| Characters | Ava, Saverio |
| Synopsis | The desert has not been kind to Ava, thankfully Saverio is here to save the day. Until Ava nearly kills them both.CW: Cactus hallucinations. Cactus; nothing is quenchier! |
| Out-of-Character Date | September 14,2022 |
Endless Dunes
[[=image cactus.gif]]
A scorching expanse of barren, windblown desert lies out before you in an incredible distance, stretching all the way to the horizon. Composed of rolling dunes, and the occasional outcropping of sun-blasted rock, it almost seems to be a featureless monotony at first, hardly anything to look at. Indeed, the uniform barreness of it would be perhaps frightening to those of more fertile regions, but to the people of Igen, this is home. One who gazes at the desert with a trained eye can appreciate a stark beauty that most would never see, and find solace in the trail of an insect within the sands, or the shade offered by a hardy bit of foliage. At night, when the moons shine, it becomes even more wonderful to look at, as the heat has died down and the light from Belior and Timor reflect gloriously off of the rolling dunes, and pool in murky shadows among the projections of rock. It is at these times, if the wind is little, and the moons are high that one can see the Igen river in the distance, reflecting the ambient light like the glittering jewel of the desert that it is, a beacon of life within an otherwise barren place. As well, on the same clear days, the outline of Igen Weyr can be seen not quite as far off; nestled as it is within a huge, old volcanic caldera.
This, is a sharding waste of time, an infuriating exercise to prove..what? The tent Ava had been attempting to make to shield her from further sunburns and wind rash is heaped at her feet, missing far too many pegs to keep it upright in the wind and shifting ground. The mass earns a kick in animosity. And they were supposed to create art in these conditions? Her hands hook into her hair and tug at the tight curls, she was at her wits end with this desert business, she wanted the green of the jungle back and the comfort of the sea. A breath, then another and she releases her curls with a centeting gesture, palms pushing down towards the ground as she exhales through her mouth. "Does anyone have extra stays?" She calls out to the others with the forced calm she used with emergency patients.
“I’m pretty sure I do,” Saverio calls over as he turns around, staring at his feet. He straightens up, running a hand up the back of his neck in thought and running fingers through his dusty blond hair. He frowns, then lets his shoulders sag and drags his feet over to the leather bag he dragged out in this Faranth-forsaken hot place. The bag is lifted and moved off to the side and he grabs a smaller roll, tossing it towards Ava’s general direction. “Was on the road a lot, I might’ve picked up a few strays along the way.” Once his hands are freed, he pulls the scarf from his pocket and does his best to drape it around his head and face, leaving an opening for his blue eyes. As much as the young man would love to cover them and protect them from the sand and wind, seeing is mildly important. He turns back to his own tent, gently tugging here and there. Making minor adjustments as he goes. Perfect? No telling! He does give it a nod, good enough for him!
"Thank you-" And Ava is stumbling through the sand to grab at the bag, dragging its heft back towards her heap. The corners of the fabric are lifted over her head and with a sharp /snap/ the fabric is lofted into the air like bed linens and allowed to settle down across the dunes. Time to start again. "Can't believe it's only autumn.." Comes the disbelieving gripe to no one in particular as the small woman goes about running banded together poles of various thicknesses and lengths though thread bare loops. One rips and AVa's teeth grate sharply. "So," She goes, more slowly now, "Where were you before /this/ a quick gesture to the area but a more likely interpretation is the candidacy. She jabs one end of a pole into the sand and kicks a rock over onto it to keep it from springing back up in her face. Her head scarf is retucked before a water skin is unstrung from somewhere in the folds of fabric and partaken of.
“I couldn’t really tell if someone never said anything about the seasons. I’ve ventured through it in waves with the slow pace I travel.” Saverio dusts his hands off on his pants and drags his bag closer to his tent. Just the opening is pulled in, the rest can stay outside for now. He rustles through his belongings, speaking up a bit from the inside of his tent. “Uh… I guess everywhere between Crom’s cotholds to here? I didn’t fly all the way in from another location, I was already on the road just outside of Igen’s territories so I only had a tiny lift. Not gonna lie, loved being in the air. Sure beats walking.” Metal clanging can be heard, along with muttering to the tune of counting. Perhaps inventory, perhaps just wondering what half the stuff he packed was and ponderings on why he thought it was a good idea to bring it to begin with. Out he emerges again with a skin of his own, working at the top with gloved fingertips. Things get hot out here fast!
The sheer eccentricity in those statements strikes Ava dumb and after a moment of being stooped over her tent she straightens and turn, speaking even as he is still in the tent. "Wait so, you mean to tell me," It's really the heat that draws an almost shill note of mirth into her voice, "That you were just out mucking about the continent when you were scooped up and brought out here, to camp in more sand upon sand? Doodle in the dunes?" Ava's breath huffs in an amusement, the sheer freedom of it screwed to a mind corralled into logical rigors. "I jumped in feet first before looking," Or asking about anything she should have really,a derisive snort at her own foolishness, "out of spite!" Three sticks make a bit of shade and she's glad to pack her few belongings, ever present medical bag and herself under it. " 'M Ava," She offers after a breath, skirts fisted up to wipe sweat from her face and neck despite the sand left behind. "So, trader or just intrepid explorer?"
Saverio finishes his drink and closes up the skin with a nod. “Yeah, pretty much.” He was nothing more than a laborer for a Cothold, his responsibilities can technically follow him everywhere he goes. “Out of spite, huh?” His tone is a little amused but the eyes are definitely curious about the story behind that. The skin is gently tossed back into his leather bag and he wipes his mouth off with the back of a dusty hand. “I’m Saverio. Well met, Ava. Intrepid explorer sounds a lot better than wandering around the continent, trying to experience the spice of life.” He laughs, resting his hands on his hips. The tent shouldn’t go anywhere, but still the lingering worry there might be wildlife he wouldn’t want to wake up besides floats through his thoughts. There’s no alcohol to blame out here.
Talking probably the only thing keeping the overheated redhead on the level as her "tent" tips precariously one way and then collapses in a heap, fabric draping comically over her. An exasperated sigh before she pulls herself free. "Well met, Saverio and, yes, spite. Powerful motivator started by generic controlling mother issues, and the like." It's the cliff notes version and one can guess a downplay of the situation but instead of digging deeper into the story Ava is bundling her fabric up and trodden to several cactuses, the sticks abandoned. "So how is the spice of exploration treating you, have a place you've visited that is favorable or disastrous enough to share?" And then a quick, "Also can you help me get this over these cactus? I think the spines will do better than sticks."
“Oh, do I know about that all too well.” How many times has he been hooked up with various girls in an attempt to settle down and be a responsible growing young man? Only his mother knows, and thanks to Saverio dipping out with a quickness, she knows it’s not going to change! Down goes her tent and all he can do is wince, offering her an awkward smile. Tents are treacherous things! There’s good pitching of tents with girls and bad pitching of tents with girls. This is currently the latter. He moves over to the tent and eyes the cactus suspiciously. Even pausing for a moment to reach over and give a little testy poke with his fingers. Dangerous! “Nothing wrong with living a little dangerously,” he murmurs, returning to the tent to move it along. “The spice of exploration, huh? Well, it’s definitely been interesting. You learn very quickly that you’re without certain amenities and quickly lower your standards to make sure your basic needs are met. If you ever have to go to the bathroom in the woods, make sure you’re not without clothes because no leaves or greenery can be trusted. Especially out here, there isn’t anything here but sand and quite frankly? I don’t need sand lodged in the nether regions, if you know what I mean. As for favorite places, any places trader caravans have stopped and set up booths by the roadside. They have the most obscure snacks you can think of and things you wouldn’t think about trying. All for the adventure, though. If the trader caravans are moving on the road, though. I’d steer clear. Anything for free exploitable labor. It’s hit and miss.”
A similar situation? Alright maybe Ava is a little more inclined to expand upon that aspect of her life. "Oh my condolences. " It's sincere but a roiling boil of mirth is underlying that tone as she tosses the fabric up onto the spines. A treacherous tent to pitch with this girl, even. "Marriage plans to further her own ends, and don't get me started on the gas lighting." Ava puffs a coiled strand of hair from her face that works loos of her scarf. The spines earn a pleased side eye and a bit of a smirk. "Perhaps they will get a message across to anything that might bother me." More likely to snag and poke her, let's be fair. Her work holds half her focus, head turning to her cohort to indicate her attention, several undignified snorts ripping from her. "Oh no, I catch your drift, though I feel if they leave us out here to long it'll work into any crack or crevasse." If it hasn't already. "Ah, I remember the traders coming by home, that was always a great fun time. I was to young to get drafted into work so I just got spoilt on treats and tales while dad traded with them." Ava steps back ones she's pleased the canopy will stay her hands fisted onto her hips. "Not terribly bad and so as I'm not accused of exploitable labor, how can I pay off this favor?" A brow raise accompanies a playful smirk.
“Faranth, that’s the worst. The gaslighting. Like, I have plenty of siblings that can carry on the family line and the family responsibility. They can learn to do without little old me in the mix. Besides, I might technically do what they want. Just won’t be on their timeline and in their presence. I’ve got plenty of turns ahead of me for all that.” Plenty! Could be the next turn, or the next decade. Why rush? Saverio slowly moves around their handy work and he nods, good enough! “Just make sure you use some glows if you have to get up and use nature in the middle of the night. Don’t want to chance bumping into the spines… As for the favor? Well, hrm…” He taps his finger on his chin, thinking for a moment. Then the young man snorts, placing his own hands on his hips. “I’ll think of something. We don’t need to worry about that today. We need to worry about this wind and hope someone at least brought us an out-house out here. I don’t want to be sand-blasted with my pants down.” Not into that kind of exfoliation!
The broad, exuberant gesture made in earnest to Saverio confers complete agreement in the shared sentiment. As for the glows.."Unless they were so kind as to gift us some in the meager rations they left us with, I will have to remain attentive enough to dodge the spines. I didn't get a chance to throw any in my bag." The shrugs is an exasperated one before an old blanket is fanned out onto the sand, the rest of her belongings trucked over and dropped on the corners to hold the old, ratty cloth down. "A future favor then in equal return? This is acceptable." Ava huffs, out of breath with the afternoon exertions. With a flourish of skirts she plops herself down onto her sandy home, cracking open her bag and dragging a few contents out. "No that would be excessive, we're best finding a shrub or rock to squat behind. Worry not, I brought enough numbweed to make sure none of us feel out skin for a week." And on que, a brown glass jar full of the concoction is plopped onto her blanket before she pulls out another, stuffed with chunks of cactus. "I'm less familiar with native plants in this region but these looked like they could be used for hydration." She's /mostly/ sure but she holds up the container to her new companion with a questioning arched brow.
“Hey, and if we’re lucky, we won’t have any skin left to feel with!” Igen with it’s strong exfoliating game! Saverio lowers his head and slips back into his own swaying tent, pulling things out of his bag one by one and tossing it random directions. One lidded woven box is pulled out, and after some more shuffling, he emerges. “No one is going to be in the barracks anyway, and the staff could always get more. Here, have some glows. Hang ‘em by the spines, and this time, don’t go towards the light.” He places the box down besides Ava’s feet and settles himself down on the ground, with his back to the sand and the breeze. The mystery cactus is eyed, curiously. Suspiciously. “Hrm, not so sure about this area. Normally I just watch the local wildlife and see what they eat. If they can eat it, then we should be alright. I’m sure critters ignore poisonous things and steer clear. We should keep an eye out to see if anything bites.” There’s not too much in the way of animals out and about in this weather. A crawler skitters from one rock to another, its six tiny legs flailing at its sides until it finds shelter. The little guy even takes a moment to slap a little wet tongue on its eyeball and casually wipe it clean. Good to go! A rather thick spinner comes out, takes a few steps, then runs back into its hiding spot. Saverio begins to frown, looks like there’s nothing but bug eaters out here, and they’re not looking to dine on those. A tiny avian zips into view and lands upon a nearby cactus, positioning itself on the side safe from the blowing wind and sand. It begins pecking at the flesh of the plant, completely ignorant of any possible spectators. Saverio glances over to Ava, waving his hand to get her attention and when he thinks he might have it, points to the tiny thing.
Ava's attention jolts from her task, the glows she is thankful for now being carefully hung from long spines of the cactus fort. "Oh-!" It had been a far better idea to let what little life of the desert try the cactus first, one that makes Ava thankful she is grouped with someone far more skilled at outdoor survival than her. Quietly, she decides to stick after him like a shadow until they get back to the Weyr or, at least keep an eye out for what he does. Firelizard see, Firelizard do. Hands shoving into shrouded skirt pockets the woman watches the avian keenly for a moment and after a span of no ill effect she gives a faint shrug. "Well, looks like it is alright. Avians are usually fairly delicate.." She gently shoos the creature off as she scoops up the bowl, her legs folding and bringing her to sit side by side with Saverio, her back also blocking against the wind. One chunk is tossed out for the little avian to continue pecking away at before Ava brandishes her belt knife and cuts off thin layers. Several slivers are placed on the container lid and passed to Saveiro before she carefully tongues one and pausing for a moment. "Tastes like aloe, honestly. If its the same just don't eat the yellow bits, that will make you wish it was only sand skinning your backside." And, with that, Ava peels away the skin and the yellow gel with her knife before bottoms up.
There’s no telling what’s deadlier, the desert wildlife or a woman with mystery pockets. “Very true. Look at them wrong and they drop like a stone.” If something as tiny as that avian can go ham on some greenery and not implode with the mysteries of the universe, then what harm could it possibly do to two adultish adults? Saverio watches Ava work a little magic with the pieces she has, watching curiously and doing a good so far with ignoring the wind at their backs. “Tastes like aloe, huh? Then it shouldn’t be too bad…?” He reaches into his own pocket, pulling out his own knife. The blade end is folded free of the handle with the edge of his thumb and he does the same, peeling off some skin and scraping up some of the soft innards. He shrugs, licking a little bit of the squishiness before simply sliding a piece into his mouth. He doesn’t chew it at first, just trying to piece together in his head what it tastes similar to. After a while, he works it down and tilts his head towards Ava to see how she’s faring on hers. “Well, it doesn't seem too bad. Doesn’t taste too bad. Texture is alright. Guess we’re going to be okay?” This could be promising? The tiny avian comes back to the cactus, fluttering its tiny zippy wings in frustration before going back to work on what’s around the pair. It pecks away at its previous tempo, finally breaking through to the soft innards. It shoves its whole face in for a moment, then it begins to slowly lean back, tiny feet still gripping the cactus while its beak is up in the air. Just sitting there. Taking a break maybe?
Those pockets are as vast and deep as the ocean, if the ratio of fabric is anything to go by, who knows what's in there? "Think so. "Ava shrugs, skinning a second sliver. "Refreshing at least, if a bit slimy and, well," Slightly bitter and..off? Hm. She's pondering that subtle hit even as she is skinning a third slice, only to stop midway through, her eyes lifting to the now stargazing creature. Her eyes narrow just as a gust of wind snatches her head wrap and partially unravels it, the flash of fabric and color doing nothing to unhinge the bird. Quick hands drop cactus and knife into her lap as she pulls the fabric back in, haphazardly stuffing wild curls back under an equally haphazard wrap, leaving the wide eyed woman looking quite disheveled and shook. "Oy-" She's still stuffing hair as she shouts at the little creature. It doesn't move, even when she flicks peeled cactus skin at it. There is a long span of silence, one arm resting an elbow atop her knee as a hand covers her mouth. "So, I might be a dead glow…" She finally says with a calm voice, the hand dropping away to grope for her medical bag as the other frees her lap of knife and cactus. The leather bag is dropped into her lap and, although her voice had been calm, the speed at which she roots though that bag unmasks that hidden sense of urgency.
Remember that tiny bird? It’s currently fluffing up like the tiniest little fluffiest ball that has ever fluffed. The tiny thing inhales, and lets out one long trill like a party noise maker. Once all the air runs out, it begins quietly chittering, then it grows louder and louder. Having a little conversation with itself, and it sounds like it’s slowly turning into an argument. What could it possibly be arguing with itself about? Perhaps the fact that it can taste the color nine but the other half of the conversation is: If you're paddling upstream in a canoe and a wheel falls off, how many pancakes fit in a dog house? None! Cause ice cream doesn't have bones! No, wrong! Purple because aliens don't wear hats! Either way, Saverio is listening intently and he raises a hand to rub the side of his face. The edge of his mouth twitches, he begins smiling, snickering, and then quietly laughing while pointing at the bird. After a moment, he glances over to Ava to see if she’s watching but the momentary shift of blue eyes doesn’t last long. He might miss something important! The bird is DOING THINGS.
See this is what you get when you take candidates and drop them in the desert. Ava's looking over a bottle of stuff in her bag but numbers are nature and the golden ratio is high fashion these days. Math, it's beautiful, and her skirts when twirled just so make the most beautiful logarithmic spiral. Linen oddly enough feels very much like the screaming of an existential crisis and slowly those hazel eyes look up at the bird sitting in piles of sequins and leading them on this field trip. Ava's lower lip curls between her teeth and a high pitched squeal of laughter peels from her before, in a fleeting moment of clarity her hands cover her mouth. They can't contain the indignant snorts through or cover up the tears of amusement drawing paths down her dusty cheeks. At some point Ava too is keening, a squabbling chorus with the little bird and truly any other creature that will squawk back, all the while her fingers dragging little designs into her skirt fabrics. "Look its ..ballooning away-" No, it's not, whatever /it/ is but it doesn't stop her from digging at a loose thread in the blanket to tie /whatever/ it is down.
“W-why is making sounds when you do that? It’s so weird!” Saverio manages to pull his eyes away from the tiny fluffy noisemaker and focuses on Ava’s skirt. Everytime her finger drags across a design, his head translates it into something else entirely. Different patterns have different sounds! Musical Ava~ The tiny bird begins to do a little dance, whether it’s doing it to floating shapes or flavors, the world may never know. It begins leaning from side to side, tiny head outstretched and soon it begins taking on a serpentine motion. All that’s missing is some good dance music, maybe it’s hearing it already! He reaches up and pushes his hair out of his face, then does it again, and again. “Why is my hair raining?” The young man frowns and slowly crosses his eyes to look down his nose to Ava’s skirt. He pushes himself to his feet and stands there, tilting his head to the side. “That’s better, we don’t need an avalanche. Snow is expensive.” Especially in the sand and wind of the desert. The tiny bird soon stops his little dance and simply hops in place, with feet firmly attached where it vertically perches. Boing, boing, boing…
Raining, Ava doesn't want to sit in puddles! She's quick to pitch forward, her bag spilling over as she goes but that's not important. What's important is that she's not getting her skirt wet by sitting in the melting snow. "Oh good you turned off the tap-" The ..rain? "If it gets too wet, frogs will come and I am not a fan." Literally, or figuratively? Either way its too late, the tiny war cry of hundreds of frogs suddenly reverberates from the shifting of her skirts and in answer the little bird tilts forward, wings mantaling its primaries in a waid fan. Boo! Ava eeks over the squeaking cries of frogs and the splat of wet frog feet. Her skin literally crawls until she's up on a small mound of sandy sequins, flapping her skirt wildly at the little army until they burrow under the sand into tiny little mounds of sweetner. "Oh, I could use a cup of klah-" And she's squatting to scoop sweetener into her water skin.
“Frogs are terrible dancers.” It is known! The tiny bird slows it’s antics and flutters it’s wings, doing little cheeps and chirps. It lifts up a tiny foot and scratches at the side of it’s floofy head, pausing to preen some feathers. Then, with a high pitched chirp, it darts off into the unknown! Maybe it vanished into thin air, maybe the air is really a blanket and it went to bed. Saverio watches it groom, slowly lifting a hand of his own to the side of his head and he begins to imitate his master-birb until it darts off. Looks like the party is over? The young man frowns, settling down on the floor with his legs crossed at the ankles and his arms crossed over his chest. “Hrmph. RUDE.” How dare the frogs pick dance partners and leave to some suspicious red light shadows and vanish into the unknown. SOME WINGFROGS THEY ARE. He pouts, turning to Ava with those puppy dog eyes. “Hug?”
As the frogs burrow back from whence they came Ava stands, sand pouring out of skin and pockets as she settles her skirts back down around her ankles. "Well then, she didn't even give you a chance to flaunt your feathers." The woman pouts, carefully stepping off the very small rock in over exaggerated movements, like one might come down a steep hill. "Aye aye, let me get over there, very rough terrain-cant have you all put up for nothing." That hug is more the small woman tumbling skirts and all into a heap half spread across his lap. "There, all better." Her hand even reaches up to blindy pat at that smoothed over desert doo. "'S nap time now."
Saverio just slowly nods, patting one hand on Ava’s head and the other on the sand. The sand is Ava, too, right? “Ooh, so warm. This is a comfy blanket. Time for naaaaaaap.” With that, he simply flops onto his back with his arms outstretched. Now, if someone can turn off the air conditioning, that would be great! He reaches up, rubbing the tip of his nose before letting out a long and lazy yawn. Work hard, play hard, sleep… hard? He crosses his arms over his chest and simply sighs. Well, at the very least, the tents are up. Kind of? Their belongings are somewhat unpacked, but who’s in a rush, for it is nap time. The tiny bird zips back over, circling overhead. It stops, landing on the top of Ava’s head. It wiggles from side to side, making itself comfy in this soft nest, tucking its teeny head under a wing. There’s plenty of cactus to go around, and plenty of sand laden wind, too.
Its all sand and skirts and sleep from here on folks, except for the dehydration headache that sets in and the harsh dry mouth, the combination of eventually rousing the redhead. That bird is long gone but it left a freckled fecal wake in her hair that she's yet to notice. All Ava can perceive in the first few moments is confusion and dull, throbbing head pain. Things in her head improve, slightly, as her perception widens. She's sprawled across Saverio, they are both half covered in sand and twilight is rapidly sinking into night. Her hands lift, rising from the tomb of sand to hold her head with a mighty groan. Was all of that dreams or had they really jest spent a sizable chunk of the day losing their minds to a misidentified cactus snack. A hand reaches out blindly, tapping at Saverio before she even bothers considering moving. "Saverio, you dead?"
Saverio lifts his head with a groan and then back down it goes with a thud, eyes refusing to open just yet. “Mmm, maybe.” Just a little dead, perhaps? “I don’t know what happened, but maybe doing it again is a bad idea. I don’t want to see daylight for a while.” Though, that’s still many hours off. Perhaps that’s a good thing, given the need for darkness, water, and sleep. Recovery in all things. Reluctantly, he lifts his head again, and tilts it from side to side to dislodge the sand. Sand everywhere. In and on his clothes. Where are his legs? He glances down, wiggling one foot and then he stops. “I don’t want to get up. Just crawl into the tent. We’re burning the cactus in your tent tomorrow. It has to pay.” Guilty by association or something.
Talk about candidate bonding in the desert. "A very bad idea." Ava groans as she heaves herself up onto hands and knees,, freeing his legs before she's rolling into a free spot, void of human but full of sand. "Head hurts so bad I'm pretty sure I can hear Pern rotate-" Her hands reach for her scarf, shaking her hair out where she lays before she hisses in sudden disgust. "That sharding flit shit all in my hair-" Ava curses but gives up on the matted mass. "Burning it and shearing off this..this mass." The hair, it makes her pounding head infinitely heavy. Yes, water, safe food and sleep. She feels for her water skin. Yep, that's full of sand, that was not a dream. Another despondent groan, she is a groan disguised as a human at this point. She would harass Rukaban later to get her water, maybe the little brown could finally be useful, wherever he slinked off too. For now she just stares up at the sky for a long span, arms stretched out to either side of her. "Sorry for sending us on the ride of a life." Her head doesn't turn, too painful but her eyes flick in the direction before closing, one hand lifting heavily to rub at the lids.
“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,” he mutters, feeling the weight on his body get a little bit lighter. He carefully pushes himself back up into an upright seated position, chancing one hand to push some of the errant sand out of his business. Well, the best he can given the wind and the abundance of sand around him. His tent feel so far AWAY. He rolls onto his hands and knees, slowly crawling back over to his tent and begins patting his belongings down. “Now where did I…” It doesn’t take long, but he finds his own water skin and he sits down, carefully opening it. He takes a long drink, shaking it to see how much is left before holding it out to Ava. “This doesn’t taste like the desert,” he mutters, wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his shirt. All Saverio knows is, as soon as he crawls the rest of the way into his tent, he’s going to be out like a light and there’s a little part of him hoping the Weyrlingmasters don’t come out there all rested, bright and cheerful, waking them all up with some obnoxious noise maker before daybreak. They will be sentenced to Ava’s tent cactus as punishment if he hears a peep. It’ll be worth the extra duty.
"I'll drink to that." She rumbles, pitching herself up to sit, legs extended out in front of her. A moment to gather herself and then takes the water with a grateful expression and takes several long gulps. "Thanks, can't wait to taste salt water over sand after all this is over." She caps it and passes what is left back to him before fumbling around for a blanket to cocoon in. It's an only serene sight, the pitch blackness of the sky dotted with stars above, sands washed in pale like and the glows adding their own touch of unique color. Ava tilts her head back, taking in the sky above her, blanket crumpled in her lap. Were it not for her head and the bone weariness the cactus and the day had left, she might have enjoyed it longer. Oh well, always tomorrow. "Alright, I'm done for." Ava flips her blanket out under her cactus supported overhang and crawls into it, folding the corners over herself into a neat human package. "G'night Saverio." She's quick to fall asleep, even if she's up in a few hours cussing under her breath about being woken to take care of business and finding a dead critter left on her chest by her little brown firelizard.
Once the water is back in his hands, he simply tosses it back into his tent. Saverio takes a moment to remove his boots one by one, stuffing his socks into them to keep the critters out, then places them neatly just inside of his tent. He turns, making sure his sweaty feet are downwind will dry off a bit before calling it a night. Out of the corner of his eyes, he spots Ava looking up at the stars. He doesn’t know how long he was staring but the reminder that a slap is another not good feeling, he quickly moves his gaze upwards to admire those instead. “Goodnight, Ava.” He waits until she’s fast asleep before looking around and he sighs in relief. He crawls into his own tent, snorting at his snoring blue firelizard, and quickly fallen asleep.
