Friendly Bits

Day 8 of Month 4 of Turn 2720
Half Moon Bay Weyr - Living Caverns

Here is the center of Weyr life, the living caverns. These two main rooms were man-shaped from smaller caves, and are joined by a carved arch with depictions of dragons in flight and dolphins leaping in swirling waves. One room has many round stone and wooden tables and a stone fire-pit instead of a hearth. Over the round-walled, gas fired pit is a large conical hood made of polished bronze, with reliefs of dragons with their riders flying over ships guided by dolphins. This hood and chimney keeps the room smoke-free. Through the archway is an enormous hall, with long tables and benches, some carved from the rock floor, many crafted of wood. This room is a combination dining and meeting hall, and can seat over 300 comfortably. Above both rooms, angled shafts lined with polished metal bring in sunlight during the day. Electric lights also burn, day and night.


Dinner is still just at the onset, leaving the true hustle and bustle of the evening rush still a bit in the future. However, there are still a few weyr residents scattered here and there about the caverns, having angled to beat the rush with an early dinner. Teinon numbers among these. He has staked out a small table near the wall, out of the general flow of traffic, and has procured a couple of some sort of hand-held meat pie. He's munching one slowly, in small bites, while he writes something on a piece of paper with his free hand. Given the serious-face he's making, it must be something important.

There might not be many weyr residents flowing into the caverns just yet but that doesn't mean a predator won't try to descend on their prey. A chair swings into view and a stealty Suriya quietly takes a seat, keeping her plate in her lap and her little black book beneath it. She neatly takes a napkin, tucking it into the collar of her shirt and watches Teinon intently with those curious jade eyes. There's no telling if the hungry look on her face is for the older candidate or for the food on her own plate. A bread roll is taken from the edge of her platter, and she begins to prepare it. Tearing the tiny roll in half and she proceeds to stuff it with shredded meats and cooked greens. Only when it's full to the brim does she take a bite, cheeks stuffed like a hamster. She snarfs loudly like a hangry kitten, not saying a word cause Teinon is working. That would be rude.

Teinon's gaze sloooowly lifts from his work, and he watches Suri as she settles in with her food. He sees the napkin go on, and the bite disappear into her cheeks. His solemn expression never wavers from a kind of dim curiosity, but finally, he sighs and peels off the top piece of paper from his sheaf. He neatly folds it into quarters, tucks it into his chest pocket, and then writes a single word at the very top of the next page. He turns it around to face her, and pushes it over so she can read it. "Hi." Awful lot of effort for such a simple greeting, but there you have it. He takes another bite of his meat pie and chews slowly while watching Suriya.

As soon as Suriya has a free hand herself, she carefully cleans it on her chest napkin and reaches over to pluck up Teinon's writing utencil. Talking while you eat is a no-no, because you'll lose the bites that fall out of your mouth! For now, she'll just carry on the conversation on her fellow Candidate's paper. "Hello! The meat tastes passable today. The veggies just reminds you that there's meat."

Teinon is so startled by having the pencil plucked from his fingers that he fails entirely to prevent it. With some alarm, he starts to snatch after it, but Holder manners kick in only a bit belatedly. Even if she's weird, she's still a /girl/, after all. With a faintly pained expression, he waits while she writes, then takes the pencil back. He writes a note, and passes the paper back, but conspicuously holds the pencil to himself, where she can't reach it without going to some serious lengths. And if she does, she'll find that he's not quite so quick to let go of it this time. His note reads, "It tastes good to me."

Def playing hard to get! Suriya finishes up the morsel stored in her cheeks and she quietly takes a small sip from the mug she stores under her seat. Water on the floor can't get in your lap, don'tcha know. She might be a feral jungle cryptid consuming the souls of the complacent but she does have a tiny bit of sense to her. Teeny tiny. Shhh. She glances at the pencil, then at Teinon's face, then the pencil again. While one hand keeps the plate steady in her lap, the other is held out patiently… while she POUTS. POUTY FACE, TEINON.

Teinon is curiously unmoved by the pouty face. When she doesn't read the paper, he scowls a little, and picks the paper up to deposit it in her outstretched hand. Then he scoots away a fraction of a foot, just in case she gets some sort of IDEAS about taking his pencil again.

Suriya eyerolls with a smile, but finally takes the paper and reads it, chewing on her lower lip. She blinks and reads it again, clearly she's thinking of something because her knee is bouncing and she's forgetting what's on her plate but she remembers rather quickly and holds the note in her mouth instead while she steadies all her things. Once certain her food isn't gonna spill, she slips her little black book free and HORDES THE SLIP OF PAPER. Like a keepsake, only one she wants to last longer than the ones she hides in her boobs. The no-man's land. The Candidate will fight to the death for her journal's protection. She takes a blank page from the back of her own book and places it directly in front of her, then holds that hand out again to Teinon, expectantly. Grinning.

Teinon frowns when Suriya puts the paper in the book. He looks back and forth from book to girl, as though it takes a few passes to fully process what just happened. The scowl doesn't quite disappear, but he shakes his head slowly at the held out hand. With slow care, he places the pencil in an inner pocket of his tunic, where it disappears PROBABLY FOREVER. He straightens out his sheaf of blank paper, tucks it away into another one of those hidden pockets. Then, he pointedly turns his chair away from her and puts his attention entirely on his food.

Suriya frowns… kind of. The corner of her mouth is held in a little smirk and she shrugs. Her plate is still warm anyway. She takes the last little roll on her plate and gives it the same stuffed special treatment as the former, taking a noisy happy bite. Teinon is given a side-eye, but they're smiling while her mouth can't. As soon as hands are free once more, she also turns her chair with the back to the other Candidate and places her plate on the table. Her little black book is opened up, and she hunches over it. Intently working on something, Suri is focused at her current task at hand. She pauses once, to peer over her shoulder at Tei, then returns to her own book.

Teinon finishes off his meat pie with rather small bites. He looks more like the sort of fellow who would engage in the cheek-stuffing maneuver, but appearances can be deceptive that way. Once he's finished with his food, he glances over to find Suri doing her hidden project and he rolls his eyes. He pulls a single sheet of paper out, tears a corner off just large enough to hold a message, then puts the rest away again. He scrawls a little message on it, then puts his pencil away. He stands up, walks around her chair in order to stand in front of her and hold the note in front of her nose. "If you're going to make fun of me, go away."

Suriya doesn't focus the paper, not while she's concentrating on the sketch she has laid out before her. It's nothing special, just a couple of rough sketches. One small one of Teinon lightly drawn with his back to her and on the other page, a more detailed picture of her stuffed meat roll thing. She runs her fingertip across the edge of the drawing, blurring the lines to offer some shadow and dimension to her food. She pauses, glances quickly at the paper held before her nose. Suri scrawls across the top of the Tei-page, "I just wanted to say the Tiki has good meat, too."

Teinon stuffs the torn note into his pocket and retrieves his pencil. Without bothering to make it right-side up, he scrawls a quick note across the open page of her book, the letters slightly sloppy due to the angle at which he's leaning. Then he steps back and crosses his arms, a faint challenge in his expression. "Talk with your mouth."

Talk with your mouth? WHAT IF SHE WANTS TO SPEAK OUT OF OTHER ORIFICES? Kidding. Suriya peers up at Teinon, placing her own pencil in the middle of the pages. "I caaaan. I just thought you were more comfortable doing it this way. Plus, you were eating." Suriya glances around for floor for a moment, a brief look of concern washing over her face but she relaxes when she sees her drink on the floor where she left it and it hasn't been kicked over with all the movements at their little table. She picks it up and takes a sip, carefully placing it on the table, then she picks up her pencil once more to adjust some lines she's pleased with.

Teinon just stares at Suriya with a perplexed expression. For a long moment, he just sort of stares at her. She's probably used to that nonplussed expression by now, though. He finally just shakes his head and performs a series of those hand movements like the ones he'd used on the sands the other day. Without bothering to translate, he returns to his seat at the table. His food is gone, but he pushes the empty plate away in favor of pulling out that paper he was working on before. He goes back to work writing whatever it is. Apparently it's not for Suriya, because he doesn't offer it to her.

Eyes are tilted up enough to see the hands move but she hasn't got the slightest idea as to what he's trying to do. Is he trying to do a dance for dominance? Maybe there's a trundlebug, but whatever it was, it was something important that she'll have to mentally file away and figure out later. Teinon is back to doing his secret stuff! The living caverns begins to grow a little louder as more and more of the general populace seems to be finishing their shifts, filling the lines rather quickly. The kitchens begin to pull another round of food out for the hungry numbers. Suriya glances around, hastily rising to her feet and she drops her little black book on the floor. She picks it up and places it on the table next to Teinon. "Fight anyone who touches my precious." Without a moment to spare, she vanishes into the weaving crowds.

Teinon looks up as he's given this task, a certain exasperation showing on his face. He rolls his eyes as she vanishes, and starts to go back to his writing. But his gaze strays to the book. He drags his eyes back to his notes. After another few moments pass, he finally gives in to curiosity. He reaches over and cautiously lifts the front cover to peek inside.

What could it be?! Is it a hitlist? Skins of her kills? A random smashed bug she liked and used the book to capture? The possibilities can be endless with Suriya! It might just be lunch time but that doesn't mean the Candidates have to be cheated out of a little bit of dessert! Suriya returns, bringing back a platter of small cookies and a pair of mugs. She freezes, like someone hit the pause button on Pern's remote control and she bites down on her lip. There just might be the tiniest hints of rosy hues blooming on the young woman's cheeks. She coughs, peering down at her mugs, rubbing the back of her ankle with the other foot all bashful like. "Oh fine," she says, placing a mug at a safe distance from Teinon as well as the plate. "Just be careful, there's man bits in there." Three cookies are plucked and Suri returns to her own chair to nibble at them quietly while she people watches.

Teinon snaps the cover down when he realizes Suri is there. Too little too late, Tei! He winces when he realizes he's been caught, and tries giving an apologetic smile. He should have known she wouldn't react like most people probably would have. He blinks rapidly, eyes the books, and oddly… doesn't seem too bothered by the idea of 'man bits' in her book. Curiosity returns, and since she's given the go ahead, he tugs it a little closer so he can flip through the pages.

Clearly the passage of time can be noted in the quality of the pages. From the beginning, the pages are wrinkled and the corners stained with fingerprints and likely ancient papercuts, smudges of ink and other mediums across cursive notes and crude drawings. One one page, there's the image of a person with a mean look on their face. The note below it? "This one doesn't think people should be fishing with their bare hands. His life is empty." Another? Of a woman doing laundry. "She showed me how to get stains out of my favorite shirt. This person can live on my island." As the pages progress, the anatomy seems to improve just a little bit. Folks lounging out on the beach or at the edge of water pools. Some dressed, some not, as Suriya mentioned to Teinon. "These cookies are a little nutty. I need to find out which kind of nuts they are so I can find some outside." Because nuts outside taste better than carefully cleaned and selected nuts in the caverns or trader ships. Duh.

Teinon seems to find the whole thing pretty fascinating. Did he linger a little too long on that naked man? Whoops. Red face. Page turning. Grow up, Herder Man. He's far enough into the book to have almost forgotten Suriya is still there when she speaks. He glances up, brow lifting. But rather than a perplexed, maybe even slightly annoyed look at the non sequitur, he gives a little smile, then something that could be a chuckle, except it's more of a wheeze. He shakes his head, and produces his pencil so he can write her a note. "Your drawings are really good." Once the note is passed, he goes back to flipping pages.

After Suriya finishes her cookies, a bronze firelizard decides it's the perfect time to swoop in and scold the candidate. She frowns, raising her brows at the indignant lizard like a parent silently scolding their child but the flit holds his ground, going so far as holding his wings open and leaning forward. Just as stubborn as his human! FITE ME. "Mabon says I need to get back to work. Bring me the book at lights out and protect my precious, ya?" The power is in Teinon's hands now. All said with a wink before she gathers ALL of the empty platters and makes her way back to the kitchens.


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