Logs:Cracking Rocks All Day
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| RL Date: 20 February, 2010 |
| Who: Eldena, Shad, Taikrin, Xeoshen |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: The convicts are breaking rocks apart in the bowl and speculating on things they don't entirely understand-- dragon babies. After all, if rumor says the convicts are trying to steal the hatchlings for themselves, well, why shouldn't they give it a go? |
| Where: Western Bowl, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 2, Month 1, Turn 22 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Rumbles and flashes of lightning intersperse between the periodic fall of snow throughout the day. There is humidity in the otherwise cold air. |
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| The bowl's vast dirt floor extends in a rough oval from west to east, only sparse clumps of grass surviving between the crisscrossed pathways of daily traffic. To the northwest stand massive gates to the world beyond, allowing people, livestock, and tithes to pass beneath some of the seven jagged spires that stand sentinel over that area of the bowl. In late afternoons, their spindly, fingerlike shadows stretch over that end of the bowl all the way to the living cavern's hulking brass doors in the far north. Eastward, the bowl sprawls on toward the lake, sloping slightly downward to allow runoff from rain and snowmelt, but to the south it's caged by more cliffs of dark, rough-cut granite. Rocks poke up from the ground here, a few large boulders and many smaller outcroppings worn smooth in spots by time and use. A few ground weyr entrances dot the wall, the most frequented ledge set up like a patio while the largest ledge services the Weyrleaders' complex, directly beside the huge entrance to the hatching sands. A more human-sized entrance, left of that, leads to the galleries. Rumbles and flashes of lightning intersperse between the periodic fall of snow throughout the day. There is humidity in the otherwise cold air. Crash! Boom! Crack! There's quite a racket coming from the small gang of convicts on work duty not far from the crack this cold afternoon. A huge pile of rubble from the damaged bowl is in the very slow process of being broken down into gravel-sized chunks. These chunks are being bagged up and ferried on by another group of convicts, taken away for use later. Taikrin is amongst those swinging a hammer. Despite the chill weather, she's sweating pretty decently and has even shed her heavy outer jacket. A glance is given over her shoulder towards the slowly setting sun, and a groan is let out post-swing. "Augh, ain't it break time /yet/?" It's cold out? If it is, Xeoshen certainly isn't noticing, having pulled off his own jacket, even if it's kept nearby for whenever he's done. "Aparently not." He grunts toward Taikrin, as he hammers another rock into smaller pieces. "Atleast it's keepin' us warm." He remarks, and hey, great way to let off steam, right? Taikrin's hammer rises and falls once more. This time, she doesn't lift it again, but rather leans against the propped-up haft. "Yeah, yeah, 'least we're worm. Gettin' ready for some dinner now, though, me." Her rather sweaty head tilts from one side to the other, neck cracking loudly with each movement. "How long you think it'll take us, finish this pile?" Xeoshen nods. "I hope dinners soon, I'm getting real hungry." He agrees, after all, cracking stones takes effort, which makes him hungry, yup. He pauses to glance around the pile. "Eh, we might be 'ere all night, if they didn't give us break, but I dun think they'd make us work all night in the cold." He says, and wipes at his forehead a moment, and running a hand through his damp here. "Dinner, and a good soaking in them bathing rooms, is what I'm lookin' forward to." "Oh yeah, good, long soak. That'd be... mmm." Taikrin shivers, though with delight instead of cold. She lifts her hammer and shatters another fist-sized chunk of rock into gravel with a loud crack. "Hah, me, I ain't cracking rocks in the dark. Like as not crack my foot open." She raises her hammer suddenly in a threatening motion, though the crooked grin on her face is somewhat reassuring. "Maybe some heads might get cracked, too." Xeoshen smirks. "Hah, in poor lightin', I'm sure alotta things beside them rocks would get cracked." He remarks, and watches for a moment. "Mmm, long soak, and then sleep, and continue this in the mornin'." He snorts. "Whattya think the chance of that happenin' is?" He smirks, and picks up his hammer, to crack another stone when a superviser looks at him. "Think the odds're right on. Maybe if we're lucky we get put on mortar duty t'morrow, sealing up some of those cracks. Though I dunno..." Taikrin gives another hard whack at the rocks with her hammer. "Think I prefer this. Ain't gonna get a crick in my neck staring up so much, this way. And ain't gonna get rocks fallin' on my head, neither." She drops the hammer again, this time stretching her arms over her head to work out the kinks. "'Least they feed us a long way better'n they did at Crom, eh?" Xeoshen smirks. "I tjhink I'd take this over bein' hit on the head by fallin' rocks, then again, if I got hit too hard, maybe they'd let me have the day off." He laughs, one can hope, right? He cracks another stone, and pauses to rtoss the pieces into the pile to be carried away. "Foods way better 'ere, at Crom all we got was what the other people didn't want, or seemed that way anyway." "Sure didn't give me one flaming day off last sevenday when I got this." Taikrin indicates the pink line of a newly-healed cut along the side of her temple. She takes another few whacks at her pile of rocks, then abruptly stops with a groan. "Sharditall, talkin' about dinner, and now I'm /starving/. These people, they're spoilin' us what with all their good food and all, y'know?" Xeoshen snorts, and eyes the scare. "I seem ta remember that, yeah." He agrees, and keeps whacking at rocks, gritting his teeth. "Nugh, glad I aint ever gotta go back there after this is over." He says. "Didya hear about one of us gettin' searched?" He asks her. "Man, not too many people were happy about that." Taikrin glances up at the sky once more, obviously impatient for the sun to move closer to the horizon. "Wasn't so bad, anyways. Got t'check out the fine healers we got here. Me, wouldn't want t'mess with the night journeyman. Size of a wher, that one." Mention of the gossip with regards to a convict candidate is met with a snort. "Heard at least twenty different stories, so far. Best one's the one what where he bribed the rider t'get him in so's he could try t'steal the gold egg." Hammer lifts, then comes down with a crack. "My favorite's the plot where we're gonna slit all the other candidates' throats in the night, though. What did you hear?" Shad heads in from the inner caverns. Shad has arrived. Xeoshen snorts. "Big as a wher? I bet he aint gotta worry about anybody messin' with him." He remarks of the Jman healer. He swings his hammer again, and snorts. "Ha! Those 're new ones ta me, yeah, sure we're all gonna invade the barracks, and take of them out." He snorts. "That's what I heard, that we'll want all them eggs to ourselves." A slightly bemused-looking Shad walks out of the Lower Caverns. Whatever his very recent change in circumstances, there is still work to be done, and a lot of it. And as inglorious as it is, every hand is needed to deal with the detritus being dragged out of the damaged section of the Weyr wall. He veers over towards where some of the convicts were working, face heating slightly as he fought to keep his eyes from wandering. "What d'you reckon a gold egg'd get on the market, anyways? A hundred marks and a bashed in skull?" Taikrin lets out a sharp bark of laughter, which is emphasized by crack of hammer against fist-sized rock as yet another is shattered into pebbles. "Faugh, so ready for dinner. We /are/ gonna be here last night. Think the hammers're gonna break before we get through all these rocks?" Taikrin is apparently curious, because she flips the hammer over in her hands to examine the head, probing at the filthy surface with a likewise filthy hand. Eldena heads in from the living cavern. Eldena has arrived. She ran out towards the falling snow for a moment, Eldena's feet slowed before her feet found an odd patch of ice. She came to rest in the bowl's snowy interior. Shad yanked his gaze from Xeoshen when Taikrin made her comment. "Wouldn't be worth a damn thing, because no one would be sane enough to take it." He comments. "The good knows I sure wouldn't. Wouldn't want the eggs' mama burning my door down." Eldena sittisn up in the snow she shivered. "Ahh.. cold." she breathed. Eldena smiled upon hearing the voices. "I heard a criminal actually got searched.. is that true?" she calls out to the others. Taikrin turns towards Shad in a swift motion, letting the haft of the hammer slide down until she's holding it in both fists diagonally across her body. After looking the boy up and down with a measuring gaze, though, some of the tension drains from her body and she doesn't look quite so, well, menacing. "Dunno-- reckon y'could keep it hidden long enough t'hatch? Bet the right buyer'd pay a pretty amount." Dark gaze lingers on Shad's knot for a moment, before she finishes with a snort, "Not a problem yer likely t'have, though, eh boy? More worried about us burnin' down yer door?" Shad regards Taikrin steadily. He's /from/ Crom. He's used to the criminal workforce. "If you did manage to keep it long enough to get it to hatch, you'd have a whole other set of problems. Because it could /call/ its mama. Or decide to bite you. Or just die." He points out. "Which the other dragons would feel, and you'd /still/ end up with mama at your door." And that is not a fun mental image. He doesn't dignify the last dig with a response. If Taikrin is impressed with Shad's lack of apprehension with regards to her type, she doesn't show it. Instead, she continues on cockily: "Oh yeah? Well, what if th'buyer Impressed it? Think they'd still be bustin' in yer skull?" She pauses, eyebrows knitting together in thought. "Though my ma did always say a queen could change an impression, if she didn't like it, s'long as the hatchling didn't go t'sleep yet." Eldena's position in a snow drift is only noted after the girl calls out, at which point Taikrin's eyes roll as she mutters under her breath, "Great, an audience." Then, louder: "S'all rumor, what we hear. Unless y'do believe we're out t'steal the eggs." The hammer is waved again, in a faux-menacing manner. Eldena umms. "Its.. I don't think a queen would let you near the eggs.. They're like mothers in genreal.. they bite if you mess with their children." She moves herselfo ut of the drift. "I am ok.." "The chances of the buyer being suitable for a gold are /really/ small." Shad points out logically. "And even if they did Impress the gold, whoever actually stole the egg would still be in deep trouble." Eldena laughs. "THat's horrible. Stop talking about that. You'd probably be carted off and dropped /between/ if you keep talking like that she says to Shad. " I mean that's not funny thats horrible." That does stymie Taikrin. "Yeah, s'ppose that's true. If they could impress her, suppose the Weyr woulda snatched the girl up already." Dark, somewhat sweaty head is shaken, the head of the hammer allowed to rest on the ground again. "S'not stealing if they get on th'sands legitimate-like," is the offhanded comment towards Eldena. A quick glance around turns up no supervisors paying particularly close attention; at this realization, a somewhat nasty grin appears on Taikrin's face. "Y'know... I wonder what a queen rider could /sell/ her own eggs for. Bet she could make a /killing/ selling spots on the sands." Eldena shakes her head. "It doesn't work like that. It's better to do it traditionally- Search them.. the dragons just /know/ Not all are picked on the sands but I Think they have good senses for it. And you can't sell a spot.. its not done. That and how you would sell it, most holders don't want daughters and sons here--" "Again ... the odds of the person the egg getting sold to Impressing the dragon inside are pretty small. Heck, even being a Candidate is a crapshoot." Shad points out, then glances over at Eldena. "Relax. I'm arguing /against/ stealing the eggs." Xeoshen snorts. "I hear yer chances of getting /mauled/ by one of thems is better then impresin' one." Yes, Xeo's been here the entire time, just working too hard to comment. "Why the 'ell would a dragon want one of us anyway, we probably aint good enough for them anyway." Taikrin snorts again, her grin turning a nasty combination of smug and superior. "C'mon, kids. Use yer heads. Bet there's plenty of people th'Weyr might not find suitable what could come up with plenty uses fer a dragon, 'specially if they don't gotta stay bound to th'Weyr. 'Sides, you put just them on th'sands, who else they gonna pick?" She hefts her hammer with ease, eyeing the younger pair. "Bet th'queen could force it, if her rider wanted to. Easy as--" Here, the hammer drops down on another set of rocks with a loud BAM. "-- cracking shells." Eldena shrugs. "I dream about it happening. But then I suppose growing up here.. my sister is a rider. The dreams are inevitable. It's anyone the dragons feels right.... Its like being in.. love." Shad shakes his head. "You two make it sound like dragons are nothing but dumb beasts. Runnerbeasts with wings. They're thinking beings. They're a lot more complex than you give them credit for." Eldena Shakes her head. "Ummm I do not.. I said its like being in love... I meant.. lvoing someone. THey're thinking things my sister taught me that. Hers and all of them are intelligent beautifull complex, you understand Shad--- isn't it?" "Ain't you kids know nothin'? Hatching dragon ain't no smarter than a feline. As like t'bite ya, too. It's the dam what makes the choice for 'em, if she's willing." Taikrin lets out a bark of rather rude laughter, even as she takes a few deep breaths from the physical exhertion. "Dunno what a dragon'd want with our lot, but I can bet one'd be sure useful. Bet they could break this ten times faster'n we could!" Taikrin gives another whack with the hammer for emphasis. Xeoshen shrugs at Shad. "I've only seen them from a distance, and they aint ever given me second looks before." He replies, and swings his hammer again. "Then again, there was that one green who scared the overseers." He laughs, and nods to Taikrin. "Aye, they could, some of thems big enough that they could just step on them, and break them." Eldena says, "Maybe what ever makes them pick.. a person just got bright enough to see... like a candle flame. Maybe you had some embers and something.. gave the embers dry tinder and just... light up and they can see it now?"" Shad grimaces over at Eldena. "I didn't mean you. I meant /them/. He clarified, then, to Taikrin. "And you know this ... how? Considering you've been in a Weyr what, a couple months?" He asks. "And been around dragonets ... never, I'm assuming. I'd listen to the lady that knows something about dragons and dragonets if I were you." Eldena blinks. "Me? I am not claiming to know anything I just look and watch.. and talked to my sister..." "Listen t'the kid talkin' about fire an' love an' beauty?!" Taikrin is obviously dismissive of that idea. "Look, boy, I been in the world longer'n you. I know people, they know things." She gives an apparently unconcerned shrug, though the confident grin is still on her face... and she's still brandishing that hammer. "If I were you, boy, I'd be eatin' up every scrap of information I could get. Hatchlings favorite food comes wrapped in white, y'know." A glance, terribly amused, is shot towards Xeoshen. "Suddenly now I'm understanding some o'them stories 'bout the bloody work we're supposed t'be doin', now." Xeoshen raises an eyebrow at Shad. "And ya know aall this how? You been a candidate before oer somethin'?" He asks her. "I aint interested in learnin' more about them unless I have to, and right now, I don't have to." He snorts to Taikrin, and nods. "Aye, all makes sense now." He chuckles, and swings that hammer, smash! "Just cause I don't know much about dragons, doesn't mean I hate them or something, some come in handy." Eldena says, "What stories?" She asks turning towards Tairkrin. She stands and brushes the snow offer her before it melts and refreezes. "They are... reflections."" "You've been around dragons most of your life." Shad points out to Eldena. "Which means you know more than the three of us do." And then he hoots. "The /only/ reason people get hurt is because they're too damn stupid to get out of the way when a hatchling comes their way. If you step aside, you won't get hurt." "Oh, sure y'heard by now. We're all infiltrating th'candidate ranks, didn'cha know? We're gonna slit all y'all's throats in the night, take all the hatchlings fer ourselves." Taikrin's voice is cheeky as she illuminates Eldena. Lift, drop, CRACK. Then: "You /sure/ of that, boy? Better be, if y'want t'keep all those fingers." Eldena says, "Umm if you're not they one they want... they keep going, Miss." she says to Taikrin. "THey just go..."" Xeoshen snorts, and keeps cracking rocks. "Yeah, we're evil cons, just here to steal eggs." He rolls his eyes. "Ya say we talkn like dragons are stupid beasts, yeah well, guess what, people treat us like stupid unmotivated people just because we don't seem to know any better. I got news for ya, we're thinkin' feelin' beings too. We just made wrong choices. But to most people, we're just filthy criminals." He swings again as he listens, though tat the moment, he and Taikrin are certainly fitting the 'filthy' party of that. "Then maybe they oughtta quit lettin' slow people on them sands." Eldena smiles. "I know your people." Taikrin eyes Xeoshen all throughout his diatribe, one eyebrow raising. Finally, she scoffs, "Speak for yerself. I ain't made no wrong choices. Just unlucky ones." Unrepentant, this one. Abruptly, she lets the head of the hammer crack down sideways onto the ground, and leans upon the haft. "I'm sure that's what they told ya, girl," is the patronizing response to Eldena. "Bet you even believe it. S'cute." Eldena says, "Believe in it? I believe that people make choices, that bad things sometimes happen to good people. That.. things happen."" Shad cocks an eyebrow. "Sure enough. It's basic sense, really. I mean, they're babies. Uncoordinated kids. Not malicious hunters or something." He points out. "And I've never treated cons like they're stupid or unmotivated unless they gave me reason to think they were." Eldena nods. "Yep." Xeoshen shrugs at Shad. "Jus' sayin' what I've observed." He says, in comment about him saying he's never treated them like stupid unmotivated people. He snorts at Taikrin as well. "Sure, keep thinkin' that." He remarks to the other convict. He then eyes Eldena. "What do ya know about us? A bunch'a lies that people pass around about us, tp make people hate us?" Eldena Shakes her head. "No I think .. no I know you are people. PEople who'd have things happen. or did things or were coerced into things." Taikrin rolls her eyes in general disdain to the direction of the conversation, allowing her grin of nasty amusement to drop. She lets the others talk for a moment, merely lifting and dropping her hammer in a rather punishing rhythm. Finally, though, she can hold her silence no longer, and her remark is waspish: "All y'all here t'pass judgement on us hard-working folk, that so? Ain't you come over here fer a reason, you two? Or you fancy takin' a look at our fine selves workin' the hammers?" Eldena says, "No.. I came to.. talk to offer my help... some how.""
Xeoshen raises an eyebrow at Shad, somebody actually wants to help them? "There's a bunch over there." He tells the boy, and points at a pile of non broken rocks. "Ya smash them till they're in little pieces, and ya toss them on the pile there." He instructs, like the man needs it, which he doesn't since he is a smith. No protesting of being watched though. "And yeah, we're human, keep that in mind." Ge says to Eldena, and goes back to cracking rocks. "Help us, huh." Taikrin remains unconvinced, but as Shad does actually pick up a hammer, she subsides without comment. Well, for a moment anyways-- she only gets in two hammer swings before she eyes Shad sideways. "What'd you do, before they put that pretty little white string on yer shoulder, boy? Minercraft?" She eyes Eldena up and down, too, then: "I don't think /you/ got the build fer minercraft, but I been wrong before." Eldena shakes her head. "No. I actually care for kids, and cook. It's close enough to mine crafting... at times." "Smithcraft." Shad says, swinging the hammer with practiced ease. Slightly different target ... he's used to hitting /metal/, but same basic principle. "At Crom." Taikrin grunts approvingly at Shad, though it's grudgingly given. "Crom's got some good smiths. Not bad with that hammer, yerself." Taikrin glances upwards once more towards the sky, studying the descent of the sun towards the far rim of the bowl. "Sharding well glad we ain't got much time left 'till dinner, though. Ugh. S'getting cold again." A momentary break is taken, the hammer left in place, as Taikrin shrugs back into her jacket. A glance at Eldena again, then: "Cook, eh? What ya makin' us fer dinner, eh?" Eldena heads to the Weyr's entrance. Eldena has left. Xeoshen snorts. "He certainly looks fit fer it." He remarks to Taikrin, about Shad. "Aye, they do, they do some good work too." He says, a bit grudging as well, and glances up at the sun. "I'm sure after finner we won' have ta do anymore, them overseers don' wanna be out in the cold of night anymore then we do." Shad nods. "Thanks. Been doing this since I was twelve. I /ought/ to be good at it by now!" He says with a grin, bringing the hammer down with an authoratative 'slam'. "Can't be a Smith but you get muscles." He agrees. "Y'ever see a scrawny guy claiming to be one, he's probably a liar." "Just hope a hatchling don't take one of those fine strong arms off yer body," is Taikrin's rather cheeky remark, delivered in between blows. Abruptly she straightens, eyes lighting up with a sudden thought. "Oi, Xeo-- you heard about th'party, right?" Xeoshen smirks. "Yeah, be a shame ta loose one of them, can't imagine bein' one armed would make ya a good smith, don'tcha need two arms ta do most stuff?" He asks. "Right, scrawny smith's are liars, got it." He says, smash, smash. He then looks to Taikrin, and nods. "Aye, I did, was a few night ago wasn't it? I didna go, not like I'd fit in with the 'higher class' "I have brains enough to move if they come at me." Shad points out. "So I won't be getting clawed up." He split a few more rocks. "Party? Think I missed that bit of gossip." "Not the /turnday/ party." Taikrin's eyes roll in disdain at the very thought. "Our party. Worked an angle, now we got a girl givin' us a restday." Her lips curl upwards into a triumphant -- and somewhat predatory -- grin. "Dice, cards, food, afternoon off. You know, 'welcoming us back to society'." The last is said with mockingly careful enunciation, her voice smug. "Y'can thank me later." Xeoshen ooohs. "Oh right, that party." He says, and grins. "Good, any idea where it's gonna be held yet?" He asks the other con, and looks at Shad. "Good ta hear, hey, ya know anythin' more about one of us gettin' searched ta stand fer them eggs as well?" He asks the smith candidate. "Nobody else of us have been found worthy." Shad shakes his head. "I only heard about the one." He says. "And as far as I'm concerned, if the dragons think you're good enough." He shrugs. "Who the heck are we to tell 'em to go stuff it? Nobody here's a murderer or anything awful like that." "Dunno, Saliqa didn't say. Maybe one of th'empty weyrs, so's we're not mingling unsupervised, like." Taikrin wiggles an eyebrow at Shad at the 'unsupervised' bit, but only for a moment. She seems to be legitimately interested in Shad's next statement. "How open-minded of ya," is the dry response. "Don't expect any more of us t'be in with your likes, though. Don't expect they'll /actually/ let him stand, though, way folks're talking." Xeoshen snorts. "Of if they even let 'im stand, they'll probably have him stand way back behind the others, or away from the rest of ya, when he can be watched." He says. "But as Tai here said, the chance are, he's gonna get rejected, the higher ups don' want us minglin' with your group." He rolls his eyes, and smashes another rock. He smirks at Shad. "We xould see if we can make exceptions to the no minglin' rule though." Like that would work, but, hey, who knows. Shad sighs. "You two are probably right." He admits. "Not much any of us can do about it, either. An Apprentice's opinion doesn't count for much more than yours." He grins. "Still, if the guy that got found's meant to be a dragonrider, it'll happen, whether they want it to or not." Taikrin remains unconvinced. "If th'Weyr and th'Weyrleaders don't want 'im to impress, he won't. You mark my words on it, boy. On the sands, not on the sands, whatever." She sets her hammer down with an air of finality. "Don't matter none of us're the murderin' type. Different world. You should watch out, boy. Much as I like t'see someone do an honest day's work 'round this place, we ain't fit company fer you. Ain't honerable, you know." Xeoshen shrugs. "Like I said to someone, I aint gettin' my hopes up fer me, or any of the rest of us ta ever stand on them sands, they don' want filth dirtying their event, shards, I was surprised they even invited us to them party they held when them eggs were clutched." He snorts. "Hey, it aint like we're forcin' him ta be here, and if the overseers wanted 'im gone, he'd be gonee by now." Shad scoffs gently. "I'm working. That's all they're gonna care about." He points out. "Heck, they probably think I'm over here to keep an eye on you two or something. And quite frankly, I don't really /care/ what they think." Shad's grown some backbone in the time he's been here. "Yer workin' with /us/, and nobody ordered you over here. Makes a difference, that. Taikrin slants a look at Xeoshen, obviously disapproving. "What would you want with bein' a candidate? Ain't fit fer us. You at that party, too? You see those looks we was gettin'?" Taikrin shakes her head, then leans over and spits. "Me and Ganner were in th'thick of it. Thought we might get lynched. Weyrwoman almost did it herself. They don't want our sort here, 'cept breakin' rocks. Not hangin' on after we're done, and sure as shells not on their precious dragons." Xeoshen nods. "They rather us cons do our own work, and not get help." He says with a shrug, and slams the hammer down again. "If one asked, which I highly doubt any would, turnin' it down might piss them off even more." He says in reply. "Some of them candidate chores are better then what we're doin' now, an' safer, they aint got rocks hangin' over their heads ready ta crush them." He remarks, and slams his hammer down a few more times. "But I aint sure where I'm goin' once this is done." Shad /laughs/. "Man, I used to do this all the time at Crom. On metal, but same dang thing, really. Pound until your arms fall off. Trust me, no one's going to notice." "It's yer funeral," is Taikrin's only reply to Shad. "Figure it out when it's time. Six more sevendays..." That said, she blows out a sigh, then picks up her hammer and resting it against her shoulder. "Me, I think it's time t'see 'bout dinner. I'm beat." A casual wave is offered, then Taikrin heads off in search of the nearest supervisor. } |
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