Home Is When I'm With You - Cynonari

Tighnari pov

I flipped through a couple of books before stopping at a particular set of pages with rows of different species of carnivorous plants elaborately painted onto the thin brown pages. I sat for a moment, admiring the room. Haypasia had really decorated her dorm room. Plastered all over the walls were diagrams, posters and charts of constellations.

"So, like I was saying," I said, looking towards Haypasia " I was given a chance to go to the Apam woods for a project"

"Oh? That sounds cool," she said, taping another constellation chart to her wall "What's it about?"

"We're going to be collecting rare samples to grow them in the lab," I explained as I opened a notebook to begin taking notes "It's for my extracurricular,"

"Oh I see, that's right down your alley. You should definitely go," She said, now she was making sure the poster was properly stuck to the wall. I nodded in agreement with her. She paused for a moment, staring at the poster for a couple of seconds before turning to me. I sat at her table taking notes, this was one of our study sessions.

"When is this happening again? Because knowing you, you wouldn't miss a class for your life," Haypasia said, looking towards me, adjusting her glasses and resting her hands on her hips.

"Oh yeah. I would never. And neither would the other people in my extracurricular," I explained "That's why its taking place over the winter break,"

"Oh, I see. Makes sense. But that's quite soon," she said, now she moved on to sorting a couple of the books she borrowed when we were in the library earlier.

"Yeah, not much less than a month,"

***

"Tighnari! There you are," one of the students called out as I entered the classroom, I realised it was one of my classmates who had also joined the extracurricular "We have some exciting news!"

"What is it?" I asked, setting my bag down on the floor next to a large pile of bags that belonged to the other students. The student talking to me was a boy I had grown somewhat familiar with, he was in a few of my classes, we weren't friends. Just a little more than a classmate, more of a colleague considering how often we work together in the extracurriculars. He had honey-coloured skin and small brown curls that didn't fall past his ears. Another student whom I've also worked with often stood behind him, she looked equally excited. She had fair skin and lightly pink hair, likely dyed from blonde.

"We've gotten permission to lead a group to collect samples in the Apam woods!" He exclaimed, putting a hand on my shoulder and walking me over to the counter "We'll be able to get our hands on those rare species that we can't buy!"

"Wait really?" I asked, a little surprised.

"We'll be spending around a week in the jungle," the girl piped up, still standing behind him. My enthusiasm died down a bit.

"Oh. But what about classes? I can't miss a single one of them," I explained, my tone becoming a bit more sullen.

"Oh no, no. You don't have to worry about that," the bubbly, pink-haired girl spoke again "The trip will be during the winter break!"

"Wow, that's great," I breathed, allowing the new information to settle in before asking "Who's coming?"

"Us," He said gesturing to him and the girl "You, and a few others - well, that is if you can or want to come,"

"That would be great and it's more than just an opportunity to collect samples," I said looking at the two tentatively "We could study quite a few different things, like growth patterns and where the species are abundant and why, stuff like that,"