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 Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:55 pm
Avery was feeling marvelous. The young woman looked good [Uuni had said so herself this very morning, when they'd shared a cup of klah before parting ways], felt good, K'lan had transferred, and she was finally acclimated to High Reaches. She no longer had to wear her thick, expensive coat on top of everything else and was feeling much more stylish in her regular clothing. On top of all this, a scan of the Candidates' chore roster placed her, once again, in the stables.
Other than the dining hall, winning marks, that was one of her favorite places to be. As the eggs got closer and closer to hatching, more and more runners arrived, some of them of very high quality. She looked forward to examining them every day, reminded of her home. Speaking of home, the letter she'd received from her father that morning stated that he and one of her brothers would be attending the hatching via dragon-back as well.
A grin on her exotic face and the curly-haired girl was in the mood to live and let live as a taller boy was jostled by a pushy Candidate into her back [providing he apologized promptly, of course].
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:18 pm
Bashir's morning had probably been less stellar than Avery's. He'd woken early to train with Rath and A'ram, only to find that A'ram was too sore and cranky to bother. Rath, on the other hand, still wanted oiling and so Bashir had devoted several pre-dawn hours to that activity. His shoulders ached already from rubbing the oil deep into the old brown's muscles. Rath had been crooning appreciatively by the end, which was gratifying, but it had been an early rising wasted. He was used to waking early, but he would have liked to know in advance that he could have slept in until a normal hour.
He made his way to the posted chore roster, weaving through the cluster of candidates, and tried to put himself into a better mood. It wouldn't be fair to whomever he was put with to work if he was a grouch, and there wasn't any real reason for him to be in a bad mood. So what if he'd had to wake up early and hadn't had to train? That was a good thing. It meant he'd have more energy for whatever the rest of the day held. Now if he could just see the roster to find out what that was...
As he stood on the balls of his feet to look over the heads of the candidates in front of him, Bashir felt himself pitching forward, bumped by someone behind him. He instinctively braced himself, but too late to avoid jostling the girl in front of him. The one with curly brown hair.
"I'm sorry," he said automatically. His expression didn't reflect his earnestness immediately, but he did actually go to the effort of attempting to look contrite. He didn't quite pull it off. He never seemed to. "Are you all right?"
His eyes flickered to the roster briefly as he waited for her response. Fortunately they fell on his name and skimmed over to see where he was assigned. The stables. Wonderful. He and runners got along about as well as felines and...well, any other creature.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:50 pm
Avery's eyebrow shot up at the courteous apology. It was pleasant enough, as the girl had spent years listening to people's voices as well as looking at their faces, however the tail end comment had her feeling slightly amused. He'd hardly bumped her, after all, and while he was clearly fit [and somewhat handsome], it wasn't as if he'd barrelled her over.
Her honey voice held that amusement and curiosity as she responded to him, already moving toward the hall which she'd be following out to the stables. "Of course I am, you barely touched me. I rather think I'm left undamaged enough to continue with basic stablework." No use loitering with such an odd fellow when there were stalls to be mucked.
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:21 pm
Bashir hadn't thought he'd done any damage, but it never hurt to be solicitous. And there was always the very slim chance he had injured her. It was good to hear that he was being overly concerned. Forcing himself to be pleasant, in spite of his morning's beginnings, he responded, "I'm relieved to hear that. It would be a dreadful shame if I caused the Weyr to lose an unpaid laborer."
Bashir had been following Avery unconsciously as she walked. It was simply good manners that prompted it - he didn't want to force her to shout or anything while talking to him. When he looked at his surroundings, however, he realized that they seemed to be heading toward the stables. Well. Yes. She'd mentioned that she was fit enough to continue with basic stable work. Somehow that hadn't registered until he looked around, however. He hadn't considered that female candidates were assigned to the stables. On none of the rare occasions he'd been assigned there and unable to trade assignments had he been working with females.
"You're working in the stables this shift?" he asked, hoping that his voice wouldn't betray his shock. This was one of the instances in which he was grateful his face wasn't expressive. He hadn't noticed her name on the roster, but then, he wasn't sure he even knew her name. There was always a flux in the Weyr's population around hatchings, and he wasn't the fastest in the world when it came to learning names, though he did go to an effort.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:30 pm
"Oh, yes, just dreadful, I'm sure. I work in the stables quite a lot. It's one of my favorite assignments, actually." Her own expression was neutral as he picked up the nuances of surprise in his voice, her own responses wry. It was amusing, to her, to say the least. Back home, girls loved runners.
Like she was confiding in him, she lowered her voice as they approached the stables. "I generally work a later shift than this, though. They've lengthened the amount of time I spend there, now that so many Runnerbeasts are showing up for the hatching."
Glancing at him from behind dark lashes, she didn't leave him to suffer without knowledge for long. "Avery; that's my name. I transfered here several fortnights ago."
She was pretty, yes, and her clothing fit well and was expensive, but Avery, underneath those layers, was fit and strong, well practiced in the chores they were about to take part in.
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:44 pm
"It is?" Bashir asked, horrified. He couldn't imagine anyone wanting to work around runners. Oh, he knew beastcrafters did, but he'd always assumed they were a special kind of insane. He'd been raised with dragons, and if an animal wasn't good for a dragon to eat, it really held very little interest for him.
"Actually, I usually work a later shift, too. My mornings are mostly taken up by working with my grandfather, and I'm fortunate that the candidatemaster allows me to accommodate him. But I don't usually work in the stables. Not if I can help it." He shuddered. He wasn't afraid of the beasts. He just didn't like them. And the feeling was pretty much mutual.
As Avery introduced herself, Bashir noticed for the first time that she was incredibly comely. Which was not the sort of thing he was supposed to be noticing. First, there were rules regarding candidates' relationships with one another. Second, he hardly had time for any sort of dalliance. His days were packed with activity that hardly left him time to bathe and eat, let alone devote time and attention to another person.
"I'm Bashir. I've lived here all my life." He shrugged. "Where did you transfer from?" He probably knew the answer to his question. After all, there'd been a number of girls brought in from Ista, and Avery was tanned, which was a phenomenon not often seen in the chilly region of the High Reaches.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:57 pm
"Well, I was an apprentice beastcrafter, not that it changes things much. They do say you have to be a special kind of crazy to like working with strong, large animals. Ones that cannot speak into your mind, that is." She tossed a wink his way as they closed in on the stables, clearly not minding the implications of that. "Then again, I was searched, and we all know dragons don't search the insane."
Avery rather liked boys. They were strong, a different sort of dramatic than girls [she wasn't going to pretend they weren't just as silly as girls, despite what boys may have thought], and often much more useful. Therefore, she had no problems blasting her charming smile his way and conversing with him. The solemn fellow had been born and raised here? He'd be a good person to know then.
"Mmn, the overcrowded Ista Weyr." She rolled her eyes slightly as they entered the stables, one hand going out to a stall where a runner eagerly sniffed her palm, obviously at ease in her presence. "Not that I particularly want my lot thrown in with the rest of the transfers. " She laughed, but didn't elaborate, choosing to answer his question further. "I'm not an Istan, myself. I'm actually from Katz Field." The infamous runner field where people bought, sold, and raced the beasts. It was no wonder she liked the stables.
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 7:10 pm
"I don't think I'd fare well with creatures that can't communicate at least as clearly as firelizards, and I prefer dragons' communication skills. With runners, there doesn't seem to be any way to tell what they're going to do." This was a complaint he'd long had about them. People who were more familiar with them claimed that there were cues he could watch for, but High Reaches seemed to have been blessed with runners that didn't telegraph their intentions like "all runners."
"Not the truly insane anyway," Bashir added. "I've seen plenty of people of questionable sanity Impress. Maybe having an affinity for other beasts is advantageous on the sands."
He wasn't having the easiest time formulating intelligent, lucid responses to Avery after she decided to turn her charming smile on him. Just because he had other plans didn't mean that he wasn't a teenage boy with all the hormonal fun that entailed. Still, he was making a sincere effort to ignore the fact that Avery was pretty and personable. He wished he hadn't noticed to begin with.
"Katz Field," he repeated. It may be an infamous runner field, but Bashir's entire life was tied up in the High Reaches Weyr, and his knowledge about the world outside was severely limited. He knew where the crafthalls were and which holdings tithed to which Weyrs and all that, but things like enormous runner markets were outside his area of knowledge. Hazarding a guess, he ventured, "Is that where you learned to work with runners?"
It occurred belatedly to him that she might know Kyllae, who had apparently spent some time at Ista, but the time to ask about that acquaintance had passed when he chose instead to pursue Katz Field. Meanwhile he went to grab a shovel. Even if she was used to runners, Bashir couldn't bring himself to expect a woman to work with manure. Given another few minutes, he'd probably suggest that she just help move hay.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 7:38 pm
A warm, thoaty laugh found its way from her lips. "No arguments there. Relative sanity, then." Shaking her head at him, she seemed to appreciate his sense of humor [or not humor], despite his straight-face.
"Mmn. My mother's a senior journeywoman, close to attemping for mastery. My older brothers are also journeyman, though only one is a Handler. The other is a Breeder." Tossing Bashir another friendly smile, she disappeared into the stall next to his, murmuring something unintelligable to the runner in there before taking his lead and moving him to yet another stall.
Once that was done, she grabbed her own shovel, tying back her curls and rolling up her sleeves [she was, of course, wearing boots she'd set aside for working in the stables. Runner manure was much nicer than Dragon dung, in her book, and smelled a sight better, as well.]before beginning to muck out the now clear stall as she casually continued conversation. Obviously, she was used to the work.
"The yearly runner races happen there. It's a pretty big, Pern-wide event. Even though I work primarily with my father, he and my mother agreed that I should learn to care for the beasts that provid us with our livelihood, hence my Apprenticeship."
Pausing briefly to hush the anxious whinny of a runner a few stalls down, she continued smoothly. "I'll be twenty turns this fall, so I spent a good amount of time at Ista Weyr, almost four turns."
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Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:39 am
Bashir was amazed. She'd only met him, and yet she seemed able to gauge when he was speaking in jest and when he was being serious. Some people were just intuitive like that, he supposed, but he was not used to running across them. Lots of the time he was asked things like, Were you being serious just now? He didn't mind answering that sort of question because it was valid, but not to have been asked was something he could appreciate.
Bashir's handling of the runner whose stall he was cleaning was not as smooth as Avery's. He and the creature had a bit of a contest of wills before the runner seemed to figure out for itself what was going on and then decided to go along with the human. Bashir glanced at the runner with a feeling that would have been a dark look in anyone else's facial vocabulary, but in his looked perfectly neutral. The runner, being an animal, probably knew something of what he was thinking anyway, because she maneuvered herself so that she could squish him against the wall of the stall she'd been put in. Only briefly, and once he elbowed her back she gave it up.
By this time Avery was well-started on her task and Bashir had no opportunity to suggest that she might prefer some less messy task, so he got to work without comment, listening to her talk about her family. His already aching shoulders and back protested being put to this sort of work but he ignored them. Later he would have a hot bath, he told himself, and then his muscles would be fine.
"It sounds like it would have been a fun way to grow up. Minus the runners, of course. What made you decide to transfer from Ista? I mean, I know it's overcrowded, and that's probably uncomfortable." He broke off when he realized how nosy he must sound. In truth, he was just curious because he lived in a very insular world and the majority of Pern was a mystery to him. Also it took his mind off his aching muscles.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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