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 Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 7:39 pm
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Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 7:41 pm
Plop!
Avani cringed as she fell backwards onto the ground.
She looked at the weed that she had been pulling, the stupid thing. It had been harder to pull out than any of the others. She placed it with care into the basket she had brought along to the south field. Granny said to be gentle with weeds because if just thrown about, their seeds would scatter, and that would just cause more work later.
Avani sat up and looked around her. She, her parents, and the field hands they have gotten for the time being were readying the field for the spring planting. Granny had always said the more hands you had working, the faster you would get done. Avani looked over the field and saw that they were far from done.
She sighed, whipped her brow and was glad that she had gloves on. She wouldn’t have to worry about rubbing that awful smelling salve on them tonight at least. She got up from the ground and decided to take a break; her basket was full of weeds anyway.
Avani struggled with the full basket, heading over to the burn pile. She had it plucked from her by one of the work hands. He smiled down at her, and she smiled back and said her thanks, then headed over to the shade tent to rest a bit. It was hard work setting up a ranch!
After her break, she went back to work, picking up an empty basket and going over the cleared sections. She gathered the weeds that had dropped from other’s baskets, trying to get all the plants so they could not sprout seeds. There would be weeds of course, so was the nature of any plant life, but she could do her best too stop more than the usual amount.
Soon the planting would start, and the real work would begin. Avani looked about for more stray weeds, and upon seeing none, she went and started on pulling up the ones she had left before her break.
Dispite being cold, Avani was working up a sweat again. She remembered the stories Granny had told about when she had to start work on the old farm. It was just as hard Avani thought it would be from Granny’s description. She sighed again. She would rather be running around looking for something fun to do, but she wanted to help Papa get this field ready. He already had promised to give her a little patch of ground near the house for a small garden of her own like Mama would have.
The thought of her own patch of land spurred her to getting this land ready for Papa’s own crop.
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Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:34 pm
“This is how ya do it Avani girl.”
Avani watched as her father placed the wooden rod into the ground and wiggled it into the plowed soil till it reached a certain depth. As he took the rod out of the soil, he then took a few seeds and placed it into the hole he had made. Then he covered it lovingly, and patted the soil on top.
It was the spring planting. The fields had been weeded from it’s fallow state, one that it had been in since well before they had moved here. The soil had been tilled (Avani was forbidden by her mother and father both to go near them since she was small and the Hastars could be hard to handle, and the plow was hard to handle as well), and now the hands were planting the wheat that would be in this field.
While her family was trying both rice and wheat this year to see what would sell better, Avani didn’t mind as long as she was allowed to help out. Though she still wanted to take cooking lessons with Mama, she would make time later after her time in the fields for the day was done.
Avani was dressed in one of her old dresses, with her own bag of seeds and rod of seeds. She was with her father in a far off corner of the field so they wouldn't bother the other hands as they worked.
“You try now.” Avani’s father said standing back allowing her to stand beside the row they were working. She marked off the space between holes, and dug her rod into the ground. She wiggled it this way and that, and tried to make it like her father’s. Her tongue came between her teeth as she concentrated on how deep it needed to go.
“There ya go.” Papa said, “That’s deep enough.” He took the stick from out of the ground and her hand and said pointing to the dirt marking. “If ya go too deep, it won’t be able to get out of the soil, but if you don’t make it deep enough, the roots won’t take.” He then took a piece of chalk and marked her stick where the soil had reached and said, “This is the right depth Avani girl. If you practice in your own garden, soon you won’t need the mark.” He handed back the stick and smiled brightly at her saying, “You can feel the depth though the stick, and will be able to move as quick as the other hands here on the farm.”
Avani looked out over the field and saw how quickly the hands were working. This was the first season she was allowed to be in the field at the same time, and was rather excited. She had been given some seeds to grow vegetables and vine fruit in her garden. She couldn’t wait!
She placed some seeds in the hole her father had help make, and placed the soil over the seeds reverently, hoping it would grow big.
The next morning, Avain got up and did her chores quickly, and then got out her stick and some of the seeds for her own garden. She went out to the small patch of land out by the big tree in front of the house. Avani was particularly proud of this since people could see her garden from the road. She herself had dug the ground up and mixed some of her father’s compost and soil together to get the same mix that Mama had in her garden out back, and the flowerbeds in front of the house. The bed was rather large, but Avani was certain she could fill it with lots of good things she could proudly present Mama with to cook up.
She slung the bag that held her various seed pouches over her head and began practicing what her father had told her about yesterday. She did mess up a bunch, and knew she had a long way to go to be as good as her Papa, but she pushed on, wanting to do the best she could before lunch.
With a little love these plants would be the best in the whole area…. Well, besides Mama and Papa’s of course.
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Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:43 pm
Avani tiptoed downstairs with her stuffed pumpkin Kin. She was also in her pajamas, and should have been in bed.
She hadn't been able to sleep, she didn't know why. But she knew that the reason Papa couldn't sleep was one of the sheron was going to have a calf. Perhaps that is why Mama had gone to bed a while ago, and Papa hadn't.
She got to the doorway of Papa’s study and, as she peeped into the room, saw him deep into a book. She wondered why Papa was reading at this time of night.
She must have made a noise for Papa lowered the book and looked questioningly at her. She smiled and beamed up at him.
“You should be in bed Avani girl…” He said placing his finger in the book to mark his space, closing the book on it, and placing it in his lap, “What keeps you up till this time of night?”
Avani hugged Kin and moved forward looking away for a moment. The windows were shut tight against the last cold of the year, and a fire was dying in the fireplace. There was however, enough oil in the lamp to last a good while yet.
She moved up to her Papa, looked up to him and said, “I couldn't sleep. Why couldn't you?”
Her Papa smiled warmly, patted his lap, and tried to help Avani up with one hand. Once she was settled, he opened the book and said, “I need to read on how to birth a sheron.”
Avani was confused; didn't the sheron’s on the old farm have babies all the time?
“I thought you knew how to do that already.” She said looking up at her father, “Didn't you have baby sherons on your farm growing up?”
Her father smiled and said, “I may have helped a few times, but not a lot. I had my hands full with the crops most years.”
Avani looked at the book and saw drawings of a Orderite man holding buckets of water carrying them towards a sheron in a pen with lots of hay. Did sherons need to eat a lot when giving birth? Avani tried to read the book, it seemed full of words she didn’t know.
She scrunched her nose and said, “Do they need a lot of help?”
What was she thinking? It’s a sheron, they needed all the help they could get…
Avani’s father chuckled and said, “All animals we raise here are like our crops Avani girl. They need us to protect them and love them so they can grow up and nurture us with their sustenance. It is their circle of life, just as we have ours.” He shut the book and placed it on the table next to his chair that he was sitting in. He hugged Avani and said, “We must honor and respect them and be there for them as they are weaker than us and cannot do for themselves what we can do for ourselves.” He sighed and said, “When you get older Avani girl, you will understand more about what I said.”
Avani scrunched her nose up and made another face, though she was getting sleepy. “I always have to get bigger to understand things….”
Avani’s papa smiled secretly to himself as his daughter fell asleep in his arms. He kissed her forehead and carried her upstairs to bed, shutting off the lamp as he went.
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Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 2:18 pm
-Name: TBD
-Meaning: TBD
-Race: Hybrid: 1/2 Orderite (Mother), 1/2 Oblivionite (Father)
-Path: Civilian
-Class: Laborer
-Profession: Blacksmith
-Weapons: Bow and Arrows
-Pets: TBD
-Personality: This boy loves to have fun. Even when it is work he loves to find the fun in things. This however tends to cause trouble when he forgets it's work and not play, which is often enough to cause such trouble. (This will last from Infant through apprentice. When Adept he will continue to have fun while he works, but knows how to tamper down the urge to play while doing his chores) He also loves an excuse to go out beyond the confines of the house, even if it's with an adult. He will eventually be as tall as his father, and so dotes on his mother carefully.
He will have an artistic side, that affects the weapons he makes, he likes to carve/place decorations on them, such as intricate designs for the metal of the weapon, cross-guards, ect... He will be shy about his love of decorating the weapons he makes, even after his parents find out that he likes to do that with them. Mostly he will question his ability to show the "soul" of the weapon and if the owner could see that it is more than just a piece of metal.
-Likes: He loves chocolate cake. For some reason he loves it above all other treats. Though he gets seconds of cake a lot, he tends to be active enough not to gain weight (through out life). That being said, he loves to go off with his father and brother when his Papa hunts for food. He loves the way his father uses the bow and arrow, how calm and big he seems! (infant and apprentice) He also loves his twin brother very much. He always looks for an opportunity to rough house with him, and if his Papa or Mama joins in, it's even more fun! He loves working in the ground as well: Who wouldn't want an excuse to dig in the dirt?! (infant and apprentice) But what he really likes to do, is to sit and watch his uncle working at the forge. It is really interesting to see how he can shape metal! He must be really strong to bend it! (infant and apprentice)
-Dislikes: He hates broccoli. HATES it. But he grudgingly eats it for his mother. (and eventually finds at around the Adept stage that if he puts something like cheese on it, he will eat it happily!) He hates when he has to take a bath, but then realizes it's a chance to play in water with a reason, making bath time a chore for his parents. (infant and apprentice) He dislikes when his parents have to be a way for a long time. While he loves to be watched by his uncle, he would miss his parents something fierce when they went out to hunt for a long time. (infant and apprentice). He dislikes being called Rai, and would only let his family and eventual wife call him that.
-Strengths: He will help out the traveling peoples on Ayr in a pinch! He knows how one could get easily lost on a mostly un-populated land (adept-master), he also, because of his mother and father's training in the hunt, pays great attention to details, not just while out hunting, but in his work as a blacksmith.
-Weaknesses: Sweets... especially chocolate cake... even more so his mother's cake.... Pretty girls often tend to make him forget his chores (adept till expert), and also trying to find the next moment to go off and have fun.
-Quirks: He tends to go very quiet when a cute girl comes around, even his Auntie Avani when she comes to visit his mother and how she is getting along with the plants and animals. This will continue into adulthood, extending to quietly helping them out if they need it. He finds calmness in working with metal, one of the reasons he loves the craft so much.
-Fears: He really fears that someone would find out he loves to work as a blacksmith. He loves being able to create things with his hands, even if they are smaller than his grandfather and uncle's. Does this make him less than a man? Does this make him "soft"? He fears that women would be repulsed by his love of "making metal bend".
-Plots: Eventually when he is in his late adept stage I would like him to get into a forge accident that "exposes" his love of smithing. He will have a scar on his chest that will extend from his left shoulder to his right hip from a bad burn that he got from not properly handling a burning project. This is about the time I would like his parents to find out that he has been creating intricate designs on his weapons.
Along with his regular work of making useful stuff with he forge (weapons, tools, ect...), he would make ornamental stuff to go along with it, just learning how to do stuff by himself, like small designs in the metal or sword guards. He tries to make, at least, his weapons "have a soul" (< designs on the blade, cross-guard, ect) than be just pieces of metal that kill. He would ask himself the questions: "Is this good enough? Does it describe what I want it to feel like? Can other's see what I am trying to do?" He would feel he is not good enough (early on in his work) to show others, hence what his parents find out about him when he has his accident.
It would be nice if he could get some training from his grandfather later on in life, but for his apprentice and adept stages his uncle would be fine for his teacher.
Eventually I would like him to find a woman who would understand his need to design the weapons the way he does, and has no qualms about his scar. She would also not care he is a Hybrid as well. (But I am not opposed to her parents having problems with that. We all need drama in our lives emotion_awesome )
He would also know how to hunt and use a bow and arrow, even though he would not be a fighter for treasure as a career, he would still love to go on hunts with his family. He would also design weapons for his parents and brother to improve efficiency in the wind torn land. Eventually he would love to go and find a place to have his own smithy, even if that means leaving his home.
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Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:17 pm
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