Saendi's Moodswings

  Living Caverns  
The rough-hewn majesty of this cavern far outpaces any delight in the multitudes of curves that form its enclosure. The glabrous grey granite is shot through with translucent obsidian, lending subtly-veined sparkle to the walls and the foot-trodden smoothness of the floor that shows centuries-old placements of the scarred trestle tables; carven hollows give homes for the glow baskets and the coat-pegs that line the walls. No mosaics, no painting, no tiles: just a few well-done tapestries mark the pathway that lead to the kitchen to the north and the inner caverns to the west, and frame the nighthearth's stew and snacks, while a heavier strip of oiled canvas shields the unwary from the wind in the bowl.  
Tucked into a glowlit niche are Kate, Sin, Brannt, Tangaloor, Kelpie, Azule, Yum-Yum, Yakshini, Zephyr, Shaber, Bow-Wow, Cosentia, Nocturno, Fandango, Sun, Lox, Tigger, Heaven, Jaibyrd, Shoobie, Loch Ness, Lava, Pix, Kynance, and Hunter.
You see Fantastic Triple Layer Bubbly Surprise, Tsunami Banner, Old Auntie sit-by-the-fire, Fluffernut, Zekk, Kali, and Azlan here.  
Saendi is here.    

Auri skips in happily, beaming at the sight of her friend. "EndEE! HiyEE!" she sings out, emphasizing the last syllable of each word and giggling at her pointless little game. "WatCHA doIN'?"    

"I /am/. I mean, I am doing /no/thing.  Go 'way Auri. I'm tired." Ooh, Sae's grumpy.  Pouty lipped face is squashed unattractively 'tween twin dusky saucers of hands, fingers tapping a rhythmic tune out on her pinched up cheeks.  "And don't do that stupid thing where you emphasize all the ends of the words."    

Auri's lip sticks out, and she looks to begin yet another fit, but instead says simply, "You're not the boss of me EndEE" sticks out her tongue, and continues on her skip to the klah, though lip still sticks out and eyes still look teary.    

"Well, /I/'ve got fifteen whole Turns, and /you/'ve only got thirteen.  I'm your senior by two whole Turns."  Saendi turns up her smudgy, snubbed nose at Auri and turns away.  What exactly she meant by that strange little proclamation isn't explained.  "And besides, you oughta' grow up.  Look at you.  Thirteen Turns already and you're still acting like you've only /three/."    

Oh look, remember that lip? Well, it's wobbling now. Auri grips the edges of her skirt, wringing them in chubby hands. "I don't act like I'm three..." he voice drifts off miserably, but returns with vigor. "Well...well...well....you're just, you're just a big /meanie/!" she sniffles.    

Saendi looks anything /but/ shocked. "Oh, really. That's great. /Three-Turn-old/." The senior brat sneers and turns back to her crumbling pile of ... food.  A cookie is added, crunched up and hammered to bits on the table by one sledgehammer fist, then swept into the pile.  "And you /do/ act like you're three. All the time."    

"Do not meanIE," sniffs Auri, the top lip joining the bottom one, and eyes growing dewier by the second. "You're just being mean 'cause you're...a meanie and...um... you're getting the table n' your hand all dirty. See? You...dirty meanie." See? Auri's good at arguing, really.    

"Do too! /Baby/!" retorts Saendi, lips curling in unmasked disdain.  Who cares if Auri's her bestest friend number two? She's in a bad mood, and nobody is excepted from Endi's bad moods. "Baby, baby, baby. You can't even get dirty without screaming, can you? What if I threw this cookie dust on your dress right now?" Oooh, downright /evil/.    

Auri's blue eyes grow wide, tears splashing over onto her face and trickling down a pudgy nose, teetering on the tip. "I'm not a baby. And anyways, being a baby's not as bad...as bad...as bad as being a big dirty meanie like you are. " Is that fear in Auri's eyes? Yup.    

"Oh, really? Well, in that case, you can be a small, dirty baby.  Just like me, 'cept you're a sniveling baby." Saendi sneers, bullying Auri beyond bulliness. "Here. Have some cookie dust." A handful of cookie dust, mixed with bubbly filling and whatever other food Sae's destroyed, is tossed at Auri. "There.  Be dirty."    

Auri squeals. Wait, squeal isn't the word for it. Scream? Nah, that doesn't cover it either. Shriek is more like it, as if it is Thread that covers her, instead of cookie crumbs. Eyes widen even more, taking up more than its share of space in her face. "You...you...you're...you're..." she stammers to Saendi, then just breaks down and runs off to the sink to wash off.    

Derwin arrives from deeper in the Weyr.    

Somehow, the shriek isn't quite as satisfying as Saendi would have thought -- instead of amusing her, it simply makes her more depressed, her face echoing her thoughts like a mirror. "I know, I'm mean.  You deserved it though, you little itsy bitsy baby." Sae calls after the retreating figure of Auri, voice heavily laden with weariness.  

Derwin doesn't know who Endi's talking about, but when it comes to being an 'itsy bitsy baby', chances are it's Auri. Besides, he heard the shriek all the way in the dorms: that's what woke him up in the first place, along with half the weyr. "Urgh," he pointedly says to Saendi, and at spotting the frantic Auri, says, "Ugh."    

Urgh, eh? Saendi rolls sienna eyes impatiently, suddenly slipping into the teacher role. "Derwin. Can't you see I'm not feeling well? When someone -- /particularly/ a lady (ahem. Like me.) -- is not feeling well, 'urgh' is the last thing you want to say.  You understand?" 'Neath furrowed brows, bright golden eyes glare severely. Better get that right, young man.    

Derwin rolls colbalt eyes in response to Saendi, giving the appropriate response of, "Urgh." With a big poof of dust (good Faranth, how long has it been since the boy's /bathed/?), he collapse-slouches into a chair rather than his usual seat on the floor, doing so to prevent sitting on the mound of cookie and bubbly crumbs on the floor. He gestures at Auri, looking at Saendi. "Why?"    

"Well, of course, cause you're supposed to be... well... /polite/ to ladies." Saendi's no role model for this -- she's rude to everyone and everything, with the possible exception of her much-worshipped and adored goldriders -- but she's got the right principles. Whereas Derwin... "You gotta' understand. You /gotta'/ be good to ladies. How're you gonna get a date if all you say is Urgh and Ugh and Why?"    

Derwin runs his hand through dark hair wearily. Yah, he's tired. You'd be too, if you were um...sleeping all day. "Mmph," he sighs to Saendi, a new sound for the day. "Why. As in why do I 'gotta' get a date?"    

Ooh, mind-boggling! Derwin spoke a sentence! Saendi nods approvingly and skitters to his side, flicking dust off his shoulder disapprovingly. "Well, everyone does. Why not? Besides, you wouldn't too bad looking if you took a bath... once a year or so." Amazing. Hypocritical Saendi is reciting nanny-verses. "And you wouldn't smell too bad either.  And.  And.  And. I dunno." There's a pause before the brilliant, ingenious idea strikes her. "Oh! I know, I'll set you up with someone! Yeah! Yeahyeah.  That's good.  Hmm..."