OOCSorry for the terribly long wait on this!
Jorin’s frustration was obvious, even on his face. Or maybe she was just getting used to his masks and seeing through them with the help of the bond. He undoubtedly could feel her jealousy despite the circumstances and his literal ‘no choice or lose your job’ threat hanging over his head. The idea of putting more emotion into the kiss however seemed kind of ridiculous to Rinya. She understood lots of people kissed for reasons other than love, but to force love into a kiss just didn’t seem real in the first place. Even Jorin insisted that he wasn’t sure that he could put more emotion into the kiss.
The stage master however was undeterred by Jorin’s insistence. Apparently he was one of the people watching during the after party not a season ago… the one that she supposed got a little out of hand once they had actually left the party. But he pointed at her as if Jorin was acting when he kissed her… as if what they shared was easily just as shared with someone else. Rinya felt her teeth grind together in an attempt not snap at the man. The idea of Jorin actually sharing that kind of passion with someone else set off her possessive side.
But Jorin groaned at the stage master’s next suggestion. Method acting? It sounded vaguely familiar… perhaps it might have been something Jorin had mentioned during his talk of work, but as far as she remembered he didn’t actually go into any kind of detail of what method acting was. Judging by his reaction it wasn’t something he wanted to do anymore than adding more so called ‘fire’ to a kiss. Rinya felt her eyebrows furrow in confusion as the stage master declared that the passion would be real? Was that even possible… just what did method acting entail that normal acting didn’t?
Rinya finally let out an exasperated huff as the stage master somewhat explained that Jorin just had to think of a time when he did feel such powerful emotions and then use the memory to make the kiss ‘better’. Jorin glanced at her, and Rinya realized after a long moment that Alia was looking at her too. It wasn’t as if this was her choice, this was their job after all… but it was likely Jorin was dreading this because those emotions he tended to feel were with her. Translating them to someone else wouldn’t feel right to him, that much she knew for certain.
Rinya rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest despite the pounding in her temples. Jorin insisted on a recess, and for a long tick Rinya was trying to decide if she even wanted to stick around at this point. If Jorin was forced to start pushing emotions out for someone that wasn’t her, she wasn’t positive she could control herself. Alia—despite being the center of the jealousy—wasn’t likely to get the onslaught however. Rinya had her reasons to hate the stage master to begin with, and the man was just making it worse. Jorin, despite how he was feeling at the moment, loved his job. That was the only reason she hadn’t acted out otherwise.
Jorin moved, leading Alia towards her and Rinya took the time between to take several deep breaths. Her husband was saying something to the actress, but even if they had been close enough she wasn’t sure she would have been able to hear them. The blood was pounding in her ears from her temples, making everything around her difficult to hear. But she attempted to soften her face in the very least. It wasn’t Alia or her mate’s fault they were chosen for this play. It was something she had to remind herself of constantly, so instead Rinya tried to focus on Jorin’s smile.
It felt mostly instinctual as Jorin moved to stand next to her, that she drew herself closer as well. Her mate lead the introduction to the poor actress that was stuck just as much in the play as her mate was. Rinya couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at Jorin however as he introduced her not just as his wife, but mate and bondmate as well. She couldn’t help but grin slightly at him, shaking her head just slightly. "Jorin, wife is just fine. Not everyone understands the whole bondmate thing." And honestly it was just fine. Humans especially understood the meaning of ‘wife’ well enough, there was no need to complicate it further.
But she turned her attention from her husband to Alia, glancing her over now that she was closer—not that her eyes couldn’t see Alia clearly from the short distance. "Hello Alia… it’s a pleasure to meet you." It wasn’t a lie actually, so her tone was fairly present given the circumstances. Rinya cocked her eyebrow at her husband however when he mentioned what kind of a day they were having—that he would not blame her about wanting to leave. "Well yes I know how you feel about it, but I don’t believe you ever explained what method acting even entailed."
Twitching her nose slightly at his comment about a time when he did feel it, she already knew what he was thinking. Glancing at Alia out of the corner of her eye, she had no idea if Jorin could do it… then again his acting was more than decent enough that she had no doubt he could pull it off if he tried. But would she be able to handle it… even if she was not at the play she would feel it. Every time he had to stir up such emotions, there was no doubt he would end up projecting them across the bond. Jorin’s sudden shift in subject however caught her off guard.
"Wind Reach?" She echoed. "We actually had several large eagles arrive from Wind Reach for trading. Is that the one in the same?" Rinya directed the question at Alia. She hadn’t met any of the eagle riders, but Alia must certainly have knowledge of them… maybe even know who the riders were. Jorin however pressed on, informing Alia that she too was a bird Kelvic—apparently a very pretty one. Rinya couldn’t help but playfully roll her eyes and nudge Jorin in the ribs delicately. "You are biased."
With a split second decision, given that the stage master was bound to interrupt them at this rate, Rinya sighed and shook her head slightly. "Just do it Jorin. The… method acting thing." She couldn’t do much but shrug and glance sideways at Alia. "I know you are not fond of the idea, but I promise I will not throttle anyone in a jealous rage." After a moment of forethought, she shook her head before pointing over her shoulder to the stage master standing not far from them.
"Well except maybe him. He has it coming."
white
