Fresh Air and Sunshine [Museh]

[kysseh]

The morning sunshine provided a comforting sort of brightness, minus the stifling heat that midday and afternoon usually lent to the air. Savitri enjoyed this time of the early morning, the comfort it offered. As much as she loved to work, to study, and to learn, even she--the very epitome of a busybody--needed the occasional deep breath of fresh air. The morning breeze felt good, and the young woman felt herself relaxing. The vertically-challenged healer had selected a nice, warm, rounded rock to sit on, leaning back against another rock with her booted feet propped up.

Coming to the weyr had been one of her better life choices, one she scarcely regretted. There were certainly no overbearing kitchen workers here, and she had access to far more healing literature. On the flipside, she did seem to be short on company, or human company, anyway. She never had much of a chance to feel lonely; Shadow made very sure of that. The instant she felt anything akin to loneliness, Shadow was there to twine his little body around her hand. The strangest part was that she didn't even need to call him. He simply knew and popped into being right beside her, and disconcerting as it was, it was also incredibly comforting. Never again would she lack for a companion.

Shadow, however, was not present at the moment. The healer let out a groan as the little salamandyr updated her on his current exploits. Apparently, he was investigating the post-Flightlust exploits of a trio of weyrlings in the stables, and the overtones that his pictures gave implied that this situation was positively scandalous. Despite being amused at how awkward the situation was, Savitri was incredibly grateful that she had not succumbed to the overwhelming feeling of desire that most of the weyrfolk had experienced. Shards, she hoped that didn't happen every time a female dragon took to the air. She had better things to do than get caught up in the emotions of a dragon that was not hers.

Trying to push the thought from her mind, the healer reclined, idly straightening her sleeveless light tan tunic to not bunch at the small of her back. Hopefully, Shadow would get bored soon. He was not especially known for his attention span, after all...

[Administrator]

Savitri was not alone. A short distance away, someone else lay on her stomach, soaking up the sun. Marra's eyes were closed but she wasn't sleeping. If she fell asleep, then she would sleep a long time and would get sunburned, which would not be a pleasant thing. So she kept her consciousness awake, listening to the sound of the rippling of the river and of Alexis and Desdemona chattering to each other. She was relieved to see that the pair got along well together. Alexis had yet to make a name for himself among the fair of flitters that lived in her and Rawign's apartment, but Desdemona accepted him quite easily, even though Li would always be her favorite flitter. Yet she took to Alexis like she would a little brother. He followed eagerly in her footsteps, always looking up to her for approval.

Marra was on the verge of falling asleep when she heard Desdemona screech. Sighing, the harper rolled onto her back, opening a bleary gray eye to glare at her flitters. Alexis had spotted a salamandyr nearby, and it looked awfully tasty. He leaped at it, but Mona screeched. The stupid little white thing wasn't worth their time! Marra frowned. Mona was glowing in an odd way... Cursing the green mentally for being proddy, she sat up slowly, looking over at Savitri. She knew the girl's name-- she was a healer and the only bonded to a white salamandyr at the Weyr, after all-- but Marra had never taken the time to talk about her. She pondered it again. Then again, Rawign was the only person that she truly had a desire to talk to.

But if her flitter was going to eat that girl's salamandyr, Marra would have to say something. "Alexis, stop it," she said firmly. Sighing again, she began to sit up. "Sorry," she murmured. "Alexis doesn't know how to, erm, restrain himself." She frowned at her blue flitter. He wasn't exactly the brightest glow in the basket. Running a hand through her brown locks, she pushed herself completely back up, dusting off her white shirt. "I don't get what the problem is between flitters and 'mandyrs," she muttered, mostly to herself. She had become oddly argumentative since she had come back to Selenitas. She argued with everyone who disagreed with her, save Rawign, of course. She folded her arms sullenly, an action so automatic for her now that she didn't even notice. She was always a grump, after all, she thought bitterly.

[kysseh]

Savitri had been comfortably resting when a high-pitched screech jolted her into full consciousness. The healer sat up quickly, glancing around for the source of the noise, afraid someone or something had been injured. There weren't felines in the area, were there?! Her concern was quickly put to rest, though, upon the sight of another person--a woman, she noted--present, accompanied by firelizards. She arched an eyebrow, surprised that she had not noticed the others before. They must have been quieter than she had originally thought. What had caused the firelizard to make such a noise was beyond her comprehension. There was no danger in the area. Perhaps she had unintentionally disturbed it?

The healer gave a slight start at the realization that she was seeing in double vision. She was seeing the scene before her through her eyes and through a slightly distorted, stop-and-go series of images in her brain. She turned her head and saw a finger-length blip of white preening on her shoulder, and it suddenly all made sense. Shadow, can you warn me next time?! The firelizard's distress was understandable now. "Shadow would go between before he got anywhere too close," the healer said plainly, shrugging her shoulders and wincing as Shadow climbed onto her ear in response to the movement. Those little claws were rather sharp, rather like needlethorn.

"I didn't realize they disliked each other that much. I just thought Shadow was a snob." Savitri was completely honest in her assessment of Shadow's personality. The little salamandyr was fickle and changeable in temperament as they came and a royal pain at times. She could not help but love him, though. He certainly was never short of affection when it came to her. She reasoned that he knew where his next meal was coming from. "They do seem to have a mutual dislike of each other," she added, noticing that Shadow was pointedly ignoring the other beings present. Apparently, His Great Nosiness had no real interest in these new arrivals, as well as no intention of making friends. The healer was unsurprised at this.

[Administrator]

Marra frowned at Savitri. Was she suggesting her creature was faster than her flitters, and therefore better? It seemed as though this girl was stupid. Sighing dramatically, Marra rolled her eyes. "I'm sure if one of my flitters caught... him? by the tail, he wouldn't make it between," she told Savitri coldly. Of course, she didn't know anything about how tails could fall off, so she thought she was being perfectly intelligent. "After all, that tail is very long," she added, almost nastily. See how right she was! Even Alexis could catch that tail and pull the thing right out from between. "I apologized and that was all. You don't need to make excuses for yourself or for the white thing," she continued irritably, her grumpiness shining through, full swing. She was cuddly and pleasant with Rawign, but that didn't mean others could get away with it. While clearly not centered on it, most of humanity was selfish and false. Her experience with the Masterharper seemed proof of that. But at least Rawign was genuine.

This girl was simply stupid. Of course they didn't like each other. In every instance that people saw, the two draconic species simply didn't get along with each other. "Are you a half-wit? Flitters don't like salamandyrs!" she told her, treating her condescendingly. Marra honestly didn't care if Savitri got all huffy with her. Since the girl had candidate knots now, it now meant that she was lower than Marra, regardless of her training. So it's not as though Savitri could yell at Marra and expect it to get anywhere. This seemed to fan Marra's flames, and she continued to mutter, "Candidates seem to be getting dumber with every clutch. I don't understand how girls like this even get Searched, anyway. Probably after the queen, like the rest of them." Sighing to herself, she lay herself back down on the sand, closing her eyes and proceeding to block out anything else. She didn't feel like arguing. Right now, she just wanted to drop her opinion and move on.

Maybe she should just go back to her apartment. But she was reeking with laziness. The sunshine was doing her good, she told herself. Mona turned back from the 'mandyr, proceeding to sprawl out on the sand. Alexis, however, had more devious things in mind. He hissed, getting steadily closer to the little white creature. He would eat the nasty thing, yes... That was a good idea. Ignoring his bonded's earlier demand, he lowered himself against the ground, preparing to pounce the thing. He waited for his whole body to silence, making sure his breathing was soft and that he was perfectly still. He needed to be completely accurate. Then, without warning, he pounced, aiming himself at Shadow. He would eat the thing! He opened his small blue jaws, wanting to chomp down on the thing's tail.

Marra, sensing mischief, shot up in alarm, looking around wildly for the flitter. "Alexis, no you don't! What did I just tell you?!" Innocently, the flitter looked up from where he clung to Savitri's shirt. He wasn't causing any trouble. He was merely doing Pern a favor!

[kysseh]

It took Savitri a moment to realize that nothing she said would pacify the obviously bitter woman sitting near her. The young woman's mouth tightened, the slight narrowing of her eyes evidence to the fact that she was annoyed and displeased. Apparently, the woman thought the healer-turned-candidate was either brainless or power-hungry, and Savitri was neither. The young woman liked being in charge, but her journey to the weyr was anything but a search for a position of power. It rankled her deeply to not be able to tell the woman exactly what she thought of her. Aliscia's warning resounded throughout her head, and while she would have sorely loved to give the woman a severe talking to, she loved her chance at Standing for the dragon clutch just a bit more.

"He'd just drop the tail if they caught it. He can regrow it," she stated simply, managing to keep from pointing out how quickly and erroneously the journeyman harper--she recognized the shoulderknots--jumped to conclusions about Savitri's idiocy. If Savitri failed to Impress, then she would simply be up for her promotion to journeyman soon, and that would put them on equal standing. The sharding dimglow would not be the higher-ranking weyrfolk for long. "I wasn't Searched either, though I'll agree with you that there are some complete wastes of time amongst the candidates." Savitri had one particular little snob in mind.

The hissing of the blue flit gave her some warning that mischief was in the making. Shadow seemed to be of a similar mind, for the white salamandyr stopped his preening to glare down at the flit, tucking his little wings in close. The white salamandyr simply stared at the flit as it pounced, only moving to dive into Savitri's collar when the blue was in midair. Savitri heard Shadow give a series of enraged mental images as the flit chomped down on his tail, and then the tail simply dropped off, Shadow disappearing down into Savitri's shirt to sulk somewhere around the underside of her breasts, thoroughly disgusted with life in general.

Furious at the blue flit clinging to her shirt, Savitri gathered up the force of will that had kept her from snapping at the woman, directing it instead to keep from bodily tearing the annoying creature away. She glared down at him instead, every line of her face showing her absolute fury. "Get off!" she told him forcefully, her tone conveying far more than the only slightly elevated volume of her voice. "NOW!"