It's a beautiful sunny afternoon, and Keelie and M'noq have the day off. It's relaxing time! The soft fall of one of southern's many waterfalls sets the scene, the ties of Keelie's turquoise bikini visible as she lounges in the pool, long hair fanning out across the water. A picnic lunch sits nearby, their dragons probably off somewhere sleeping.

Thank goodness for spring in Southern. Otherwise, how could anyone live here, every other season is so miserable? M'noq has left all his paperwork, maps, lists, scrolls, library books, and everything else at home. Wet from a recent swim, he sprawls across a mostly flat rock, sunlight from nearby trees dappling over him. "Keelie. You ever feel like learning to play a musical instrument?"

Keelie is pulled from her thoughts, smiling. "A musical instrument?" She glides closer to where M'noq is on his rock, lifting herself up to rest her suntanned-yet-somehow-still-pale arms on the granite circling the pool. Brown eyes watch him. "Hmm. Sure. What kind of instrument? Like, a harp or something?" Her player isn't about to make any snarfblat jokes. This is Pern!

M'noq glances over briefly at Keelie before returning his lazy gaze skyward. "I guess, a harp, if you like. I mean, everyone had to learn the harper songs and drumbeats and simple pipes when they were little, right? Sometimes when it's quiet, I kind of wish there was a little music. And unfortunately I don't have a harper following me around for entertainment purposes." Ha ha.

"I did miss out on that." Keelie muses, before her tone turns mischevious. "Are you asking me to be your personal musician, then? What if all they had was…" Give her a minute. "A trumpet?" Imagine her learning how to practice that! At all hours. "Did you learn how to play instruments when you were a boy?" She lifts herself up out of the water, dripping, and goes to get her towel, warming in the sun.

M'noq just laughs. "No, not at all. I was just thinking it would be nice if I knew something. Stringed instruments seem like they'd be difficult to keep in good shape, going between. I learned what I had to, then promptly forgot it." He pauses, still thinking about it. "Do people play much music in the wildling village where you come from?"

Keelie's teeth flash in a grin at his laughter, and she presses the warm towel to her face. Some comforts from the Weyr, like towels, she just couldn't do without anymore. "That does sound like you," she jokes, about him forgetting, then promptly softens her expression into one of affection, padding over to his rock. "Did you want to take lessons together, then? I have always loved harps, although we could do something different. How often would they be going *between?*" They do have a few journeymen at Southern that teach, although a few have become dragonriders. "Not really," Keelie answers thoughtfully, after a moment. "We sang songs, but not instruments so much. Nothing so complicated as weyrfolk have." Kind of like the first time she saw a guitar and was amazed by the sounds it made by plucking the strings. She eyes his rock, as if trying to decide if there's space for two.

There's plenty of room on M'noq's rock. Not like he would mind if he slid up beside him, either. "Oh, lessons? I guess you'd have to take lessons if you wanted to learn, wouldn't you?," M'noq muses. Apparently his consideration of the idea hasn't progressed that far. "I was just thinking about it, you know? Wondering if there was something fun and simple, something that wouldn't require a huge amount of practicing to enjoy. The harp seems complicated." Basically he is torn between being lazy and wanting music… which will win out?

Keelie's pale skin is cold and goosepimply from just being in the water, and she slides in close, rolling onto her tummy, lifting bare feet to the sky. The light dapples down through the trees. "Well, we could just bash on drums." That sounds therapeutic, actually. She'll tap out a beat on the rock, moving her hands until she's tapping his arm, and then his chest. So innocently. "Well, I could learn the harp, and you could pick something more… easy." Yup. Totes just called him lazy. TEASINGLY.

M'noq is totally lazy, so it's hard to tease him about the truth. "Sure, if you're interested. I mean, I just wondered if you ever thought about it. It's a commitment, right? I'd hate to go around talking to people about how I was going to learn some great instrument, then not even practice after a couple of sevens." Sure, it isn't like he has a ton of free time, but something in his head is making him wish he could do something different, something new. "That's too bad you don't have any traditional instruments from your village. I guess drums would be… what did you call it? Theraputic?" Bashing away at something.

Keelie knows he isn't lazy when it counts. "It is a commitment, " she agrees. "But it does not have to be. We could always start, and just not tell anyone." Like a secret! "And then if we actually got good at it or something, everyone would be shocked." Like they're hanging out randomly at some graduation ceremony and M'noq pulls out a guitar to play something acoustic, with Keelie on the harp. "I have my voice. There are lullabies…" He might know some of them. She hums them sometimes. Especially when looking after Zariel, or if M'noq is sick and she's looking after him. Even if the soup tastes really bad. Thank goodness for the LC.

M'noq really isn't the type to bust out some new instrument in front of people and try to impress them. He was really just thinking of something to do that would entertain himself. "You do have a nice voice," he says. At least, he likes it, especially when he's having trouble sleeping. "You would definitely need to pick something that you could sing along with." Maybe his harper teacher told him he had a nice voice when he was a boy, but he never paid much attention to it.

Keelie knows he wouldn't be big into performing, really. M'noq isn't the sort to show off. Neither is she. "Thank you," She says, when he comments on her voice. "So do you." Little smile. Her long wet hair is probably cold there against his arm, but she cuddles in to rest on his shoulder, placing a cold kiss on his jaw, where she can reach. "I think I'll go with the harp." She decides. "Maybe a small one." And she could sing with it, as requested.

M'noq idly brushes her wet hair back from her face, his fingertips tracing along the goosebumps on her neck. "That would be interesting, if you think you wanted to. Sleep on it and see how you feel in the morning. Don't do it just because I impulsively suggested it." He doesn't want her to feel like it's an obligation. "Do you know of a harper who can teach you? Even if we know a lot of former harpers who are now riders, that doesn't mean they'd want to take on the responsibility of teaching, now."

Keelie is a follower of dreams and tends to lead with her chin - and now she's got this on her mind. "I am not going to follow you around the weyr, serenading you." She teases with a smile. Although he would probably hear her practicing. "I do not know. I would have to go to the craft area to check it out." She rolls over onto her back and looks up at the leaves above. "I can just imagine you, taking harper lessons. I bet you were so handsome as a boy." A pause as she thinks. "I would like it if we could do something together." Even if the only performing they do is for each other.

M'noq rolls his eyes. "I don't know what you're imagining I was like as a kid, but I assure you, I was a dork." He pauses, thinking. "It might be nice if we played together, in our own weyr. The weyr isn't so large that you have to follow me around for me to hear you," he teases. "I'm going to think on it a bit more," he says. "If I'm going to commit to this, I'm really going to do it. I don't want to go off and make commitments I'm not going to keep."

"You can be a dork and still be handsome." Keelie smiles thoughtfully. "Ok, wingsecond. That is a responsible thing to do. You do have a lot of duties right now." And more time playing instruments does mean less time exploring and being lazy.

Er… relaxing!
Together.
And stuff. :)

M'noq is not being responsible right now, just lazy. "Maybe it's all the duties I have that make me think I need to do more things that I enjoy. I mean, other than sleeping in and, um, the rest." A sly smile is given to his weyrmate. "There's plenty of time to take care of duties and explore Pern. I want to do a few things that make me happy. And I want to see you doing things that make you happy. That's what today is about, right?" A day off, swimming and doing things other than responsible things.

Keelie returns his sly smile with a sweet one of her own. Her body relaxes with a happy sigh and she curls up with M'noq under the trees. "Right."