==== February 24, 2014
==== Veresch, Erissa
==== They come, they fight, they conquer.

Who Veresch, Erissa
What They come, they fight, they conquer.
When It is the 51st day of Winter.
Where Stores, Igen Weyr

veresch2_icon.jpg erissa9.jpg


Room


Characters


Log

It is 8:38 AM where you are.
It is midmorning of the twenty-first day of the second month of the first turn of the 12th pass.
It is the fifty-first day of Winter and 44 degrees. It is a bright, sunny day.

Scarcely a day after The Flour Episode there's word from the teenager in the stores: Mattress found, please bring guy. Her hand's a little child-round still, but the letters were all where they should have been. Now, in a place that looks vastly cleaner than it did the other day, Veresch waits (semi-)patiently for Erissa to show up. In front of her, braced over two aisles of stuff is a mattress of gargantuan proportions. It looks a bit stained and mildewed, but judging by the thoughtful way she's poking it, there's hope for it yet.

Erissa was pleasantly surprised to get the message that a mattress was awaiting her, even if she did snort at the mention of bringing a guy. Whatever! Who needs a man? The women can handle it! So, with supreme confidence she makes her way back to the supply cavern, acutely aware of how clean and non-floury her skin and attire are compared to how she last left the area. Having directed her blue Danorath to wait for them in the bowl she strides into the cavern with her typical black jacket and matching trouser/boots combo and stops to survey the room. No way is Veresch going to scare the wits out of her this time!

Veresch, not in a scaring mood today, stops her inspection of the mattress and jumps to her feet, surreptitiously dusting off her butt — just in case. She steps forward, expression eager. "Ma'am!" then, bending down, she starts to tug the corner of the huge mattress up into the air, an errand that sees her straining just a bit to lift it. Girl needs some serious upper-body strength. "I found this, I hope it's suitable. It'll have to be aired and covered again, but that's easy enough to do outside, and it's the largest here." Wiggle. Wiggle. See? "But I couldn't drag it out myself, so…"

The huge mattress immediately draws Erissa’s attention, as well as the young girl tending it. Pale brows rise slightly as she takes in the size of it, blue-gray hues surveying it critically as she walks closer. Without looking at Veresch she holds up one finger. “First, don’t call me ma’am. It’s Erissa.” One booted foot nudges the edge of the mattress. Another finger joins the first. “And second….” Her head bobs slowly. “Not bad. Not bad at all. “ Her gaze swings around to the young girl. “Thank you.” Those raised fingers curl and flip in the air in a dismissive gesture. “No problem! We can handle it. Nothing that a couple of determined women can’t accomplish, eh Veresch?” The name is easily pulled from mental logs. A quick flicker of an encouraging smile and the bluerider’s expression turns thoughtful. “Let’s see… why don’t you get on that end and I’ll get on this end. You pull and I’ll push.”

"Yes, ma'am!" Veresch replies with a small, sassy kind of smile. "I'll remember for future. And yes, it was way in the back, but I saw the size and thought…" Well, we won't go into what she thought. "You're welcome. It's heavy as anything though, so we might have a fight getting it to the outside, if your dragon can take it from there?" She has no idea how they'll get it /on/ the dragon. Still, she's more than willing to lift the edge a little more and, by and by, with Erissa pushing she starts to pull, straining forward against the unwieldy weight. Once it gets moving it'll be easier, but then a whole new set of problems emerge.

Erissa is impressed the kid even got it this far, actually. Nodding once she replies, “Yah, Dano is waiting in the bowl. We just gotta get it to him.” Pushing the mattress up so its standing on one side she starts to push it forward, attempting to do so in unison with Veresch’s efforts, but it’s unwieldy girth keeps trying to fold or sway in awkward directions. Grunting with the effort Erissa buckles down, determined to make it work. When they get only as far as the doorway before hitting a snag, however, she calls a halt. One hand rises to her mouth as she nibbles lightly on nails while considering the situation. “How the shards did they get it in here in the first place? I suppose we’ll just have to shove it through the door.” Pause. “We used to flip canoes over and carry them on our head at Ista,” she muses, gaze dropping over the young girl. “What if we bend over and carry it on our backs?”

Gruuuuunt. Veresch is red-cheeked from exertion when they finally get it to the door, and almost stumbles over it when it does stop. "They must've had a lot of drudges or something. I think…" She pauses to consider Erissa, then the mattress, then Erissa again. "I dunno," she finally mumbles. "You're a bit taller than I am, so you're going to have to go in front so's we can see where we're going?" Ducking down, fighting her way around the mattress, she tries to worm herself in underneath it. There's a scramble, then a scuffle, and finally it lifts on one end like a slowly-rising loaf of bread. "Like this?" she calls from underneath. "Wait.. I can't see anything! Is there a step close by?" She knows there's one somewhere.

Erissa has to give the teen credit for being so willing to try what might seem like a daunting suggestion. As soon as Veresch disappears beneath the mattress Erissa aims for the forefront of it. Ducking, she tries to tip it onto her back. Several quick-steps to either side are necessary as her balance is thrown off by the huge piece. “So glad these things are soft,” she muses in a strained mutter. With her arms stretched out in either direction trying to form a bridge of sorts to keep the mattress balance above her she calls back. “You set, Veresch?”

Wiggle. Wiggle wiggle. Veresch's eyes roll up as darkness flees with Erissa's appearance beneath the mattress. "This doesn't seem … sound," she mutters, reaching up likewise to try and steady the huge thing. It's so large it droops down the sides rather like a boat would, and at least the boat has the decency of staying rigid throughout transportation. A giggle answers Erissa, then another. "Fine! I think. Shall we try moving forward a bit? This is going to be a pain, I think."

Erissa bears down on lean muscle. All that well-toned strength from the rigorous life of a rider is of questionable help when it comes to something so large and unwieldy. No hand-holds either. A quick snort slips free at Veresch’s comment. A pain, she thinks? Just wait! “Ok then!” Erissa sends back, trying to invest as much confidence in her voice as she can. The poor girl can’t be feeling much of it with what seems like a baby dragon on her back and the bluerider’s butt in front of her face. “Let’s do this. On three. One…. two…. three!” Right foot forward. Left foot forward. A little hitch and shove is needed to get through the doorframe - yay! - but then a new problem presents itself. “Stairs! Shit!” Erissa curses aloud. How could she forget about that little tidbit?

It would have helped if the two parts of this team were more coordinated, or more matched in height. Veresch is also trying not to stare at Erissa's butt, but seriously. It's right there. "Watch out for the…!" It doesn't help, there's enough momentum there to make her bump against the rider; she recoils a little, dragging the mattress the other way, steps dancing backwards in a quick tap-tap-tap. "It's slippery!" she wails, trying to get a firmer grip as the mattress starts tilting. There's a strange noise, a huuurnnngngn of effort, and she manages to raise it just a little more. "No wonder…they gave it … away! Weighs as much as a herdbeast!"

Erissa grunts and groans in a most unladylike fashion as she stumbles backward, pulled by Veresch’s movement. “Whoa….whoa!” she stutters, boots clomping on the stone as she tries to keep her footing. As cumbersome as the mattress is Erissa is now determined to get the blasted thing back to her weyr, pride imagining the satisfaction of such an accomplishment. The mattress shall not win!! “Ok,” she starts again, breath coming a little quicker and a little deeper. “I’ll go down first so try not to let it slip or go too fast. Just hold on and let gravity help. Ok?” Bracing herself, the bluerider tentatively takes the first step, then the second, then the third….. hey, this isn’t so bad! Hopefully it stays that way when Veresch reaches the stairs.

Telling the shorter, weaker one to stand strong isn't the wisest of notions, especially when there are steps involved. The back end of the mattress weaves and bobs like a drunken dancer as she tries to keep her bearings. "Just go slow!" she cautions, crab-walking forward in inches to sneak the mattress down the steps. Her eyes pinch shut as the weight of the tilted mattress tries to slip forward, and the steps go past in a quick tap-tap of steps, virtually run at a trot. "Seriously. I know guys that can help." By the time they get to the bowl, her arms are going to be limp. Hopefully the stretch through the corridor is easier!

Once Veresch starts down and the mattress’s weight shifts more toward Erissa the bluerider feels the first twinges of panic. The heavy press of the soft surface tries to send her torso ahead of her feet, causing boots to slip and slide on the rock-hewn stairs. On help - too late! “Wait…wait… hold on!” Erissa’s voice rises as her balance starts to tilt too far forward. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh crack it!!!” The muffled curse comes as the heavy bedding slides forward ahead of the rider, bobbing and bumping down the stairs on it’s own and leaving a sprawled blond in it’s wake. Look out below!!

There's a moment when all is poised on the crux between order and chaos, a second where it seems they can still rescue the whole mess. Entropy takes over: Veresch can't stop the forward momentum of her body for any longer, especially with the mattress pulling at her, and as it twitches up and over Erissa to sail down the steps, she stumbles into the woman, trying desperately not to topple over. Too late! She goes down sideways across Erissa, luckily with sharp elbows and knees away from the fall-attack, but droops later on. Luckily she's light. Well, relatively so. The woman should be used to dragonets on her back by now.

The ceiling and the floor momentarily switch places and everything else becomes a blur as Erissa falls on her arse and rolls several steps. Then, just when it seems momentum had beat her up enough, along comes a teen-sized boulder to add insult to injury by pegging her all over repeatedly with sharp elbows and knees. Countless grunts, groans, and protests later she finally realizes that no, it’s not a full sack of tubers that fell down the stairs and toppled over her, but instead it is her very own cohort and erstwhile assistant. “Get up!” she orders unnecessarily, hissing as an attempt at movement emphasizes what are sure to be some award-winning bruises. “Ugh… flame n’fall that hurt!!”

The mattress lies to one side at the bottom of the stairs, laughing silently at them. It may have won this round. It certainly wasn't the pair of them. Veresch is moving by the time the order to move comes, scrambling off and to the side. "Sorry!" she calls out, contrite, offering her hands for help. "Shards, I'm so sorry, Erissa!" Notably, she doesn't ask whether the woman is alright. She can see that she's not, and asking's not going to make things any better. "I'll walk you to the Healers, ok? We can get the mattress out later."

Erissa shouldn’t be angry. She really shouldn’t. Really. Shouldn’t. Unfortunately reminding herself of that does not help. She still is. At least she can try and not take it out on Veresch though. Lifting a hand to scrub through tousled white-blond locks, Erissa looks as bad as she feels. Pale brows knit inward as she waves off offers of help, stubbornly determined to get up on her own power. “Healers?” she echoes, gray shadowed blues snapping to the younger girl. “No! No healers.” Sitting up gingerly she cringes. “I’m not going back there again. They’ll never let me out this time.” Glancing down the stairs she shoots a look at the mattress that threatens to chop it up into little pieces for cleaning scraps. “That damn thing is going to my weyr.”

Veresch winces away from the look cast her way, and the crooked, gnarly way Erissa is moving. Shards, W'rin's going to kill her for knocking one of his riders around this much, especially with Thread due any day again. There's the uneasy rill of feeling that something more is wrong as well, given the quick denial of healers' services. "We'll get it to your weyr," she promises as she straightens, going over to look at the huge mattress. "But we'll have to drag it out, or I can get others to move it for us later." The floor shouldn't be too dirty; this far into the caverns Prineline's minions would never let it get that dusted up.

In perfect granny style, Erissa slowly gets to her feet with a litany of grunts and moans, staying hunched for a few extra moments as she tests limbs one at a time. Lightly tanned features remain set in a scowl even as Veresch assures cooperation, though when the teen mentions how they’ll have to do it the bluerider huffs and darts a look to the side. Dark blue hues have turned stormy with lacings of silvery gray, determination firing more than ever. Suddenly she spies something and climbs back up the steps without a word. Her movements noticeably less graceful than useful she goes to a shelf and pulls off a thick blanket, coughing when letting it fall partially open sends a cloud of dust into the air. Undeterred, she makes her way back down the stairs and holds it out to Veresch. “We can use this,” she explains. “If we can get the mattress on it it’ll be much easier to pull out to the bowl and won’t drag over the floor the whole way.”

The blanket gets a look, then the mattress. The fall really doesn't seem to have affected Veresch much; kids. "My mother would have boxed my ears in any case," she mutters as one shoulder shrugs. Instead of helping with the blanket, she moves to the mattress' front end, hauling up at it with all her strength, certainly enough to open a space for Erissa to slide the blanket in. "But I'm dragging it," she puffs, fingers white-knuckled. "I insist. You got banged up pretty bad there."

It’s a good think Veresch doesn’t express that thought aloud or Erissa would probably go through the ceiling at the insinuation that she was old!! Bad enough to have an inanimate mattress mocking her but to top it off with an energetic young whipper-snapper?? She might have to stuff the teen into the mattress and drop them both off the Star Stones. We’d see if they both bounce back then! As it is, however, Veresch’s good manners win out and Erissa’s pride is tweaked enough by her thoughtful offer to make the bluerider toddle over and do her part. “I’ll be fine,” she states emphatically. “We can both pull.” Grinding her teeth as she nudges and shoves the mattress to get the blanket under it the older woman is determined not to show how much effort it takes. Those bruises are gonna hurt, alright. Once it’s in place she picks up a corner of the blanket and schools her tone over quickened breathing to say, “Ready to pull?” As if she was the one waiting on the teen and not the other way around.

Silence can be golden, and good for you! With the mattress to wrangle onto the sheet, there's little more from the teen either, and it's only when Erissa steps up next to her that she gives a littly sulky scowl. "You're hurt," she mutters. "You shouldn't be dragging stuff around, you'll only make it worse, and then everyone's gonna come and pick on me." She attempts to get more than her share of the mattress-dragging duty; she doesn't bump Erissa out of the way, but there's a few surreptitious shuffles to the middle of the load. Then, with heels planted, she hauls. Once it's moving it'll be okay. Right now it feels like a sack of stones, unwieldy and unwilling to move.

Erissa manages to catch the girl’s comment despite the distraction of her own concerns and pauses to give her a lingering look. But then the pulling commences and she fixes her attention on that for the moment. Veresch’s subtle blanket-hogging is tolerated in favor of appearing to be the navigator. Erissa veers them slightly as needed when the corridor turns and also shouts at anyone who gets in the way - not politely either, just for the record. The mattress does move easier once they’re on flat flooring and the pair make short work of the distance to the bowl. Once outside Erissa quickly steers them toward the waiting blue, who saunters over and jabs at the mattress with wave-crested muzzle and a curious whuffle. Leaning heavily on one leg, the bluerider props a hand on her hip and gives the teen a thumbs up. “We did it! Dano can pick it up from here. You’re tougher than you look, kid.”

Veresch dearly hopes Erissa is tougher than she looks as well, or that mess of bruises is going to pain like hell when they settle in. Still, after the long, grunty trip down the corridor and through the living cavern, she's not particularly minded to argue any longer. The blue can handle it. He's big enough. Yeah. "You're welcome," she says quietly, tugging her clothes back straight. "I'm sorry that you got harmed. I'll… um. Try to fall lighter next time. Eat less?" Yeah. She bobs something between a bow and a curtsey, both to Erissa and Dano, and scoots off with a wave and a called "Goodbye, and good luck!"


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