Who

R'mi & Ruina

What

Ruina is welcomed to Southern by a Weyrling!

When

-- On Pern --
It is 11:33 AM where you are.
It is noon of the twenty-eighth day of the eighth month of the twentieth turn of the 12th pass.
In Igen:
It is the fifty-eighth day of Summer and 101 degrees. Overnight, the temperatures plummet to a reasonable heat. Sand coats everything.
In Southern:
It is the fifty-eighth day of Winter and 43 degrees. The day is dreary and overcast. A chilly winter rain is falling down in soft drizzles.
In Southern Mountains:
It is the fifty-eighth day of Winter and 5 degrees. It's really damn cold out.


Where

Southern, Living Caverns

OOC Date 25 Jul 2020 06:00

 

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Living Caverns

Grand and spacious, the cavern curves high aloft in a naturally-vaulted ceiling that soothes any sense of claustrophobia. Rich woods line the cavern floor, varnished and stained a rich mahogany, while round tables scatter about, candlelit and intimate. The largest table lies southerly next to the sideboard, long trestles that seem oriented to providing for the Weyr's youngest. The rich blue of the Azov can be seen from a distance in good weather, when the heavy stone doors covering the entrance are allowed to stand open.



It’s a thing, moving to a new place. Ruina’s sleep last night had been quite uneasy, having to sleep in the resident dorms because her rooms had not been ready yet. She wonders if the Harper Hall here had expected her to take a ship here, rather than come a’dragonback. But come on a dragon she had, and apparently it had been too quick. She spent her morning moving her things into the rooms finally provided for her, and she couldn’t have been more thankful. It’s been turns since she’s slept in a dorm before last night, and she’d rather not do it again. For now however, she walks into the living caverns with the intent of finding lunch. One simply cannot unpack on an empty stomach!

Already out and eating, R’mi is away from Cuth for now. The mental link has allowed some basic conversation, though at this point it had devolved into trading pictures of whatever the pair were currently looking at. Seated alone at a table, R’mi is mostly oblivious to the world around him, a pair of brown firelizards sitting attentively on the table, politely taking bits of offered food one at a time. R’mi pauses, yawns and stretches. PT is no joke, and though the break from other Weyrlings is a blessing, part of him already misses Cuth, hence the near-constant contact. Life is weird, but less weird with food. The spoon almost misses his mouth as Cuth’s latest image seems to be a tunnel-snake tail and will require the warnings that come with chasing things that bite.

Ruina is blessedly free of such thoughts, as she has no link, either to ‘lizard nor dragon, though she’s heard the little ones are quite useful. As a Harper, it’s almost odd that she doesn’t have one, but she’s always just done for herself, or sent messages via dragonrider or drums. She moves through the living cavern, eyes taking in the large space and memorizing the layout of it. No sense in exploring one’s new posting if one forgets the details and gets lost. Food is her goal for now, and it does seem like there’s plenty. It takes her a moment to eye the sideboards and piece together a meal, along with some hot klah of course. She then turns hazel eyes on the room. Does she sit anywhere? Is there a designated place for harpers? Hmm….

R’mi’s face pulling into one of concern as Cuth more or less ignores the warnings about TunnelSnakes Biting Back. He takes another bite, blinks to refocus on the firelizards and gives one a piece of meat before sending said firelizard to go and baby-dragon-sit. Chirt vanishes between and R’mi sighs, giving a scrap to the remaining Shale. He glances up in time to see someone seeming to look for a place to sit and will raise an arm, “Heyo! If you need a place, there is room here.” The mid-day bustle of folks in for lunch might prevent R’mi from being heard, but with a point and direction to Shale, the brown will hop up, flicking over to the Harper and flutter around her a moment before heading toward R’mi. R’mi will wave again and nod toward his empty table. Though were knotted Harpers someone he was supposed to salute to? He isn’t sure, so will start to stand and salute just in case.

Ruina is resigned to going outside to eat for a moment before that little flitter appears in front of her. She’s more than happy to move over and take the offered spot, though the salute makes things a bit awkward. Even working from Fort, she never quite got used to being saluted at when there are candidates and Weyrlings about. Particularly when crafters aren’t otherwise saluted. She waves R’mi off. No need for that. “Thank you, I’d have missed this table completely if left to my own devices. It’s crowded in here! I thought Fort was big… Southern has a lot of people!”

R’mi relaxes and sits again, looking up brightly at the mention of Fort, “What’s that? Are you new here? Fort, as in Fort on the Northern Continent? Wow! Change of pace, huh?” A grin spreads across the young man’s face, taking another big bite of his food and welcoming the brown firelizard back down with another scrap. The discomfort in the Harper is noted too late, but will have to be worried in departure: Don’t Salute Again. Okay, R’mi will totally remember this. “It is crowded! Not usually this bad, but the rain is forcing more people inside for meals than usual.” An apologetic shrug and another big bite before freezing and blinking rapidly. It takes a moment before R’mi shakes his head and continues chewing, “My dragon says he likes Harpers, but he’s never actually met one, so sorry, he keeps trying to tune in.”

Ruina nods. “Yes. Just arrived here yesterday. And Fort as in Fort Weyr, yes.” She laughs a little and sips at her klah, unsure where to start with her food. “A change in pace is a good way to put it I suppose. Fort’s a bit more…regimented. So the more relaxed nature of things is definitely nice!” Nodding as R’mi explains about the influx of people, Ruina picks around her plate before deciding on the veggies to start with. The rider’s compliment pulls a light blush and a smile from Ruina. “Don’t worry about it, I talk to riders all of the time, I am used to them communicating with their lifemates. I’m glad yours seems to like Harpers. Now I won’t have to worry about being eaten.” She winks, playing on the old stories that were never true. Dragons don’t eat people, never did, never will. “I’m Ruina, Journeyman Harper. Nice to meet you ….?” She trails off, leaving space for R’mi to introduce himself.

“R’mi! Weryling Of Bronze Cuth! Sorry! I should have said so earlier.” R’mi sighs and shrugs, “But I am glad at least you are used to folks zoning out and having two conversations at once. I’m not, it’s hard to keep them separated and it feels like I’m being rude to one or both of you.” Another few strips of sandwich meat are fed to the waiting brown lizard, “What brings you to Southern? And what is Fort like?” Both equally important questions, posed together to give the Harper the choice in which might make better conversation fodder. R’mi himself blinks again, but will refocus a bit quicker this time and manage another bite of food. “Southern does get better, the winter rains are daily right now, but soon we’ll get back to the weather that we are known for!” Hot, hot and more hot.

“Well met, R’mi!” Ruina has to laugh a little at the rider’s next, shaking her head in the process. “I’m told it’s hard to get used to, but that you eventually do.” But, then again, she’s not a rider, so how would she know? “I can’t imagine having someone else in my head all the time.” She’s obviously not taking any offense to the double sided conversation, so no worries on Ruina’s part! “I needed a change in pace, is all. I spent turns at Fort, time to expand the horizons!” She’s taking a bite of her food when R’mi asks after life at Fort, and Ruina looks thoughtful while she chews. “Regimented. Life at Fort is regimented, there’s always a schedule and one had better not be a breath late or there’s punishments. It’s very…strict.” And while Ruina can handle strict, it wasn’t what she wanted her life to be, and she says as much before diving back into her food. When R’mi starts talking about the weather, Ruina brightens a bit. “Rain is better than snow, and it’ll be spring soon enough.” She’s not bothered one bit by it!

R’mi listens intently and nods, “Awe, that sounds different, but likely good in it’s own way?” Though the idea of trying to wrangle Cuth at a weyr less lenient then here? Welllllll, R’mi pushes that thought aside, Cuth would be a different dragon if not here. “It sounds like here might be a perfect fit for you then! But I, well I mean if you don’t mind, this is kinda a silly question, but, well, um, what is it that Harpers actually do At a weyr? Like, teach the little ones, I got’cha, apart from that though? A bunch of paperwork? I know it’s required that Harpers be at All Weyrs and All the Crafthalls need one, but is that only for the recording of stuff?” Though R’mi ducks his head in mild embarrassment at the question, the words are earnest and he will glance up a few times at Ruina to check that perhaps this is a reasonable question. “I know you all specialize in things, but what’s the point of having so many record keepers?” Harpers are a strange breed, and R’mi will maintain this.

Ruina lets out a little giggle at all of R’mi’s questioning and shakes her head. “On the contrary, we harpers do a lot more than just record keeping, though that is my main specialty. I’m an archivist. But we teach, we’re musicians, artists, poets, lawyers, and more. There’s a lot that the craft covers.” She eats between explanations and washes it all down with klah. “But it’s not at all surprising that we’re most known for scribing and recording. It is important after all, and you’d be surprised how many written hides a weyr can produce in a turn.”

“Huh, I guess that makes sense… Actually that makes a lot of sense. It sounds like Harpers are the magic behind the scenes that makes things happen.” The words are thoughtful and punctuated with a little nod, “That’s neat! But archiving sounds, awe, dull?” A little shrug and R’mi takes another few bites, “How does the weyr support going through all the animals the dragons eat and all the hide for archiving? That sounds like a problem that requires some serious work.” Despite R’mi’s love for animals, he admittedly doesn't know enough about herding as he should, or at least thinks that he should.

Ruina isn't much one to boast, but mention of the harpers and their 'magic' has her swelling with a little pride. "We do keep the wheels spinning…it's our job." She looks mildly horrified at the idea that archiving can be dull, though. "Quite the contrary, archivists never have dull work. The only access to our history is in the archives of the Weyrs, they contain all our collective knowledge. It's amazing what one can learn just simply reading." As to the hides and where they come from, this is where Ruina gets technical. “Well, there really isn’t any hide left from the animals the dragons consume. But the ones the humans consume? We gather quite a bit of hide from that. And it comes from larger animals, wherries, whersport, herdbeasts, ovines, llamas, felines… the list goes on. And yes, a lot goes into attaining writing hides. Hunting, skinning, proper tanning, curing, some are oil treated so as to be waterproofed…”

R’mi listens and nods, even when he isn’t sure what Ruina is talking about, taking advantage of her explanations to continue eating. While he isn’t sure he agrees with any of her points on the fascination of archiving, watching other people talk about things they care about is nice. Or maybe that is Cuth bleeding over? As for the sourcing of hides, this will have R’mi sit forward a bit, “That’s amazing. I didn’t know wherries could be skinned for useable hide, but it makes sense?” He nods thoughtfully, “And the Herders take care of part of that, supplying the animals, Then Tanner craft prepares, and you and other Archivists and map-makers use them… . and the world spins round! That’s a lot of jobs and people all working together to make simple things keep functioning. Like an insect colony!” R’mi laughs and nods again, more to himself this time, “We are a great colony!”

“Aye, it takes a lot of work and a lot of people to keep the world spinning, you’ve the right of it there.” Ruina may pick up that she might be boring the Weyrling a bit, so she changes topics. “I’m sure there’s a lot that goes into being a dragon rider, all the PT, drills, sweeps, flying… fighting thread, mating. IT must be quite fascinating, eh?” Her turn to eat and let R’mi talk and she does so, tucking into her food with aplomb and washing it down with her drink.

“Ummmmmm,” Wow, those where a lot of things and R’mi was like a few months into this and what to say first? PT was Not his favored task, drills were confusing, flying was so close, and Thread was terrifying and… . “I dunno, but Cuth is pretty great.” Because that is about the only thing R’mi is completely sure on, “Pt is hard, but he pushes me, and keeps me on schedule. We almost totally have drills down, or I mean, we will, but flights are happening as we speak and we are doing mounted very soon! Cuth loves flying and I can’t wait to join him. Honestly, he is the best thing that has ever happened to me. He’s creative and clever, but not as much of a show off as I imagined Bronzes to be. He likes stories a lot, and kinda makes stuff up all the time to explain things in the world he doesn’t understand, or that he finds boring. He’s incredible, surprising me every day and while we had some rough patches at first, I look forward to every day working with him, and a future with him at my side and fighting. It scares me, but it feels… . . right. Is that weird? Terrifying Rightness?”

Ruina listens while she eats, nodding and smiling at the fact that R’mi seems to like being a dragon rider, even if he’s not too forthcoming with the details. That’s ok, Ruina doesn’t mind. She’s having a good conversation with this young man and it’s a good start to her life at the weyr. Perhaps she’s made a friend. She’ll continue to converse with R’mi until they are both done and quite full of food. It’s a good meal and Ruina enjoys it, only taking her leave when the time becomes apparent to do so. She has a feeling she’ll rather like living in the South. Only time will tell.

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