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 Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:01 pm
Illabel didn't like this job very much. There were quite a few reasons why. The smell being one of them. It was quite a warm day, with a blue sky and bright sun. This made the herdbeast pens an odorous place to be, and thending them an unpleasant chore.
She had a shovel and a barrow and was standing there, dismayed at the task. The sun beat down on her head, making her wish she'd remembered her hat. This was not her sort of chore at all. Give her washing, mending, tidying, preparing meals, washing floors, even latrine duty, and she was in her element. But this? She sighed, pushed her hair out of her face, and set to work.
Bartan was watching from a nearby herdbeast. The animals were so docile, so supid, he had learned he could lay on their backs to bask in the sun, and also get the heat from their hides as well. It was a good spot to bek, and made only better by his mistress being nearby. Her dislike of being there made not much difference to him at this point, as he was half asleep with contentedness. Sunbathing on a beast's back was the best way to pass an afternoon, in his opinion.
The barrow was a third full with feces when she began to consider the fate of these animals. She couldn't exactly regret it, as this kept the dragons fed and safe, whereas hunting could lead to injuries. Even so, it made her rather sad. They stood around all day, being fed and kept nice and fat, but never leaving their pens until that fateful day when they went into some big flapper's belly.
Frowning faintly, she paused to stroke the ears of one sleepy beast nearby. They were so velvety soft, it almost broke her heart. However, one glance into the vapid eye of the creature reminded her that truthfully, it wasn't that big a loss for the world. A sleephy chirrup of random agreement from Bartan made her smile. Leave it to him to put it into perspective. He was much superior to these critters, and she knew he knew it. She shook her head, not quite smiling yet. Death surrounded her on four hooves, and it was hard to shake the sense of sadness it gave her.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:32 pm
Beka had finished with her portion of the dishes early. A glance upward had told the others in the room where she had wished to be. But wasn't every Candidate's mind elsewhere? The red head had been given another chores to keep her idle hands from getting into more trouble, as she seemingly couldn't stay away from it lately.
Thus she had been told to go help whoever was out on the herd beast duty. It wasn't the nicest of chores, and in fact it tended to make the person smell for the rest of the day. Beka had changed into her most worn pair of tunic and breeches before wandering out to where she was supposed to be.
There was a girl already hard at work. A smile surfaced on Beka's face, and she moved to a jog to where the girl was. Those emerald eyes were dancing as the red head spoke.
"I was sent up here to help you out! I'm sure you wouldn't mind a hand. Do you want to move the barrel or shovel?"
With one of them wheeling behind the other, the work would go faster then if they worked separately. Beka looked around at the creatures and a thought about where they went never crossed her mind. Just how to get the job done well, and quickly! These things were always creating more mess to clean up!!!
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:44 pm
So focused on her own morbid thoughts, she jumped and nearly came unglued when someone suddenly arrived and spoke. She gave a faint squeak of surprise and spun around, scattering the shovelful she'd just scooped up. Bits and chunks rolled and bounced, cascading across the feet of her would-be helper. It was a good thing that it was summer, or all that might not have been dried and hard.
She gasped at the mess she'd made and only just barely stopped herself from slapping a hand across her mouth in chagrin. "Ooooh, I'm sorry!" she blurted, hurrying to try and gather it all back into a semblance of a pile. "I'm just no good at this! Give me a washrag or a broom and I'm good to go! But a shovel?" She paused and gave the other girl a weary look. "I haven't much of an idea on how to get this done best. If you know what you're doing, maybe I should wheel the barrow."
She didn't mind one bit declaring ignorance or not being suited for the task. However, she also didn't mean to make it sound as if she wanted the other girl to do all the hard, dirty work. She simply had no confidence in herself of getting it done quickly and in good order. "Maybe you could give me some tips and then I'll try the shovel again?" It had taken an inordinately long time to get the barrow a third full. There had to be a better way.
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