12. The Weyr healders have arranged an expedition to gather a large quantity of numbweed, then make it into salve. They're looking for volunteers to help gather and brew the numbweed. It's a smelly job, but a much-needed one, since a weyr can use numbwed salve by the bucketful, especially during a Fall. You can help with either or both tasks.
It was a big operation, there were lots of people involved, and Kitchi didn't need to constantly be checking with the healers in charge to know what a numbweed plant looked like. She knew from memory, she'd read the texts enough. The many people also meant it was rather easier for the candidate to slip away from the main group. Kitchi could gather more by collecting away from the group on her own than all bunched up with everyone else. Besides, when else was she going to get the option to go wandering around the jungle by herself? Not any time soon she bet. Maybe, if she had a dragon they'd let her, but who knew how long that could take. If it even did happen.
Naturally she had dragged Litaidar along for her adventure. The other candidate had been far too down for Kitchi's tastes lately. All this talk about leaving the Weyr, not having anything more to do with dragon's and such. Kitchi wasn't going back to Benden and she had no intention of staying her by herself. True, Lita had never gotten over her dislike of whers, but surely dragons were different. They talked fore Faranth's sake! That meant they could be reasoned with. Kitchi knew though that it wasn't as simple as just getting Lita to talk to the dragon and their rider though. No, probably the screaming would just start up again. She'd figure out a way to bring her around, eventually. Hopefully a day out of the Weyr would help. Cutting another numbweed she stuffed it into her pouch before bouncing off to the next plant. Way easier away from the others.
magnadearel
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 3:17 pm
The_Muffin_Puppy
This morning had started well enough. She had been finally out of the infirmary just two seven days ago. Which in itself was a good and bad thing. True she was out of the clutches of the healers, but she was back in the clutches of the dragons. Her dislocated shoulder was better, though it tended to pop back out if she wasn't careful. The other injuries, lacerations, from teeth and claws had healed as well leaving only scars, mental and physical. The candidatemasters had expected her to go back to candidate duties. That was well and good except when those chores took her among the dragons.
She'd been inside safely doing something, couldn't remember what it was now, when Kitchi had come hunting her down. Her friend had insisted she put a blindfold on, that she had something fun for them to do. As first she'd resisted thinking Kitchi had been up to something. Finally she'd given in at her friend's perseverance. Litaidar had let herself be blindfolded and lead through the corridors. She was surprised to feel the sun warming her skin as she was led outside. Much to her dismay she was told to climb this soft hill. It was smooth and warm under her hand. Lita had assumed it was from being in the sun. That was only part of the answer.
Kitchi had gotten her to the top and straddled ridiculously across the top. Then she felt someone in front of her and a voice say "here we go." It was then the hill moved and Lita realized her folly. It wasn't a hill. It was a dragon. She was on a dragon and they were going somewhere. Naturally she screamed.
The teen leaned against a tree at their destination with her chest heaving. Wherever here was. It looked like the middle of no where to her. She wasn't looking forward to the return trip. In fact, she'd walk thank you. Lita didn't care how far or how long it'd take or even what lurked in the deep foliage down here. Somewhat calmed down, she took a look around herself and noticed a whole bunch of other people cutting plants. Numbweed, she realized numbly. They were out gathering numbweed.
"You gonna stand there looking glum the whole trip?" Kitchi asked as she popped up beside Lita, realising the girl had not followed her off as she had expected. "If your issue is the dragons then surely being here with less is better than being at the Weyr with more?" Wasn't this something people liked to do? Get out and about, going places they didn't usually. Personally Kitchi liked most to be within an infirmary, but other people didn't seem to get that. Smiling to herself Kitchi suddenly recalled the image of Lita climbing up the dragon blindfolded and the questioning look the rider had given her. It had worked though. Which in itself was amazing.
Leaning against the tree she looked around for a moment before moving again. Stepping through the undergrowth she lent down and gathered another numbweed plant into the satchel slung over her shoulder. She skipped back to Lita's position, looking at her friend and pulling an overly exaggerated grumpy face. Lita was lucky that she and Kitchi had been friends for turns. Given the girl's notorious habit of not doing things she didn't like or find especially interesting she'd probably have wandered off if she didn't actually care for the other girl.
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 7:50 pm
The_Muffin_Puppy
She scowled at her friend as Kitchi popped up. Lita did her best to hide the startlement at the other girl jumping up behind her. "Why shouldn't I? You tricked me!" The last was a bit accusingly. She cocked her head as Kitchi gave her an idea. "That might not be a bad idea. I'm sure I can make a cozy home out here some where." She knew enough about farming wherries to possibly do quite well for herself out here. It'd be some work to get started though. It was an idea for sure.
The teen glanced warily around for dragons lurking about then moved to follow Kitchi. She was responsible for getting her out here, so now she could take care of Lita while she was stuck with here. Lita watched her gathering the numbweed leaves. "How much do you plan to collect?" She noted how many people were in the area. It wouldn't take much to completely denude the plants in this area. "There's some over there that no one's gotten to yet." She pointed helpfully.
A sudden bark of laughter erupted out of Kitchi, louder than was probably socially acceptable. "You'd die. Within the first week." She could imagine what Lita was thinking. Nice comfy little cabin, secluded, probably had a little garden or something. No doubt a flock of wherries wandering about. "Where d'you think wild whers come from?" Then along comes a wher drawn in by the smell or the noise and with no big stone walls to protect her Lita was a gonner. In all honesty Kitchi would likely go the same way. Although more likely that she'd have walked into the wher's den to find some kind of strange fungus.
Kitchi paused a moment and looked at the bag. "Dunno. Hadn't really thought about it. I guess when the bag's full I'll stop." They'd each been given a simple lunch so presumably they expected them to be here a while. Numbweed was a really commonly used thing too and with thread and all the Weyr could always use more of it. Her bag was still pretty empty and this area was getting depleted fast. She followed Lita's pointed finger and nodded, a grin on her face. "Over there it is then." Changing direction the teen moved off towards the next patch.
Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 9:22 pm
The_Muffin_Puppy
Lita pouted. She had nearly died back there! What difference did it make? Of course the weyr got tithes, and they had healers. Out here on her own there'd be no one to help her should she get hurt. Still it was a nice dream. She stared at Kitchi. Wild whers? "From incompetent handlers that's where." Everyone knew that whers left dimglow people. Then she realized that if enough ran away they might start breeding on their own. Wherries did that sort of thing if let loose to run wild again. Provided they didn't get eaten first. "Then I'll get some of those felines and canines to guard me!" She was thinking fast, trying to come up with something to counter Kitchi's point. Lita ignored that those animals might not be able to handle a wher.
She made a disagreeable face as her friend wandered in the direction she'd point. Ugh why had she done that? It was probably better than hanging out around here. With a grunt the teen limped after Kitchi. She picked a couple of leaves and passed them on to be added to the bag. When enough numbweed had been gathered they'd start boiling it and that's the job that really stunk! Lita was lost a bit in thought as she trailed along.
D'rec had been bored lately, there seemed to be nothing going on in between running errands. He'd focused his attention on his wobbly Lucath, but even those moments seemed to be a blur of monotonous tediousness. There was nothing exciting, nothing new to urge him forward. "Mine? Let's go out today." The voice inside of his head belonged to his dragon and his heart ached slightly. He'd been distant with Lucath, unwilling to share his misery with the little dragon.
He peered outside and spotted the creature, raised upon his hind legs in that peculiar way he had. Sure, pal. We'll go out. He smiled and waved his hand at the dragon before hurrying out into the weyr, his eyes sparkling with excitement. Something new!
As they walked the well known paths of Trine they stumbled across one of the healers, making a mad dash towards the infirmary. When she spotted them she called, "There's a messenger! Can you go out and collect numbweed? Only two have answered the call for it. Why don't you go and find some too! Keep busy!" She disappeared as the last line left her mouth and the man's jaw set.
Work came before play. Nodding stoically he and his dragon hurried from the weyr and wandered aimlessly searching for the numbweed. They came across Lita and Kitcha and a grin rose on his face. A burly trumpet blew as Lucath called to them readily. D'rec groaned inwardly, why was his dragon so amiable?
The_Muffin_Puppy
mangadearel
Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 10:13 am
"Then they go out, make new whers, those whers make more whers and so on." That was how animals worked and whers were just animals, same as people, dragons and even her beloved wherries. Kitchi packed another plan into her satchel and snorted a laugh. "And where you gonna get those? They aren't cheap." She had to buy them from someone. Unless she fancied going out and taming herself a wild feline. Kitchi'd heard that those things were nasty pieces of work that hung out in groups. So, death by wher or feline pack?
"Thank you," Kitchi said brightly as she was handed the leaves. One way or another Lita needed to get over this dragonkind issues. Whers, firelizard, dragons, the lot of them were all over pern. She'd save herself a lot of stress by just facing up to the issue now. What if, a few turns on, it was decided that Benden should be repopulated because of threadfall. What was she going to do then? Wander off into the mountains and be a hermit? Kitchi knew it wasn't as easy as just getting over it, but she wanted her friend to at least try something besides running off.
A loud noise pulled Kitchi from her thoughts and she turned quickly. Shaff. This was not what she wanted to try... Her eyes darted from the dragon to Lita and in a swift motion she firmly planted herself between the two, standing close to Lita. She stretched out her arm and held up her hand. "That's close enough." Did she think the dragon was a threat to Lita? No. Did she think Lita thought the dragon was a threat to her? Oh yes she did. She wanted to help Lita, but having an overly boisterous youngster being loud and too friendly was never going to work. This pair could just go help someone else gathering numbweed. There were plenty of other people and dragons around that needed the help. Ones that would be less traumatised by their company.
Sorry I didn't get the quotes. name spelled wrong. Also, Lita and Kitchi came by dragonback to the middle of the jungle. It's probably unlikely a baby dragon could walk that distance in a short space of time.
Lita was only half listening to her friend go on and on and about whers breeding. She wanted to find a way to prevent that so she could just live out here. The traumatized teen started to pout each time Kitchi put a substantial hole into her plans. At least her friend wasn't letting her go off half-cocked. She had just opened her mouth for another quick retort. Why couldn't this be easy? Like finding a pile of marks just laying around nobody wanted. Instead a loud noise sounded quite close by. Shaking, Lita turned slowly as Kitchi moved between her and a boy approaching.
She tensed, a boy couldn't make the noise she heard. Her eyes fell on the baby blue beside him. Lita was truly grateful that Kitchi tried to protect her, but it was all too much. That blue was linked with the other two who'd run her over in her mind. With a deep breath, Lita let out a fearful shriek, probably startling any other of the nearby numbweed pickers, and she turned blindly to bolt into the brush. She'd take her chances in the wilds than face that thing!
Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 4:46 am
"Lita! Lita, no don't-" And she was gone. Kitchi let out a frustrated sounding snarl and pushed the heels of her hands into her forehead. This was not what she wanted. She'd never get Lita over this fear if things like this kept happening. She looked back at the boy and his blue. It wasn't their fault really, they couldn't know about Lita and her issues. Unfortunately Kitchi was more concerned about her friend than how they felt. "You. Both of you," she said bluntly, pointing a finger at the pair. "Stay here. Do nothing, help someone else, I don't care, just stay here." Lita wouldn't go far, but if she thought the dragon was following her then Kitchi could only imagine how hard she'd be to find.
Turning from the dragon and rider pair she darted after her friend. "Lita, wait! Lita!" At least it was daylight right now. Lita wasn't going to go barrelling into a wher. Unless she decided to hide in a cave... No, Lita was smarter than that. Kitchi also imagined a wher den would smell. Another reason to avoid them. Hopefully Lita would just run in one direction and not put on some masterful avoidance tactic. Kitchi was not a jungle-dweller by nature and numerous branches smacked her in the face and shins as she ran. Far too caught up in the chasing the teen didn't even notice the root that snagged her foot and sent her pitching face first into the ground. Kitchi let out a shriek of her own before it was muffled by the dirt. She groaned and rolled over. "Lita! Come on, I'm not made for the wilderness! Please come back!"
The man froze right now and then frowned, Mine, wait! He called to his dragon. The dragonet paused and looked back at his rider in confusion, standing on his hind legs like a wher. The dragonet churred something and the rider shook his head. "I'm sorry!" The man called after the girls as they ran off. His brows furrowed and he looked at the dragonet as the creature slowly came back. It gave him a little chirp. Sorry, mine... some people are scared of your kind.
"Why? We're not scary?" Lucath asked sadly, cocking his head for a while. "Why would anyone be afraid of a dragon?" It made no sense to the dragonet. D'rec sighed and shook his head before walking away to find some numbweed. Come on. He told his dragonet.
"But... that girl?" The dragonet asked. Leave her. D'rec growled. Lucath whined a little softly but dipped his head in defeat and followed his rider.
Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 2:07 pm
The_Muffin_Puppy
xx the prettiest fish xx
No worries. Aawwww poor Lucath! *luffs on him* They are welcome to follow of course. =P
Lita could barely hear Kitchi calling her as she crashed through the foliage. Fear had filled her mind and urged her to get away. So run she had. Why had the world turned into such a scary place, she wondered in a back corner of her mind. Logically she knew dragons and most whers wouldn't hurt a human, yet emotionally when she got near them everything logical got clouded.
She was panting when she got tangled in some thorny branches. Freeing herself caused some scratches. Lita heard Kitchi shriek and turned to face the way she'd come. Was her friend alright or had a nasty wher gotten her? "Kitchi?" She called hesitantly, realizing she was pretty well surrounded by jungle. One direction seemed lighter than the others and she slowly pushed her way through. The foliage fell back and she found herself standing on a beach. Well at least now she could see further than 2 feet in front of her.
Lying on her back Kitchi heard Lita call, maybe her falling had helped after all and the other teen would come back for her. She waited a few minutes, but couldn't hear anyone nearby. Hm, maybe Lita had gone the wrong way. Or stopped like her and they were both just stood like tubers waiting for the other to find them. Huffing to herself, Kitchi rolled onto her front and then pushed herself up. The call had come from that way, right? It was a good thing that it was only around midday, she had plenty more time to find Lita and drag her back to the group. She wondered how long it would take for someone to come looking for them. It'd be tricky for a dragon and rider to find them in the jungle if they flew over, so it'd have to be on foot. They wouldn't leave without them, surely they'd do a headcount and notice that they were down a pair.
Kitchi continued to push through the foliage, by now she was quite thoroughly covered in cuts and what she was sure would develop into little bruises. Lita best appreciate this. The teen was far too wrapped up in watching where her feet went to notice the light ahead of her or the distant sound of waves. It wasn't until the foliage got thin enough that the sunlight hit her that Kitchi looked up and realised where she was. Well, that was unexpected. Clearly she was too absorbed in making sure Lita didn't fall off the dragon to look around as they landed. Looking around now she spotted the other teen just a little ways along the beach. Jogging up to Lita it was clear the Kitchi wasn't amazingly happy about the whole affair.
"I get you don't like them, but really? Running off into the jungle on your own?"
Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 3:28 pm
The pair was strolling around searching for numbweed, but Lucath was still concerned for the girl who'd run off. Not that he'd let his rider know this. The blue looked towards the man whom he was bonded and shook his head. He had to find that girl! He had to show her dragons were nothing to be afraid of! How could someone live their life afraid of his kind? It was insane! As his bonded reached down to pluck some numbweed the dragonet turned and trumpeted, running on his hind legs down a short slope and into the wild. D'rec lurched around and called, "Lucath!" Growling inwardly the young man raced after his dragonet. He couldn't believe the stubbornness of his bondmate! How could the dragon just run off like that! "Lucath come back!" He shouted again.
Lucath kept running, occassionally falling to all fours as he raced after the girls. Their scent tantalized his nose as he ran and finally he came across them. His blue hide well hidden by the wilds. He peered out with his faceted eyes and then slowly stepped out. He was behind Lita, so she couldn't see him, but Kitchi could. Why are you so scared of me? The dragon questioned, broadcasting to be heard by the girls.
D'rec stumbled, he was too far away to halt his dragon, and with his larger form, he wasn't exactly agile through this foliage and such. He couldn't hear Lucath, and that concerned him. The dragon was tuning him out.
She stood uncertainly on the hot sands. Not quite as hot as the hatching sands, but close enough to bring back unpleasant memories. Lita turned slowly to check down either side of the foliage that extended out. Which way to go? "Kitchi?" She called hoping her friend would come out. As though the jungle spit her out, Kitchi popped clear of the plants and onto the beach. Lita gave a glad cry and ran to her friend to throw her arms around her neck.
"Thank you, thank you! I know I'm sorry." Tears of joy trickled down her cheeks at being found by her friend. She jumped as a voice sounded in her head. Lita whispered, "did you hear that?"
