Logs:'Mending' Nets
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| RL Date: 30 April, 2011 |
| Who: Azzarion, Devaki, Emmeline, Riorde |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Riorde and Azzarion are up to no good, Devaki never quits rough-housing, and Emmeline is all teacherly until she punches people. |
| Where: Beach, Western Island |
| When: Day 15, Month 8, Turn 25 (Interval 10) |
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| The afternoon is slowly burning away the layers of fog that have closed the island's view of the sea for most of the morning. Although still cold and damp, the lack of rain has brought many people out of the settlement and out onto the beach for various chores or free-time activities. Azzarion is there on the beach doing work, stretching out a series of nets and checking for needed repairs. His shirt is off and his pants are rolled up to the knees. It's downright balmy to him at least. Or perhaps the activity of hauling the nets is keeping him warm enough that the extra clothes aren't needed. Riorde was up early, out fishing in the gray, foggy dawn with her father and brother when the fish were biting most. It earns her a respite now, and the girl comes wandering down the beach, getting out of the encampment after her chores there are over. She walks slowly, without much purpose since she knows where this walk will end, the exact length of this beach. Nearing Azzarion with his nets, she nods to him, but says nothing direct, not yet - but that is par for the course with Riorde. Azzarion pulls at the length of coiled reeds and vines that serve as the hemp of the netting to test the strength of a particular area near a ragged hole and sighs as another few webs fall apart. At this point he looks up, through the fall of messy braids, just as Riorde is happening by. There's the usual reserved smile for her, around the lengths of rope he's holding in his mouth. Squatting down, the lad gives another sigh, removing rope from his mouth as he scowls darkly at the problematic netting. Riorde nearly steps past and continues on her walk until Azzarion's audible sigh. She pauses, toes digging into the sand, and swivels towards him. She looks at him and his nets, focusing mostly on the latter. "Alright there?" Azzarion's eyes drift back up from the mess of the net and his brows crinkle slightly, he wasn't expecting the girl to pause. The lad makes a 'so-so' motion with his hand and then points accusingly at the big hole in frustration. He might leave it at that, not saying anything but at last he does speak, voice rough, "I don't know if it's worth fixing. It's going to come undone if the Big One gets caught in it." "Big One?" Riorde steps closer, coming alongside. She crouches down, hair falling freely over both shoulders as she takes a look at the hole in the nets. "Maybe. Depends on if it's more time to fix or to make a new one." Azzarion nods when Riorde echoes his remark, but he doesn't comment on it. The Big One is the Big One, in his mind, and he's never been one for too much chit-chat anyway. In fact, he's quietly twinning the ropes as he lets her inspect the hole to give her opinion of the status of this particular net. The net itself is sizeable, the edges in good condition while the center has some water rot bits and other worn bits and will take some serious time to correct what time and weather has done to it. When the length of rope is tied and knotted to his liking he asks, "What do you think?" Reaching for that place that has the largest hole to see if his replacement part will be long enough. Riorde glances Azzarion's way when he doesn't respond in word, catching the tail end of his nod. She leaves it be until he asks for her opinion, and only then reaches out to feel the fibres of the net. Her touch is better than her sight, for something like this, and she runs several measures of rope through her hands before pronouncing, "Make a new one. Even if your repairs hold, it'll break elsewhere soon enough." Azzarion nods his head, looking disappointed, but not an unexpected answer, "Guess I will need to go harvesting then." Is that a little eagerness there? A new task. With a little shake of his head, he draws his hands, and the fresh length of rope back over his knees. "Think anyone can use some of this one? Crab pots or...something?" He eyes the wreck, "Hate to waste this." "Won't hold any more for crabs than it will for fish," Riorde judges after a moment, though she sounds regretful to say so. She likes crabbing. "Someone will take it," she assures, slipping into dark humour when she states next, "Even if it's someone like Tom who thinks he can get off easy with something ready-made. Until it breaks for him, too." Azzarion grins just as darkly and then suggests, "perhaps it would be a good gift for him." He squints towards the net, it 'looks' good enough to the untrained eye and it is 'big' and someone who thinks a big net is a good net might buy into it. "Can't -really- picture him getting his hands dirty giving it a try though." Riorde continues to run her hands along the net, an idle occupation to go with her thoughts as she follows up Azzarion's comments with a suggestion that isn't altogether innocent. "Say you've found a good spot, that it's an easy catch. He likes easy." Azzarion's chuckle matches the darkness of that grin, "I know the perfect place to tell him to go." He jerks a thumb towards the cliffs, "There's an easy spot to get to...of course the waves coming up assure that you'll be soaked within an hour." He's squatting next to a spread out net, speaking to Riorde who's having a look at the holes and condition as they talk. There's some movement from the nearest island, if one is looking. Seems like one of the fishing groups is returning from a trip to the far island. With the expertise of long practice they begin hopping from one rock to the other, nearing the beach of 'their' island. Devaki is visible amongst them, though he's finally gotten rid of that bandage that was around his head for a sevenday or so. He and Xoami, his best friend, have apparently not learnt their lesson -- they're still horsing around, trying to knock each other off balance as they leap from rock to rock. Riorde glances in the direction that Azzarion indicates, her smile slow and sly as the other describes it further. "Sounds perfect." She makes herself an accomplice, sitting down properly now. "Want some help making it look like it'll hold?" Look like being the operative phrase. Sound catches her attention, and she looks round towards the group coming back to shore. Azzarion looks at Riorde, judging in that look if he can trust her and then nods his head in affirmative to her question, still grinning. He's about to say something more but her head turning towards the shoreline gives him pause and he too cranes his neck to see who's coming. Hhhmm, perhaps some folks who wouldn't be nearly so agreeable to their handiwork. Deft fingers draw another knot through the hemp he's holding with practiced ease. Emmeline heads in from Settlement, Western Island. It had to happen, really. It was just a matter of time -- Devaki manages a half-aimed kick at Xoami that sees the younger of the pair slipping and falling into the water. The group laughs as he comes up spluttering -- and laughs harder still as Xoami lunges for Devaki's ankle and pulls him in, too. Devaki manages to drop his basket on the rock before he spills into the water, and there's a bit of splashing about as the two try to unceremoniously drown each other. It's about par for course, really. Emmeline wanders in from the direction of the river, still wringing water out of her hair from what must have been a bath. That, or she fell in while doing laundry. It's been known to happen when there are children playing nearby afterall. And there are nearly always a few about unless she's shooed them all away so she can have a few moments peace. So at first, all she sees are splashing people and whomever else may be around. Her wave, to anyone she recognizes, is hesitant. Riorde doesn't get far in 'fixing' the net as she continues watching the commotion out on the rocks, hands still and unmoving with the net caught up in her grasp. "They'll drop their catch," she says rather absently, accustomed enough to seeing these near-death attempts. Azzarion isn't working at anything too speedily as he twists together the fibers to make the length of net-webbing, but he can watch the activity and still have his hands busy with the practiced skill. There's a small nod in agreement to Riorde, he can't see from his angle if there is a catch, or just an empty basket, but he's not getting up to go 'save' it either. A little shrug is his measure of concern. Several of the others from the returning fishing group simply roll their eyes and keep going -- one kind soul even bends to pick up Devaki's dropped basket and take it with them. It's hard to tell who wins the splash fight/drowning attempt, since both the boys look about as soaked as each other by the end of it. Finally they clamber back onto the nearest rock and resume their jumping path towards the beach, tailing behind the rest of the group who head directly up to the settlement. "Wonder how often that happens. I mean, dropping their catch. The rest is pretty much an hourly thing." Emme's voice comes from around trhe direction of 'over Riorde's shoulder' or thereabouts. "Need an extra pair of hands?" her glance goes towards the net for emphasis and then looks back up and out towards the rocks. "Not even the sea's going to save the two of them if one of them is injured again and they're still roughhousing." she adds, glancing at the other young woman with an obvious air of exasperation. "Anyway, how's your Nan doing, Riorde?" "Their own fault," Riorde says with a rough 'live and learn' logic, twisting around to address Emmeline as she hears the other girl. She starts knotting the net together again, starting to work on repairing the hole, but not as well as she could be doing. "Better," she replies, giving Emme a quick smile, appreciative that her grandmother was remembered. Azzarion offers out to Riorde the length of one end of the bit of net he's been working on while watching the rough housing. "Looks like more fun than what we're doing though." He has to confess lightheartedly and helps fill in another of the holes with a half rotting bit of the old net. To Emme's question he gives a shake of his head, "Not much more to do here." They're not up to anything. Nope. Amazingly, Xoami's managed to retrieve his basket, peering in it a little dubiously, making a laughing comment and a elbow-nudge to Devaki as they reach the shore. Devaki lifts his hand in a wave to the three there -- Xoami, too, waves a little -- and then a little nervously, hastily says, "Uh, better get this these up with the others," before the younger boy exits, stage left. Nothing to do with Emmeline, nope. Though Devaki's soaking wet, it's a summer afternoon and he won't stay that way for long. He sprawls -- carefully, since it's rock -- onto an outcropping near one of the rock pools, close enough to chat casually with the others. "Catch anything good today?" he asks, gesturing towards the net. If he hears the girl's comments, he's pointedly making no mention of them. "Probaby a good thing. I can sing a few songs about fishing and nets, but fixing one's not quite my thing." Emme replies, with a bit of a shrug. "Glad she's feeling better, Riorde." is added, while she return waves. Though since she's not got anything to do to help, her arms wind up folded across her chest and she just steps off into the water a bit to swirl the sand around and see if anything interesting shows itself. Riorde takes the net, settling in closer so part of it falls across her knees. She watches Xoami make a break for it, catching the nervousness, and she glances towards Emme to see if there's any indication there as to why he'd leave so quickly. "Probably one of the only ones of us who can't," Rio replies, but she doesn't mean it meanly; if anything, she's a bit envious that Emmeline's got a different role than the usual fishing and harvesting. "Thanks for the other day." She then answers Devaki, holding up part of the net that has obvious damage so he can see. "Not with this." No mention of her and Azzarion's ulterior plans. Azzarion is in the Devaki camp when it comes to enjoying the balmy weather, he's without shirt, maybe it'll be one of those once a turn sun-burn days. Who can tell. At the question about a catch he shakes his head. His comment comes after a few moments, remembering to actually join in the conversation. "Drew the short straw and got repair work." That explains the basket of hemp, the net in such shabby shape and him squatted there near it fussing with knotwork. The young man dashing (walking) off gets a curious sidelong look but the question isn't voiced...just a 'what the heck is up with him' worn in a quirk of an eyebrow at Devaki. Devaki watches Emme with a kind of furrow of brow, then ventures, "Everything okay, Emme? It's not the kids again, is it? They didn't do that thing with the fish guts?" He gestures vaguely as if to indicate some sort of throwing manner. At the gesture at the net in question, he grimaces. "Better you than me -- I tend to sew the wrong bits together, whenever I try." "Anyway, not a big worry," about the net, apparently, "We got quite a good haul today -- so should be a decent meal tonight." As to Xoami's quick departure? He shrugs and grins, knowingly, "He'd been avoiding both Emme and Io. Pretty silly, really," and apparently Dev just finds the whole thing amusing. Now, anyway. Maybe not so much at the time. Emmeline obviously turns a little green at the mention of the fish guts, and a pained expression comes across her face when she thinks about it. "Oh please, don't talk about the fish guts." she all but begs, holding up her hand in a 'stop' gesture. "I'll be fine. It's nothing." she adds, thusly avoiding actually answering. Duh. "Probably right, Ri. Of course, in return I get spit up on, my hair pulled, clothing stained, and skull splitting headaches from angry child-shrieks." SHe pretends to instantly perk up then. "Wanna trade?" She's tried this a few times, and oddly, nobody takes her up on it. "Maybe he should spend some time with Khorde. I'm pretty sure I scarred him for life the other night. It's becoming a habit." "Wouldn't trade you," the other girl decides quite definitively, making a face as Emmeline lists the downsides of her job. "Sorry." But Riorde doesn't sound it. Looking back to Devaki, she asks offhandedly, "This wouldn't have to do with the looking for Io the other day, would it?" "I'm not looking for trades either." Azzarion remarks without lifting his head from tying off the end of one of the braids, afixing it to the hole all neat and proper. The patch looks bright against the salt and sun faded older material and he grins over at Riorde mutely as if to ask if it looks 'ok', if he can catch her eye anyway. He does look up, over to Emmeline as she talks about the past evening, but his expression is unreadable, curious maybe, if she's going to speak about it. "Habit?" Devaki picks up on that word and echoes it quizzically, head tipped as he looks at Emmeline. If he's aware of the way Emmeline avoids answering his question -- and let's face it, he's a mind healer, he undoubtedly notices -- he kindly lets it slide for now. There's a faint, knowing grin at Riorde's words. "Io was a little -- strong -- in her opinion on things," he explains. "Seriously, don't ever get that girl upset." There may even be a subtle sort of wince in there at the memory. "And," he adds, warming to the subject and completely, pointedly ignoring Emmeline's attempt to avoid the subject, "Emmeline was very teacher-ish. Think it scared him," he jerks a thumb in the direction of the settlement. While not quite looking embarrassed, Emme certainbly looks uncomfortable for a moment there. Ok, a really long moment. And since she has no intention of discussing the scene that poor Azzarion was witness to, or avoidable subjects, she entirely ignores the rest of that topic. At least in specific. "Well." She makes a face at both of the two working on the nets since they won't trade jobs with her, though a brief quirk of her lips would confirm that she actually enjoys her job despite some of the drawbacks. "Hey, who walked you back to your hut? I only sent him after Io because she burst into tears. She was harmless at that point!" And just to emphasize, she scoops up a handful of water to toss at the already soaked mindhealer. Not meant to do any worse, since that would be impossible. "Teacher-ish. Hnph." Oh boy, here we go. "It's just plain common sense not to be beating on each other when one of you is bleeding. Riorde, c'mon... back me up here would you? Azzarion? Someone?" Catching the grin, Riorde passes her hands over the work that Azzarion's done, tugging lightly to test the weave, including its weakness. The close-lipped smile she sends back to her coworker shows her approval. "Plain common sense," she shares Emme's opinion, echoing her words with the sober sort of tone that gives a soft tease, even as she ostensibly agrees. Azzarion's lips twist into a wider smile and he looks back down at his work, shaking his head, "No /way/ and I don't know what you're talking about. Don't get on /her/ bad side either, she was using the last guy as a punching bag." "It wasn't that bad," Devaki says, a shade defensively, reaching a hand to touch the still-pink scar on his temple. "It looked worse than it was." He doesn't have time to avoid the splashing, even if he'd a mind to, so he settles for sticking his tongue out towards Emmeline, and stretching his legs out more fully to take advantage of the sun. Azzarion's words draw his gaze with open-mouthed interest. "Oh, tell more!" he all-but-begs. "Gee, thanks Riorde. That was sure convincing." Emmeline retorts, sticking her tongue out at the other girl, even as Devaki is doing the same to her. Awesomely mature bunch we have gathered it seems! But then Azzarion has to go and be a tattle tale; normally she would just groan in embarrassment or try and hide her face. But this time she looks quite genuinely distressed. "First of all, it was a shove. Not a punch. So that would be a 'shoving bag' instead of a punching bag. Which really isn't all that bad, considering. And don't..." Oh yeah, she even turns /pale/ underneath the healthy summer tan. "Don't you dare say any more." At which point, she starts backing out of the water towards the beach again. It's looking almost certain she's just going to flee. Fleeeeeeeeeeeee. "You're welcome," Riorde says, sounding sweet, which is a dead giveaway that she doesn't mean it. The false sincerity along with her impish grin. She pushes the 'fixed' netting off her legs and stands, work done. Azzarion's leading remarks swing her round to look at Emmeline, especially when the other girl reacts as she does. "Who'd you punch - shove?" She duly corrects herself. "I hope they deserved it." "I didn't think you had it in you, Emme. What got you so upset?" Devaki, at least, assumes something must've upset Emmeline to actually make her /shove/ someone. He even goes so far as to side up, one arm braced beneath him. The girl's reaction earns a surprised expression and a quizzical look Riorde and Azzarion-wards. "Khorde." Emmeline admits, just kind of blanching a bit when she says it. "I... it's a long story. I don't..." Poor thing's about to totally lose her shit if she keeps talking so instead she clams up completely, and spins around, heading towards the cavs and cliffs and quiet before her expression is caught and examined. "Well - you can punch my brother, any time!" It's Riorde's attempt to cheer up Emmeline, before the other girl heads away, and then Riorde rocks back on her heels and wonders if she in fact said the right thing. "I should go help get dinner started," she says, apologetic, and glances towards the other two; perhaps one of them will be able to go after Emmeline. Riorde isn't good at that sort of thing, anyway. Go after a girl, that's upset? Nah, Devaki knows /far/ better than that. "If you find out what /that/ was about," he jerks a thumb after the departed Emmeline, "I'd like to know," he says to Riorde, with a little grin. Azzarion keeps his eyes averted to everyone and plays dumb. Deaf and dumb. Deaf, mute and dumb. Best course of action really. His fingers quickly weave at the new netting he's working, shoulder turned towards the others. See what happens when he talks? Trouble. "I'm sure you would," Riorde replies to Devaki, sounding dry. She certainly isn't making any promises. She sends another glance after Emmeline, thoughtful, but doesn't retract her stated need to head back to the settlement change course. "Let me know how it goes," Riorde says to Azzarion before she starts the trek back, kicking up sand in little puffs just for the fun of it. |
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