Who

Selaine, Yukie, Mayte, WLM Ay'den (NPC - played by Kyara)

What

The Weyrlings are introduced to the 'fun' of firestone-bagging.

When

16th day of the 6th month of the 1st turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Igen Weyr Weyrling Training Grounds

OOC Date 04 Apr 2014 07:00

 

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Weyrling Training Grounds

Here, a wide and spacious field, devoid of all but more of the glare of ubiquitous, fine white sand of Igen: not even a blade of grass dares lift its head against centuries of clumsy draconic antics. To one side, ever-present firestone bins are set, kept supplied by many a hand, while agenothree tanks line the curving angle just outside the barracks, primed and ready for use. Very often, a glimpse of classes in session or dragonets at play may be caught under the open sky under the watchful eye of diligent Weyrlingmasters and older dragons.


Morning started quite early for Igen's newest weyrlings, the avoidance of the oppresive heat following close on the heels of sunrise coming at the cost of reasonable light to run by. It isn't too hot yet, but weyrlings already put through a morning run probably don't acknowledge that. At the moment, they're being given a break to cool down a bit, AWLMs exhorting them and their lifemates to drink water and lots of it. However, the presence of Weyrlingmaster Ay'den and his looming bronze Trahaeath at the front of the Training Grounds - in front of several conspicuous piles of large sacks - is a clear indicator that their work is far from over. "Weyrlings!" his deep voice finally booms across the yard after several moments. "Form up!"

At Selaine's urging, Akitith does drink lots and lots of water, the heat already getting to them this early morning. The young weyrling's face is still slightly red from both the run and the heat, sweat already formung on her brow. Even as she goes to wipe some of it off, she hears the sound of the Weyrlingmaster's voice and winces only ever so slightly before making her way over and joining the others, saluting him as she forms up with the rest of them.

A cool drop of seafoam splashed jade set against the golds and browns of the desert, Inayalinaeth's inner-lit jadefire beauty is a stark contrast to the desert weyr in which she was born. As awkward as her movements were upon first hatch, she's learned to hold herself aloft and perfect enough to keep the glory of her wings from dragging against the dirt and grit of the ground. Yukie is not far from her green, walking with hair tucked behind her ears and her fingers laced behind her back, having a somewhat silent conversation with the green. A few murmurings slip out, but for the most part the pair presents a calm front as they do, indeed, get in line. Inayalinaeth is just a hair out of perfection, chaos driven to mean a line of her choosing.

Mayte has reluctantly given in to this 'running' thing, but she doesn't have to adore it. Wiping sweat from her brow, the young Weyrling gently strokes the disgruntled Rhiscorath's neck with her other hand, saying something that might be overheard as reassurance that they're doing this in the coolest temperature possible, and water in the little dragonet is totally different than water on her. The Weyrlingmaster summons in the midst of this conversation, and Mayte looks over. Rhiscorath too, with interest at that pile of sackcloth. Both make their way over, into formation, Mayte with a stamp and salute.

"C'mon! Move with purpose, or we'll find you some motivation!" This gets barked at a few pairs lagging behind, and as the AWLMs move back toward them to make sure they do, in fact, pick up the pace, Ay'den strides tall across the front ranks, already narrow almondine eyes squinting just slightly more at Inayalinaeth and Yukie as he passes. "Alright, weyrlings," comes just shy of a bellow in order to carry to all forty pairs on the grounds. "Time to get familiar with what's going to be your life in chores from now to graduation." As he hefts a chunk of dark stone, several eyes roll and a few groans are quickly stifled. Anyone who's lived in a Weyr for a while knows what this is. "Firestone. There are three grades. This is the lowest." As AWLMS distribute their own chunks of the stuff to those at the head of their respective ranks, Ay'den tosses his to Mayte, then picks up another and tosses it to Yukie, while an AWLM hands his chunk to the weyrling at the head of Selaine's file. "Heaviest, most worthless. No one flames with this, except you when that lesson comes. Anyone seen letting their dragonet so much as sniff the stuff gets extra PT! Faranth knows they can smell it enough from a distance anyway." Indeed, as the firestone changes hands, the faint stink of the stuff starts to circulate around the yard. "This goes in the sacks marked with red." The low grade ore now making the rounds, the Ay'den and his assistants begin taking up even more of the stuff.

Selaine does her best to keep a straight face as he barks out at the others, keeping her eyes forward. The dark stone that he holds up at the beginning of the lesson is eyed carefully. The lesson is slightly nostalgic as the young girl recalls a few months ago at the lake when something similar was being taught to her and Veresch. Her attention is brought back to the present as the stones are passed around, one chunk eventually making its way to her. There's a slight wrinkle of her nose as she faintly recalls the smell, observing the stone for a few seconds before passing it on. Akitith expresses her distaste for the smell to her rider, Selaine silently agreeing with the green.

Some people can look obnoxiously cool in any environment, seeming untouched by the weather's heavy-heated hand; Yukie is one such individual. The signs of heat are in the touch of flush to her cheeks and the slight puffiness of her hands, but otherwise, the girl manages to stay calmly removed from her environs. Even so far as to give the WLM a wide-eyed, limpid stare as she takes the firestone tossed her way. Turning the greasy stone over in her hands, the greenrider examines it while Inayalinaeth holds her ground by only the force of her iron will, though the chaos would break Eternity's grasp ere it could. Yukie glances from Mayte to Selaine, possibly to see how the others are reacting before her eyes fall back to the stone in question.

Despite paying attention to the Weyrlingmaster, Mayte is surprised at the hunk of firestone she suddenly has possession of. Surprise firestone! She looks it over, inspecting the curves and edges. Weighs it in her hand like grapes. She's even lowering her nose to sniff it, but Ay'den's warning is caught JUST in time. Rhiscorath isn't paying as close attention to the Weyrlingmaster and Mayte manages to pull the rock away and into the hands of the Weyrling behind her before Rhis gets a good snuffle of it. The little gold turns to watch it go by and her rider has to bump her tail to return focus. An uneasy look to Selaine and Yukie is followed by Mayte scrubbing her hands on her pants. Ew, ew, ew, stinkyness.

The next set of stones are given out - slightly lighter, slightly smellier, definitely a bit different in appearance. "Medium grade. Mostly used in drills. This goes in the yellow-marked sacks!" As that's going around, there's yet more firestone taken up by the staff and handed out - lightest (and stinkiest) of all. "High grade. This is what we fight with. Put this in the green sacks." Once that's out and inspected, Ay'den stands front and center again, fixing all those he can see with an even gaze. "It's your job to fill these," he gestures to the pile of sacks, "with that - in the appropriate bags. Think you can tell the difference well enough yet?" That they might not just now is beside the point. "Time to think fast, weyrlings!" The AWLMs spread around the circumference of the yard, where forty individual piles of stone have been stacked. "On my mark, you will break to your own pile and start filling. Be quick, but pay attention, or we're doing it all again! Understood?" After a moment for acknowledgement, he gives a nod. "Move!" Off you get, little weyrlings! Let the chaos commence!

The other two girls are also given an uneasy look from Selaine before more firestone is passed around. She does her best to pay attention to both what the Weyrlingmaster says and to the stones so that she makes as few mistakes as possible, for there are bound to be some. Another glance at Yukie and Mayte before she rushes over to the pile of sacks and grabbing a red sack. With that in tow, she makes headlong to a pile of firestone near one or both of the girls and starts attempting to differentiate the different grades. For the most part, Selaine thinks she got the low-grade one correct… Her nose is in a perpetual wrinkled state from all the ensuing smelliness while Akitith keeps as far as she can from the running weyrlings. More sacks and more filling.

This, this is what further binds the chains of chaos into pure motion: Inayalinaeth approaches this with an uncanny eye for strategy. Where Yukie would almost immediately move, contemplating the heft of the various grades of firestone shown, the green stops her with a foot. "What now?" Surprise flickers across Yukie's expression as the weyrling turns to eye the sacks and firestone, head canting slightly to the side. The green's in-air grace is like a ghost that stretches across the awkward land-movements, though undulating of lengthy form holds an inherent beauty. "Okay, so the fatter ones?" Whatever the decision, Yukie and Inayalinaeth are moving briskly. Inayalinaeth seems to be actively in the choosing part of this exercise, while Yukie is doing the hard work of sorting. In a game of strategy, the pair have down the quickest path to getting a rock of each in both of Yukie's hands to ensure that sorting is efficiently done so that something ends up in all three of the bags.

Thankfully, Mayte gets handed this new version of firestone and rubs her thumb over it - though she looks up occasionally to see if more hunks of rock are going to get tossed at her. And there is - the medium-grade gets tossed back to the unfortunate fellow behind her when Mayte gets the high-grade, eyeing it suspiciously. Rhiscorath also wants to know! Lemme see! After the darkhaired girl gets her fill of the small rock, it goes backwards and palms of her hands are rubbed frantically until she's moving, under orders, and Rhiscorath not far behind - to observe, of course - to an unoccupied pile, muttering something about grapes. Sacks are set up, and Mayte starts out slowly at filling them, examining and pausing to weigh each rock before it goes into the bag. Unlike her green sister, Rhiscorath is interested in something else - namely, nudging around each bag curiously, deftly avoiding the rocks getting dropped into them as Mayte picks up speed. She hasn't quite stuck her nose into the bag when Mayte looks up, scolding: "Rhis! Not for you! You're way too young." Ever seen a cat planning to get around the stated rules and physical barriers? Rhiscorath slinks back briefly to watch Mayte get back to work. In the end, though, at least Mayte's not the last to finish. Perhaps not the neatest.

Ah, if only it were so simple as just getting to those respective piles and setting to work. Anyone showing a moment of hesitation when one of the staff happens to be looking is immediately hounded, being urged to move, move, move either firmly, loudly, angrily, or intensely, depending on the preference of the particular instructor - but inexorably no matter who it's coming from. No one is being allowed an easy time of this. "Low grade in the red, medium in the yellow, good stuff in the green! Go, go, go! Time's wasting, and it's just getting hotter out here!" As if that wasn't obvious - particularly with firestone stink getting worse and worse in the heat. Someone is bound to get sick in the midst of it all. "Selaine!" Ay'den spies the green weyrling and points imperiously to the empty firestone bags. "Just one bag? You think there's only one type in that pile? Think, weyrling!" Yukie and Inayalinaeth are eyed curiously, though Ay'den presently moves on with an approving nod and stops to observe Mayte. Good thing she got faster before he got around to her. "Tie 'em off once they're full and stand at attention when you're done!" he bellows. "Quickly!"

Selaine winces when her name is called out and she blushes at the blunder. Her feet rush over to the pile of bags and the other two bags are grabbed before making her way back to the pile. There's a soft sight even as she does her best to go as quickly as she can, the stones filling up the sacks. Despite her earlier apprehension, spying her Inayalinaeth help her rider makes Akitith get a bit closer to the pile, her eyes whirling at the different ones and giving her suggestions to Selaine as to which ones should go where. She was observing, too! With the green's help, Selaine works much faster filling the sacks. The red sack is soon filled, followed by the others. With sweat dripping down her face, the girl ties the sacks and stands at attention. Several other weyrlings are already done, but at least she wasn't last. Let's just hope she did it well enough.

The first hints of Yukie's coming days show in this exercise: Inayalinaeth drives her rider with a will as strong as Eternity. Yukie has little say in this except to do what's required, for both Weyrlingmaster and green dragon seem to be on the same page. The weyrling, pausing in the midst to rub the back of her wrist against her forehead, watches the young gold dragonet examine the bags curiously. "Mayte," the hushed sound of her fellow weyrling's name slips out as a question rises to the surface, but then she's driven onward. More rocks to sort, more rocks to sort. Selaine gets a tranquil, gentle smile of encouragement, however, when they pass each other. The length and breadth of physical endurance is measured here as Inayalinaeth drives through this exercise with an almost primordial enjoyment of the act of making hers (and Yukie's) muscles work.

Closing the bags, Mayte presents herself as finito - bags tied tightly because Rhiscorath is nudging at them again. The girl looks over at Yukie and then her own dragon, and hisses "Stoppit! I just did those up nice and neat!" To amuse herself otherwise, Rhiscorath turns to watch her fellow clutchsibs, nudging her nose at the slowest of the group's dragons. Dragon occupied, Mayte looks over and mouths 'thanks' to Yukie and then as soon as Selaine finishes, a brief thumbs-up to her! Cheers, right? Rhiscorath gives out a strange, quiet click-clicking as everyone finishes this leg of the exercise… Does this mean she can look at the sacks now? Indeed, the curious dragonet is on her way over to look them over again as Mayte has to hiss a warning again.

"Hold!" This called for the "benefit" of those who are still going - not many, but a few who seem to think they're entitled to a bit more time than those already at attention. Once there's stillness (aside from a few sacks deciding to fall over behind their attendees), Ay'den and the AWLM's walk around inspecting the sacks, letting those responsible for them know how they've done with some simple hefting. Yukie is one whom Ay'den ends up doing this for. "A little too much weight in your high grade," he notes gruffly, setting the sack back down and striding over to do the same to Mayte's even as he calls on Trahaeath to warn Rhiscorath to stillness. "Same here, Mayte. Try to get it lighter. Weyrlings!" This called as he turns about to address all present. "Stay where you are; eyes front!" And there's a bustling, slip of rough fabric, and crash of rocks being dumped from the bags back into piles as the staff empties out all the work just done. "Again!" Oh, yes. These are drills, after all - once is never going to be the order of the day!

Selaine is as still as can be when the Werylingmaster calls everyone to hold and they're checking the sacks. There's a slight purse of her lips as Mayte and Yukie's are being inspected. Her eyes are front and the sound of crashing rocks makes her nearly groan. As soon as they are able, Selaine's back to picking out the rocks from the new pile and stuffing them into the sacks, trying to be even more careful then last time with Akitith doing her best to help (although how much she is helping might be questioned).

Yukie casts a look at Inayalinaeth when they are called out for imperfections. However, tranquility is woven between the pair as they are called to begin the task again. The green's true nature shines as she relishes in the act of drilling. They get faster and better, but never close to perfect. They do, after all, have quite a bit of learning left to do, but the tireless start, stop, and restart garner nary a complaint from the the greenriding pair.

Well, at least Mayte isn't getting called on being last. Not that she would be - a slightly jaundiced eye at a pair, but there's no time to feel good about herself - Ay'den has a critique of the way she packed, so Mayte listens carefully, hand even moving to lift the bag herself. Instead, the sound of various qualities of rock hitting the ground. The expresssion on her face means a groan isn't required. But she grits her teeth, offers an only slightly dour grin to Yukie and Selaine and turns back to the piles of firestone, ready to sort and keep Rhiscorath's nose away from.

All of this will, of course, be done again. And…again. And again. And a few more beyond until Ay'den deems it too hot to continue and the lunch hour rolls around. Only then will the weyrlings be allowed to go rid themselves of the stench of their current task, cool down, and prepare themselves for the lesson to follow. At least they're not throwing the stuff yet…but that's to come, of course. It's probably agreed that this is quite enough for now! Welcome, weyrlings, to the remarkably reeking world of firestone.

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