08-16-06

Characters involved: Darklett, Keita, & Zeraph.

Salamandastron: Leaders' Corridor

"Zeraph. What were you doing in Halyard?" He stares the lieutenant down, not laughing anymore. Well, there's a smirk, there. "Why did you lose your clothes in Halyard, Zeraph?" He makes it quite known with his stature that Zeraph isn't getting through.

Unfortunately for Zeraph, the exit is suddenly blocked in the form of Keita appearing at the end of the corridor. And... hum. Is there maybe something different about her? Did she have her hair cut, maybe? Or... do her eyes look different? Oh, hum. What COULD it be? Certainly not the Long Patrol Lieutenant's uniform she's wearing. Certainly not that. Her arms are crossed over her chest, her cane dangling from one paw. Brow quirk.

Zeraph could seriously remove him forcibly from his path. "Don't worry about it Dark, I'm not getting into it." So finally the tall buck just speaks up, ears pinning.. that is until suddenly there is a Keita shaped image at the corner of his eyes and he turns in that direction. Ear perk! "Woman!" And he starts forward anyway. "My clothes!" He points at her as if it would not be apparent enough. "I'm wearing a freakin BEDSHEET for heaven's sake!" The officer doesn't sound to be truly angry. XD Well.. Yeah.

Turning when Zeraph points, Darklett sees Keita. In full Lieutenant uniform. Guh. "...Alright. You two work it out..." Zeraph is given another look over. ...bedsheet. Keita... has his clothes. Something ticks in his brain that makes him straighten slightly, and peer at Zeraph more carefully.

'Nother brow-quirk. "That's what /you/ get for throwin' mine out the window last nigh'." Keita doesn't seem to be very angry, /either/. But then again, she's not the one in a bed sheet. Just a super baggy Patrol uniform. "Anyway, mum always /did/ want me t' be an officah." Smirk-smirk.

Zeraph wilts a bit as this little 'fun fact' suddenly dawns on him. Oh. Heh. The buck steps back, arm lowering so that he tucks his paw into the folds of his ... sheet. Sweet grin. "Well.. Um.. Clothes are nice, yes?" And with that he ducks his head and tries to.. shuffle away again and drag Keita along with him.

Zeraph can dip right past him for all he cares right now. In his mind, Darklett's pieced some things together. And so he lets him go. Though as he does, he kinda stares at him, less careful and more accusing, at the back of his head.

Whoa! Hey! What's going on, here? Keita finally feels herself being tugged along. She looks back as she is dragged and limps along. Just in time to see Darklett's accusing stare. Whoa, again. She tugs her arm back from Zeraph, then proceeds to brush off /her/ clothing. Mwaha. "Do be careful, Raph. Yer gonna muss m'clothin'."

"Yeah yeah... Just.. We'll trade sheet for uniform." Raph isn't paying attention to Darklett cause he's just plain not looking at him so he wouldn't notice the expression.. So that is all and he's not going to say anymore. Darn does.

Darklett's ears fold over as Zeraph just goes and tries to tug Keita away. He can't really go back to his dorm right now, 'cause that would mean passing them, so he's just sitting there and watching for now.

"Ohhhhh, fine." Without much more ado, Keita's paws go to the buttons of the tunic and she starts to unbutton the top ones. And then, when enough are unbuttoned, it is pulled over her head. Apparently she's only just got the /tunic/ of his uniform. The shirt underneath is strictly Keita-owned. The trousers are dropped, as well, which isn't hard considering how friggin' large they are on her. Again, her own pants underneath. She smirks. then, and holds the uniform out to Zeraph. "What? Like I haven't got othah pairs of clothin'?" Eyebrow waggle. "I jus' /bettah/ get that sheet back."

After this sudden display of clothes dropping, Zeraph growls, snatches his uniform with a retort of 'Shut up.' and is gone from everyone. She'll get her sheet back later.. however from the looks of it.. it may not be in the correct condition when it IS returned to her. Angry hares like ink. :D And knives. Byebye Raphy.

Darklett watches Zeraph go, a half of a smile on his face, because it /is/ a little comical. Not quite enough for him, though; the Major starts walking down the corridor, inevitably towards Keita. By the time he's halfway there, any bit of amusement from the whole situation's gone.

Oho. Except the situation has suddenly gone from very amusing - which she thought was a feeling Zeraph shared - to.... uh, what the heck? Because why is he mad at her all of a sudden? The doe's brow furrows and she turns to watch him go. Harumph. It's not for a little bit 'til she looks around at Darklett. He is given an upward nod of her head. "'Ey."

"Hey, Keita." Darklett /almost/ walks past her, but stops just short. "So, uh. You steal bucks' clothing often? Probably a hard thing to do, right?"

Keita hums, with a finger-tip placed sagely to her lips. Then, having considered his question for a moment, she shakes her head and speaks. "... Now, you'd /think/ so, wouldn't you? But actually it's not, very, when they're drunk 'n' asleep." And she smirks, with a shake of her head and a shrug. "Who'd a thunk it?"

Darklett's eyes narrow at this, and he bites at his cheek. "...Yeah. Yeah, I see your point. When they're drunk." The buck looks down the corridor beyond Keita once again, but still hesitates to actually /move/ that way. "So, does... Uh, this mean I'll be seeing you around the mountain a lot more? Or less of him?"

Uwah? Keita suddenly looks /very/ confused. Like... Darklett's started speaking in tongues sort of confused. One ear perks and the other bends in half and falls over before she quite takes his meaning. Her lips part in silent surprise and several seconds pass in which various emotions war for dominance. Mostly it just looks like her lips are twitching, but whether they're twitching toward a frown or a smile is uncertain. In the end, they press together in a firm line and it /looks/ like she's going with angry, until.... "Pbbbbbtfff!" That's the sound of a rather sudden and loud burst of laughter coming coming from between closed lips. She bends double and actually staggers a little, trying to maintain her balance as she reaches out for anything, anywhere, which in the end turns out to be Darklett's tunic. Small snorts of laughter continue even as she slowly straightens, shaking her head slowly but surely as little laughter tears streak down from the corners of her eyes. "You mean... you mean t' say.... ME? And-and-and... /RAPH/?" And... okay. That gets her going. AGAIN. "Pfffffbbt!" That's another burst of uncontrollable laughter, and she doubles up again, dragging down on his tunic with her.

Darklett winces at all the different kinds of reactions he gets at first... Then once she settles on comedic disgust, then... HE is unsure of how to think. But it at least gets him to relax, just a little, though he has to bend over as his tunic is tugged, his ears flicking. "Heheh. I, er." He actually starts blushing on the inside of his ears, and probably elsewhere, but his dark fur conceals it. "Just, um. Looked..." He thumbs over his shoulder as if Zeraph were standing there, still. "Looked like you two... Yeah..." He reaches out over to put a paw on Keita, hesitates, and slowly pulls it back... Then places it forward on her shoulder again. Pat. Pat pat. Subtle stroke towards her neck that perhaps he didn't even notice himself, before it goes back to his own side.

Keita /still/ can't quite fathom his assumption. I mean, okay, easy set up, but! Her! And Zeraph! He's not even a doe! XD She finally seems to get control of herself, but she's about grinning fit to split. And there's an occasional snort of laughter, to go along with it. She shakes her head, still looking in a state of disbelief. "... Uh yeah, no. Not s'much with a 'me' 'n' a 'him' in a 'you two' sense." She doesn't seem to notice anything untoward in his pats and finally regains her balance enough to releases his tunic. She grins widely at him, shaking her head. "Ha, mate. You shoulda seen yer /face/..."

"Yeah..." Darklett slowly spreads into a grin, looking back at her with a quiet build of laughter. "Pretty, uh... Stupid of me." He laughs a bit harder, now, smoothing down the bit of tunic that may have been wrinkled by the grip, more for something to do with his paws. "I mean, he was... Bein' all mysterious about why he was wearing a bedsheet, and I thought he was trying to hide it, or... Somethin'. Heh. Heheh." He smiles, looking at Keita for a brief moment, making eye contact, then oops, shift to the wall right next to her! "Mmhmm."

"Well. /Obviously/ it didn't make fer very good conversation, did it? 'Sides, m'not sure he /realized/." Keita smirks, shaking her head. "He was reeeeeally drunk." Mm-hm. She shakes her head once more, looking in the direction that Zeraph's disappeared to. "Y'know, it's a bit stupid o' me t' make m'friends m'best customahs when I don't charge m'friends fer their drinks." Snort. She shakes her head, starting to turn with a paw going to her hip. Squint. Hm. "Well. S'pose I'll be stayin' /here/ for the night, then. Bit late t' head back now."

"Heh, guess you're right." Darklett shakes his head at himself, artfully playing the no-eye-contact part. He'd been able to keep his cool around her last time she came to the mountain, so this is odd... Must be what just happened with Zer. Driving him to idiocy, or something. "Uh, yeah. You gonna leave first thing in the morning?" He tries his hardest not to make it sound hopeful towards the negative, but it only really half-works.

Broooow /quirk/. "... Well. If yer wonderin' if I happened t' bring anything along with me fer the trip, it just so happens that I /always/ do. So I did. I'll drop some yer way t'morrah - we c'n 'chat' or somethin'. Not like there's anythin' t' catch up on, but." Keita shrugs. "I figure I might stick 'round long enough t' say a few hullos 'n' the like, 'n' head back t'morrah evenin', early, or late aftahnoon."

Darklett chuckles, his head dipping down to look at the floor as he laughs. "Well, if you brought some of your stuff with ya, that's even better." His head goes back up, and... Well, there's the eye contact he'd been shooting for holding this entire conversation. "But yeah." A liiiittle smirk creeping up the edge of his lips. "I'll try and find ya." He's calmed down now, at least.

Well, there you go. And hey, Keita's so oblivious she never noticed that he was riled up in the first place. Except for maybe that first odd look to Zeraph, but alas it's just a fleeting memory in the grand scheme of things. "A'right. Off t' the guest quartahs with me. G'night, Dark. Tell Zeraph t' get his skivvies outta that bunch he's worked himself int', eh? If ya see him." She grins, offering a slight nod of her head before she turns, heading off down the hallway toward those quarterly guest places. And off she goes!

"Alright, I will." Darklett raises his paw in a wave, not lowering it until she's out of view. "G'night." Where he lowers that paw is to the back of his head, behind an ear, and he scratches there for a few seconds, before heading off to his own dorm, an exasperated, disappointed, relieved, and wistful sigh coming out through his nose as he steps inside his dorm and shuts his door.