Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Mike and Ralen - Meet Cute

"Mike doesn't like girls," Caleb said as if this was new information. "Lot of men don't approve and he's been punched in the face a lot of times for it. I don't care who he likes as long as I don't have to watch it. ..... You said you don't like men and I've seen guys, not many, but some that you'd swear would never think of being with another guy, but then they met Mike and stuff happens. .... Just .... don't hurt him, please," the warrior said. "He's been through a lot. .... I don't know everything about him, but something bad happened to him when he was a baby, at least that's the only way it makes sense. And he," the man gestured to his groin, "Kinda got messed up. I don't know if it was a religious thing or what, but .... Someone fixed him up but there's only so much you can do I guess. .... I don't think they did a good job though cause ever so often it opens up or something and bleeds really bad for a while. .... and .... just ... I dunno, just don't hurt him, okay?"

(hope this isn't too weird.)

Ralen turned red and, well, coughed. "Okay, okay." He shuddered. "I'm...not into guys, Caleb." Really, he wasn't. But the fact that other guys had felt similar things towards Mike was...interesting.

Ralen looked back at the pans. "It's good that you look out for him, you know. A good brother, even a good friend, is worth his weight in gold." At last the pans were finished filling up.

Ralen gathered them to him with his telekinesis so he didn't have to get wet. "Was that all you wanted to tell me?" he asked. "Not to hurt Mike?"

"Yeah pretty much," Caleb said as he racked his brain for anything else that might be worth telling him. "Oh and if you have one of those camera things, you being rich and all. .... Well Mike, he's weird and he wears frilly girl's underwear with ribbons and everything to sleep in," the warrior chuckled, "You should see him, it's hilarious! ..... Just make sure he's asleep first. It wouldn't' be good if he caught you. A picture of that would be priceless."

Ralen laughed. "I try not to judge a person based on what they wear, Caleb." But it happened anyway. "And frankly, if Mike heard you telling me all this, I think he would be a little upset. Wouldn't you be if he told me things about you?"

Then as if to change the subject, he added, "How good are you with a sword, anyway?"

"Yeah, but he's not gonna tell you this stuff. He's really private about stuff like that," the warrior said. He smiled at Ralen's question. "Good enough that if you throw and melon or coconut at him you'll get it back in not less than two pieces," he boasted, "And I've only been knocked off three times when jousting. It's murder on your arms doing that. But it's fun, crowd cheering, girls all dressed up and waving little Handkerchiefs and if you have a girl you really like you tie a ribbon or scarf of hers to you lance to let everyone know she's your girl and all that. Mike would always cover his eyes when he was supposed to be watching, but he's a little weird, like I said."

Mike had gone after Caleb, in only to see the river. She had thought that maybe if she could get the men distracted with something she could get a bath in before it got dark. But that would required getting both men or at least Ralen far away from the river. She came upon them as Caleb was still talking. "Caleb, why couldn't you have been born a mute. ..... Are you two going to sit here gossiping like old women or come help me get supper going?" she called to the men.

Ralen snorted. "Well, I think anyone would be."

As for the cleaving fruit in two and the jousting, Ralen couldn't help but grin. "Sounds exciting. I don't think I'd be able to survive jousting though. It looks to painful. But it sounds like you really enjoy it."

Then Mike was hailing them and Ralen snickered. "Oh come on, if he was a mute, you wouldn't have anyone to banter with." But he sent the pots forward to the fire. "What did you have in mind for supper?"

"We have dried beans and stuff for soup. Unless somebody," Mike looked at Caleb,"Can catch a rabbit before dark or you," she glanced at Ralen then looked away, "have something better packed."

"Either way I need to get cleaned up before bed so when that time comes you two disappear. Or we can see who can stand burns better, the rich guy or the idiot," the wizard said as she caught a pot as it floated past her.

Ralen chuckled. "You can still cast fire when you're standing in water? That's better than my brother can do. But don't worry, I won't peek." He grinned.

He did have a few extra things to toss into the soup to round it out, some vegetables and the like, but short of throwing in the tough dried jerky he had packed--he figured it was best to let Caleb try his hand at catching a rabbit first.

"Alright, Caleb, I think you're our expert rabbit catcher. There should be some around here. Think you can get us one or two?"

"It takes a little more work, but yes I can. The water starts to turn to steam pretty quick though so it's not something I try to do too much," Mike replied.

Caleb nodded and went to fetch his bow and quiver. "I should be able to find something. Just don't be mad if you get squirrel instead of rabbit for any reason," he said as he walked off to go hunt up some meat.

Mike sat by the fire stirring the soup. She looked almost matronly aside from her not so womanly figure. Carefully wrapped lien under her shirt evened out her waist and chest to minimize the look of her overly wide hips. "How good is your moving things with your mind or however that works," she asked Ralen for something to talk about while Caleb was away.

The idea came to her that once they hit the first town, Mike could maybe disappear for a day and 'old maid Mikayla' could see how Ralen treated women for a few hours. Sure the plan came with a lot of risks to mess things up and cause more confusion, but Mike was not ready to let the man know every little thing about her so soon after meeting him.

Ralen snickered. "I imagine it would steam."

When Caleb went off to hunt, he sat down across from Mike, pulling out a knife and whittling away on a tree branch, casting occasional glances at him until he caught himself and busied himself with stripping the bark from the branch, before Mike's question got him talking again.

"How good is it?" Ralen shrugged and looked around for something to demonstrate with. "I can do just about anything with it. If I see an object and can pick it up or whatever, then I can move it from a distance. The only time it doesn't work is if the thing is out of sight or is too heavy for me to lift on my own."

"What's the most you can lift, an estimate will do," Mike asked. She was honestly curious and talking helped pass the time. She noticed his looking at her but didn't comment on it.

"Do you think, your ladyship will mange two weeks without a featherbed or did you pack one so you wouldn't risk roughing up your dainty soft skin?" the wizard asked, testing to see if the man would go back to joking with her like they had been before things had gotten weird between them.

Ralen grinned. "The most I can lift? About half of what I weigh. So maybe a hundred pounds, give or take. Not that it's easy--it takes work. The heavier the item the more work, but..." he shrugged, "little things like rocks and pots and pans, those things I can do practically in my sleep."

Then his grin widened at the banter. "I would have packed my own featherbed, except that it tends to overheat the pack horse carrying it." He made a mock-sad face. "Poor Esmeralda...whose goose cooked her."

"Forgive me for not showing remorse that you did not try to kill a horse," Mike replied. "And I know how nosy young girls like you can be, so you best keep your word about staying clear of the river when I go to bathe later. Wouldn't want you to get a vapors and us have to carry you to the next town. What would people think of us coming into town carrying a lady of your standing. We'd be jailed at once I tell you," the wizard joked. The vapors comment had be a tad bit flirty on her part but she was mostly behaving herself.

"Vapors? Oh you mean that stringent stuff they wear all the time?" Ralen chuckled. "I don't understand that at all. And if I did wear it, I probably would suffocate." He shook his head. "I think its dumb how they practically bathe in the stuff. There's nothing bad about body odor. We all have it." Then again, it wasn't like he was around people of hard labor all the time, or was used to being covered in sweat.

He shook his head. "The only good thing about rich women, is that when they get in trouble, they'll pay you handsomely to get out of it. Poor women..." he shrugged, "want one of two things: your money or..." he paused, making a face, "I forget the other one. Maybe it was just money." He shrugged. "Doesn't really matter, I guess. But it depends on the woman." He glanced sidelong at Mike. "Surely you know what I mean."

"You don't know much about women," Mike laughed. "When they 'get the vapors' it means they faint. They are said to be prone to fainting when overwhelmed with girlish emotions or they see something that offends their delicate sensibilities. I'm told that if they were to see a man undressed they'd surely faint from joy. Though it could as easily be disgust. I never bothered to ask if there was a way to tell between the two. It didn't seem like something that would come up too often."

"What you're thinking of is perfume. I think they wear it so as to try and attract men, somehow. That to cover any unpleasant smells they have from sweating over an oven all day or whatever else they do these days. I haven't' kept track of what they're allowed to do anymore," Mike said.

She chuckled at the face Ralen made. "Oh, that face. How can I forget something that makes you look like that," she teased. "Best you not think any more on it, though you might faint. Then I'd have to put you to bed without any supper. And I don't think you'd like that or loosing supper." Now Mike was getting a bit more flirty with him again, she really need to control her impulses better if she was going to try and act more like a man for the next three days. She was leaning towards him again and looking at him more openly.

Ralen laughed. "Well, what do you expect? I was raised with three brothers and a father, the only women we saw, other than our mother, were my father's clients. Unless we went out. So, how do you know so much about vapors and perfume? You have sisters, I guess?"

As for women's jobs, Ralen shrugged. "Cooking, baking, tending the children, laundry stuff, there's a lot they do--well, servants do. I don't know if its gender specific."

"What are you, my dad?" he teased, "Putting me to bed this early? I haven't been in bed before sunset since, well...since I was sixteen, when caught some illness or other. And actually, I think I know now why Caleb likes being your tentmate. If you're so handy with fire, you're probably a nice little warm oven on those cold nights. No wonder you don't need blankets."

"No sisters, just Caleb and he has a half-brother by his step-mother. Annoying little child that one. .... My mother, well step-mother, was very insistent that I learn something of the fairer sex. I guess I assumed that all mothers followed the same pattern. Other than her I picked up things from the village girls, what they did and stuff like that. .... I people watched as a child," Mike said only lying a tiny bit.

When he alluded to how nice she might be to cuddle with on warm nights she blushed brightly. And when he brought up Caleb her face got even redder but for another reason. "No, no, no, no. He's my brother. That's .... no. We do own blankets and .... now I need to wash my brain. .... You shouldn't say things like that," she scolded the man as she pressed her hands to her face to try and cool it and somehow banish the bad thoughts he'd made enter her mind.

A slightly less bad thought came to her mind and she lowered her hands as she resumed teasing the rich man. ".... Ralen, ... you .... are .... a very naughty little girl to say such things as that. .... i-if I were a worse sort of person I'd put you over my knee and give you a good licking for such unladylike talk." There was little chance now that Mike wasn't flirting with the man.

Ralen grinned as Mike's face turned red. "I wasn't implying anything," he said. "But your reaction is fascinating. Because if I didn't know better, I'd say you were flirting with me. Again." Again that confused look in his face as he tried to figure out what he didn't know enough about in order to make a decision.

He laughed at her threat. "You put me over your knee? I'd love to see you try. The only way I'd fall is by tripping over you, you're just a lil' squirt of a thing. Now Caleb, he could probably flatten me if he caught me by surprise. And, I dunno, tackled me to the ground or something."

Mike leaned closer so that their faces were inches apart. "Maybe I am. What ya gonna do about it?" she asked him.

The thought of really putting him over her knee was ridiculous and she doubted she could pull him over. Even if she did he could resist and little fighting back could reveal somethings about Mike that she didn't' want know to him yet.

Mike let go of the spoon and let if float in the soup pot. She had been stirring it rather vigorously for a while now.

"What you gonna do, m'lady? What if I were to pay you back for that kiss you gave me? Would you run away or give in?" she teased him, half wanting a real answer and more than half wishing gender equality was a global thing and woman were allowed to wear pants everywhere.

Of course if that were so she wouldn't' be in this situation to start with and who knows what situation she would be in instead. More than likely none of that would really effect Caleb other than to make it harder for him to tell men and woman apart, which would get old fast.

Ralen was more than prepared to meet Mike head on, having already played this game of chicken before--although he still wasn't clear about whether he'd lost or won or what.

"What am I gonna do about it?" He grinned cheekily and set down the knife he was holding, slipping it back into its sheath at his side, before bringing his hand up to cup Mike's face again. He ran his thumb over Mike's lips--assuming she didn't pull away--and then to all intents and purposes, leaned forward like he was going to kiss her again. Only, at the last minute, he didn't. He dropped his hand and pulled back.

"Nothing, I suppose. But I can be a terrible tease when I want to be. And how do you possibly expect to pay me back for that kiss?" Or, in this case, he could be a real jerk. He grinned and waved his hand at the spoon, stirring the soup while he waited Mike's answer.