yes, that's the only way to describe her tone as she uses the word 'try'.
D'had chuckles. "Well…" Okay, maybe he was wanting a bit of a fight for it all, but not the sort where she truly is terrified. "Um.. thanks?" So he did good anyway? Works for him. "Could be," he continues, a grin creeping to his lips for that 'try' as his arms shift to have a firmer hold of her round the waist, "But I think I already caught ya."
"Well, it's true-" Thea says and there's not a breath of a pause as she's talking and her attempt to twist away, "-but the trick is keeping me!" His arm tightens before she can duck and run, so she tries squirming out of his grasp. Playful this time rather than afraid. "Ah, but there was no running involved."
"Yeah, well.." D'had replies, chuckling when she tries to break free and holding all the tighter for it. "Sie did enough chasin' for the both of us. Just want mine now. So what'dya say sweetheart, I at least get a kiss?" he asks leering at her with that lopsided grin of his and a wink.
Exaggerated disappointment, "That's all you want?" Thea's pout fails as she's trying not to snicker. She laughs low in her throat, adding in a falsely-mocking tease, "If you dare." And she's still trying to wriggle her way out, just because she can and his little surprise attack has made her playful.
D'had laughs. "Now why would I let something pretty as you go?" he teases back, leaning to steal a kiss from her if he's able. "'Sides, if I'm gonna chase ya should least give me a reason to chase." It’s only fair after all.
Still writhing, just enough to make him work at keeping her, "Haven't I alread- " He does it again, muffling her effectively as their lips meet and it's almost enough to have her acquiescing - in fact Thea relaxes enough that he might think she has until, perhaps she can try to send him off-balance by hooking a foot around his ankle and thus get away while he flails for balance.
D'had isn't one for stealing just short pecks either, no he goes for more. Long, with feeling and tongue if he can. But if she doesn't completely melt into that she just might have the upper hand there for the time she needs to pull off that plan.
Thea tries, but as for having the upper hand, that would be D'had with that kiss, which is managed with the aim he'd intended and quite effective at sending her breathless. Her toe hooked around his ankle just forgets (what was it doing now?) as, yes she pretty much wilts into a jelly-legged idiot that he's going to have to hold up because her legs never did recover from that scare he gave her. Running would likely have been foolhardy for her and amusing for him and she would have gotten two steps before he snagged her anyway.
Long and practiced. He's had lots of time for that. Lips curl into a grin even as they're still locked with hers. "So.." he murmurs, "Not so bad is it. Kinda nice out here even." Even though he's taking a step forwards to put her back up against that tree.
That is SO cheating! How is she supposed to run when he's kissing her like that? Thea is clinging the best she can with her arms curled about his neck, lost into him and as yet still unused to this, even from him. Against his lips, "Hmm…" That's as coherent as she gets, dark lashes lift for a moment as he moves, finding herself backed against the trunk, her eyes a sort of dazed unfocused blink at his. He… expects her to have the strength to stand up while he's kissing her like this?
That, my dear, is what the tree is for. He does pause long enough for a question though. "We could head back.." Or not really a question as it's phrased, but it’s supposed to be just that. More of a 'we can go home if you want but I'm happy making out - and passing out - right here.
"Back where." Thea breathes that out as a non question of her own, her eyes already sliding shut. The woods are deserted, peaceful with the sighing of the breeze through the trees. The Weyr and its noise are a distant thing. The sun dapples the shade on the forest floor, carpeted with the bright leaves that have already fallen while ferns and bushes grow thickly enough to provide seclusion. The healers said de-stress. Is there any better way?