27.Jun.19, 04:36 PM
“No, I think you should come with me,” F’drel decided, upon realizing that if he didn’t keep R’dal with him the bluerider would try to clean things. He couldn’t have that. He had to clean everything, not R’dal, and besides, R’dal hadn’t had a bath yet either. How could he properly clean like that! F’drel shook his head, quickly stripping the bed, and bundling all the sheets up. He chose the sheet he felt was the cleanest and wrapped all the others up in that sheet, leaving the bundle in the center of the bed before going over to the table R’dal had put the spare clothes and soapsand on.
“I’m not hungry,” he said, picking up the soapsand and clothes. He really wasn’t, and while he’d probably be starving later — yay Flights — at the moment eating was very low on F’drel’s list of priorities. “C’mon, baths, let’s go.” F’drel generally preferred bathing by himself, though he was used to using communal bathing rooms, and as a child they had all taken turns with one small metal tub with barely warm water they’d had to continually refresh. If anyone saw them it would almost certainly just reinforce the idea that they were together in some fashion, but if the alternative was R’dal cleaning things without him the potential rumors were worth it. It didn’t help if someone else did the cleaning, F’drel had to do it! If R’dal cleaned everything while he was bathing, F’drel would either have to redo all of it, which would almost certainly annoy R’dal, or he’d have to go home and clean his entire weyr. Possibly clean it twice.
R’dal’s worries about bruises didn’t occur to F’drel as something to be concerned about. People got beat up during Flights, and as much as F’drel didn’t like to see his friends hurt it wasn’t something he would overthink. He definitely had plenty of marks of his own, and left just as many — Miri had Flown enough times now that F’drel could start identifying patterns, and the frequency with which his ‘winners’ sported suggestively placed scratches had a clear enough source. He tried very hard not to overthink Flight injuries, and usually succeeded; most people just wrote them off as out of a person’s control, and F’drel gladly took the easy answer. While he was sure plenty of riders liked leaving bruises or hurting their sex partners, at least in a Flight it most likely wasn’t intentional for the vast majority of riders. It was just something that happened, and F’drel could shove down overthinking about such things by cleaning every surface that could have possibly been touched during the Flight, including himself.
“I’m not hungry,” he said, picking up the soapsand and clothes. He really wasn’t, and while he’d probably be starving later — yay Flights — at the moment eating was very low on F’drel’s list of priorities. “C’mon, baths, let’s go.” F’drel generally preferred bathing by himself, though he was used to using communal bathing rooms, and as a child they had all taken turns with one small metal tub with barely warm water they’d had to continually refresh. If anyone saw them it would almost certainly just reinforce the idea that they were together in some fashion, but if the alternative was R’dal cleaning things without him the potential rumors were worth it. It didn’t help if someone else did the cleaning, F’drel had to do it! If R’dal cleaned everything while he was bathing, F’drel would either have to redo all of it, which would almost certainly annoy R’dal, or he’d have to go home and clean his entire weyr. Possibly clean it twice.
R’dal’s worries about bruises didn’t occur to F’drel as something to be concerned about. People got beat up during Flights, and as much as F’drel didn’t like to see his friends hurt it wasn’t something he would overthink. He definitely had plenty of marks of his own, and left just as many — Miri had Flown enough times now that F’drel could start identifying patterns, and the frequency with which his ‘winners’ sported suggestively placed scratches had a clear enough source. He tried very hard not to overthink Flight injuries, and usually succeeded; most people just wrote them off as out of a person’s control, and F’drel gladly took the easy answer. While he was sure plenty of riders liked leaving bruises or hurting their sex partners, at least in a Flight it most likely wasn’t intentional for the vast majority of riders. It was just something that happened, and F’drel could shove down overthinking about such things by cleaning every surface that could have possibly been touched during the Flight, including himself.