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 Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:24 pm
"I know," Balt growled. He didn't mean to be so cruel. The next time he saw that candidate walking through the dinning hall he was sure to trip him. Even if he didn't learn his lesson it would make Balt feel better to see him take a spill.
It didn't help that the scroll he was looking at contained no valuable information. In spite of what he said earlier, it was endlessly frustrating to comb through scroll after scroll only to come up empty handed nine times out of ten, even worse now that he was in a bad mood. He set the useless scroll aside and leaned an arm over the back of his chair, eying the last scroll in his pile. He didn't want to look at it just yet.
"You know, I don't see you around much. I guess you mostly keep to yourself don't you?" he said, looking at Jalarant. He hoped a quick change of subject would help take his mind off the clumsy candidate.
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:08 pm
Jalarant smiled slightly at the tone of the man's voice. It was good to hear someone speak like that when he agreed with their anger. Too often, in this hold, he felt like everyone was crazy. There was so much... Insanity from the riders. Perhaps he was too old. But it felt good to hear someone be annoyed with the clumsiness of a person.
His last scroll was, again, junk. He put it in the pile and sighed, cracking his back against the chair. He felt all stiff. He'd probably have to go for a walk after this and get moving. When Balt stopped his work and asked him a question, he opened one eye to look at him.
"Hmmm?" He streteched his arms up high and leaned to rest his elbows on the table. "I'm not much of a people person," he said again. "There's a lot of young people here who show shocking lack of foresight and respect to their elders." His lips twitched up in a slight smile. "If I'd spoken to my father half as impetuously as some of these youngsters did to the teachers and the other residents, he would've beat all the hide off of me."
"So, I'm large and awkward, and I don't get along with a lot of people here. Instead of making a fool of myself, I stay back in the shadows and fail Impression after Impression. In a year or so I'll age out, and then I'll go back to the Mines and stop shaming the family." Those words weren't his own. That was his father's viewpoint of his candidacy: He would fail, and he would shame the family. Better to come back to the mines and get his Journeyman status. If he worked very hard, perhaps he could even make master in ten or fifteen years.
The smirk faded from his face, and he looked up at Balt with suddenly wide eyes. Well. That had been a little bit more information than asked. He could only imagine how much he'd be made fun of for this. "Er... And I... Ah, do that. Sometimes. The, uh, ranting. And the stuttering."
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:32 pm
Balt had hardly any respect for his elders either, except for those who deserved it. He learned a long time ago that being older doesn't necessarily make a person wiser. For example, he held his mother in much higher respect than his father and it wasn't just because of her rank. He sighed at Jalarant's apology. For him the apology was even more annoying than the ranting - at least the ranting gave him a chance to learn something about a candidate he knew virtually nothing about an hour ago, although most of his moaning was pretty painful.
"My father doesn't expect me to Impress either. I'm going to show him. If you hate your father so much why don't you just stay here? Who cares whether you Impress or not?" He honestly didn't see the point in complaining about it. Jalarant was an adult. He should be able to make his own decisions.
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:47 pm
Jalarant paused and shrugged. "Well... He's my Father." He said slowly. "I've been following his orders all my life. I doubt I have an original idea in my head." He grimaced, fiddling with a scrap of paper. This is why he didn't talk too much. He was awkward and he wasn't good at it. "I've had it drilled into me, don't shame the family, don't speak back to your elders, yadda yadda."
"Mining's what I know, it's what I'm good at. I could work for the Weyr somehow, I suppose. I'd like that. Even if I had to cross-craft or be a drudge." He sounded thoughtful. Returning home after a failed Impression was what he'd been told to do by someone he obeyed. "Like servin' them as a rider more but... Backup plans are needed."
He didn't ask what Balt was planning on doing if he didn't Impress. The man seemed smart. He'd be likely to find a dragon at one of Trine's frequent clutches.
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Sergeant Sargent rolled 1 100-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-100)
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:59 pm
"So do it," Balt said. He wasn't one to beat around the bush. From the way Jalarant talked about his father he doubted he would heed the advice of a fellow candidate, but that was really none of his concern. He didn't care what other people did with their lives as long as it didn't interfere with his plans.
He reached for the final scroll. Maybe this one would contain something of real interest.
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 11:10 pm
Again, another shrug. Perhaps he would be able to return to his hold and speak with his father. There were, undoubtedly, many more people there now who were able to do the work. Perhaps he'd let him off without a rant of how much he was disgracing the family? Maybe his father could make that his Turnday present.
Jalarant sighed and stood, somewhat sad that a moment of getting along with someone was going to come to an end. He gathered up the scrolls that had been useless and paused, looking to the scroll that Balt still had.
"That one go into the keep pile, or the worthless pile?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:19 pm
"Hold on, I haven't even looked at it yet." Balt unfurled the scroll and narrowed his eyes. He rolled up the scroll and stood, recognizing it immediately. "It's a catalog of old recipes. It doesn't even belong here."
He set the misplaced scroll apart from the others so he could file it in its proper place later. His father showed it to him before Balt was banished from the kitchen, so he knew where it went. He wondered if Jalarant heard about the salty stew incident. If he stayed here he would probably hear about it sooner or later, not that Balt cared. He started to gather up the useless scrolls. "Help me put these back. I'll take care of that one later. You know what to do with the good scrolls, right?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:45 pm
If Jalarant had heard, he probably woudn't have cared. Mistakes could happen, and besides. He likely would have eaten it anyway. He had a cast iron stomach and could handle most things. You could always throw greens in it, they went well with salt.
"They go to the Harper, right?" Jalarant said, helping to restock the scrolls. "If you'd like to run them to the Harper, I can stay back and finish putting these away."
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:08 pm
With Jalarant busy re-stocking the scrolls Balt could take credit for the two useful bits of information they found. Those two scrolls might prove worthless in the long run, but any information was valued. He nodded, going to pick up the scrolls for the Harper. "I'll meet you outside. We can get drinks at the mess hall."
He smiled. To his surprise, he seemed to have underestimated Jalarant. It might be worth while having him as a friend after all.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:36 pm
The usual unhappy young man smiled and nodded, quietly restocking the scrolls. He didn't want credit, and didn't care if Balt took the credit for the single scroll he'd found to be perhaps useful.
"Sure. That sounds... Nice." He said after a moment, still smiling. Very nice. "I'll come along when I'm finished." He began the hunt for the proper place of each scroll. It wouldn't do to have them put away incorrectly.
A friend? Maybe the Weyr wasn't so bad.
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