|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 3:14 pm
Half-Mark was hungry. Half-Mark was frankly, always hungry, and Dolmar was both irritated with that, and understanding. It took a lot of food to grow large and strong, and the brown little firelizard had never promised to be anything but both large, and, of course, strong. He'd also had the decency to learn, and lightning fast too, that screaming and wailing did not incline Dolmar into helping him any quicker. The brown had popped out of between perhaps half way into the afternoon break, and drifted in a lazy and graceful circle to perch atop his shoulder. A gentle nuzzle, combined with one brief, articulate chirp, as well as a mental impression of the dining hall, and the message was as clear as crystal. And so the pair was strutting down the halls, around the corner, down a flight of stairs, through two archways, and around another corner. Not the dining hall, but the kitchens would do, this time of day. Dinner was well underway being cooked, and even outside they could both smell simmering pots and roasting ovens. If a firelizard could comprehend 'heaven', the brown would have been thrumming that this was clearly how it smelled. Of course, Dolmar also felt himself to be above hunting around through steam and hot, sizzling pots and pans, and so his first thought was to pick out a drudge or weyrbrat to fetch food for him. And oh, just his luck! There was one right there! A rather...scraggly looking young...girl? He thought it was a girl. Well, no matter. They'd do. "You there. Come here," He called out to her, staring down his long thin nose at her. Atop his shoulder, the firelizard struck what could only be called a mirror pose, brown wings tucked tightly and neck stretched tall to peer down at the object of their paired attentions with twirling, haugty yellow-green eyes.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 9:37 am
Serfie had been lurking around the Weyr, dressed as as Drudge for about a sevenday but still hadn't had the chance to explore much during the day. Shed been stuck on one or another menial task and had yet to find the excuse to wander beyond where her tasks took her, however she'd very quickly memorised where she had been around the Weyr so moved pretty easily about. She had been very surprised at first at how decently Drudges were treated, compared to the filthy, slavelike conditions she had been taught. She was clean, warm, dry and fed as a Drudge, playing dumb was easy, all she had to do was keep her head down, her roughly hewn hair pulled over her scar so she wasn't so easily recognized, the fact she didn't talk to anyone helped. It had been so easy to fit in as a Drudge.
She had been there when the excitement of Fire lizards hatching had buzzed around and she had been tempted to sneak a ride but couldn't risk blowing her cover as she had been scrubbing the kitchens at the time. She'd watching covertly, with jealousy riddling her stomach as the lucky few bothered the cook with requests for gobbets of meat for the hatchlings. She had tried before to get herself a flit but wasted time, sat in the open, waiting for a green's clutch to hatch, only to find that they'd already been sucked dry by tunnel snakes or smashed by wherries, the one Gold clutch she had found, had been far too guarded by the mother and her flight of Bronzes and hadn't been able to get near.
It was the kitchens she found herself again, washing and peeling tubers, an extremely tedious task suited for drudge work, or occasionally a punishment for a weyrbrat or two. She absorbed herself in her task so much she hadn't noticed anyone entering until a voice called out at her, she closed her eyes for a second, gritting her teeth briefly, before bending her head towards the voice. She had to catch herself, to stop gaping at the firelizard mirroring His. She put down the peeler and scurried over like a good little drudge, holding herself much less proudly than she wanted to, her stomach roiling at the priveldged haughty expression on the young man and his flit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 6:23 pm
She certainly seemed well-disciplined enough, scurrying like a little trundlebug to heed him. Of course, it didn't exactly feed his ego—she was only a drudge after all, no one he'd even expect to react in any other way—but it still felt good to be listened to, obeyed.
He gestured into the bustling room with a long, elegant hand, turned palm-up to usher her along. "My firelizard is hungry, and as I must be returning to my duties soon, I've not the time to change my clothing following an errant spill or splash of soup, or should I grow moist from the steam. Be a darling, won't you, and fetch him something for me?" He smiled, though there was more than a little of a tunnelsnake in the expression. Maybe that was just the way his face looked? His words had been sweet enough. Almost sickly sweet... Atop his shoulder, Half-Mark punctuated the request with a sharp peep, and a flick of his tail in the direction Dolmar had gestured. Certainly a pair, they were.
"And nothing too tough or dry, of course. He can handle it just fine, but fresher food is healthier, and less taxing on his digestion." Obviously the boy indulged the firelizard to an almost absurd degree. Again the little brown peeped, happily flooding its master's mind with visions of many of its favorite things to eat. Namely, about everything it'd ever eaten. "I'd request a few spiderclaw puffs, but I cannot be certain they're on the menu today, and I don't really have time to stand around and watch you find someone to make them...so I'm sure whatever you find will be...adequate." He flicked his outstretched hand, a clear dismissal if ever there were one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 4:14 am
Serfie winced inwardly, it was blatantly obvious this was someone who thought he was above her, even as a drudge, she'd had a share of grudging respect for the jobs she did, cleaning the filth others made.
His flamboyant words didn't make him anymore likeable and she almost scoffed at his use of *darling*. His expression made her shudder and she held back from calling him a creep, she refused to blow her chance of sneaking into a Hatching somehow, by calling this pompous creep out. She was also no longer jealous of the flit, it was obviously spoiled rotten and a good match for Dolmar's arrogance.
She looked about, seeing if anyone was watching, feigning nerves in front of the pair and clenched her jaw when he got through his litany of how to feed a firelizard. "I know" she said quietly, barely more than a whisper as she tried to keep the snark from her voice, "no spiderclaws" she muttered, moving off, looking for something good for a flit, AH!, there was some sliced Wherry, just ready to serve, it was obvious it was for a higher ranking persdon in the weyr. She smiled to herself and grabbed some for the boy and his firelizard. If caught she might get a reprimand but she was ONLY a Drudge, doing as she was told, she couldn't reaaaally be blamed for theft. She wiped the smile from her face before returning to Dolmar with the slices of meat on a plate, along with a kinfe for him to cut it up into manageable pieces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:23 am
He watched the little drudge intently, probably trying to be sure she'd fully understood him. Generally he found they did, but a few back in his home hold had been...difficult, at times. Admittedly, the drudges in the weyr were overall in better health, better cared for, and thus somewhat smarter and more capable by turns, it seemed, but he'd never really taken the time to think about it. Who really spent time considering them, anyway?
His eyes narrowed just a fraction as she scuttled off to do his bidding. He'd caught a whisper of something before she'd gone, caught the movement of her lips, if not the exact words. He really did not have time to lecture about respect for one's betters, about knowing one's place in society, so she was lucky, today. While part of him promised to revisit the issue once he had time to see in done properly, another part of him was more dismissive, certain that he wouldn't even remember the perceived slight. Dragons didn't notice trundlebugs crawling over their claws, except when they were hatchlings, after all.
He inspected her proffered platter for a long moment before taking it from her. One hand cradled the plate, and another deftly took up the knife, slicing in without delay, before stabbing a bit to offer off the tip of the blade to the brown firelizard. The little creature reached out, plucking it with extreme delicacy, intent on getting not a speck on his claws or face. In such a fashion he fed the little lizard one, two, three slices of the meat. Finally sated, the brown looked between the platter, the girl, and Dolmar, before piping a brassy note. Dolmar sighed, all but pushing the plate back into the girl's arms before reaching up to pat the tiny thing's head. "If you insist, then. Still so soft-hearted..."
In an instant he had pulled something from his pocket, a small flat disc of wood...a mark? He didn't even bother to check the denomination before flicking it towards her. It clattered onto the plate he'd forced back on her, spun, then rattled to a stop. A ⅛ mark. "For your...efforts."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 10:20 am
Serfie was disappointed that no one yelled, no one had yet noticed the theft of the wherry meat, she sat, watching the pair, almost excitedly waiting for the sparks to fly but ... Nothing. Damn.... Ah well, there was time, and there would be other chances, especially if she found a way to the candidate barracks, trundlebugs in his bed perhaps. No one EVER suspects a drudge, generally being though of as not quite bright enough to play mean tricks, though most she had bumped into and worked weith, being brighter thasn she had imagined.
She hadn't missed the long look before he had begun to feed his fireizard, for a moment she had thought he would demand something else but no, he stuffed the little creature full. She had to admit, he was a neat, fastidious little creature. She gave the beast a confused glance, remembering herself, pulling her hair over the scarred side of her face, tugging on it and looking away. She barely had chance to grab the plate, it almost clattered to the ground but she caught it in time, when he muttered something to the flit.
There was a clatter on the plate and she looked at it dumbly, genuinely surprised, drudges generally didn't get given marks, not unless they had something special to depend it on. However she wasn't slow in grabbing it, while it wasn't much, to as girl who was mostly living on her own except for these scouting forays, even a ⅛ mark was a fortune, it would go a long way if shed hoarded it for now. She looked up at the flit and the boy, flashing them a real smile before catching herself, putting the coin away and scurrying off to put the plate away, wanting to go back to peeling tubers.
She fretted, had her smile blown her cover? Did he suspect she was more than just a Drudge, or would he think it a brief flash of nothing important?, she was sure he hadn't seen her scar, but what if??? ... Shards and Wherdung, had she blown her chance of scouting throughways of the Weyr? ....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:01 pm
Narrowed, almost feline-like olive eyes watched as she nearly fumbled the plate, and one slim, perfectly arched brow rose up, up, up towards the older boy's nearly-bald pate at her exhuberant smile. How funny and fickle these little folk were, he determined quietly to himself; she'd seemed almost upset for him to treat her as the menial laborer that she patently was, and now she had a look for him as if he himself had been the one to lay Faranth's own golden egg on the sands. It would be charming, almost, if he did more than attribute it to a simple mind leaving her emotions wide open to be read. He underestimated her, clearly, and thought her to be even more childlike than she was. Like a wher, perhaps, or a particularly willful canine. Some of the drudges in his home hold hadn't even been able to speak, so at least her lack of verbalized thanks did not phase him.
She didn't know it, but his own unfamiliarity with any sort of brutal injury would have left him oblivious even if he had seen her scar. He might note it too deep to be threadscore, but aside from determining what few good looks she had ruined by it, it would not have impressed upon him in any sort of way. She didn't need to worry though; by the time she'd returned the platter to its place he had turned, gliding back out of the kitchens with measured and practiced grace.
Atop his shoulder, the keen little brown firelizard had turned, and stared after her until they were out of sight, eyes still twirling a slow, pensive greenish hue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
