Dawn Heckling

Continued from We Need To Talk


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Xanadu Weyr - Waterfall Cave

Cleverly hidden behind the illusion of stone, a cave has formed at the base of the waterfall itself, large enough to host several individuals comfortably, or one person and a dragon. The walls are moist and textured, with small rivulets of water draining from the cave floor down into the pond beyond. Moving further back into the cave finds a dry floor and a smooth rear wall. Two sturdy camp chairs lean up against the back wall, along with a generous bedroll, wrapped in water-tight animal skins. A small bundle of firewood rests off of the floor on a makeshift stand, drying.

The roar of the falls is loud here, making conversation difficult from any range other than close, and the sheer volume of water makes it almost impossible to see through to the forest beyond. The only way out appears to be via the water, back the way you came.


Dawn's grey light slowly replaces the glow of Timor and Belior through the falls to expose ashen coals and sleeping forms. Perhaps it is the change in light, perhaps it's the fact she's slept for some hours curled on her side and the floor is hard stone 'neath that bedroll. Whatever the prompt, Thea sighs in her sleep, turns onto her back, arms shifting to rest over her head, which turns away towards the opening of the cave, leaving naught but the profile of cheek and lashes. Sleep has not released it's hold on her, but the grip is certainly lighter.

It's apparently been awhile since Phylicia spent a night - or two - out camping, since as the light changes in the cave the girl slinks into the depths of her bedroll which causes more restless squirming. No, rock really isn't all that comfortable. She's up now, her eyes open, staring at the inside of her bedroll for a few long moments before she slinks out of the bag, shivering in dawn's cold before hunching back down into the bag. "Okay, nevermind." She mumbles very quietly to herself, huddling. Oh yeah, mornings always suck with camping.

Tenebrous? Tenebrous was stupid. He opted to sit down between Thea and the fire in a shirt and pants, but nothing else. No blanket, no coat, nadda. The reward for Daniel Boon-esque cunning is a red nose and ears. Noises around him cause those eyes to open, and then he winces. Chivalry is definetly overrated. Still, he's used to the cold and to the mornings here at Stormhaven, and so it's he that slowly rises from his place on the floor, trying to be still as he makes his way to the fire and its fuel. A few deft flips with a camp shovel brings hot coals from beneath the surface to the open air, and for just a moment, he basks in that glow. Then he's gently feeding them their breakfast of tinder, twigs and small branches.

Stirring bedroll and the nearly-silent scrape of shovel on stone shake the tendrils of sleep, severing the web completely from Thea's mind. Pale eyes blink open, squinting at the unwelcome light from the cave's mouth however dim. One hand lowers to brush at damp lashes as she rolls back to her side away from the light, drawing that soft coverlet back to her chin as she does so. It's a delayed recognition of the pair moving there and a sleep-furred voice that greets them, "Morning." The smile to go along with is hesitant, guilt-tinged, for neither look well-rested, or even well to the weyrwoman.

Phylicia is perfectly well, minus the chill, a little fatigue and her hands, none of which the junior can do a thing about. "Morning." Comes Phy's own sleep-fuddled voice as she creeps closer to the building fire, bringing the bedroll with her. "You look… cold." She says oh-so observantly to Ten scrounging in the depths of her roll for one of the blankets she likely lost in the bottom of it. The morning is obviously the best time to talk, for Phy still faintly resembles a cavewoman's hair style as she stares at the coals for a few long moments without saying anything, just because it'd take too much effort.

Tenebrous turns to regard Phylicia with steady eyes after her remark about his temparature. "I told the Master's fire-lizard that you slept with raw eggs in your underpants," he deadpans. With a small whuff, the fire finally takes of its own, and Tenebrous begins stacking it with enough wood to run for a few hours. "You might as well lay back down," he says, his voice rough and muzzy. "Breakfast won't be ready for a few minutes yet." Then he does smile a little, eyeing Phylicia's hair. "You can be thankful though. It's actually the next day this time, as opposed to the last time I woke you up." Only after the fire is running on its own does Tenebrous turn to Thea, scooting over to her bedroll and glancing at her forehead. "How do you feel?"

Thea simply lies there curled in early morn's damp chill watching the flames begin to nibble first kindling, then wood. For the most part the comments back and forth between mentor and student are unremarked upon, although at the mention of eggs, the corners of her mouth curl just a wee bit. Her eyes shift from Phylicia to blink up at Tenebrous in somber reflection as she notes his appearance. There's no fussing or bossing, just a mild, "Didn't have a coat, huh?" His question is answered next, "I've a headache and there's two of each of you. That's how it's supposed to be after a head-clonk, yeah?" She doesn't seem all that concerned about it, "Why don't ya both go back to sleep? We can eat later."

"You what?" Phylicia's voice is flat and low in response as if she doesn't believe what she just heard, which she likely doesn't. And Ten only gets a grunt in response. "Easier to stay like this, than lie back down 'nd try to get up again." She supplies before she scooches a bit more, grabbing at the original pack she brough with her. She /knows/ she put a hair brush in there somewhere! She also know what her hair tends to look like in the morning as she begins to run the brush through her hair, grimacing everytime she has to put too much pressure on her palms from pulling. Still brushing her hair, she moves a bit closer to the pair peering at Thea. "I don't think there is a 'supposed to' with head-clonks.." She supplies. It might be funny, watching Phy scoot around the back of the cave in her bedroll until she settles herself again. "Up now, anyways. Moving is better." Generates heat and all.

Tenebrous listens to the exchange betwee the two womem before murmuring, "Phylicia's right, Thea…The only reason why I brought you out here is because the trauma team at the Infirmary said you were stable. If there's something else wrong, there's only so much I can do out here…and you know how I hate to say that…"

"Oh." That's all Thea says to that as she watches Phylicia scoot around bedroll-clad, her smile growing in spite of the girl's bunt words. She blinks back to Tenebrous, nodding, more serious now that the both of them are agreeing. First time she's aware of a harmony between the pair. "Maybe just sleeping on stone and a wakeful night on top of hitting my head?" Well, she's not a healer. She pushes up on one elbow, "If I start moving around maybe." Her push up end in a slight forward lurch. "Okay that new…"

Phylicia keeps her opinion of the trauma team to herself, going tight-lipped as Thea lurches forward. The only reason she doesn't start, is because Ten is right there, and doesn't have his hands full with snarly hair. "Y'remember when I had that .. uh, fight with the tree branch Thea?" She asks, keeping her tone light. Yeah, the branch that left her with a mild concussion. "Moving is gonna be one of the last things you want to do without someone to catch you nearby. I was all .. tipsy for awhile."

Tenebrous is already leaning forward with a hand outstretched as Thea's balance gives way. "Remember. If you fall into the water…" He smiles a little. "Fire. Skivvies. Awkward." He glances at her forehead. "So take it easy. I'm going to prep another bandage for your forehead and make you another mug of tea that you can have with breakfast." He gently guides her back down to the bedroll. "After all, it's only a matter of time before you have to go back to work, and you'll need to be able to climb out of here."

Thea acquiesces to that hand, scooting back down to the bedroll, snagging that coverlet to cuddle in. Warm! She's blinking up at Tenebrous with some confusion, "Water? What water?" Her face clears as she recalls, "More awkward for who, might be the question," she murmurs to the healer, ignoring the faint flush of rose on her own cheeks. Phylicia's comment has her, smiling once more, "As I recall, that didn't stop you wandering about." Back to Tenebrous, she grimaces at the words 'climb out' and 'work'. "No bandage, please? It makes my headache worse."

Phylicia coughs softly, her cheeks turning slightly pink before she looks down at Thea. Yeah, she's just going to hang out by Thea's side. "I may have wandered around, but I wandered around within the reach of the infirmary." She gently points out to her friend, smiling wickedly. "And when I needed it, I let them take me away to dose me with all sorts of nasty stuff." But she's not being condonscending, anything but. The lower half of her is still bundled in the bedroll, and she wraps her arms around her knee, arranging part of it over her shoulders. Her hair is more or less tame now, and the brush is set to the side. "I would take awkward for me, personally." She jokes, more or less to herself, voice soft.

Tenebrous doesn't turn to look at Phylicia, as he's studying the side of Thea's head intently. But he's listening, and he blinks once when she mentions her own awkwardness. He opens his mouth like he's about to say something, but then thinks better of it. Smartest thing he's done all day. Instead, he offers a quiet, "Alright. No bandage. At least let me rub something on it to take the pain and swelling down a little, and then I'll see about the tea. And you'll be taking a bag with you for drinking once you…leave."

Thea grins up at Phylicia, "Ah, but you could've cracked your head open just as easily on the cavern floor as I can here with the same results." There's a matching gleam in her eyes as she tries to focus on the girl, then simply gives up, leaving her eyes with a hazy far-away look in them. The comment about awkward has her coughing back a laugh, "He use that line with you too?" She slides a look at the Senior Journeyman, "When I said 'grow up' I didn't think you'd actually do it so fast." His intent look to her head is noted, "What?" A hand is creeping up to finger that knot even as she's nodding at him.

Phylicia shakes her head. "You're not within easy reach of the infirmary here, Thea." She points out, her voice extremely gentle and even sad. A cracked skull would have to be seen to quickly. More quickly than Ten could likely manage out here. But her mood lightens as Thea chokes back a laugh, making her giggle. "No." She spares a glance to look at the journeyman, eyeing him for a moment. "Thankfully, no." And her lips are twitching, trying to hold back her own laughter. "I get threatened with toxic plants, instead, and ordered to drop my pants." She's just letting Ten take care of the medical side, looking to keep Thea a bit on the happier, which maybe will have an effect on the guy of the group too.

Tenebrous sighs. "I promise, the next time you walk through an Adonis without knowing it, I'll let you keep your pants where they are," he calls over his shoulder. His eyes move back to Thea's forehead. "You stay put while I get something for this and start your tea." Then he's up, one hand absently squeezing that right thigh as he does so, and moving towards his medicine bag. "We're healers," he mutters. "We spent half of our educational lives looking at pictures of half-naked people and then dealing with them on our clinical rounds. Everyone's concerned with…" He makes an obscure gesture, and his self-litany continues into unintelligble murmurs. "It's just a body," he finishes quietly before coming up with that sealed bag of herbs and a small jar of salve.

"I'm not walking around?" But she's lost the argument and she knows it. "Drop…your…pants?" This has both of Thea's brows twitching up until, with a wince and a soft 'ow' she's lowering them again. Once again she's sliding a look toward Tenebrous before it's back to Phylicia, "I don't -even- want to know." She's reduced to nodding at all of the comments from Tenebrous, "Yessir." She says it flippantly, tossing him a salute as she does so. "Maybe to you it's just a body, but to your patients…" While she's heckling the two healers, albeit with genuine fondness in her voice, she's noted that thigh-squeeze of his, shakes her head, but says nothing. He's hurt and there's nothing she can do to make him take care of it.

Phylicia may be playing 'just friend, not healer' to Thea, right now, but her eyes narrow as she watches Tenebrous stand, noting the same thing Thea does. "To patients its /their/ body, which only special people are supposed to see." She finishes. She's still getting over that lump herself, nevermind the fact nothing more was exposed than would have been in a bathing suit. But she doesn't bring the subject of his thigh up just yet, learning from the previous time the fewer people around, the better he is likely to react. "You know, I /am/ able to brew teas and not burn food?" She calls out to her mentor, offering her services so the man could, you know, rest?

Tenebrous rolls his eyes. "I certainly hope you can brew tea and cook food, ma'am," he offers absently, dosing a mug with herbal mixture before adding water to it from a bladder. "I'd have to talk to the masters about that senior apprentice braid of yours if you couldn't." Then he looks over at her, completely missing the humor, and the offer of help. "They still make you learn how to steep tonics and tinctures during your apprenticeship at the Hall, right?" He blinks somewhat ownlishly before going back to his work. "Anyway, you be sure that when you're telling people that story, you remember to tell them about my coat too," he grumbles as an afterthought. "I don't need rumors of my lechery to deal with too."

Thea blinks at Phylicia, murmuring, "Watch out, the more you argue with him, the tougher he'll be on ya. He's been trained by a Master of Woe-dom." She watches the back and forth between the two of them until her eyes can't take it anymore and simply closes them. "I dunno. No mention of a coat is gonna help when they find out you had two women up here." There's a mischievous grin on her face as she calls that to Tenebrous.

"Phy-liss-ee-ah!" Phylicia carefully pronounces her name, her tone laughing. "Not ma'am. Or miss. Unless you're angry." And her cheeks redden a little bit. "I can steep tonics and tinctures. And I know how to not burn food.. mostly." Notice, she didn't say she could cook. Though her last sentence is said quietly enough where only Thea could probably pick it up, before she grins. "True. You very nicely let me borrow your coat." Which with the size and frame difference of the two, could have been as funny as her scooting around the cave in a bedroll. She giggles softly, keeping her voice pitched low /knowing/ how much Thea's head has to be throbbing. "I've noticed that. It works with offering to do things too. The more you offer, the more he does himself.." Her tone is still light though, so hopefully its a bit on the obvious side she's not picking at him. Just, poking a little instead.


Continued in Junior Check-Up

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