[Log] Pack-Dragon
Who: Cullen, Lassen, Melata, Xeledyr
When: Unknown
Where: Eastern Bowl, High Reaches Weyr
What: Melata gets some candidates to help unload Verenth.
Eastern Bowl, High Reaches Weyr
Standing on the eastern side of the bowl, you realize why this is one of the most striking Weyrs on Pern. Arrayed around the north rim of the bowl are the Seven Spindles: high crownlike points formed of old volcano flows which were eroded to sharp spikes. The bowl itself is a rough ovoid shape, with a large lake taking up a good portion of the southeastern part. The bowl seems to slant down to the lake shore, and the soil becomes a little looser in that direction. From the east, the slight aroma of herdbeast and wherry hide rises from the feeding grounds. The northeast section of the bowl is full of activity: training of dragons both young and old goes on in a large clearing near the entrance to the weyrling barracks and dragon infirmary. Several small boulders dot the area to the north, forming a winding path to the ledges leading into the weyrleaders' quarters.
The early evening crystal clear as the sun sets over the western rim of the bowl. It is completely still, no winds blow and the summer air temperature feels comfortable.
Contents:
Verenth
Obvious exits:
Weyrleader Ledges Western Bowl Floor Dragon Infirmary Candidate Barracks Weyrling Training Room Feeding Grounds Lake Shore
Melata calls as she sees a Candidate going across the bowl, "Boy! Lad! Come here! You don't look too busy at the moment!"
Busy? Lassen? Never! Indeed, he's just loitering around the bowl, ambling around and peering curiously at those who pass by, offering friendly smiles. That changes, however, when Melata yells for him. Jerking around and stumbling over, well, his own two feet, Lassen eventually makes his way over to her. "Lassen, actually, but all those--the other ones--'ll work too," he remarks with a grin. "What d'ya need?"
Melata eyes the grin: it looks a bit on the impertanent side. Well, he is a teenager. "Candidate...Lassen, yes? I need help unloading my dragon." She indicates her blue, Verenth, next to her. He seems to have several bulky bundles strapped to his back, most of them smelling of sharp salves and other medicines healers would have need of. "Be a good lad and climb on Verenth and start tossing, gently, down the bundles."
"Lassen, yep," The youth affirms brightly. Hands on his hips, he stares up at Verenth mildly, then nods agreeably. "Kay. Say, what is all this junk? It smells /awful/." He takes a big whiff, grimacing and hacking exaggeratedly. But, with a shrug, he steps forward to scramble gracelessly up the dragon's side and grab the first big package.
Melata says, "Verenth doesn't really care for it, neither. Salves and such, from what I understand. For the dragonhealer, mostly, but a few for the Weyrhealer as well. And if you get a burn or scratch, you probably wouldn't be complaining so much about the smell then." She indicates where the bundles should be piled, near Verenth's front right foot, as she goes to the other side of the dragon and starts unloading from that side.
Lassen half-turns awkwardly to eye Melata. "Sure I would," he corrects her with a grin. "I mean, just 'cause it feels good and helps and stuff like that don't mean it don't, you know, smell bad. I mean, really. It's /bad/. How'd you sit up here with it?" Jostling the first bundle, he half-slides, half-falls off of Verenth, setting his load down in roughly the appointed place.
Melata says, "I was fine in front, with the wind blowing the small backwards. Verenth is more sensitive to it. He says it reminds him of the dragonhealer, which I can understand. Dragons don't retain many long-term memories...unless they are tramatic or make a big impression. When he got his wingscore, that was both." She points to his healed wing scars, then deposits another bundle on the started pile. "So, Candidate, been to the egg touching yet? I hear that they've started."
Lassen nods understandingly. "So it, er, reminds him of the dragonhealer? And--oh! When he got hurt, right," he says, with a grimace of sympathy for the blue. "Those look nasty, too. Sorry," adds the young man to the dragon, eyeing the scores. "I mean, I'd hate to get messed up like that. Fall, ugh. Glad I won't never have to worry about it, you know? Anyway, huh? Oh, egg touchings, right." He shrugs, unloading another package to the ground and returning for a third. "Nah, haven't made one yet. I want to, though, you know what I mean? I mean, I've only seen the eggs and the sand and stuff from, well, a long way away. Does it look any different down there?"
Melata peers at Verenth as the blue looks back at her. "The scars don't hurt him, so don't worry about them. He thinks that they make him more attractive to the greens, actually. And, yes, the eggs do look different from the Sands. Any particular egg that you've an eye on?" She loosens another rope.
"Aw, right," answers Lassen with a knowledgeable smirk. "That ol' rugged look, right? Girls fall all over that one, you know? I mean, some guys, they just get girls fawnin' all over them for nothing. I don't get it. Do you get it? You're a girl--you gotta know why y'all do it, right?" He pauses in his work, cocking his head curiously.
Cullen has connected.
Melata peers under the neck of her dragon at the 'you're a girl' comment. "A bit older than they type of 'girl' you'd be interested in, Lassen. And I never was really for those 'rugged' types. Still, if you think that is what you like..." She lets that trail off. "I suppose that means you'd like a bronze to complete the rugged attititude."
Lassen shrugs amiably. "Well, you musta been young /some/ time," he says philosophically. "Anyway, I was just wondering. You don't like 'em? Huh. I thought all girls did." Another shrug, as he slides down again with a bundle of medicinal-smelling items. "Bronze? I dunno. I mean, they're nice and big and all, but hey. The way I figure, any dragon'll do. All of 'em attract girls, see." He sounds like he's revealing some great trade secret.
Cullen emerges from the candidate barracks, squinting some as his eyes adjust to the difference in the levels of light. He seems to be on his way somewhere, but not particularly in any hurry to get there, as his steps are more of a saunter than anything else.
Melata hmmms, "If not a bronze in particular, any color, then? For the male trying to get 'girls', a green may not do for you. blue or brown, then? 'Rugged' enough for you?" She raises her eyebrow at the use of the word rugged, not that Lassen could see it as there is the bulk of a dragon between them.
Verenth sighs slightly as the stinky stuff is taken off his back. It may be on the ground near him, but soon it will be taken away.
Lassen offers a goofy, good-natured grin. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, I guess I'll be happy 'n' make do with whatever I impress, right? I dunno. It'll all get sorted out sooner or later," he remarks as he nudges one box on the ground with a foot. Then: "Cullen, hey!" he hails the other candidate enthusiastically with a wave. "You wanna help? Can he help?" Lassen peers from Cullen to Melata and back again.
Melata looks around her dragon to the newly mentioned Candidate, "Yes, he can help. The more the merrier...and the faster the salves will be unloaded." Verenth shakes his wings, apparently in agreement. "And the faster a certain blue dragon can go get a bath in the lake."
"They probably don't need me in the kitchens just yet--" Which is good, considering he was going there at a snail's pace. Cullen detours to the group, assessing the situation, but it doesn't seem they want him for something overly hard. "Sure, just need help carying this?" His nostrils flair as he comes closer, noticing the smell.
"That's good," Lassen remarks to Cullen, glancing down at the candidate from a perch halfway up Verenth's side. He busies himself unloading another package and passing it down toward Cullen. "Here, set this one over thattaway, with the other ones, will you?" Lassen asks, shifting to lower the bundle to his friend. "Er, hope you don't mind helpin', by the way. I, er, well, I just kinda volunteered you," adds the young man with a grimace.
Melata nods, "You did. Cullen, over here and ehlp Lassen unload the bundles from Verenth." And with that, she steps away to give Cullen room on her side of the dragon, going to the supervisory role she is so good at.
Cullen accepts the bundle, carrying it over and placing it gently near the other items that have already been unloaded. He returns to stand near the dragon, ready for more, commenting quietly to Lassen, tone light, "Good thing I don't mind. What are these, anyway?" His curiosity always gets the better of him, unable to censor the question.
Melata says, "Salves and other medicines for the dragonhealer, and also the Weyrhealer."
"I dunno, 'zackly," answers Lassen. "Some kind of... stuff. For the healers, I think? Wasn't it? I dunno. I mean, I don't know nothing about that kind of stuff, so I wouldn't know what it is even if I know what is... is." He blinks confusedly, then shrugs it off. "Yeah. Like she said." He grins at himself, unstrapping another bundle and passing it down. "Almost done, too, I think. Boy, you sure can pack stuff on 'im, huh? A real work-runner." He beams at Verenth.
"Smells kind of like some of the stuff in the storerooms," Cullen comments, wrinkling his nose slightly as the scents drift up from the bundle he accepts from Lassen. The unloaded pile grows while the things remaining on Verenth shrinks.
Verenth arches his head around to look at Lassen, then snorts.
Xeledyr heads over from the western side of the bowl.
Xeledyr has arrived.
Melata says to Lassen, "Verenth doesn't really like to be compared to a runner. That's food to him. Sorta like having yourself compared to an orvine or porcine." She shrugs, and then notes, "Becareful on the last couple of ropes!"
Lassen is completely unaware that he might have offended Verenth, for he continues blithely unloading the last few packages and nodding. "Oh, right. My sister, though, she always compares me to porcines. Something about how much I eat, how I eat, something like that." He shrugs idly. "Yeah, it does remind me of them," adds the young man to Cullen, wrinkling his nose.
Melata pages to Cullen, Lassen, and Xeledyr: Sorry for the delay, negotiating with neighbor kid to water my outdoor plants while I'm gone.
Verenth peers over his shoulder, wiggling it as the last of the bundles onthat side are removed.
Cullen snorts softly at Lassen's comments, "Glad I didn't have any siblings." The last of the packages are collected and deposited near the pile, careful given Melata's warning. Any candidate that might wander by is likely to be wrangled into assisting, just as Cullen was drawn in by Lassen, although one curly-haired girl passing by squeaks some excuse about other chores to be finished.
Lassen grins at Cullen. "I got lots. Well, not lots, but a few. Three sisters and a brother, and some foster-siblings, too," he replies easily. "It's nice, though. I mean, me 'n' my little brother are best friends--we do everything together. Or, well, we did, anyway, until I came here and got searched and stuff." He shrugs, dusting his hands off as he drops back to the ground, task finished. "So. You need anything else now?" he asks Melata.
It's with an almost leisurely stroll that Xeledyr makes his way across the bowl floor. Arms are held above his head, elbows bent to allow his hands to grasp the opposing arm - so that they're crossed behind his head. In his wanderings, he passes within earshot of Verenth and the candidates enlisted to relieve the blue of his burden. As the candidate draws closer, it's easy to see that the leisurely stroll is really more of a tired dragging of feet, the blonde youth's mouth opening to yawn widely. His arms untwist themselves and his shoulders are rolled with a slow and deliberate motion, as if to loosen stiff muscle.
Melata nods, "The salves need to be taken to the dragon infirmary now, and those that the Dragonhealer points out will have to be moved to the Weyrhealer."
Melata says, "That simple enough, yes?"
Upon further instructions, Cullen collects two of the bundles, one in each hand, and begins shuffling his way over to the bowl. Spotting Xeledyr, he waves to the ash-blonde candidate, not yet noticing the tiredness "Hey, you busy? Want to help us carry this stuff to the dragon infirmary?" Passing on the friendliness that Lassen supplied for him--doesn't everyone share work with friends? As he nears the other candidate, he leans over and mutters, "Hold your nose, though, they don't smell too pleasant."
Verenth is free of bundles and ropes now, and turns to head for the lake. Time to remove the stink.
Verenth lumbers towards the lake shore.
Verenth has left.
"Yeah, wanna help?" Lassen seconds Cullen's offer toward Xeledyr, offering the new arrival a smile. Lassen bends to pick up a package, stacking another on top before he turns and trundles toward the infirmary. "C'mon--we get this done fast and we can go get something to eat," he calls back as he hastens inside.