Logs:Hero
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| RL Date: 14 February, 2015 |
| Who: Farideh, K'del |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Sledding is for the young AND the old! |
| Where: Outside of High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 4, Month 1, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Snow. Lots of snow. |
| Mentions: Tiriana/Mentions, Drex/Mentions |
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| Fog may be hanging, thick and heavy in the bowl, but outside the weyr walls it seems to have cleared somewhat-- or perhaps it's just hanging far lower down the mountain. Last night's snow has settled into a nice, clean blanket - perfect for sledding - and so it's no surprise that, towards the middle of the day, a collection of children have gathered out here with their sleds. K'del stands just off to one side, his hands buried into the pockets of his coat, his gaze focused on a pair of red-blonde teens who are clearly too old to need his supervision. Not just small children enjoy sledding in the fresh snow, but bored teenagers too! There's a collection of them, trudging through the snow, with their worn, wooden sleds in tow, as they angle for the group of children already enjoying themselves. A significant amount of horseplay ensues before they partner off to sled down the powdery slopes. Only Farideh's left behind, clutching her gloved fingers against her cheeks, with her brow furrowed, as she watches her friends hoot and holler on their way down. "Do you know-- how to-- do that?" she says, out of the blue, turning her head to stare curiously at K'del. "How to... what, sled?" K'del turns, his expression holding no recollection in it; plainly, their last encounter simply wasn't memorable enough. He pulls one of his hands out from the warmth of its pocket, lifting gloved fingers to run through his bare curls... or, more accurately, run over the top of them. "Sure. It's just... you know, you let the momentum take you." A crisp nod answers the question. "Can't you-- run into something? Fall out? How do you even stop?" Those are all necessary questions, asked with mild apprehension and a wide-eyed expression. "I've never done it before, and it looks fun, but it also looks--" Farideh's lips purse and her gaze flicks to the sledding children. "Kind of dangerous." 'Dangerous' draws a pause from K'del, whose gaze slides away from Farideh and towards the sledding children and teens. "See how he's doing it--?" he says, indicating one of them with his outstretched hand. "How he's slowing towards that dip there? You just sort of... run out of momentum, I guess, as the slope flattens out. At worst, you just roll off of it and fall into the slow, but that shouldn't be necessary. Guess you never really have full control, but it's fine. You'll be fine!" The brunette doesn't look convinced by K'del's assurances. "You just-- fall off? What if you fall off wrong and land on your arm? Or your head? What if someone else runs into you?" Farideh lifts her shoulders in an utterly uncertain shrug, and tucks her hands in the oversized coat she's wearing. "I don't know. It just doesn't look--" She wrinkles her nose and doesn't say dangerous for a second time, but the inference is there, with the sideways glance she slants the bronzerider. "The sand's kind of... pillow-y. At the moment. It'll harden into ice eventually, probably, but at the moment-- soft." Soft-ish. K'del reaches down, picking up a handful of the soft, fluffy snow, though at least he doesn't actually form a snowball with it. "Guess you... could fall off. Or someone could run into you. But-- look at that coat you're in; you'd be fine, I bet." He gives Farideh another glance. "You don't have to try. You can just watch." "If I don't, they'll make fun of me," and this is critical, because teenagers have to hold up their reputations; obvs. "I wouldn't be very brave if I didn't." That suggestion gets rejected altogether, and has Farideh stubbing a toe in the pillow-y snow distractedly. "Why aren't you doing it, if it's fine?" she queries, staring at him with reproachful eyes. K'del's sudden laugh seems less to do with Farideh and more to do with... well. "Guess I was a bit younger than you are when Tiriana made fun of me until I jumped off the diving cliff," he reminisces, amused. "So I get it. Honestly. It's not the biggest thing in the world, if you decide not to. It's just... you know, you're allowed to choose." He lets snow fall through his fingers, and adds, "My boys are out there. There's a certain amount of... you wouldn't want to be doing something fun your father was, would you?" "The Weyrwoman you--" A wince squishes her features even before she finishes speaking, and her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "Sorry. That-- that must have been terrifying, but you're a rider and you're supposed be brave." Farideh sighs, probably at her own faux pas, and keeps digging a trench in the snow with the toe of her boot. "I don't know why not. Parents are supposed to set an example, right? It's not like you're trying to sit on the sled with them, or blow them kisses while they go. You're just having a bit of fun, yourself," she says, finally smiling brightly. That Weyrwoman. K'del doesn't need to confirm that; he simply shrugs. "Well, I wasn't a rider then, was I? Just a handyman with big ambitions and an intolerably high impression of myself." The memory seems to please - or perhaps amuse - him; he's chuckling, wryly, beneath his breath. "In any case, seems like maybe they'd think I was trying to encroach on their turf. Bad enough that I'm out here, you know? Watching. They're too old for that, now." "But you were going to be, and that still counts." In Farideh logic, anyway. "I was pushed off the diving cliff, and that was horrible. I wouldn't do it willingly." Her attention shifts to the sledders, though she couldn't pick his children out of the lot, and makes a quiet "hm" sound. "I think it must be far more embarrassing to know your father is the Weyrleader than his presence while you're sledding--" and then grins ruefully through another blush. "Not like-- that. I meant, with the flight and-- all." She sighs, shakes her head, and moves the conversation to less embarrassing territory: "You can just tell them you were helping. I can't very well let some old guy do it, and not, so we can. Both." Surely, that's convincing. Yes, indeed. Nikalas and Kasey have to go through life knowing that their father has slept with a fair few women... and that's only the ones they know about. Lucky them! It makes K'del laugh, at least; no blushes here. "It's kind of fun, once you get used to it," he opines. "In summer, anyway. Don't recommend it in autumn. Wait-- so we're both sledding, now? And I'm old? Will you carry me back to the weyr if I fall and break my hip or something?" That's what old people do, right? "Yes, we're both sledding. I'm going to count on you to tell me the right way to do it so I don't fall off, and if I do, you'll be accountable, of course. Think of it as being able to sled one last time before you get really old and can't." Farideh takes a step forwards, and stops to look back at K'del, giving him one of those scrutinizing up-and-down stares. "I can try, but you are kind of big and I'm not very strong." K'del raises one fair eyebrow in answer to this (perceived) bossiness, but the corners of his mouth are already trending upwards into a smile. "Before I get really old," he repeats. "Got it. And I'm probably on my own if I break my hip. Got that, too." Perhaps he's used to bossy women; perhaps he's just too amused to argue. Whatever it is, he steps after Farideh, securing them sleds after a few moments of intense conversation. "It's pretty straight forward. Just... hold on, and use your body weight to push off. You can really launch yourself at it for a faster trip, but... start slow." By the time K'del's gotten them both a sled, Farideh's psyched herself up. She hastily hops into her sled, sitting with bent legs, but from there she is just clueless. "Now what?" Straightforward? Never. "Do I put my legs in the sled or is it better to leave them out? And what do I do with my hands?" She leans to one side, inspecting the sled's position in the snow, and then looks up at the Weyrleader. "I can't imagine how this will go well." K'del holds up a hand, gesturing for Farideh to watch as someone a few steps away from them takes off: see what she does? "Like that," the bronzerider says, helpfully, once the younger girl has sent herself off. "Some of them kind of lie down on the sled, but-- you're fine like that. Hold on." He demonstrates, positioning himself on his own sled. "You'll be fine. Just... lean your weight forward and push with your body until you take off. Ready?" The younger girl's actions are watched avidly, but when she's gone, there's still the trace of bemusement on Farideh's face. "Not really, but, let's?" She sucks in a breath and does as coached, leaning forward to give the sled the push. There's the shhh sound of the sled as it slides against the snow, and above that, a girlish shriek of surprise. K'del's a few seconds behind Farideh, though he has more body weight to push off with-- it doesn't take much before he's hurtling down the slope. He manages not to over-balance, even; not, that is, until he's actually come to a more-or-less halt at the bottom, at which point he sort of teeters and then crashes, falling backwards into the snow. It's... very professional. Very impressive. Farideh's high-pitched screaming stops towards the bottom, where she comes to a slow stop, but cannot quite avoid jerking forward when one side of the sled hits a bed of snow. She's breathing fast, and loudly, her eyes over-bright from all the excitement. "Hey," she says, glancing towards the bronzerider, "you fell!" It's definitely an accusation; fine her ass! "Are you okay?" as she unfolds from her sled, patting remnants of snow off her jacket. "Fine, fine," promises K'del, sitting up in the snow. There's snow in his hair, and probably down his jacket, too; he doesn't seem to mind, not much, not given the way he grins. "Just overbalanced a bit there at the end. You're all good? Think I've made enough of a fool of myself for one day?" "Fine." Farideh does a brief assessment of his snowy hair and otherwise undamaged limbs, and offers a hand down; though they both know she's not going to be doing any real helping. "I'm good. I did it. That counts for something, and I didn't fall." Her mouth quirks into a partial smile. "It's unfortunate that having fun makes someone a fool, isn't it? And you helped someone get over their fear of sledding, so all in a day's work. You're still a hero." K'del accepts the hand, though it's certainly true he does most of the work in getting himself back to his feet. "Good," he says, with cheerful enthusiasm. A hero? Sure, he'll take that. "C'mon. Let's get these sleds back up the hill, mm? And then you can go again." A sunnily said, "sure!" precedes Farideh grabbing the end of her borrowed sled and starting to skip back up the slope, dragging it behind her. "Try not to get too far behind. I know it's hard, you're old and all," she shoots back to K'del, impertinently, and ups her pace to try and get to the top of the hill before the much taller, much longer-legged man can. That? That is a challenge. K'del's longer legs are put hastily to work-- the young have no respect! |
Comments
Edyis (11:31, 15 February 2015 (EST)) said...
<3! This was awesome! Seeing people in a different setting, is fun! Hard to believe when she first met him she mouthed off! It's always fun to be reminded too that you are only as old as you feel.
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