Reiseth wings in to a customarily dainty landing, perching as ever on the very far edge of the available ledge. A polite houseguest, she is. Happy rumbles are given the ledge's resident green while Catriona unfastens this strap and that before clambering down in a breakneck fashion. Must not give T'yari time to throw himself into the Bowl. No no no. "Yari!" Yoohoo!

Nediath's here, but only because she begged to be allowed to come back. She rumbles a cordial greeting to Reiseth, while, inside the weyr, T'yari makes a general ruckus upon hearing Catriona and her greeting. Ack. No. Not /her./ When he does emerge, he peers at the other greenrider with a hint of trepidation. "Oh. Hi."

No need to be nervous. Catriona doesn't bite or anything. She just wants to be /friendly/. Is that so bad? "Hi yourself. Hiding again?" she asks cheerfully. A hand is then held up, signalling that the greenrider must wait while she greets the lovely and talented Nediath. "Evening, dearling, you're looking as beautiful as ever." Ignore the tiny little chuff of breath that comes from Rei upon hearing this compliment. Then Catti is back to business. "I thought I'd drop by and see if you were free to pay up on that promise of lessons, Yari. I hope you're not busy," she remarks, steamrolling towards the weyr's entrance.

T'yari is always nervous. And it doesn't help that he happens to believe that Catti /does/ bite. Or worse. "No," he protests. "I don't hide." Nediath, in the meantime, croons pleasantly back at Catriona while Yari rolls his eyes, muttering, "Butter her up, why don't you." Nediath ignores her lifemate, as usual, who goes back to shuffling his feet. "You broke your promise," he points out rebelliously. "So I don't see why I should have to keep mine."

"I'm not buttering her up, I'm just giving credit where credit's due. So don't be all cranky," Catti scoffs, flipping a hand to and fro to dismiss any silly ideas that she would stoop to such levels. Indeed. "You have to keep yours because you're an honorable, decent fellow who really does like me, even if you can't admit it out loud. Cmon, it's for a good cause. You wouldn't want me stepping on my partner's feet, would you?"

"Right." T'yari doesn't buy it. Nediath couldn't care less, however, and apparently says so to her lifemate, for he rolls his eyes in the green's direction before looking back towards Catriona. And shuffling. "Who says I'm honorable and decent? Or who says that people that /are/ like that have to keep promises?" The question is considered for a minute, and Yari's tempted to answer affirmatively, but he eventually sighs and morosely replies, "Fine, fine. You win." Catriona /always/ wins.

And don't you forget it. Smiling the serene smile of one who knows her place in the world -- and isn't afraid to flex a little, to keep it -- Catriona extends a hand to the other rider. "It won't be that bad, I promise. I'm at least a little better at dancing than I am at singing." If that doesn't inspire confidence, nothing will. "I'll even keep my hands to myself, if you want me to. Just don't ask me to hum, so we have music to practice to, alright?"

It's because T'yari's such a sucker. He can't stand up for himself for very long. The greenrider gingerly accepts the outstretched hand, but only because he has to. "Uh huh." T'yari isn't quite sure that this is a good idea, and although he doesn't say so outloud, his dubious expression gets the idea across. He coughs -- chokes? -- at her comment about keeping her hands to herself, wisely deciding not to remark upon that one and instead asking, "Just how much /do/ you know?"

Cheerfully, Catti says, "I know I'm supposed to let you lead." And we all know that /that's/ something she's going to have difficulty with. "And to follow the beat of the music. And try not to step on your toes." As basics go, that's no bad. Of course... that's not good, either. "So... where do we start?"

In other words, hardly anything. "Since you're just beginning, it's not unusual to step on toes," T'yari notes. He's too nice for his own good. After a brief hesitation, he instructs, "Well, first you...you, um, put that other hand on my shoulder." No blushing. No blushing. No no no. "And, you know, face me. That's how you start." Nediath watches on, amused, and warrants a quick, severe look from the greenrider.

And since Catti's supposed to have her hands /on/ T'yari, that makes it rather hard for her to learn dancing while keeping them to herself. Poor Yari.

Ever quick to comply, one hand finds it's place on Yari's shoulder, the other squeezes his hand in amused encouragement for the attempt at not blushing. "I'll try not to step on yours anyways, since they're nice toes and all," Catti grins, "I figured it'd start out this way. Now what?" Straightening up -- which honestly doesn't add much to her stature -- she tries to adopt a serious expression. Must pay attention. Must.

Too quick to comply? That suspicion probably runs through T'yari's mind, but he doesn't mention it outloud. And Nediath, for once, is good at keeping secrets. Probably because she doesn't want to have to sleep on the beach again. "Okay." He spares a glance down at said toes before returning his regard to Catriona. "Well -- you follow what I do. Um. Here's one that's easy: step with that foot," he instructs, moving his right, "then move your other back towards it -- step together. And then step out with your right again. And then touch the tip of your foot to the ground. It's pretty simple: step, together, step, touch."

"Step together... step touch. Um." The nice thing about teaching Catriona how to dance is... she's uncertain enough that all thoughts of possibly putting the moves to T'yari are held off so she can watch her feet. Step. Together. Step. Touch. Riiiiight. This is supposed to be easy? "It feels... clumpy. Like I'm not being graceful, like the dancers I've seen," she whines.

"Look up. Don't watch your feet," T'yari cautions. "That only makes it harder, really. Believe me." He does offer the other greenrider a small, sympathetic grin, mentioning, "It takes lots of time and practice." Then: "Now try it with your other foot." There's no mention of the spinning that goes along with all of this, yet. "It'll get easier when you get used to it."

Spinning? Unless T'yari wants a major tantrum in his residence, it would be better not to mention spinning. The instructions are followed, to the letter, except for the occasional downward glance she makes to inspect her feet. It's safer for everyone involved if she watches them. Really. "Oooh. You have a nice grin," Catti remarks teasingly during one of those moments when she's actually looking up. "A girl could lose her heart."

T'yari has seen his share of tantrums, thank you, to last a lifetime. No more. He values his life. "Up," T'yari reminds during one of the times Catriona glances down, then falls back into blushing. "Hmph. It's not that amazing, Catti," he objects when the redness has sufficiently died away to allow him to talk without stuttering or something equally embarrassing. It's bad enough that he tends to turn red so easily.

Catriona uses the unfair tactic of getting all dreamy. "Sure it is. You can't see it, so you don't know." Considering he probably doesn't prance around doing practice-grins in mirrors, there's a good chance this is true. "It's a lovely grin. Makes me go all squirm--oops." The sentence is left unfinished, given that contemplation of the aforementioned grin has caused her to stumble over her own feet. It was going to happen sometime.

Blush. Blush. "Cat," T'yari protests. "I think you just /like/ making me blush." Sadistical greenrider. Lucky for T'yari, attention shifts away from him and his grins to Catriona and her stumbling, and he automatically attempts to support her until she regains her balance, inquirying, "You okay?" Then, more sympathetically, he adds, "It happens to everyone when they're first learning."

Grumble. "I'm fine, my feet just don't want to cooperate with me not concentrating." Catriona heaves a sigh, then sets to the business of stepping where she's directed to do so. "And I don't like to make you blush, Yari. Mostly. I just can't help saying what I'm thinking. I'm just... honest. And you do so have a nice grin. So there."

Not concentrating because she's concentrating on T'yari? That notion flickers into existence, but, once again, Yari keeps his mouth shut. It's safer that way. It's un-safe enough as it is having him dance with Catriona. "Uh huh. Right." T'yari doesn't believe that. "If you say so."

It's dangerous, acting as if one doesn't believe what Catti's saying. That means she has to prove it. Getting that evil gleam in her eyes, she rocks forward on her toes -- a rather coordinated move, for someone who claims to be a clumsy dancer -- and presses her cheek to his, tilting just a /little/ bit to sneak in a safe, chaste onna cheek kinda kiss. "Right," she remarks, right in his ear, before stepping back and resuming innocent practice of the steps. Provided he can still walk.

Proving It could very well mean fatal for T'yari. Nevermind the confession of a few days ago -- saying something is one thing, but actually acting is completely different. Big big big difference. And for someone who huge problem with confessions and actions both, a kiss on the cheek is enough to make him forget his steps -- this time, it's Yari who stumbles. No fair, Cat.

Catriona is right there to provide... balance. Yeah, balance. Switching from an innocent hand on the shoulder to a more 'steadying' arm around the waist, Catti inquires with concern, "Are you alright, Yari? I'm sorry. I know my kisses are pretty awe-inspiring, but... I should have thought, first..." Modesty, thy name is Catti.

Oh, gee, thanks. What a nice person without ulterior motives Catriona is. Faintly, T'yari manages, "Yeah, I'm fine." Fine. Right. He just got kissed. Chastely, maybe, but don't tell /him/ that. It goes into the 'I don't believe it' category. Right along with the idea that Catriona doesn't like to make T'yari blush. Speaking of which -- he does that right now.

Well, if he's fine, that means another question needs to be asked, and in as chipper a tone as is possible. "Did you like it?" Catti inquires, the soul of innocence. Just overlook that grin. "I didn't think kissing you on the cheek would make you seize up like that, so you must have..." There's logic for you.

No, don't make T'yari answer that. He's blushing badly enough as it is. "Um." The greenrider straightens hastily, avoiding eyecontact with Catriona to shoot a helpless glance at Nediath -- doubtlessly, she's laughing at him. He attempts to evade the question, replying, "Um. It's just that I, er, don't usually get kissed." He's truthful, at least, even if he's evasive.

"Oh." Catriana eyes her 'dance-partner' with concern, then flashes another bright smile. Nothing to worry about, really! "Well, if I didn't think it'd stop your heart, I've have done it before this. You should be kissed. And often." Alright, so that was a bit shameless, but considering she's trying to be sweet... "Want me to do it again? With better aim this time?"

Although T'yari doesn't quite whimper, he comes close to it, eying those same feet that good dancers aren't supposed to look at. "You did do it before," he mentions ruefully. Proddiness doesn't really count, but that's beside the point. "And...my heart is perfectly fine." He lies. He's good at that. It's fairly see-through, however; he never claimed to be very good at concealing the truth. The questions just draw further blushing, and the hapless, helpless greenrider only manages, "Um."

Taking her cues from Nediath's earlier lesson -- Catriona always was a fast learner -- the wishywashy answer is taken as a positive response. "Oh good, then I won't have to worry about killing you by doing it again," she chuckles, chin tucking down so she can look up at him in a rather disturbing contemplative way. "Let's see... the cheek again, or should I go for the mouth, this time?" To keep up appearances, and to give him the opportunity to withdraw if he /really/ doesn't want to stick around for this, Catti then slides her arm away from his waist and resets hand to shoulder. "Maybe the other cheek. Sound good?"

"Um." T'yari has apparently lost his capacity for coherent speech, but his desperate monosyllable eloquently conveys the fact that he's quickly falling into shock and embarrassment and all the rest of those dumbfounded, shy, Yari-esque emotions. And though maybe the response isn't quite as positive as Catriona hoped for, at least he isn't retreating, which could well signal that he isn't really willing to do so. Or maybe his legs just stopped working. That's always a good possibility.

Catriona decides to hedge her bets and just go for it. Of course, that conclusion could have been drawn long before this situation ever arose. When has she ever not just gone for it? Dipping forward for the second attack, she aims a peck on the cheek opposite the one so suddenly smooched. But wait! It doesn't stop there! Giving in to some inner mischief, she pauses before drawing back, reaching up to bump her forehead against his. "Should I aim for the lips, next? Or should we just go back to dancing, so you don't die of embarassment?" she quietly asks a second later. "I'm sorry, Yari."

T'yari never had a chance. He should've known better than to ever consent to dancing lessons. Woe is Yari. The blushing doesn't escalate -- probably because he's reached his limit of redness -- and he instead blinks in rapid succession: once, twice, three times. "Um." Oh dear. "Are you actually serious?" When Yari's not blinking, he's staring at Catriona with something that resembles disbelief. "Um. You don't have to be sorry." And that, perhaps, is some sort of tacit approval; in any case, Yari's certainly not going to say 'Go ahead and kiss me!' out loud. He'd probably die first.

Catriona isn't going to trust that answer right away, given that she sees T'yari as sensitive and all. For all she knows, he could be saying that just to keep her feelings from being hurt. Or something. "I do have to be sorry if you don't like it. And you've turned all sorts of funny colors," she observes, "You know you're awfully hard to read sometimes. You look like you're going to either faint or scream if I really do..." Y'know, it's quite possible thats he's trying to turn this around and /get/ him to say just that very thing out loud. If he doesn't die first, of course. That's a very Catti thing to do.

What good is a dead T'yari? Blushing is bad enough. He can't help but grin a little, however shaky it may be, as he dryly states, "I do tend to do that." It's not /his/ fault that everything either makes him jump or embarrasses him. He blinks again, then objects, "I'm not going to faint or scream." Well, he'll try not to, at least. A welcome -- or not so welcome -- distraction presents itself in some unheard comment of Nediath, who recieves a black look and a hissed command, desperate: "Shut up!"

There he goes, grinning again. Is it any wonder that Catriona's behaving like this? She's a victim! "Well, if you're sure you won't, then... " That would of course be the cue for her to sneak in and direct that threatened peck to the lips she'd been talking about. Just a test run, understand, she withdraws again almost immediately to ask brightly, "What'd Nedi just say?"

It's hardly more than a slight up-turning of lips, but even that's a rare occurance. And if T'yari doesn't really respond from surprise or shock or anything else, he can always claim too-quick speed or the diversion Nediath provides. Or inexperience. There's always that. "Um." Nediath, who rumbles smugly, gains more of T'yari's attention -- he buys time. "Nothing. Nothing."

"What? I want to hear!" Trust that Catti's curiosity would be riled by a good evasion like that one. "Cmon," she teases, "If you don't tell, I won't show you a /real/ kiss." There's no telling what a threat like that will do, but it sounded good at the time. "And trust me, if you think you're all squirmy now..." Wink wink nudge nudge.

T'yari's stuck between a rock and a hard place -- or, in this case, Nediath and Catriona. Both of which are equally bad. "Um." Nediath encourages -- pushes and prods and propels -- Yari to finally admit, reluctantly, "She just thinks that I should be kissing you back." It wasn't Yari's idea. Nediath made him do it. He lapses back into blushing. "Er." Oh, great. T'yari will never recover.

Catriona isn't bad, she's just misunderstood. "Nedi's smart, I think you should be kissing me back too. It's more fun that way, after all." Trying not to grin /too/ much, she cants her head to one side and remarks, "Especially with a Real Kiss. Shows you're enjoying yourself too." Considering that Catti is certainly having fun, it's only fair that Yari join in and share the experience. "Why exactly are you so nervous? Because honestly, Yari, you shouldn't be. I'm not going to laugh or anything. You know that."

Hah. Try telling that to those who investigate after they find T'yari's slipped into a Catti-induced coma. Just as she tries not to grin overly much, the other greenrider attempts not to blush quite so badly; maybe if he wishes it hard enough, it'll go away. "Yes you will," he insists stubbornly, picking up on that idea, absurd or not, and running with it. "Sure you will."

"No I won't. Why don't you just go ahead and kiss me, so I can prove it?" Flexing her persuasiveness just a little, Catriona leans in closer and bats those eyes of hers, tilting her face /just/ so in preparation to be kissed. Or so she thinks. A little overconfidence never killed anyone, did it? Well... maybe so, but this is probably not one of those situations. "I'm /not/ going to laugh."

Does T'yari have to? After more prompting from Nediath, vocalized this time in a series of sharp, short croons, the young man turns his gaze from lifemate to Catriona, hesitation marring his initial protest. And resisting is just so horribly hard when you've got someone batting eyelashes. With a sigh -- he's being forced into this by both greenrider and green -- he unwillingly leans in to gingerly bring his lips towards hers, but only after stating, "Don't say I didn't warn you! I'm as bad as your fabled singing."

Catriona and Nediath truly do make an awesome team. T'yari never stood a chance. "Even if you're bad, you can get better," she reassures reassuringly. And who better to help him with that enterprise? Three guesses. Fighting back that ever threatening grin, Catti adds, "Besides, the fun is in the learning." Then she goes quiet, all puckered up and ready to be kissed, however bad it may turn out to be.

T'yari fails to be reassured. That wasn't the kind of positive comments that he was looking for, if he was looking at all. Knowing Yari, it was probably a way to provide an out, for both himself and Catriona. Nediath is suitably appeased and settles back to her semi-interested scrutiny of the Bowl; but don't worry, she'll always be there for backup should Yari attempt to weasel his way out of what thinks are his 'duties.' So, with even less self-confidence than usual, T'yari lightly plants his chaste little kiss.

Catriona pries an eye open, mid-kiss, and lo... the gloating reigns. Not that she's meaning to let it be seen that she believes she's won. But this is definately a start, and a little gloating has to be expected. Post-kiss, she leans back once more and turns on her biggest, brightest happy-grin. "That was nice," is remarked, "Not bad at all, actually. And you'll notice that I'm not laughing." One can only hope that he'll take that as the encouragement it's intended to be.

Just what everyone likes. People to gloat at them. If it isn't bad enough to have a lifemate who delights in thrusting him into dangerous situations and then standing back to look on, now he gets gloated at. This fact goes unnoticed, however, by the greenrider in question. T'yari just does what he does best and blushes. "Er. Um." And exactly how is he supposed to respond to that? "Thanks?" he hazards doubtfully.

Laughing, Catriona steps back into the fray and slings her arms around the poor fellow in an unprovoked hug. "You know... I really really like you, Yari. You're so... honest." And just to compound the damage, she sneaks in to return the kiss, although in a slightly less chaste version. Fortunately, it's brief, and she steps back to say, "I think I'm really going to enjoy dance lessons."
Look! Look! She's laughing. T'yari was right after all. "I /told/ you," he manages before getting kissed again. And for once, it's almost-sort-of-kind-of returned. Maybe. Catriona's first few remarks aren't responded to, other than a wrinkling of his nose and a sheepish grin. "Oh. Well. You wouldn't want them to be boring or anything."

Yes, but it's good laughing, as opposed to bad laughing. If Catti's going to force her company on T'yari, he's just going to have to learn the difference. "If they're anything like this one, they definately won't be boring. Faranth only knows what I'll manage to talk you into next time," she teases with a wink. "You're /really/ going to have to stop grinning like that."

T'yari just wanted to prove his point, really, that his kisses provoke laughter -- in one form or another. It was never specified what type it was, after all. The greenrider flushes somewhat, although it's less pronounced than previously. "Er. Uh huh." He opts for staying noncommittal, not quite sure if Catriona's only joking or if there's a level of seriousness attached to her threat. The grin disappears, only staying put for a few seconds and until it's pointed out. "Sorry," he offers contritely.

"I was just teasing about the grin, Yari, really." Catriona squeezes his shoulder and (what else?) grins. "Because if you keep grinning like that now, you won't have to wait until the next lesson to see what I meant when I said that." Going just a touch more serious, she adds with due consideration, "I really did mean it. I like you. A lot. Otherwise I wouldn't bother you nearly so much as I do. I've been /wanting/ you to give in to my radient charm, you know."

"Oh. Um." Monosyllables and vocalized pauses are T'yari's forte, not divining the meaning behind Catriona's words or grinning. Again, he's uncertain whether she's teasing or not, and rapidly moves on to something that takes less brainpower and puzzlement. It does, however, mean some blushing. It's what Yari's best at, after all. "Well, thanks?" he offers, somewhat at a loss. "Nediath kind of made sure that I don't get to keep secrets anymore," he remarks as another quick, wry grin popping into place momentarily, unbidden; he probably wouldn't have allowed anything other than a completely straight face if he was thinking clearly or was incredibly concerned about Catti's warning.

What's Catti have to do to convince this guy, strip down nekkid and do a polka? Don't tempt her. Shaking her head, Catti chuckles, "I'm glad Nediath jumped in. On this one, anyways. It was driving me insane, trying to figure out what you were really thinking behind all of that blushing." And, considering she's been on her feet now for awhile, she shifts her hand from his shoulder around to his back and leans. Just to take some of the weight off, mind you. "Of course, if I find out you've just been playing hard to get all along, instead of /really/ feeling this way, I'm going to have to do something drastic."

Yeah, but if Catti did that then the need for dancing lessons would greatly diminish. People who can polka generally aren't so-called beginners. "Nediath likes to do that," T'yari states, chagrined. "She's impossible." Yari may not tighten or readjust his light placement -- dancing position, mind -- of one hand upon Catriona's hip, but neither does he move away. Or run shrieking. "Drastic?" he repeats with apprehension, eyebrows scooting upwards slightly. "What do you mean, drastic?" After a pause, he remembers to assure, -- we wouldn't want drastic measures being taken, after all, -- "I don't play hard to get."

"Oh, I don't know," Catti says casually. Too casually. You can bet she noticed that steadying hand, and isn't just chalking it up to the consideration of a polite dance partner. "Drastic like... giving you that real kiss I was talking about. Or maybe even dragging you over to that bed over there." And we wouldn't want that, would we? Suuuuuure we would. "Maybe I'll do something drastic anyways." Pardon, while she thinks over the pros and cons of this possible plan.

Uh oh. If T'yari had common sense -- which he doesn't -- he'd probably find a way to extract him from this situation, but the man's hopelessly innocent and guileless and in over his head. "Wait." T'yari takes a minute to mull things over. "So playing hard to get is a /good/ thing?" Unintentionally, he equates those real kisses and all else to being good. Oops. Just don't tell Yari. He hasn't realized that much yet. "Er. You will?"

Catriona beats back a giggle and remarks, "It can be, depending on the outcome. It wouldn't be good if I had just given up and gone away." Putting just a little more weight behind the lean, she then says, "Sure, why not. Just walk backwards and I can show just how much fun drastic is. If you're up for it, anyways." It's just got to be a bad sign that she's wriggling her eyebrows like that.

"Probably not," T'yari agrees like the good, amiable greenrider he is. Getting on Catriona's bad side is not on his list of things to do. "Well..." Catriona's leaning, both physically and verbally, makes the young man swallow his beginning rebuttals, and Nediath's additional impetus does the final work. Who is he to refuse? That'd be impolite. And make for a very put-out lifemate, too. "You'd better make sure I don't trip over something."

Just never /ever/ let Catti know that this giving in is out of manners, and self-preservation. She'd probably do something horrible like cry. "A little to your left. Just a few more steps," she directs like the considerate friend that she is. "I'm not going to let you trip, trust me. Can't have you getting hurt or anything." Tease tease tease. This is definately going to be an experience, to say the least. Poor Yari.

Oh, that's just how T'yari will justify it to himself when Nediath teases mercilessly like she always does. He obliges, shuffling in the correct directions and sneaking a glance behind him to make sure that there's nothing tricky out to make him fall and embarrass himself further in front of Catriona. He'll never live this down, as it is. "Oh. Well. Thanks. I'd rather not get hurt, myself." Yari accepts the teasing with reasonably good humor; he's getting used to it.

"I promise not to be /too/ energetic in that case," Catriona says solemnly, before giving into that nagging urge to grin some more. Yes, she knows when a victory's been won. Someone's going to have to remind her to bring Nediath a present, one of these days, for being such a wonderful ally. "One more step, then sit down." Get comfy.

[Fade to black -- log ends.]