Who

Ginger, Alyna

What

One Apprentice Smith tasked with weighing some rock meets one greenrider who is just plain nosy

When

It is noon of the fourth day of the fifth month of the thirteenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Upper Bowl, Southern Weyr

OOC Date 28 Feb 2018 05:00

 

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Upper Bowl

The graceful sweep of spacious bowl lies scoured clean by an easterly breeze. Detritus is whisked neat to the eastern steppe of the bowl that lies several feet lower than the western plateau. White walls contrast the rough granite of the rivercliffs: the giant maw of the Hatching Cavern lies in the thickest part of the western wall, sheltering the training grounds and weyrling barracks lying nor'west. Directly north lies the leadership courtyard, heavily humid and subtly scented by intrigue.

It is the thirty-fourth day of Autumn and 50 degrees. Clouds hang heavy in the sky, driven by a hard wind. A storm threatens on the horizon, towering thunderclouds caught over the mountains. Only a light drizzle falls here and there throughout the day.


The drizzle that's been falling on and off all morning seems to be taking a break, but it's still a murky sort of day, with the cool autumnal temperature rendered chillier by high winds. Outside the Hatching Cavern, the large pile of fallen rocks that has been there since the storm is still exactly where it was - right in front of the entrance to the cavern, and generally in the way. It's this that Smithcraft Apprentice Ginger is contemplating. In fact, she's giving those rocks a pretty black look, as if about to set on them with her fearsome weapons: she has a yardstick in one hand and a slate and a piece of chalk in the other.

Even though the day is dull and grey, Haquith is bright as always. Her chartreuse hide obviously freshly oiled and glistening brightly, the green dragon makes lazy circles as she moves to land in the Upper Bowl with the ease of a veteran. A soft trill announces her arrival as she flips her lime-green wing sails closed against her back. Her whirling green eyes wander the area, preening subtly for any male dragon in the vicinity as her diminutive rider slips down from her neck and to the ground. She looks to be heading in the general direction of the Living Caverns, but when she spies the Smith apprentice looking at the rocks, her curiosity gets the better of her and she wanders over. "I think you're going to need more than a yardstick to take care of that rubble." She says, hands clasped behind her back.

"Yes," Ginger says sourly, staring at the rocks for another long second before she turns to face the greenrider. "I don't actually have to shift the rocks, though. Which is probably just as well. It's just an exercise. I'm supposed to calculate how much they weigh." She doesn't exactly sound impressed at her assignment. "Which I suppose might be useful to someone, somewhere, if they wanted to build something to shift them with and needed to know how strong it had to be, but I'm just doing it for practice. I'm supposed to work out how to do it, then do the calculations."

"I see." Alyna says thoughfully as she takes a long look at the rocks as they are, "Sounds like an extra fun assignment." And though the blond's tone is amiable, there is the barest int of sarcasm. Having done her duty, the green dragon is off, her ample hindquarters coiling and then launching her into the air with one strong jump. She then wings over the Central bowl, heading for a certain midnight blue who's weyr is there. Alyna sighs heavily when she sees her green depart and can easily guess as to where she is going and she peers carefully at her green for any signs…quickly shaking her head, she turns back to the young Smith crafter with a smile. "Are they planning on moving these do you thik?" She asks as she walks aroung the large pile consideringly. "It is kind of in the way." Look at Captain Obvious over here?

"My Master was talking about it," Ginger says, smiling at the opportunity to spread a bit of chatter. "But I don't know if it'd be us doing it. He was wondering if we'd be asked, or if the Weyr would see if some dragons can help move them. Or maybe get the miners to split up the big bits - smashing rocks is more their…." She hesitates over the choice of word, and goes for the polite, "expertise than ours - Smiths, that is." She circles the rocks in the other direction from Alyna, and so meets the greenrider again. "Right in front of the entrance. People who were in the Hatching Cavern during the storm said they made an amazing amount of noise when they came down."

Ohh gossip, Alyna is all for that, knowing her green will be wanting a full report, she pays attention closely to the young Smith as she continues to meander around the pile. "I have a feeling it will probably be a group effort." When she meets the redhead around the back of the rocks, she chuckles softly, and then shudders as she remembers the day the storm came to Southern Weyr. "It was quite deafening actually. We had just come from helping secure the docks, and since out weyr is up on the river cliffs, it was way too dangerous for us to try flying up to it, even though Haquith said she could manage." The petite greenrider suddenly remebers to actually introduce herself. "Sorry, I'm Alyna, green Haquith's." She holds her hand out in greeting to the girl.

Ohh gossip, Alyna is all for that, knowing her green will be wanting a full report, she pays attention closely to the young Smith as she continues to meander around the pile. "I have a feeling it will probably be a group effort." When she meets the redhead around the back of the rocks, she chuckles softly, and then shudders as she remembers the day the storm came to Southern Weyr. "It was quite deafening actually. We had just come from helping secure the docks, and since out weyr is up on the river cliffs, it was way too dangerous for us to try flying up to it, even though Haquith said she could manage." The petite greenrider suddenly remebers to actually introduce herself. "Sorry, I'm Alyna, green Haquith's." She holds her hand out in greeting to the girl. (repose)

Ginger listens to Alyna's story with her eyes fixed on the woman's face, then extends her own hand to return the greeting. "I'm Ginger, greenrider. Smithcraft Apprentice. I was in the lower caverns during the storm, so I didn't get to hear anything much." There's a rueful chuckle. "Except my little brother screaming - now /that/ was loud. Where you were sounds much more interesting! There must have been dozens of you in the Hatching Cavern - dozens of dragons and riders, I mean. Or even more, if they had everyone with a high ledge in there?"

"I have no idea, but there could have been hundreds in there the way we were packed in." Alyna says with a shrug, although her ice blue eyes cloud over briefly and she swallows hard. "It may have been interesting if one of our older riders hadn't passed in his sleep during the middle of the storm, causing his green to go between. That was intense, the way the dragons were packed in there, keening." She gives a little shudder as she wraps her arms around herself, lost for a moment in the memory. "But these things happen. And we had Thread to fight the next day, so people were pretty somber. It wasn't like some sleep over party or something." Her words may be a little harsher than she meant it.

Ginger winces. Suitably chastised, she simply says, "I'm sorry." She turns to face the rocks again. "At least these didn't land on anyone." She tucks the slate under her arm, bends to pick up a roundish chunk of rock that's a little larger than her hand, and brings the yardstick alongside it. "Ah. I see why they set me this to learn from. I've brought the wrong things out. I need calipers."

Alyna sighs and scrubs at her face with her hand as she sees the girl wince. "Look, I'm sorry for being all snarky, but that night was something I hope not to repeat anytime soon." And look, the Smith is changing the subject, that's good right? "Yes, at least we were fortunate in that." she says in response to the girl's assertion that at least it didn't land on anyone. As she tilts her head to the side she raises her eyebrow as she watches the girl come to a realization, "So they didn't even tell you which instruments to use? Some teachers." she snorts derisively.

"A Smith has to be able to work out solutions to problems, apparently. So I'm supposed to think it out for myself." It must be said that Ginger doesn't sound entirely convinced by her own words. "I'll need scales, too, but they're better used on a solid bench. So I'll have to take a piece of the rock back to weigh it. So I can measure it there and then bring the calipers back out with me." She's thinking aloud now, and eyes the rocks doubtfully. "And maybe a measuring tape as well as the yardstick, 'cos I really doubt we've got calipers big enough for that one." She nods towards the largest of the rocks, which is easily six feet across. She gives Alyna a bright smile. "Thanks!"

Alyna raises a brow quizzically as she shrugs, "What are you thanking me for? Seems you managed to figure that out all on your own I am sure your teachers will be so proud." She says with a touch of her usual saronic humor. "I can see some of the smaller pieces on the scales, but there is no way you are going to get any of the big ones on a set to weigh them." she points out helpfully although not really.

"Ah," says Ginger. "But you help me to think it through by listening. See, I can't get the big ones on the scales, but I can get the little ones on. And they all look like the same kind of rock. So if I can work out how much this one weighs and how big it is - its volume…" She hefts the chosen rock in her hand. "Then I can work out the volume of the bigger ones, and calculate their weight, by proportions. In fact!" Clearly she's had a light-bulb moment - if Pern had light bulbs. "I can use water displacement to measure the volume of this one, 'cos it's small enough and it'll be more accurate when the shape of this rock's so irregular." She nods, satisfied, and tries to pocket the rock - but it's too big to fit.

Alyna tries really hard to pay attention to the smith as she explains the finer points of getting the weight of the bigger pieces by using the smaller pieces, but her eyes start to slowly glaze over a little bit even though she nods her head now and then to show her interest. "Well, that all sounds very exciting. Good for you, figuring it out like that." She even gives her a little thumbs up sign of encouragement, but it is also tinged with her usual sarcasm. "Maybe the next step will actually be moving the things, or I could get Haquith back here and we could take care of it right now."

Ginger grins. "If you did that, then I wouldn't be able to come back and measure them." She looks remarkably happy about such a thwarting of her plans. A spot of rain falls onto her sleeve. "And then I could stay inside rather than coming back out here in the wet. But I suppose I'd better make a stab at it." She hefts the rock again, then tosses it onto the pile and chooses another, slightly larger but more regular one, which she cradles against her ribs.

Alyna shrugs her shoulders and nods a bit, "You've got a point there I guess, and then you can't go on impressing your teachers with how you solved their little problem." She ponders for a moment and nods, "I guess we'll leave them to you then." Holding up her hand as she feels the drops of rain hit her. "And that is my cue to get inside. It was nice meeting you Ginger and I'm sure you'll figure all this.." And with what she waves her hand over the pile of rocks, "..out soon enough. Good luck." She adds before she saunters off in the direction of the Caverns in search of some food.

Ginger shakes her head as the greenrider departs, not entirely satisfied with the conversation - or maybe it's the continued presence of the rocks. She turns away and heads back to the Smithcraft area to continue her little project.

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