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 Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:11 pm
With a heavy sigh, Rhilira slumped down to a crouching position atop the high cliff, on the edge of a herd of herdbeasts. Many dragons have taken the time to eat earlier in the day, and the ledge was more or less deserted. "Nice to be up here alone for a bit," she said quietly, looking out over the edge and down to the beach below - it was crowded with large sunning dragon bodies, some accompanied by their riders snoozing in the afternoon sun. "It's too hot to do a darned thing. Glad I finished my kitchen duty to fast." she commented to herself, leaning back on her hands and spreading her legs before her. Her sleeveless tunic and short pants were appropriate for the area, but still didn't provide much relief from the elements. At least it was breezy, this far up. "Maybe I'll go for a ride, until I'm supposed to be back."
Having made this decision, she spring up, dusting grass from her pants, and made her way back to the cavern entrance to make her way all the way down past the weyrs to the ground. Her runnerbeast, which she had insisted come with her when she was Searched (though he was delivered by her train when they passed through), was in the beasthold, a fair distance - and much lower altitude - than where she was. The pace with which she strode toward the downward entrance gave the impression that she was on a task, hoping that that would not encourage people to stop her and ask her to do something for them.
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:19 pm
It wasn't that Pazzult didn't like animals. He did. If he didn't, he was sure that Degth wouldn't have Searched him. Still. When he found out that today it was his turn to feed grains to the runner beasts and make sure that the stalls were cleaned out so that they could be washed down. He would have given his almost anything except his spot on the Sands to be someplace else. Trying to breath shallow so the stench of dung did not cause him to heave, the weaver worked as quickly as he could to get his task done.
Broom in hand, he was pushing dirty straw and only Faranth knew what else out of a currently occupied stall when a girl entered the area. He didn't recognize her. If he was lucky, she was there to help him out. If not, oh well. Interesting that she was almost the exact same height he was and he was no small teen. He liked his meals and his body liked to grow. She looked like she had something to do and Pazzult could only hope, maybe despair a little bit, that it had something to do with him.
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:27 pm
When she made it down to the stalls - hardly winded, mind you - she was startled to see someone else there. "Oh-!" The exclamation slipped through her lips, though she quickly recovered. "Hah, stuck cleaning up down here?" she asked, making her way to what seemed to be the only occupied stable in the beasthold. She gave her runner, Leon, an affectionate smack on the rump as she approached him, though watched the boy over the top of the rail. "Candidate? Or drudge?" The question would have been fair, except that she didn't realize that drudges tended to be past the age of being able to Stand. It seemed reasonable to her, though.
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:58 pm
Pazzult did his best not to scoff at her question. Really. Shouldn't she be in the weyr tending to something instead of down here with the beasts? Instead, just in case she might have been someone who could report his actions and words back to the Candidate Master, he replied politely. "I am a candidate. My name is Pazzult and I am from Arcon Hold. And what about yourself?? Shouldn't a girl like you be back at the lower caverns cooking or something? Or were you sent here to help me out?"
It wasn't that Pazzult was sexist but well... He was. His mum and aunts all worked hard every day of their lives but at weaving. Not at being a smith or working in the coal mines but something that women were good at. However, he bit his cheek to keep from speaking his mind and continued to shovel the muck.
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 10:06 pm
Rhilira shot him an awful look, as she lifted the saddle that was sitting on the fence and set it on to her runner's back in one fluid motion. "Sent to help you?" She frowned and leaned against her runner, looking him up and down a couple of times, taking stock. "Surely you can do it yourself. I've already taken care of my afternoon chores." She didn't mention that it did involve kitchen duty. Even though they all did it eventually, she had other choice words for something like that.
"And no, I'm not getting stuck down there cookin' all afternoon, thanks. I have other things I'd like to do." Her words were short and crisp, not really having an air of superiority, but also not being at all submissive. "I like to free up time be getting things done fast." She gave a glance around at the filthy stables then, arching a brow and clicking her tongue - just to make a point... and perhaps pull at his nerves.
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Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:49 pm
Pazzult blinked at the tone of her voice. Why was she getting so rude? Pushing the muck to the end of one stall, he wiped a brown carefully and went to go get fresh straw. He had never in his life worked with animals and only been on a runner beast once or twice. But Pazzult believed in working to earn his keep and so he tried. "I can handle this myself. Not my normal type of work so I figured the Candidate Master sent someone to help with the load who knew what they were doing."
When she sounded a little bitter about the cooking and working in the caverns, he wondered why. His mother enjoyed messing around with random flavors and stuff when it came time to make a meal. Perhaps, she wasn't good at it. When she mentioned getting her work done quickly, he merely shrugged. "I would rather do it right the first time, even if it takes a while than get in trouble and have to do it over again."
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Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:11 pm
Rhilira quickly fastened the saddle around her beast's belly, listening to his response. Shards, and he's annoying. Doing something fast doesn't mean it's wrong! She watched him work around the stalls, nearly - a key word - feeling guilty about not helping. "There's no wrong way to clean a stall," she said, the harshness not there anymore as she became focused getting her reins on her runner. "Well, not cleaning it is the wrong way. But otherwise..." She looked up and shrugged. "You have to do them all?" She put some mock concern in her voice, but it was given away by the smug smile on her face. In the first minutes of conversation with her, he had gotten her angry. She saw no reason to relent - he hadn't proved to deserve her courtesy.
"Though really, I'd rather have had your job than cleaning dishes." Mucking stalls was something she rarely did - since they moved about, animal cleanliness wasn't a huge concern - but she had cleaned out the backs of caves when they were forced to stay in them. When it came down to it, though, she's rather do manual labor than the work of a drudge.
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Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 7:46 pm
Pazzult rarely let others get to him. It was a waste of energy and effort. It took a lot to really get him going and this girl's tone, why annoying, barely stung his thick skin. However, the smug look on her face was another matter. Just because she was done with her chores didn't mean she could lord over him like she was better than he was... "That I do. And it's not a hard task but a long one. Sooo, does the Head Woman know you finished up early and are sneaking off? After all, dishes are always piling up in a place like this weyr."
Hah! He could easier find out if she had permission to take her beast out. But if she was sneaking off, that was another matter. "As for jobs I would rather be mending or dyeing clothing. Something I know, something I am good at."
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Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 12:25 am
So that was the game he wanted to play, was it? Who does he think he is? Trying to outsmart me... She wasn't sure how it had escalated to this. Or how it had even started, really. They'd just met, and already he was trying to get her in to trouble. This probably could have started off differently. But it's too late for that now...
"I was dismissed, if you must know." There was a sudden change in her voice. It was formal, but still had a hint of playfulness in it, which was probably brought on by the half-smile it produced - or which was produced by it. Only her family and close relatives knew it to be her trader voice, the one taken on when talking to a potential customer. It was still young - nothing like her father's, that was for sure -but it got the job done. "I'd finished the lunch dishes as they came in. Sparkling clean - inspected. They were as suspicious as you, though they just thought I was slacking off like a lot of the Candidates that go through there. When they were only trickling in, and the demand on the drudges had slowed, I was dismissed from my chore, having completed it." A mostly true story. The end differed slightly. As it had actually happened, once the kitchen had slowed considerably, she had managed to talk her way into getting dismissed, though no one was any the wiser. She had done the work as described, and was recognized to have done so. "So really, I'm not sneaking off at all. And besides, it's my runner beast. It's not as if I'm sneaking away with another's to get myself into trouble."
"It would be lovely if we could do the things we were good at, as opposed to the simple everyday chores. But I guess the Weyr's a big place, and someone has to put the time in... And since Candidates are good for little else..."
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Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:27 pm
Pazzult listened to her talk and decided she had a decent voice for speaking. It was rare that he let himself deviate from the task at hand but secretly he was enjoying giving her a hard time and thought she was doing a good job holding her own. For a girl. Pulling himself to his full height, he realized that they had a lot more in common than both being brought to the weyr. They were close in height and possibly age.
"At least you managed to do your task. Now if you don't mind, I need to work my way past you and I am sure you don't want s**t on your shoes." Pazzult laughed. This girl didn't seem prissy which was a good thing. Some of holder girls who would come for his family's clothe acted better than him just because they didn't have scars or dye on their fingers. "Your runner, huh? Nice looking beast. As for chores, it would be nice to get outside or at least interact with other people. Here, I talk to the beasts and they just stare."
Why yes, Pazzult had just made a joke at his expense.
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:51 pm
Rhilira paused a moment, looking him over as he drew himself up. He was barely taller than she was - not a verdict that she would easily forget - and looked... Well, they certainly were not too far apart in age. He was certainly the student of a Craft, too, it looked like. Hold bred, most certainly - she could always tell. She watched as he did his work, hesitating to simply leave on her Runner's back. He was ready to go, but...
She realized that he was still talking, and smirked as she caught the rest of it. "I'm used to it. Walked through worse, I can tell you that!" That time, she wasn't making fun of him, or his ignorance of her lifestyle. It was true! "And what exactly do people do, then?" Sharp, snappy, but lacking the edge of her former words.
With a resigned sigh, she looped her runner's reigns over a post and looked for a shovel. Without saying anything, she found one in a corner and started mucking out her runner's stall.
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:53 pm
Pazzult sighed. She really didn't have to help him. It was his task to do and though he would appreciate the help later on. "Really, it's not necessary to help me. I was just joking around before when we were talking."
Pazzult, if he had one good trait, was an honest worker. If he had a job to do, he did it. Regardless of how pleasant or unpleasant the task. Moving towards Rhilira, he grabbed the shovel and tugged. They were both very close in everything. Tugging, Pazzult tried to take the shovel. "Really. Go ride your beast. I will be here when you return and he shall return to a clean stall."
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 12:47 pm
Rhilira tugged back, her face stern. "Now that I've started, I might as well finish," she said, the strain of the struggle showing in her voice. Being in a Weyr strengthened anyone up, but she was surprised at having to struggle. "Besides, if we both work, I'll still have time to go riding before lessons." Granted, her ride would be a good deal shorter, but she would still get to ride.
That is, if he'd let go of my shovel so we could both get back to work!
Even though she wouldn't admit it, though, her main concern was showing him that there were other places for women to work, not just in the kitchens. It wasn't a desire to help him - it was the need to prove her worth through working, instead of just talking.
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:26 pm
Grinning, he wondered if Rhilira knew what would happen next. Shrugging, Pazzult let go of the shovel and stepped back. He could only hope that she would find it funny in a way, at least enough not to retaliate in some sort of way. Well, anyway that involved flinging dung. "Suit yourself then."
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:40 am
"Besides," she continued sharply as he released her shovel, "if we both work, you can go on your way and I can still go out and ride." Her voice softened by the end of the sentence as she turned to continue moving the dung out of her runner's pen. "No need to make it more difficult than necessary."
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