Niniane clutches within her arms a blue hatchling, her body hunched around it to protect him from the weather. He creels unhappily, and for once, the harper has no clue what to do. Grabbing the cloak with one hand, she brings it over Glacier's body, attempting to achieve a makeshift bed. It softens his cries to a tolerable level, and they lose their edge. A look of relief crosses her face, that is, until she spots Puo, and she immediately scowls, screwing her face up, "What're you doing here?"

"What -- I'm not allowed to walk across the Bowl?" O'kano inquires sarcastically, grimacing with annoyance as Niniane is noticed and she addresses him. The bronzerider trudges nearer, but does so reluctantly; Jharzeth's on the far side, and it'd be out of his way to circle around. And it's cold.
Glacier senses the tension in the air and his creening reaches an ear-shattering volume, sending Niniane to her knees, begging, "Oh, please, please, /please/ go back to sleep. I know you aren't hungry, and we're almost inside. Just bear with me." Her pleading to no avail, the firelizard continues his racket even /after/ she wills all anger from her mind, all loathing. Never has Niniane looked so forlorn, confused, and hurt, "Please, just be quiet..."

O'kano winces at the first rise in volume, instinctively slapping hands to ears in an effort to shut out the noise. "Can't you make it be quiet?" he snaps over the firelizard's cacophony. "/Do/ something." He eyes the blue with considerable distaste, adding in an undertone that's probably lost beneath the loud creening, "Mine were never that awful."

Niniane simply ignores the man since he offers no help, only aggrivation. She coos, giggles, strokes, projects thoughts of love, everything except think of /him/. Slowly, probably by half-steps, the lizard lowers his already powerful voice until he's simply warbling, burying his face into her stomach. Humans were good for something, even if it's only food and shelter. Good girl.

O'kano cautiously unplugs ears and shoots an unpleasant look towards harper and firelizard, pulling another face. "Ugh." Then, resolutely, he jams hands back into pockets in an effort to keep his numbed fingers from frostbite and resumes his march across the bowl, which brings him perilously close to Niniane and her blue.

Niniane carefully stands up, the barely audible noise of stiff joints cracking following her path up. She turns, nearly find her face-to-face, eye-to-eyes with one of the few people she absolutely /hates/, "This is your fault." Her voice is a hiss, nearly swept away as the wind picked up, flinging them back into her face. With a whimper, she ducks her head down, shivering, "Shells, it's cold, and I'm lost..." Wonderful, she's lost. What's she doing out in the /first/ place?

"It is /not/ my fault," O'kano irritably informs the harper. "I didn't drag you out into the bowl -- don't blame your own stupidity on me." He rolls his eyes, heaves a hefty, long-suffering sigh, and gestures in the direction he's tromping. "The living caverns are over there. It's not /that/ hard to find your way around."

"Thanks." She's sincere? Oh my...Niniane looks up at O'kano, and smiles, no hint of malice. Shards, the cold must be affecting her in the head! With a bob of her head, a twinkle in her eye, she moves towards the now-known location of the Living Cavern, yet she moves slowly, almost as if she wouldn't mind if he caught up...Maybe...

Sincere or not, Puo plainly doesn't trust the harper; he does, however, walk parallel to Niniane, although sufficiently apart as to not necessarily look like he's walking with her. "Just don't get lost again," he warns. "It gets even colder at night, and we wouldn't find you until the next morning, and by then you'd be frozen."

Niniane obviously doesn't mind the distance, even though a little warmth would be saved if they walked together, "I know where I'm going now. I couldn't /possibly/ get lost, my dear O'kano." Another smile, yet the bitter taint of irony has awakened. He isn't dear, and he most certainly /isn't/ hers, thankfully..."Don't you mean 'they'? You're the last person I could see out in the cold, looking for little old me."

O'kano is willing to brave the elements rather than brave close proximity to Niniane. "Good. You'd think that after living here for awhile, you'd know your way around," he mentions in a nearly patronizing tone. The 'how stupid are you?' is left out, but the sentiment is there, nonetheless. He simply rolls his eyes at her phrasing, taking it for sarcasim, then responds, "The Weyr turns out to look for lost people." Whether he likes it or not.

Niniane chuckles deep within her chest at Puo's obvious preference to cold, so she takes a miniscule sidestep, brining her perhaps six-inches closer to the subborn fellow, "I normally stick to the inside, only venturing out a small ways to sing for the hapless fellows stuck out here. Today's the first day I really went 'out'." She shrugs, another sidestep, clearly ignoring an insinuation towards her being stupid, another, "Oh? Surely it's only those /willing/ and /able/ who go out." One more to grow on.

If O'kano notices that the harper's creeping closer, he doesn't let on about it. As long as there's still some distance, he can flee should she prove to turn into some snarling, foaming monster. "I don't blame you -- no one who's got any sense would run around in /this/ weather." Nevermind that it's one of the warmest seasons; to Puo, it's still unbearably cold. "Hmph."

En route to Living Cavern, if she kept to this "special" path, she'd be at Puo's vulnerable side...now. She keeps her eyes focused on the the tunnel, keeping her stride nice, even, casual, "It's nice to know you don't blame me, but as for no sense, you're out as well. No offense, Dear." She points this fact out with a jerk of her shoulders, a miraculously executed shrug considering she has a moody blue in her arms, her lips twitching into a small smile. She's loves teasing him, even when she's trying to be nice. It would be nice if he took it in stride once in a while, joking back rather than snapping, and she plans on telling him some day....some day REALLY far from now.

O'kano sidles away just a little, ever-wary. And besides, he's got a reputation to maintain; what would everyone do if they saw him almost companionable with Niniane? The horrors. "/I/ know where I'm going," he notes. "I don't get lost. I don't wander around for fun. And I'm not your dear, either."

If Niniane's heart was any more mischevious, she'd quickly close the gap, and throw an arm around his shoulders. Rather, she respects this, even sliding away just a hair. To any observers, they must look drunk. "O'kano?" She's quiet, meek, something's up, "I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. I'm sorry about teasing you the first day we met; I'm sorry about the insults; I'm just /sorry/."

"What?" Puo queries with a trace of suspicion, straightening his course somewhat, almost imperceptibly. "Oh." The next response carries that uncomfortabilty Niniane speaks of; if he wasn't before, he certainly is now. "Oh. Okay." His pace quickens as they near the destination -- maybe she'll get sidetracked once in the caverns and he'll be able to escape.

A sigh falls passed Niniane's painfully dry lipe as she slows to a halt, watching Puo leave. Something T'ela said comes back- Puo's a Holder. Maybe apologies unnerve him more so then insults. Maybe he /knows/ how to handle the latter, yet never bothered to learn about 'I'm sorry', "O'kano, please...I'm not joking." Sheesh! Doesn't anybody trust a Harper nowadays?

O'kano is used to exchanging threats and taunts, but apologies are an entirely different category. And it shows. "I didn't say you were," he replies simply, pausing and pivoting to eye Niniane with a closed-off, careful expression. "I said 'okay.' " Isn't that enough? Puo thinks it should be.

Niniane licks her lips, attempting to restore some small amount of life to them before they crack. Her cheeks are flushed; she's shivering, but she still refuses to budge, "I know, but..." Sigh. She can't stand emotionally trying times, especially not in the cold, "Just forget it. If you want, I'll tease you. I'll taunt you. I'll make your life miserable, but I'll hate myself for it." Quickly, she forces herself past the 'post', making minimal amounts of progress. Until her foot lands on a rock which refuses to support her weight and goes flying, taking her balance with it, "Oh shells! No!" Thump. Ow. Pain.

"I never said I wanted that," O'kano is quick to voice, miffed and perhaps a little annoyed with what he sees as moodiness. "I don't enjoy it, no matter what you might think." He trails off, peering over at the harper as she falls and awkwardly inquires, "Are you okay?" Still more awkwardly, he offers out his hand as means of helping the harper back to her feet. "Here."

The firelizard is not happy. No, he is furious. Glacier was dreaming of wherry when the stupid human had to fall. Retribution is required. Nini's jaw falls slack as his creel starts and quickly clamps a hand over the wide muzzle, "Don't you dare start. I don't need this..." She trails off when the hand enters her view, and her gaze darts upwards, laced with uncertainty. She warily takes it, blinking at the owner...Odd.

O'kano isn't the sort of person who'd stand back and laugh, even if he's not all that nice or sociable. Without offering an explanation, he pulls Niniane to her feet and promptly stuffs his hand back into his pocket and out of the cold. "Try not to fall again," he advises. "It's generally not that fun." Just in case she hadn't noticed.

Niniane eyes this fellow with a new respect, "You didn't chuckle. You actually helped me." Surprised? Oh yes, quite, "Does being outside always do this to you?" Before he can answer, though, she turns, continuing her shuffle towards the Living Cavern. She's done everything out here could possibly do: apologise, fall, glare at a flit. It's time to go in.

O'kano chooses not to answer, as the case may be, and only rotates back around to face the living caverns and resolutely march that-way. "I hate being outside," he finally remarks: a cryptic reply, at best. If it's even related; no guarantees on that, either.

Niniane peers at O'kano, the eyebrow arching, "Then why are you out, Puo? I mean, shards, it is /freezing/." She picks up the pace a wee bit, ducking her head down and pulling the cloak up around her ears. Any passerbys would quickly label her a 'turtle' and move on.

"Because it's the quickest way to get from there --" A hand waves back towards the direction of the weyrling field. "-- to there." O'kano gestures towards the living caverns that they approach. "If anyone ever adds a way that doesn't include walking around in this nasty weather, I'd be grateful."

Niniane nods her head at that, an odd movement since her entire body seems to echo it, "I see...A pity you have to be out in that. I'd hate to be in your position." She clucks her tongue when he mentions a passageway, "I doubt that'll happen. Everyone's too busy to do something that isn't absolutely necessary, even though it /would/ save a few tempers and fingers."

"Awful, isn't it?" Here, a trace of self-pity enters the bronzerider's tone, and he quickens his pace in an effort to reach the living caverns that much sooner; every unnecessary moment in the cold is to be avoided. But once they're reached, O'kano hesitates, waiting for the harper to catch up. "Coming?"

"Oh, I'm coming; I'm coming. Don't wait for me!" Too late, he is, so move! And, since we're on the matter, why not do something funny that warms her body? Niniane litterally jumps towards the rider, clicking her heels, doing a jig, partying in the frigid weather. It certainly quickens her progress, and she soon stands by his side, panting yet grinning.

O'kano eyes Niniane skeptically and queries before he enters, "You're sure you're alright?" He doesn't wait for a response, turning back around to move into the relative warmth of the cavern's interior.