Fort Weyr

Fort Weyr - Bathing Cavern
A high, domed ceiling stretches far overhead, voices echoing in the distance. Warm, moist air fills the room, coming from the variety of pools scattered about. Vines have been planted in baskets and grow up the walls, thriving in the soft artificial light provided by glows placed at random intervals about the room.

It's the end of the duty day and for some reason, Saverio is on a serious mission. He was dismissed a while ago but this is something that he refuses to back down on. One of the pools in particular. The waters surface is looking a little murky, either because somethings that isn't supposed to be there is currently in the process of turning into soup or because this Candidate still has his clothes on and he's leaning over waist deeping with his face inches from the glistening surface. "I don't know what this is," he says through gritted teeth, "But I'm gonna rip it out." Nevermind that there's baskets of tools for this very thing but it's not going to stop him from using his BARE HANDS. He's going to need a bath after this, his shirt is sticking to his skin and there's THINGS mixed in. He doesn't know or care what it is, it's getting washed off when he's done. Saverio bites down on his lower lip, his arm still moving unseen under the surface, then equal parts impressed and disgusted dance upon his face. He stands, a groan for his aching body but held tightly in his fist in his trophy! Well, part of it, but it's a start! A gnarled tangle of fiery strands, a rather impressive hair ball filling a good portion of the palm of his hand. Singular strands dangle down between his fingertips, clinging to his skin. "I don't know what died down here, but hopefully I got a grip on the situation."

There are PLENTY of other redheads here. Plenty! There are also PLENTY of other reasons for Ava to look MORTIFIED as she marches into the bath and sees Saverio with that curly, fiery red tumbleweed clutched in his hand while STANDING in the murky water. Is that.. Is that corn floating? Ava hesitates in the entrance way, all of her bathing items bundled up in a towel and clutched to her chest. If she leaves she can't be dragged into this, or implicated. But, that would be ADMITTING the HAIR was HERS. But then if she doesn't leave one might think she is staying to prove she isn't guilty. Oh what to do? "Who shit in the bath?" Do everyone a favor and burn those clothes after you're done, pool boy.

Everyone loves a good pool boy who likes to get down and dirty. Well, get down with hairballs in a questionable bath. Saverio turns and peers at Ava with a look of pure repulsion, quickly shooting a scowl at the water. He glances around frantically, taking one step to the side. Once he's certain there's no brown log or floaties, he breathes a sigh of relief. Why is his hand with the epic hair ball still in the air? Maybe he'll auction it off, there's weird uncles or something. "I'm just unclogging the bottom of the pools. Something crawled to the bottom with these… tentacles, I'm guessing." Tentacles being long strands of red hair. He shrugs, moving towards his tools and he begins his epic quest! To remove wet hair from his wet skin. The hair ball gets set off to the edge in one *splat* and then one by one, he tries to free himself from the strands. Some only tangle up worse between his fingertips but he's not giving up just yet.

Oh, Ava loves a man who isn't afraid to clean up a mess, mostly so she doesn't have to. Like today, she should have been cleaning but there were pressing matters elsewhere and you'll have to strong arm her to find out just what that might be. For now? She just snerk and then snorts, flip flopping her way to a CLEAN bath, her things settled there neatly. "Oh dear." Feigned ignorance even as she unrolls her towel, which holds not only sweetsand and shampoo but a hairbrush full of those wild, sticky tentacles he is currently combating. The splat ears a green look and she scoots a little THAT way, yes, away from the incriminating blob. "Looks like you might be out matched." Especially as fresh hairs are joining the fray as she releases her bun, the Red Thread falling like the ancient silver menace across Pern once more. "You know, I think I've seen a cluster under your cot. This might be a personal attack." Shes pretty sure thats corn floating past him now.

Saverio shoots Ava a serious look and if the gears weren't being recalled, they'd likely be on fire. "Oh no, I'm not gonna be having tentacles reaching up my pajama legs while I'm trying to get me some beauty sleep. This stuff has to go!" He rips the last little bit free from his fingers, adding it to the pile before he turns, bends over, and begins searching the bottom of the pool floor. The bath waters clear up just a little, likely freed from the clog and fresh had a chance to dilute it to something a little less… tentacle-y. Saverio's body sinks lower into the water, now the surface presses against his cheek but he ignores it for now, pressing his lips into a thin line out of frustration and to keep the water out. There's monsters in there! "Aha!" He quickly rises, another handful of the firy strands in his hands, some long tendrils taut as they vanish into the water below. "Uh oh. It's ALL gotta go!" Saverio twists the hair around his hand, following it back down, deeper and deeper. He takes in a deep breath, and sinks completely under the surface.

Oh good, he's followed that rabbit hole and gone face first into the mire and muck, just enough time though for that brush to be snagged and the hair to be plucked, plucked, plucked. Two good handfuls in total, and she scuttles over to set them next to the red, wet, splat of a drain clog. Seems they are multiplying whenever Ava is in the room, HMM. The candidate scuttles back to her clean bath, with just enough time to sit on the ledge, legs dangling in. Time to watch, and wait, and if her intent squint isn't suspicious her little toothy grin just might be.

With a splash, Saverio resurfaces gasping for hair, and TWO handfuls of the evil from the depths within his grasp. He glances down, watching the water and it's getting clearer by the minute. The mass entangled in his hands is given a suspicious glance and a frown. "Looks like I didn't get it all. These are all broken." Broken and still sticking to his hands very much. With a groan, he moves over to the splat pile and eyes it dubiously. "What. What… It's getting bigger! Is this thing BREEDING? It's multiplying. Oh no." OH YES, the pile is noticably bigger and the removal of wet hands becomes more frantic. Pieces and strands are being ripped free and added to the ever growing mass. His eyes dart back and forth between his hands and the impending doom. Almost free, he turns, glancing at Ava. Well, he had a good run. If he dies, Ava can have his cactus.

Ava isn't there on the pool ledge any more when Saverio turns back to look for her upon realizing the monster of the Red Death is multiplying. No, she's in the water, thrashing, the mass of red hair now swathing her own head, neck, hands and face as this FULL GROWN ADULT flounders in the water like she is being attacked by the Mother of the Monster. It's dramatic, shouts, gurgling, her own hands struggling to free herself from the Living Swamp Monster. "Saverio- Help! It's got me!" And then she too is dunked under the water, one hand waggling at the surface before getting sucked under.

Saverio looks over in horror and begins scrambling to get out of the water, which is tricky when you're water logged. Especially your pockets. The baskets of tools are shoved over, allowing the man to throw a leg over before rolling onto his back. He twists, fingertips clawing onto the ground to give himself leverage to move, just move faster! "I'M COMING, AVA! FIGHT IT TO THE DEATH!" Cause he will if he gets there! Boots slide on the floor and he hops back into the water, reaching out to grab her wrists and he pulls her up as hard as he can for air. Some of the strands get wrapped around his fingertips and he tries with all his might to pull it away, grabbing at the wet mass around her face. "What in sharding hell is this?!" Maybe it's not a good idea to be in the baths with your clothes still on, but at least he's dressed for battle!

Ava really should have considered the state of the man's soiled clothing before enacting this scene or maybe the fact he would grab her AND her hair but YOU'VE MADE YOUR BED AVA TIME TO SLEEP IN IT. It's tangled for real now in his fingers, her fingers and she's floundering for real now while being held. "Ow ow OW it's ATTACHED." Real pain and her eye manage to flash up at him between the unruly locks. "Stop-stop pulling-!" Her hands clasps over his in a bid to keep from developing a fresh, shiny new bald spot. Its not fully effective, he does earn a sizable chunk for his efforts.

"Attached. Attached… ATTACHED TO WHAT? TO YOU? Wait. IS THIS YOUR HAIR?" Saverio pauses and peers at Ava's face. Also, the hair. I mean, it's everywhere. What is this, cousin It? Or was it Thing? Carefully, he begins to free his hands, keeping his eyes there and not anywhere else. This is the bathing cavern, it's either a nightmare or a dream depending on who's visiting. Tonight, though, it's a night of conquering monsters and hopefully getting in a legitimate soak in and then clean clothes before finding a place to sleep. Let's face it, the barracks loves his cot, only without him in it. "Maybe you need to uh, find something to detangle this mess and like… I don't know what girls do. Put some creamy fru-fru smelling stuff in it and comb it out. Braid it?" Saverio can run his fingers into his own hair with breeze because he's Faranth's gift to women, he needs to be pretty cute or the ladies will be lost without his good looks.

Caught red handed, redheaded? Either way. "Yes-!" Ava grouses sorely, her hands kneading at the yanked spot to soothe the ache. Even now strands are floating on the surface, spooling around them before slowly sinking towards that clean, clean drain, look away Saverio, the real monster has been uncovered, even though she's still fully clothed.. Ava groans and before answering him ducks under the water to rewet the mass once he has extricated himself, popping back up to do a dramatic, wet hair flip, right across that breezy beautiful head of hair he is sporting. "Thank you for volunteering, The oil and the comb are in my towel." Ava smirks, fluffing the mass a bit, double checking that yes, it's still very full and voluptuous. No bald spots, that she can see anyway.

There's too much going on here for him to notice the hair going down the drain so he simply nods and moves over to the towel to retrieve the oil and the comb. What was he doing again? He can't remember, there's too much hair involved! Saverio clears his throat, carefully placing the comb under his chin and he pins it in place. His hands work on opening the oil and he peeks up to see what exactly he was about to get himself into. Can't turn back now. "You would think I'd know how to do hair since mine is pretty good looking and I do have a lot of sisters but uh, do I just pour the oil into my hands and run it through your hair, then comb it?" Unless she wants to do that and he can do something about the few clinging strands caught between his fingers.

Wait, that actually worked. Ava just stares for a moment in mild surprise before paddling over and resting on an underwater ledge. "Knead it in at the roots, then run the comb through it. I let it sit while I wash before rinsing it out and shampooing." Then well, she puts the oil back in. Hair care, rinse, and repeat. "Do you have enough sisters to know how to do braids?" Because if that's a yes she knows who to wrangle before bed later once it is not sopping wet.

"Well, I did have runners, too, so I can do like… a basic braid?" Nothing fancy like french braids or fish bones but he can do a 'good enough' one. Is this a situation where good enough would fly? Saverio pauses for a moment, hands slowly raising up while he eyes her hair. He simply takes a finger, giving Ava the turn around motion while he does some serious math in his head. They've been friends for quite some time so the thought of braiding her hair isn't an issue, it's more the concern of making a bigger mess out of it. Thankfully, it's in better shape than it was so he carefully gathers her hair up, divides the strands into three and slowly, he begins to braid. He doesn't say a word, concentrating on the work his fingers do and as soon as he reaches the end, he carefully fastens the end. "There, hopefully it works well." If she's anything like his sisters and their propensity to swing their braids to the side rather quickly, it'd suit him to take a big step back and he does. Most of the water is out of his clothes since he climbed out of the baths while she was doing her her washing. Still very much questionably wet. Soon he'll have a fresh change of clothes and return for a clean bath of his own. In… another pool.