Little White Lies (PG-17)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Iluva, Shawna
Date Posted: 24th March 2025
Characters: Cirina, A'radess
Description: Cirina adopts an alias to seduce a handsome young bronzerider. What could go wrong?
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 4, day 6 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Aydhara
Rating: PG-17
Cirina had her arm looped tightly through the bronzerider’s, and she was walking just a little too close to him. “So, are you going to introduce me to your fine bronze? Or maybe some of that wine I heard someone was bringing…” She looked up at him through her lashes. Aydhara had had good instincts, Cirina liked them tall, and he was built like a dolphineer, also a plus. She almost didn’t feel bad abandoning her friend on her birthday.
“Oh, then you’re in luck. Right this way,” A’radess smiled. “He’s going to be pumped you asked to meet him. He was pretty miffed when he found out he wasn’t invited any closer.” Meanwhile, his own heart was pounding with a mild case of exhilaration. Cirina was holding him so tightly, gripping his muscles like he were a tree, and the way she was looking at him nearly made him blush. It had been a while since someone looked at him like that. It had been a while since someone who looked like _her_ looked at him like that. **Okay, love. Nice and easy, c’mon and say hello.**
Tarvanneth came slinking out from the shadows, the glow of his eyes drawing close far faster than A'radess was expecting, but with a gentle reminder his approach reluctantly compressed into a frantic stalk. The glint of his muzzle still brushed against their stomachs, demanding their hands. }:Ooh, and she’s pretty. I knew she would be.:{ Finally the dragon crouched, stomach all the way to the ground, yet gave the distinct impression that he often wasn’t really still, even when he was.
“We’re still in training for a couple more months.” A’radess told Cirina, touching his dragon's velvet muzzle. She seemed as comfortable around dragons as anyone he knew, the bronze's satisfaction with her scratching quite evident.
“Tarvanneth, this is-” A’radess stared at Cirina a moment, “Shards. I’m really sorry,” and laughed softly, “I don’t think I asked your name.”
“A couple more months? Then he must still be growing, but he's already so magnificent,” despite that, she didn't seem the slightest alarmed when the big head bumped into her, just rocking back easily. She did release A’radess’s arm to put both hands to work scratching the spot under Tarvanneth’s jaw that she knew Aeoluth particularly enjoyed. The bronze let loose a long rumble.
Faced with a handsome young dragonrider and his striking bronze looking at her like she was something worth paying attention to, Cirina felt the heavy weight of sudden panic. If she told him she was just some boring candidate who’d begged a ride to crash a party halfway across Pern, surely he’d realize that there were more appealing prospects out there.
She didn’t realize what was going to come out of her mouth until she heard it with her own ears, “Oh, um Caprina.” And as if that weren’t enough, she found herself adding, “I’m.. a journeyman from Dolphin Cove area. But surely that’s enough about boring old me. Tell me everything about yourself and this wonderful specimen of a bronze you have here. Or you could give me a tour. I hear this is the most advanced of the Weyrs.”
A’radess felt a surge of heat beneath his collar.
That Cirina hadn’t written him off for still being a Weyrling, still having so much to learn and prove to be considered worthy of his dragon beyond Impression, was a relief. Honestly, there were times he felt too much pressure to be an example to others, which was keenly familiar, and a few times where he felt downright inept. But then of course she understood and appreciated the kind of work and time marbling their respective paths in life. There was no less work in a craft if one wanted it, and she clearly did.
“A bit of both.” A’radess decided, his rough hand slipping around hers, guiding her lightly up Tarvanneth’s leg. Their increase in proximity normally would have triggered more nerves than excitement, but her flattery was like a stone" a pleasant pause in the mental stream of his thoughts.
“We can tour just about anywhere inside or out, Caprina. Whatever you'd like. Ahh it's too bad it's so dark now, you’re missing this place’s namesake.” He waited until they were both seated, her arms sliding a touch low on his waist, before continuing in a surprisingly steady voice, “The lake is easily the best aspect, but the lighthouse never disappoints. We can do a loop or two and go from there,” A'radess turned a little to say over his shoulder, “I can tell you're fine adragonback. You ready?”
Cirina let A’radess help her up onto the bronze more than she strictly needed, enjoying the feeling of his hands on her. It had been entirely too long since anyone had put their hands on her, and she was willing to pretend a little incompetence to have those hands helping her up. Likewise, despite all the different straps or places she could grab, she settled her hands low on his waist, going so far as to settle her grip lightly on his belt.
As such, when he turned to speak over his shoulder, her face was closer than he might have expected. “I’d love to take a turn around the lighthouse. And then perhaps an indoor tour?” She pressed against his back, “It’s a little chilly up here.” It wasn’t that bad, truly, and she had left a jacket with Aeoluth. It was more an excuse to press against the bronzerider. As the bronze took a turn, her legs tightened, practice keeping her upright and steady, but her grip on his belt tightened just a little.
“It’s all so pretty.” It wasn’t Dolphin Cove, by any means, but the electric lights of Barrier Lake had a certain charm to them that she enjoyed.
“It is,” A’radess agreed, “During the day the dragons’ reflections take up the whole lake. Doesn’t matter where you look" sky, water, they’re everywhere. It’s beautiful, though it took me a little getting used to once we were cleared to fly.” And the same could be said about what was happening inside him right now. There was a part of the bronzerider’s brain that knew he’d never breathe evenly again if Cirina’s grip went any lower or if she pressed any more of herself against him. It was the same part that wouldn't mind at all if she did, the part his bronze heedlessly encouraged like a new toy.
Ringing the lighthouse, Tarvanneth took his time, which thankfully made their flight smooth, relaxing. Grateful, A’radess took in the cool silence and the chance to breathe. It was getting harder to keep his cool with this vicious heat flooding up his neck and down his chest, his stomach, through his waist, beyond.
Finally, and very belatedly, his brain caught up with where they were, where they were heading. “Well, we can’t have that.” He directed his bronze back to the Weyr, though Tarvanneth nevertheless pursued and took a half-hearted swipe at the bright pillar of light swinging unerringly around them. **Show off.** A'radess directed him up again, a hand instinctively covering hers just as they lurched back. “If you don’t mind swimming in it, you’re welcome to a jacket. It’s almost too warmly insulated, truthfully, but the pockets are deep.”
Tarvanneth’s swipe at the light surprised a delighted laugh out of Cirina, but she half buried her face in A’radess’s back in a futile attempt to hide that it had come from her, the involuntary sound of delight not part of her curated image for the evening. As such, she was surprised by the sudden lurch upwards.
Her grip on A’radess's belt tightened, though this time it wasn't a planned action. Her other arm wrapped low around his waist, and now they were pressed together as tightly as they could be. When they leveled off, she was slow to release her grip, and even slower to respond to his question.
When she did, she leaned up and forward a little more, as if there were any reason to be whispering in his ear, “Maybe we could just go inside for a little bit and warm up? We wouldn't want to overwork poor Tarvanneth,” she was proud she’d remembered the name, though she certainly didn't actually think this little excursion had exhausted him.
She slowly loosened her grip on him, wishing there wasn't a jacket in the way as her hand went from around his waist back to his hip.
“Absolutely.” He assured her.
Tarvanneth neither needed nor heeded the directive to head back to their ledge for he’d already made that wise decision himself, thank you. He swooped up and landed with something bordering on grace, only for his great wings to slap clumsily across the stone whilst he wheeled about, trying to find the right place to let two intoxicated young people off safely.
“Please excuse the mess,” his rider smiled ruefully, having not expected company, though the weyr itself was actually fairly neat and orderly. A’radess’ heart rate, however, was not.
Cirina could have slid down off Tarvanneth’s back unassisted, but she waited patiently until A’radess was on the ground and reached up to help her down. Her attempt at a graceful slide wasn’t a complete success, but she wasn't going to complain when she found herself standing entirely too close, nearly pinned between the warm bulk of Tarvanneth and the heat of his rider.
She looked up at A’radess through her lashes as the hands on her waist practically seared her through the thin dress. She felt a little bad for lying to him, sure he would be much less interested in failed candidate Cirina, who couldn't get a dragon to like her and was never going to walk the tables if she could help it, but she pushed that down. It would just be a good story for him- he never needed to know.
And it had been a very long time since she'd been this close to anyone. She wasn't ready to give that up quite yet, and the way he looked, she hoped A’radess was of the same mind. Cautiously, without saying anything, she reached up and unsnapped his jacket, giving him plenty of time to stop her if he so cared.
A’radess watched, briefly, her fingers fascinating his eyes.
She was quick, despite the merciful choice to move slowly, and the way her eyes glinted up at him had his heart hammering even harder. He wasn’t sure what to make of where they’d ended up other than holding absolutely no desire to spoil it now.
He’d no objection to anything Cirina was doing. A quick check with Tarvanneth, fully prepared to reassure, brought no objection from there either, despite this being the first time A’radess had brought someone home with the same intentions (and despite the last time A’radess had put his hands on anyone was before he’d even been shelled).
Now the bronzerider’s green eyes traced hers, his own bright with mirth. Rough thumbs hitched on the soft fabric of her dress, moving only to brush red strands from her face, as much to touch her as to properly _see_ Cirina now that they were alone, pressed close, the heat between them rapidly building.
Then, wordlessly, as if not kissing her would be the worst possible thing right now, A’radess tilted her mouth up to his, striving to make a good impression here" a first, and a second, a kiss that immediately made him need out of his jacket.
As their lips met, Cirina’s hands paused on his jacket, her focus suddenly entirely on the kiss. It was only as she leaned in closer for the second, third, more, that she remembered again to be frustrated by the clothing between them, and then she was pushing the jacket off his shoulders roughly before moving on to tugging at his shirt.
The belt that had been a welcome handhold a few minutes ago was now a stubborn obstacle that she fumbled with, not willing to put the space between them that she really needed to unbuckle it. It was entirely unfair that he had so many layers between them. Her own dress, when he found it in him to explore, was much less complicated, held in place by no more than the lacing up the front and the half sleeves that were easy enough to push off of sun-freckled shoulders.
If there was any mess at all in the weyr, she didn’t notice it, her eyes when they were opened focused only on the bronzerider in front of her as she let him lead her into his weyr. “You’re cleared for this, right?” The first acknowledgement that he was a Weyrling, really. “Wouldn’t want to upset him.” Him, of course, being the young bronze, though she didn’t turn to look back towards him.
A’radess barked a laugh, “He's tougher than he looks,” though the growl in his throat was not exactly transcribing concern now that he pulled Cirina back to him and into the heart of the weyr. Tarvanneth’s curiosity encompassed his mind, naturally, as it always did and it was bound to hover and intensify with Cirina’s hands making his body this tight, this hot, this _ready_. He’d not begrudge him that. The silly bronze refused to recede, too, naturally, but the lack of panic allowed him to mostly tune out his dragon’s presence.
“Yeah,” he smiled, “all clear.”
Now, panting and overly aware of her hand torturing him in a blind struggle with his belt, he sought to level their playing fields a little.
His fingers diligently worked the lacings just as he slid his other hand into her hair, lifting silky red locks off her neck to kiss her: here. And here. Then another, which A’radess pressed lower still in the soft divot above her collarbone" here. Tracing a path back up, his lips barely left her as the ties of her dress gave way like a lock did to its key. As expected, clicking it open and pushing the sleeves from Cirina’s slight shoulders sent the green garment sailing to her feet - and in its wake, a harsh tempo thrummed the bronzerider's veins. “Faranth,” he breathed, almost laughing in disbelief, “you’re gorgeous.” His eyes were not polite and his mouth didn’t try to be as he kissed her again.
Cirina didn’t waste any more breath on speech as she let him tumble her back into the bed.
Last updated on the April 10th 2025