WHAT ARE YOU PACKIN IN YOUR PANTIES? [open]

[Requiem]

Dmitri puzzled over the problem for a moment, his fingers again going to his waist where the pipes rested, playing over the polished wood. "Maybe a sling of some sort. But then...that might get in the way when you're trying to work..." The young man extracted his pipes from his belt and thoughtfully fiddled with the instrument before setting it to his lips. It was clear that, for whatever reason, he thought better with the music. His eyes were quite removed as his fingers moved delicately over the holes, creating a disjointed tune that mingled oddly with the lap of the river against the dock. As if he were using the pipes to speak back to the water without really thinking about it.

The song ended abruptly mid-strain, Dmitri twisting on one knee and digging back through his pile before finding what he was looking for. A small basket, the contents of which he dumped. The harper extracted the scarf from his belt and interlaced it with much of the food he'd seen the creature take a fancy to just moments before. A few more random scraps of fabric and leather that didn't seem to have an apparent purpose, and the nest was created. He eyed it critically for a moment, then added a ribbon, which he wound twice through. Testing it over his own shoulder, he nodded to himself and presented the layered 'nest' to her, quirking a brow.

"I think that'll do just fine. This way, if it wakes up it won't scream its head off for you to feed it."

Seemed weird, to be calling it 'it' all the time. Dmitri pulled a face at the thought. "So then. What to name the thing? Oh, and...you wouldn't by chance know the Weyrhealer, would you? I'm supposed to collect some things that belonged to the last harpers assigned here, and I guess one of them was living with him? Her weyr is abandoned now." He figured it would be best to get this information from someone relatively new, rather than anyone who might have known Marra and could be hurt - or take offense - at his question. "I'd go about getting it without his knowledge, but I doubt he'd want me going through his things unbidden."

[Lotty]

When Demi began playing his little ditty on the pipes, Rae felt herself sway back in forth in an easy manner, the rhythm aided by the natural metronome of the sea. She could have very well twirled and danced about in her own little free-spirited way if she wasn't afraid of waking the winged menace. It was good to hear some music, between that and all the excitement of her morning she had forgotten how tired she was before, and when it ended - though abruptly - it didn't seem to phase her, she was humming along to what she imagined a continuation would be. Otherwise she was quiet as she watched the harper go to town on nest.

Being naturally curious, she was rather attentive to how he went about crafting the contraption, it would be good to know incase it later feel apart or lost it somehow. She wasn't sure how the latter would happen, but you couldn't go through life without a back-up plan. The part that fascinated the healer much more than it's actual construction, was the fact that the boy's abilities seemed limitless. In her eyes he was something of a boy wonder. Sure, putting together the thing for the baby darter wasn't exactly astrophysics, but it was better than what Rae could come up with.

Raebeli appraised the creation with a grateful smirk and a genuine compliment, "Now Demi. Is there any end to your talents?" She paused, this time picking up on the fact that she always managed to say something that could be construed in a lewd way, "I mean, you play your pipes beautifully...and you're quick on your feet..." she nodded at the nest, "you certainly are something special I think."

The mindhealer would be a liar if she wasn't thinking the same thing. It was weird to be calling it 'it' even though it seemed to be the only appropriate moniker for the darter. She didn't know the sex, and probably wouldn't know for a while because she certainly didn't want to poke around to find out, how weird would that be? It would just be another question better for whatever beastcrafter/wildlife expert she ran into. So she supposed a gender neutral name would be required...hmmm...she twisted her lips into a thoughtful pout and squinted her eyes. Her brain was hard at work....but all it seemed to produce was the same thing over and over again. It had to be named Cap'n.

"I think I have to call it Cap'n for now, after that..." the word anyone else would be looking for would be crazy, "poor delusional man that I got it from..." And her explanation was cut off after that. The Weyrhealer? Oh. Yes, she knew him. Well she didn't know him, it was more past-tense than anything. She remembered him, from the healer hall in Fort, but that didn't mean she talked to him. That didn't mean when she was sent to Selenitas and saw him again (eye patch and all) that they became buddy buddy. In fact beyond her initial introduction to the Weyr she barely saw the ones in charge of the infirmary.

"I suppose you are talking about Ra...I mean R'wign," funny honorifics messed her up. After knowing someone as one thing it was almost a chore to readjust for their Impression, "He'd be up at the infirmary now if you needed him." But that didn't help too much. The boy needed a description to go off on if she couldn't lead him there herself, the best way to pick him out of the crowd would have been those pretty green eyes, but now...now it would be the complete lack of one of those eyes. Raebeli glanced back and worth before leaning in toward Demi and lowering her voice, "He's the one with um...the eye patch," and she cupped her hand over an eye incase he didn't pick up on her whisper.

[Requiem]

He looked down at her curiously, peering around the hair that had already managed to fall out of its bindings in just the last few minutes. It spilled delicately over his chest, fanning out at his lap in soft, curling waves of dark gold. His eyes sought out her gaze, a curious draining of color mingling with the slight flush of a blush beginning on his cheeks, making his freckles stand out starkly.

Dmitri, who could, at will, turn up the charm to almost sickening levels, found himself still rather susceptible to such unmerited compliments when he wasn't jockeying for them. In a rare bout of shyness, his curiously hued greys slid away from her face and fell to studying the hands in his lap, the long fingers carressing the pipes in his mild unease. He was tempted simply to pick them up and retreat again into his music, but refrained. "There's plenty I can't do," he responded, the flush having fully climbed into his face by this point.

"Cap'n," Dmitri repeated, almost dully, as if he wasn't quite fully comprehending the word. Then he blinked, bringing himself out of the odd state he was in and flashing Raebeli a boyish smile. But...wait. After a delusional patient? Wasn't that just a little...odd? How delusional was this patient (and did you really have to ask when he was called 'Cap'n')?

Curious, he leaned in toward Rae, blinking in surprise at her words and shooting her a questioning glance...but the gesture made it clear that he'd heard correctly. So this R'wign had apparently lost an eye, had he? At the same time that he'd lost the harper...what was her name? Marra?...or in something completely unrelated? He figured if he just kept an ear open, he was bound to hear soon enough about someone so...highly placed. Such stories would be considered juicy, they would, and often repeated.

Well, he'd deal with this when he came to it. Though a flash of something not entirely friendly passed behind his eyes. It would be more convenient if he could find a way to get Rae to get these things for him, after all. He'd work on that later, though. "That's...disturbing." Rocking back to sit squarely on his knees, he nodded to himself. Then his eyes met hers and he shot her another smile. "You're going to have to tell me more of the little one's namesake. That sounds intriguing."

[Lotty]

Did her flattery embarrass him? She cocked her head to try and follow his eyes, even as they dropped down to his hands. For some reason the girl was amused by his reply. She didn't take it as exact modesty, but the honest admittance of shortcomings was always admired, even if a simple "thank you" would have sufficed. The only question was whether or not she should dare pursue a follow up. What could it be that the boy wonder seemed to consider himself insufficient at? Raebeli was much too curious, she wanted to know what it was that would bring that blush to his cheeks, so to avoid seeming too forward she asked him almost rhetorically, posing the question with a wistful tone, "Hmm...well I guess I am going to have to pal around with you in order to find out about these things..."

She laughed at bit at Demi's assessment. Disturbing. Perhaps it was a touch macabre to name the thing after a patient, but there was a certain appropriateness that she couldn't ignore. It was so obvious, and the harper would appreciate it too if he was there to witness the old man rambling about his fishing expeditions, "Well he was picked up off the coast..." she had forgotten exactly how much of this story she had already told him, but she was sure that a harper would appreciate the quick recap, "and he claimed to be named Cap'n...spoke with a real thick sailor's accent, but none of us can be sure that he actually has ever been on a boat.."

She shifted her weight before continuing, "Nobody is claiming him, there were no shipwrecks to be found...but he smelled and he was beyond repair...physically and mentally..." she wanted to believe that everyone could be fixed up, and a large lot of them could. Simple phobias and some anxiety was usually quite manageable. This guy's issues fell into neither category, "Among his more interesting maladies, he had an obsession with R'wign's..." here her voice lowered again, "missing eye. He was a real ornery fellow, but he seemed to like me, and he loved, loved, loved this egg he had."

"He called it his baby, and told me, 'Argg you must take care of muh baybay!'" She failed immensely at mimicking the voice, but it was a valiant effort nonetheless, "Anyway, that is that...any questions?" She didn't think of herself as the best storyteller, if the boy wanted any other details he'd have to pry.

[Requiem]

She had his flush deepening. Lovely. The woman was just too good at dragging your mind through the dirt and then leaving it there...apparently completely innocently. Which just made it worse. He fidgeted, glad that she seemed to be dropping the subject as soon as she touched on it. There was plenty enough Dmitri had no experience in (including pretty much anything the average northern man prided himself in) and he didn't much feel like listing it all off.

As he listened to her description of this queer castaway they'd found on the beach, Dmitri found himself once again intrigued by her choice of words and mannerisms. He wasn't a bad judge of a person when he could be bothered to implement such skills, and her energy was invigorating. It would probably prove quite wearisome to anyone not in at least a cordial mood, however, he thought to himself. (This he only knew because he sometimes employed such behavior as a means of driving unwanteds away.)

Snorting outright as the mindhealer again felt the need to lower her voice when referring to R'wign's handicap, he couldn't resist the smirk. Truly. What, did she think it would offend someone? There was no one here but the two of them and the baby ugly, and really, what was so offensive about speaking the simple truth that everyone could see? The man was missing an eye. That was that.

"He smelled, did he?" Dmitri commented, the light mocking tone in his voice softened by the fact that there was no malice in his eyes. "So then, when did he pass on?" the harper questioned. It really wasn't all that hard to divine; Raebeli kept on referring to Cap'n in the past tense, and if he hadn't been claimed and was beyond repair, he should still be in the infirmary, yes? "I don't suppose he had any effects that might offer some clues as to who he was?"

A harper, curious? Of course not! It was pure pragmatism. You never knew when you might find some new material for a song, after all, and if the man was quirky enough - or pitiable enough - it shouldn't be too hard for Dmitri to write something of interest with Cap'n as the muse.

[Lotty]

"Oh yeah he smelled alright....let's just say he didn't exactly smell like the ocean breeze..." she joked right back before moving on to the sobering subject of the crazy man's death. She tilted her head, one finger tapping at her cheek as she tried to remember when it was that he met his demise. It couldn't have been too long ago, why it seemed like just the other day she was cleaning up after him and his messes he left when he decided to storm around the infirmary maniacally. But it wasn't a day ago, it was at least a sevenday, and so she settled on a date somewhere in between. Shame she couldn't be a little more honest.

"He passed a few days back," and then with her trademark smile she added, creatively all the little bits that harpers like for their songs, "in the middle of the night, quietly and without words...and since he was such a prestigious ship's captain...his body was put out to sea..." All of this was more or less a lie, but hey, who would know the difference? Raebeli didn't even know the complete truth, she wasn't there to see her first real patient at the weyr kick the can, but she did know that most of his belongings were long gone. Well expect for the egg, that thing hatched as we all already know.

What else was there? What else was there? She bobbed on her tippy-toes a couple of times before coming to the conclusion that he had nothing of any interest on his body when they brought him in. Rae would argue that what he didn't have spoke volumes more than what he did have. He didn't have anything to indicate that he was who he said he was, well to be fair he didn't have much more than rags and a very impressive scraggily beard. Nevermind that though, everything of his was burned, it was just the safe route to go considering all the bugs and crawlies hanging out in the jacket pockets. If there was anything left the girl would have offered him the chance to dig through it all. But it was, what it was...

"There really wasn't anything to him when we got him. So no exciting treasures to speak of. I think he just began to succumb to senility honestly, but I guess you could argue that he was sick with something and delusional, but I think that is quite the stretch. He was just old. I just hope thatI never suffer the same fate," Rae could never imagine waking up and thinking she was someone completely different. It was such an obtuse thought.

[Requiem]

So, she had a penchant for hyperbole, did she? Hardly surprising given the bubbly personality, and he smiled at her in tacit encouragement. Of course he'd just find someone a little more - factual - in the infirmary when he visited, as he no doubt would have to in order to locate the Weyrhealer, to see if the story bore any true interest. His mind filed away much of what she said to be perused later. Most of the things he learned never saw the light of day again, but they did allow him to get a general feel for a place and a people, if nothing else. Intuition didn't have much room to work if it was functioning on ignorance, and intuition was one of Dmitri's greatest assets.

He clicked his tongue mildly at her. "Ah, but Lady Rae! I can't imagine you ever getting old. Just look at you." It was blatant flattery, yes, but lots of people responded well to it even so. "You're far too young at heart to ever age a day," Dmitri pronounced with finality. It helped that she really did act quite young. With all that energy, he doubted anyone would see her as old for quite some time yet. To be honest, he definitely felt like the older in this conversation (though that wasn't necessarily unusual).

"Well then. I'm going to need to get settled in," Dmitri concluded briskly, rising to his feet and striding gracefully for the minimal baggage he'd actually packed himself. In a moment he had it all secure. Then he began trying to lever the boxes of things that would somehow find their way to the creche - probably in the hands of someone he'd wheedled into doing the job for him, as like as not - Dmitri swaying dangerously toward the edge of the peer. He got himself under control after a small time and pulled a face. "I really wish they'd just said goodbye like normal people."

Thus he began climbing back up toward the appartments, balancing the boxes precariously in two slender arms.