Zephira Crichton , NOTES

It took only about half a second for Zee to remind Colette just why did she like her. She was spontaneous and direct, and easy to get on with. She was good company and always enjoyed a good talk whenever possible. And she was one of those few people who wasn't annoyed by her bubbliness or thought she were a lunatic or something, which Col greatly appreciated. Sometimes it was hard to get through to people, like that Jaron guy in the car, who was definately not overwhelmed with poisitive feelings towards her. Such a jerk, not seeing beyond his own ego. A great musician, yeah, sure. I bet he can't even tell an E dorian scale apart from a D melodic minor one.

"Hey, no problem.", Col looked at Zee with a gentle smile, telling her there's no need to apologize, then pointed at the picture in her little gadget her friend seemed to be so curious about, "Oh, yes, that's me when I was 12. And that's my little brother, Maurice. I dressed up as the Ebola virus, and he dressed up as an antibiotics pill.", she explained with a slight smirk and shrug, "Too bad you haven't got the chance to meet Maurice. He's truly the most awesome person ever. Seriously.", she said with an obvious shine of sisterly love in her eyes. She truly loved both her kid brothers, and cared deeply for them, and often wondered where they might be now. She was sad when she thought about losing them, and wished they could be around here. Home now seemed so distant and faded away. "When I was 14, I received a love letter from one of the boys from our class. Maurice stole it and made the whole school know about the contents. The next day my dear little brother got to know what happens when your trumpet is filled with hot chili sauce and you spray it all over the music teacher's face when you start to play.", she said with a mischeviously evil grin on her face.

"Well, I've been up to many things. Treating people's injuries, riding my luck dragon, playing my imaginary piano, trying to figure out if Plato was right or wrong about our existence, and of course, trying to establish the First Yvonne Craig Fan Club of Petra Exterior.", she explained, rolling her eyes, "And yeah. Never thought I'll be grateful for anything here, but definately, the end of scorch is something I'm most happy about." She spoke honestly. The scorch was probably the worst thing imaginable, and the fact it was finally over and she could go outside again and enjoy wondering around the lush vegetation was definately the best thing happening since they arrived. "How about you?"

Swimming in the river? Col raised an eyebrow. She never thought about that. Well, she wasn't exactly a swimming-type of person, besides, swimming means either getting a swimsuit or doing it naked. And the latter possibility wasn't exactly to her liking. Who knows what kind of Crocodile Dundees might be lurking around? But as Zee described it, it seemed like fun. Hmmm. "I have to admit, I haven't done any swimming yet.", she said, "Never thought about it, actually."

Zephira Crichton , NOTES

"Yep, it was for Halloween.", Colette smiled as Zee cooed over at the picture of she and her brother, apparently finding the old pic funny. "I was like 12 or something.", she recalled, "Well, most people either thought I'm an evil spaghetti or a fifty dollar bill taken out of a washing machine.", she laughed slightly, "Canadian dollar, I mean.", she added quickly before creating confusion. "Wish we had Halloween here. Last year me and my friend, Greg, dressed up as John Lennon and Yoko Ono. And I mean, I was Lennon and he was Yoko.", the young medic giggled when thinking about this memory.

Alright. You already felt bad for missing Maurice so much, now you had to bring up Greg. Don't you have anything else to think about? He's gone. You won't ever see him again. The long romantic French kissing you dream about will never ever happen. Better get used to this thought, girl...

Shaking her head, Col listened to her friend trying to assure her she will see her brother again. She knew Zee told this thing about the hundreds of thousands of ships dispatched from Earth more because she tried to make her feel better, not because she was sure they'll arrive any soon, yet it felt nice. It was nice to see someone cared about cheering her up. Everyone needed a friendly shoulder to lay on from time to time. "He'll better bring his computer games along, or else he'll have to get out to the open and die of germs only affecting bats and nerds who're not used to sunlight."

Regarding the other story she was telling Zee about, Col replied, "Well, the teacher wasn't too happy to say at least. And Maurice almost got fired from music class.", she played with hair, while recalling the events, "Being the true stool pigeon he was, Maurice told my parents I did that to him, so in my defense, I had to tell them what he did with my letter. So... we both ended up with a week's detention without TV or fast food. The hardest week of my childhood.", she said, laughing with a twink of nostalgia in her eyes, "The guy? Oh, well... We never really had anything going. And I dunno, honestly. I guess, he's married with four kids and works as a dentist in Quebec or something."

When Zee talked about the scorch and mentioned she wonders how often it happens, something suddenly struck Colette. Whaat? She never actually thought that this awfulness will happen again! She was eternally grateful that this whole thing was gone for good, and they could finally abandon troglodyte life and go out to the open. And now she suggests this hellish nightmare will be back in the future. Well, it can be. What if this planet goes through several phases instead of the regular change of seasons occuring on Earth? That never even occured to her. Now she realized this whole situation was much worse than she thought it is - which was kinda bad in itself, to say at least. She almost panicked when she thought about all this, but managed to keep herself calm. "How often...?", she stuttered, "Well... I very honestly hope not too often. Or else I'm gonna end up KFC... you know... Krudely Fried Canadian..."

When Zee told her not much has happened to her since the scorch, Col felt she wasn't exactly telling her the truth. Her instincts told her she was trying to cover up something, probably something private or something which she knew wouldn't much be approved by her. Or, it was simply her imagination and lust for gossip playing with her, and in fact, not much has happened with the other girl. Anyways, the Canadian eyes sparkled in a combination of interest and disbelief when Zee mentioned her plans to explore the unkwown and invite her to go along. She wants me to go with her exploring? I'm not a Bear Grylls wannabe explorer type, not even someone who likes hanging out in the jungle, especially if that jungle is full of giant worms and deadly panda bears and stuff. I wanna go back to my nice little comfortable flat in downtown Montreal, and drink my cup of hot mint chocolate covered up to the neck by my awesomely warm Calvin and Hobbes-illustrated blanket.

"Exploring?", she asked with huge eyes, "Well, that sounds interesting. But honestly... why exactly me? I'm not the Crocodile Dundee type, you know.", she smiled curiously at her friend.

And then, the next second, came another surprise, after they discussed swimming in the lake. Whatwhatwhat?? Swimming? In there?? Right now??? Col couldn't even grasp what Zee said when her friend already stood up, taking off her boots, ready to turn into Esther Williams. "Swimming?", she asked not believing her ears, "You mean, now?? What about our clothes?", she looked at Zee with a face telling her she's not exactly sure if they'll gonna make their clothes wet all over or take them off and jump into the river au naturel. Which one is the worse alternative?

Zephira Crichton , NOTES

Zee's singing was almost as bad as Yoko herself, Col thought, as she listened to her friend's impromptu musical presentation with a quirky smile on her face. "Singing to him? Hey, Greg is a bassist.", she said, "If you can tease someone with all the bass player jokes, you never miss a chance.", she smiled suggestively.

"Yes. I agree. It'd definately be an improvement.", Colette nodded in agreement when Zee told her how much more easy life could be here if they'd have running water, even though she didn't really understood the mechanics of it. In fact, she never understood the mechanics of anything. She wasn't much of an engineering type, to be honest. As of electricity, she suddenly reminded herself just how lucky she was to have her little tablet device run from a battery, which lasts about a year at least. But still, she suddenly felt a bit of fear because of the fact that if they won't find a way to get electricity going, she'll have to say goodbye to her all-knowing tool, which was basically her means of survival out here. She now really hoped they dispatch an electrician along the next spaceship to land here.

"Pizza! Cheeseburger!", the young medic suddenly felt like if she were a dog in Pavlov's experiment, getting so hungry hearing Zee's words, her mouth almost got filled with bubbles, and her stomach almost bursting into a rendition of La Marseillaise. "Don't even mention them!", she looked at her friend wide-eyed, "I'd give anything for a salami pizza with hot chili peppers. Or a steak burger. I'd even give away my autograph from Tina Weymouth for a nice hot juicy burger! And since Tina Weymouth is the most awesome person in the universe, that's saying something!"

Looking at herself while getting out of her clothes, Col realized just how skinny she had become. Not if she wasn't already skinny back on Earth, but here, without fast food and having to rely on the awful alien meat they were consuming, she lost several pounds since her arrival. She felt she'll just disappear into nothingness if this proccess continues. "I'd really need a good family-sized pizza. Look at me, I'm starting to look like a skeleton.", she said with much displeasure, remembering just how much she always envied curvy girls.

When Zee mentioned Jaron, Colette had to frown, recalling the incident she had with the so-called musician, who gave her a lift in his car. So, she knows him. Right. Col recalled she was actually trying to be friendly to Mr. I Drive A Car I Must Be Super Cool, and as a result, he acted quite rude to her. "I've actually met this Jaron.", she spoke up, while taking off her shirt, "Honestly, he didn't give much of an impression on me.", she admitted, putting it mildly, "Also, I don't think he's much of a musician. I bet he can't even tell the difference between an E dorian scale and a D melodic minor one."

But, getting on a much better topic, Col smiled when she heard Zee's description of her 'type'. Dora the Explorer. That was kinda cute. Nicolette, the traveling Canadian medic. That sounded a bit like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and she wasn't sure if she resembled Jane Seymour at all, neverthless, the thought made her smile, while taking off her shoes, so she'd be ready for a dive. Well, in fact, she wasn't much ready, especially that she felt kinda embarassed standing here wearing only her underwear. Neverthless, she tried to force a better mood on herself, and put aside her worries regarding a swim in this seemingly vastless river, probably full of alien piranhas starving for human flesh.

"Alright.", she smiled, "Nicolette the traveling Canadian medic. I like that.", she elaborated, "Maybe Nicolette the awesome traveling Canadian medic who can speak dolphin language and once kissed her high school chemistry teacher by accident. I'm up for the adventure!" Not so bad, right? Honestly, I never liked bikinis either, Col thought, but didn't say that out loud. Watching her friend jump in the water, she hesitated for a moment, thinking about the consequences of anyone taking a peek at her in this attire, but then, making a quick decision, followed her and jumped in, taking a deep dive, then emerging on the surface right next to Zee.

Zephira Crichton , NOTES

"Oh, well... I really don't want to eat up your food.", Colette said with a gentle - and honest - look when Zee invited her to her home and offered her some extra meal. She knew Zee was doing it from friendship, and she didn't want to look either too vain or ungrateful for rejecting it, but she felt she's not the type to 'steal' someone else's food either. But then, she realized there could be an offer and a compromise made. "At least, I don't wanna ask for food for free. Maybe I could do something for you in exchange. Whenever you need a medic."

When Zee mentioned that jerk named Jaron, Col felt she had some affection towards him, and now she was obviously defending that guy against her not-so-praising words. She understood: Jaron was the type who could make himself come through as a charming person in the eyes of others, with his demanour, his car, his music, all the recruitments of a celebrity image. A mask he was wearing to the public. But then, in a reckless moment the mask falls off and he finds himself yelling at people and almost throwing them off his car just because they were acting as themselves, without hiding their true selves behind a mask. And it was true, she never actually heard his music, but she was sure, given his persona and the things he told about himself, that it was the bleak childish bubble gum pop most radios were playing nowadays. And he probably made himself rich by that. While dad was the most amazing jazz pianist in the world and ended up broke and drunk.

"I'm sure he is.", the young Canadian spoke up with a sarcastic grin, "He's also very talented in almost throwing people off his car, when they're just trying to be friendly."

Happy that this topic was over, Col swam around the lake, joyfully playing around in the warm water. She didn't actually expect it to be fun. But as soon as she got into the water all her fears suddenly disppeared, and she found herself actually enjoying this little dip in the lake. It was nice for a change. And certainly relaxing for the body - and maybe also for the soul. "Of course we can!", she replied when Zee offered her to bring her along for her next adventure into the wilderness. "Who knows, we might even discover a new continent. We should name it Edgaria in honour of my cat."

"Well... that's a long story.", the medic said, while swimming about, "I was in high school, and there was a guy, with whom we occasionally hid in the school basement to smoke pot. Well, it was dark there and you know. And once, while we were doing just that, we heard the footsteps of someone coming. Quickly opening the window to get rid of the smell, we decided to use a rouse tactic. You know... well... catching two teens kissing is lot less of an issue than catching them smoking a joint. So, I decided to give Nathan a long passionate French kiss. But only after I finished giving it, I realized I was actually kissing the chemistry teacher who came lurking around as he heard some noise coming from down the basement!"