Who

Llewellyn, Nox, Therst, Rhuysarr & cows

What

Herders rope in some already bruised and exhausted candidates to help gather up cows for branding. It goes about as well as can be expected.

When

It is the seventy-sixth day of Spring and 86 degrees. It is a bright, sunny day.

Where

Herder Pastures, Southern Weyr

OOC Date 26 Aug 2017 04:00

 

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"Moo."


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Herder Pastures

Dotting the hillside, woolies and caprines can be seen grazing among the boulders that compose the upper reaches of the rolling high points in the mountainousarea around the weyr. Verdant grass provides a good source of nutrition, while the rocks hold the soil against the wind's eroding force. The occasional sounds of herd animals echo across the hills and into the valleys where the land dips towards the weyr. Relatively free of human interaction beyond the occasional Herder seen in the large pastures, the prized breeding animals live in quiet seclusion.


Oh springtime. That wonderful time of year when there's all those cute little baby animals around. For the moment, the herder pastures are almost idyllic with the heifers and their calves out and about, munching on the grass. Please ignore the mud from last night's rains for the time being. And also the herders congregating over by the fence. Is that a small fire they have? And what's with all the ropes? The candidates that have been sent this way by the headwoman for their daily chores will soon find out. Right now, Llewellyn is surveying the additional helpers that are coming up. "Is that everybody?" he's just going to point at the first candidate he sees.

Nox is definitely not the first candidate… he hopes. He's in the middle of the pack, and not extraordinarily tall, like that guy from Nerat beside him with all the freckles. His boots are great for this kind of weather, with their heavy soles. He side-steps a cow patty - that could have been embarrassing - and squints up at the sun, shading his eyes with his hand. Llewellyn is then regarded, then around to the cows, the group assembled. Yeah - looks like everybody to him.

Therst is somewhere to the side, his late night activities seem to have taken a minor toll on the young man. He yawns which may or may not cause him to stand out yet we will see. He runs a hand through his hair and tries not to end up face down in one of the many gifts the heifers have left for the candidates.

Which must leave Rhuysarr as the first candidate Llewellyn sees? The wildling man is sporting a black eye, but otherwise in good shape after the dust-up in the mines. "Must be," he answers with a shrug, turning to glance at the rest of the group. He doesn't see anyone else approaching, so that must be all she wrote. He looks back to Llewellyn expectantly, only slightly concerned for where this will lead.

Luckily, Llewellyn was prepared for the sun. That's what his hat is for so he doesn't have to deal with sun in his eyes. He'll stand with his thumbs in his belt loops as he surveys the little group before him. Some of them definitely look a little worse for whatever wear they've been through. "Okay then. Let's get started." He'll turn and motion for them to come a little closer to the herder cluster where they'll see several coils of rope, and also in the fire are some long sticks of metal. Some of the journeymen are also wearing leather gloves like they expect to be handling those hot sticks of metal. "Okay. So we gotta get the little ones branded before we take them out to some further pastures for grazing." Cause trying to fatten up cattle with dragons flying over head every day is not a good plan. "What we need is for you all to help round up the little ones, hold 'em down, and we'll get 'em branded." Sounds simple enough, right? He scans the group in front of him expectantly as one of the apprentices hands him one of the ropes. "Any questions so far?"

Nox does look a bit wistfully at Llewellyn's hat. That's a cool hat. Still squinting, he'll move forward with the rest, grabbing a piece of grass to put between his teeth. Rhuysarr with his black eye is side-eyed a bit, and he'll offer the man a slight polite smile if he looks his way. "So… we're catching cows?" He just needs to clarify, sliding his gaze towards a small one grazing innocently enough nearby. "What about their hooves?" Just a question. It looks like quite a few of these candidates got into fights with… something. Maybe not cows tho?

Therst nods with Nox's question and adds one of his own as he moves closer "And HOW are we supposed to catch them? I haven't ever caught a calve before" he looks about to see if maybe there is a beastcrafter among the candidates that could take the lead and show them what needs to be done. The miner will nod to Rhuysarr, and knows how he got that eye but it isn;t his story to share.

Rhuysarr doesn't look at all pleased by the prospect of branding cattle. Some words about how the Weyr would to be able to look after the animals without burning them rest on the tip of his tongue, but he bites them back, remembering what white knot on his shoulder. He still eyes the herd skeptically, however. He may not have worked with cattle, but an animal with that sort of bulk is bound to pose some kind of danger, even if they seem docile.

Llewellyn holds up the rope in his hand. "With these." He nods over towards where there have been a couple posts set up about twenty feet away from him. "You can practice a bit if you feel you need it. It's pretty simple. Hold the rope like this…" He'll hold the rope in his right hand, about a foot and a half away from the loop. The excess coils held in his other hand. "Swing and aim for the back of the calves head. Trying to get the horns." He'll swing and toss towards the post, the rope soars over it easily and he jerks to tighten it. Easy peasy. At least with turns of practice. "They'll be keeping track of the adults. You just need to get the calves. Once it's roped, some others can go in to pin 'em down." And really, that's just wrestling at that point. "The hooves can hurt, even on the small ones, so be careful."

Nox blinks, still squinting. He's seen some of the journeymen dolphineers do this kind of thing before, with dolphins, to varying degrees of success. A hand runs through his curls and he sighs, going over to get a rope. "What if we suck at it?" He asks Llewellyn in passing with a little grin, side-stepping yet another cow patty. In truth, he's tackled shipfish before… kind of. And they're slippery. But that was more playing, and in the water. And this has an audience. Still, he shrugs. He'll give it a go. He plants his feet. His first toss towards that railing? Not even close!

Therst tilts his head and watches Nox as he throws it before getting a rope and trying himself, he hits the post. Unfortunately with the whole rope as he forgets to hold on to the rest of it, saying to the dolphineer "I don't think I am good at this" But he tries again and keeps the rope but holds on to tight and it falls short of the post.

There's one person in this group of candidates who seems to have a skilled hand when it comes to roping. It's not Rhuysarr, of course, but he's standing there watching in bewilderment as a young woman beside him seems to take to this as a fish to water — or perhaps Llewellyn isn't the only one with turns of practice. The wildling, however, is not half as talented. Although he attempts to follow Llewellyn's technique, instruction is no substitute for practice. They're liable to be out here all day if these candidates are to be relied on to rope a bunch of jumpy calves.

"If you suck at it, try again," Llewellyn shrugs as he reclaims his rope from the post. You never improve if you don't try. "You gotta keep a hold on the other end, but not too hard. It needs to be able to slide out." He'll throw some pointers Therst's way as he's observing the group. If he's got any thoughts about the usefulness of the help, the journeyman is keep those thoughts strictly to himself. That particular young woman may or may not have come from Keroon. Rumor is, definitely from out Keroon way, which might explain why she seems like she's done this before. At least most of the attempts aren't getting worse. Nobody has roped themselves up yet. The herdbeasts meanwhile seem oblivious to this activity. They're just mooing and eating and laying down like it's a normal day with no possibility of impending chaos.

Nox pauses his next throw, momentarily distracted by the talents of that blonde girl from Keroon working magic with her lasso. He's kind of staring a bit. Pern to Nox. Helloooo. "Me neither," he says belatedly as an aside to Therst with a grin, lifting his chin towards said girl. "Think she'd give me some pointers?" Said innocently enough. He siiiiighs at the mooing cows. Are they mocking him? They're totally mocking him. Moooocking. He'll give it another shot, keeping his hands on both ends as suggested, and… that girl is suddenly turning her head, looking his way. Maybe at the guy beside him? Somehow, his sturdy boots slip and he goes tumbling forward, just narrowly missing a cow patty. The rope? He doesn't quite rope himself, but might have almost roped Rhuysarr. How did that even happen? He sits sprawled on the grass a moment before pushing to his feet, acting like nothing just happened. Just ignore that colour in his cheeks folks, ok? It's… a sunburn?

Therst sees how the girl throws and listens to the instructions given and tries again still missing but getting better. As he curls back up the rope to try again he will see Nox go down but like a good guy won't laugh. Snicker maybe but not laugh, "I don't think she saw man" he will whisper before going back to tossing the rope again, this time catching the edge on the top of the post!

Rhuysarr isn't really improving, no matter how many times he tosses that rope at the post. He even pauses to eye the girl from Keroon — although not with Nox's starry-eyed attention — but it does little to help his technique. Admittedly, the wildling isn't so much adjusting his hold as doing the same thing over and over again. At one point, Nox's rope catches his arm, and he glances down to find his wrist lasso'd. He stares at the younger man for a moment before shaking off that rope. Maybe the real problem here isn't his technique, but that he's practicing on a post instead of something that resembles a real calf. Like, say, those calves right over there. Eschewing instruction, the wildling redirects his attempts toward the actual cattle, tossing his lasso into the midst of the field without thought for what kind of chaos could ensue.

Llewellyn watches closely as one of the candidates seems to be struck dew-eyed over the pretty little lass that knows what she's doing, and down Nox goes into the grass after also roping one of his fellow candidates. The herder will step closer to the teen as he's getting himself up. "You know, maybe you'll impress her if you actually manage it on a calf." And he's going to tilt his hatted head towards where the wildling is already about to actually go for it. And Therst, since he's standing right there, will also get a shooing gesture as if encouraging the former miner to go on and get one with it. Other journeyman are doing much the same with the other candidates, although the blonde girl has been paired up with a few of the youngest to work as a team.

Nox returns Rhuysarr's look, shrugging his shoulder. At least he snagged something right? IT TOTALLY COUNTS. Except that it doesn't. Although there probably are people out there that would want to brand the wildling man, Nox isn't one of them. Therst gets a wink for his support. When the guy in the cool hat actually approaches him and talks to him, he grins a bit sheepishly and follows suit. HELLO COW. Is what his expression says as he approaches a small innocent-enough-looking one, with a daisy hanging out of its mouth and a wee bell. "Moo." He'll try talking to it. It might help, right? It helps with the dolphins! "Look, I know you don't know me, and I don't know you - I'm not even from here, but I'm going to throw this rope, and hopefully it's going to go around you, ok? So try not to freak out?" He'll swing the rope around and give 'er…

Therst looks over at the man in charge with the hat who tells him to head out and try it on the cattle. Once he gets into the pasture he sees Nox actually talking with it, maybe he is a calve whisperer? who knows… He will find one standing alone and get ready but every time he starts to loop it over his head the calve will run a few feet away and then stop causing the candidate to have to stop and chase after it.

Oh, Nox. That little calf is going to look up at you with his big, trusting brown eyes. It's almost as if he understands what you're saying! Almost. Or just that you're there and are interesting possibly. And his daisy is tasty so he's going to keep munching on his flower. That is until the ROPE COMES FLYING! AGGGHHH! OMG ITS ON HIS HORN! (only the left one and just barely, but it's still there) The little calf is on his feet and backing away, tossing his head back and forth as he tries to break FREEEEEE!!!!!

Rhuysarr doesn't have any more luck in the Real World than he does roping a post, it seems. The wildling's first throw falls far short of landing anything, and his second isn't much better. He'll waste away his time trying to snag one of the calves with increasing frustration, until he eventually gives up and settles for trying to chase down the creatures on his own. Eventually, he'll probably end up with a hoof to the gut and a few more bruises to match that black eye he has already, until someone eventually decides he's more of a liability than an asset.

Do you want to play tag, Therst? Cause this calf loves to play tag! He's the bestest at it! He'll try to lure the former miner in just close enough and then flounce away! SUCCESS! for now.

And look, the herders aren't leaving the candidates to doing all the work. Llewellyn isn't actively roping anything at the moment, but that's mainly because he's been put in charge of wrangling candidates and making sure they don't get themselves killed. There are other herders working much more efficiently than the newbies at roping up more of the calves and holding them down to be branded. Some of them can even get the whole process done and over within in only a couple of minutes! Llew's crew isn't having that luck. But there's still plenty of cows for everyone!
[OOC:] Llewellyn says "Also, remember it did rain the night before, so the ground's a bit muddy. And really muddy in some other spots. :)"

DID NOX ACTUALLY ROPE THE COW? HOLY COCONUTS. (I mean nut-fruits?) His face is one of complete disbelief, which quickly shifts to calm worry as the calf begins to freak out. "Ssshhh. No… it's ok… calm…" He holds out his hands, like he does with the dolphins. This is easier to do, not treading water. Except for, there's GROUND. He's less careful where he puts his feet now, but that's ok. He just stumbles a bit. "Ssshhh…" He tugs the rope, and tries to get his arms around the cow. Did they say to do that? Was that a hoof "OW!" THOSE ARE HIS LEGS, OK? Winch. Grimace. "Ssshh. Moo." OW. HIS ARM. NOT THE… YEAH. Why there, cow? He's trying to hold her, and the bell is jingling. OH YEAH. They roll over, into a mud puddle. Why? This is like the worst kind of mud wrestling ever.

It's probably a good thing for Nox that Moo isn't a very large calf. Even compared to other calves her age. Still, when she's lashing out at shins, that's gotta hurt. She also is not a huge fan of this mud wrestling thing and going to try and wiggle and wiggle. A herdbeast shoulder might go into the teen's face or shoulder or something, but he's miraculously holding her still. Barely. Llewellyn's going to step in to help hold those back legs in place firmly, ignoring the mud getting on his pants as some other herders come in to do the branding thing. There's a brief sizzle, but job is done. "Let her go and run."

"Oh think your funny do you?" Therst says with half a smirk and then will just start trying to walk and swing the rope he will toss it right as the calve stops moving waiting for him to catch up. He does sink ankle deep into a mud hole and looks down taking his eyes off the prize if he roped the calve or not. but he won't lose the rope as he thought wrapping it around his wrist was a good idea.

Wrapping the rope around his wrist may not have been a good idea as the rope did land. And predictably, the calf is not happy about this at all. That's his HEAD, Therst! Why'd you have to go and put this thing on his head? He's going to try to run as quickly as possible, causing the rope that the candidate is still holding to go with him. Think quick, or rope burns might be in the near future.

Nox is going to have a lot of bruises in the morning, along with most of this group. One side of his body is covered in mud, as he holds on - there's Llewellyn approaching and getting a firmer hold, and then that sizzle, the young dolphineer turned candidate continues to make soothing noises, trying to calm the poor thing. That must have hurt! He gives a firm nod and legs go, shuffling out from under the creature and rolling away - across the grass, moving away as quick as he can — he trips again over his feet somehow, and goes flying into the grass, right near where that girl from Keroon is working with the kids, who startle and begin to giggle. He pushes himself up like in a push-up, very coated in mud, and meets her eyes. Smiles sheepishly. Yeah, the mud is dripping off his face. Real charming, Nox.

Moo is soo outta there. She's gonna go find her momma cow and maybe get momma to kiss her new boo-boo and tell her what those mean ole humans did to her today. TRAUMATIC COW DAY!

Therst holds on and goes for a little ride, through every…single….mud hole. He is going to need to have a long soak after this, he will wiggle and try to get his feet out and underneath him. As he is dragged near one of the fence posts he will reach out and wrap his legs around it, the young miner is able to hold on to the now tugging cow as he tries to get the rope around the fence instead of his arm.

So one candidate rope calf done, Llewellyn is now up and running to another possible disaster. There's a brief headshake as he sees Therst clinging to the fence post instead of you know, the cow. But at least he does have the head firmly roped and so the herder's going to tackle the calf like the pro he is. Another journeyman comes in with the brand and he'll get the rope of it's head and let the little one free. He takes a quick look at the very, very dirty candidates. "Good job, everyone?" He doesn't sound to convincing about that. "Just give your ropes to Dutak over there and go get cleaned up. We'll… we'll take it from here."

Nox lowers his head sheepishly, and the girl from Keroon, who is one of the only ones not covered in mud, just kind of stares at him. She walks away, distracted by the herder calling them all in. He pushes to his feet, dusting himself off. After returning his ropes, he'll just be wandering off now to get a bath, if he can remember where to find them. Nox out!

Therst gets up as well and will follow the dolphineer, while not trying to impress a woman he too needs a bath and probably maybe a trip to the infirmary to get his head and other things examined for this stunt.

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