Just Borrowing! (May Weyrling 'Chores', Open)

[Ember]

Jazz had been delighted to learn weyrlings were allowed to choose their own chores. It was just so awesome. Given that she was partial to runners the diminutive woman had chosen to help out in the stables. She'd started out actually doing chore-like things. Cleaning out the stalls, feeding runners, grooming runners.... Inevitabley the Telgar born woman grew bored of her task. So what did an ex-travelling performer do when they were bored? Why, they practiced their skills, of course!

Jazheera abandoned her pitchfork and checked on Dhavalth quickly. Napping, just as she'd left him. He'd quickly gotten bored of the strange creatures in the stable and curled up for a nap on a pile of straw in a corner. It was better for him to be asleep. She wasn't entirely sure her dragon wouldn't worry about her riding style. Satisfied that Dhavalth was fine and staying out of trouble, Jazz approached a stall with a large reddish runner. He wasn't bred for looks but he seemed to be well bred for more useful traits.

She glanced up at the name above the stall. "Condor? Interesting name." She stepped up until the door of the stall and offered the runner a fingerroot that she'd brought specifically for the runners. She had several more where that one came from hidden in her pocket. As Condor ate the carrot Jazheera smiled and unlocked the gate and slipped into the stall. She offered her hand next and let the runner know her. "Hey there, Condor. Wanna go for a bit of excercise?" She stroked his nose gently and slipped out of the stall again. He nickered behind her. "I'll be back in just a moment!"

Jazheera returned with runner tack and set about tacking up the runner. He danced about a little bit, seeming quite playful. When he was all ready she opened the stall door and mounted up. She guided him out of the stable and walked Condor around to warm him up. Then she got him to a trot and then a gallop and felt his smooth stride. Yes, well bred runner as far as Jazheera was concerned. She could do very little with a rough gait. She steered him towards the jungle and had him run alongside it. She needed targets.

Jazheera carefully stood up on the sadle as Condor ran, displaying all the grace she possessed as she seemingly effortlessly kept her balance. She slipped the throwing knives she owned out of their sheathes one by one and threw them at trees as she passed them. Jazz could have given her brother a run for his marks with her aim. As she threw her last knife she sat back down on the runner's sadle and slowed him to a walk. She patted his neck with a wide smile. "Thanks, Condor." She walked him back along the edge of the jungle, stopping him to retrieve her knives. It was a shame she didn't have an audience!

[Ruby]

Chores were an absolute no-brainer for Tenlie. They let them choose where they wanted to work? To be fair, the forge wasn't on the list, but... there was still Glasswork to be done, repairs to be made, etc. Healers for to work in the Infirmary for their chores, why couldn't she work in the Forge? She figured if all else failed, she could file it under "repairs" and have done with it. Probably she should have run it by Sel'n, but she did not want to get stuck in the kitchens. Cooking was something Tenlie did not know how to do. Prepare a menu, order the ingredients, orchestrate the serving of food, etc.? Yes, of course. Actually cook it? Ha!

So she'd lurked off to the Forge, resolving to spend her time making things the Weyr actually needed, rather than working on the smoked-glass technique she'd had a breakthrough on yesterday. Then again, more wineglasses could wait, couldn't they? She had made plenty already, and as far as Ten was concerned it was stupid to drink different colored wines out of different shaped glasses. She'd never really understood wine, either, and she certainly couldn't tell the difference between wine out of a skinny tall glass or a fat short glass. Yes, they could wait.

She'd stoked the fire with a smile, waiting for it to get hot enough before putting in a few different components to melt. Now she had a few minutes while the impurities burned off (and, of course, the glass got hot enough to melt in the first place), and it was quickly getting stifling in the enclosed forge. Plucking at her sweaty green shirt (she had learned her lesson about white!) she sent a quick burst of thought up to Rajnith, who had refused to leave the Barracks. The green was napping, having gorged herself on select cuts of meat earlier in the day, and hadn't stirred yet. Good - Ten knew she didn't have time to run all the way back to say hello to Rajnith, but the Green would certainly demand it if she knew Hers was taking a break.

She took off just her gloves this time, leaving the heavy wherhide apron on and just pushing her goggles out of her eyes. All she wanted was a breath of fresh air, she didn't have time for a real break. She headed out, leaning in her customary spot against the stable wall and looking out over the forest. Big Brother appeared to regale her with stories of her new swan, Ugly, but she waved him off. What was going on over at the edge of the jungle? Was someone standing on the back of a runner? Ten shaded her eyes, squinting against the sun to try and get a better view. Raising her voice, she waved and called "Jazheera?" trying to get the rider's attention. It certainly looked like her diminutive roommate...

[Ember]

Jazheera was pulling the last knife from a tree when she heard someone call her name. She turned in the general direction of the voice and caught sight of someone with a familiar build - Tenlie, she was fairly certain. She hadn't had much opportunity to talk with her roommate since she was often taking care of Dhavalth, visiting her brother, or hanging with Ruliana or some guys. She saw no reason not to get friendly with her roommate though so she guided Condor towards her. Yup, it was Tenlie, just as she'd guessed.

"Hey Tenlie. Taking a break too?" The small woman said when she got within normal speaking range. The appron and goggles were looked at with interest. What was it her roommate did again? She couldn't exactly remember. If she had to take a guess it would be glass or starcrafting; Tenlie wasn't built the way most Smiths were. Jazz would know, she was from Telgar. There were other kinds of Smiths, of course, but most of the things to do with approns and goggles would be the heavier duty stuff. Her lack of a filter allowed her to ask, "You're a glasscrafter? Or a starcrafter?"

Jazheera mentally checked up on Dhavalth again but he was still sound asleep. Thinking of her own little dragon made her think of Tenlie's green. "How's Rajnith? I don't see her here with you." There was the possibility the green was relaxing in Tenlie's work area but Jazz figured she'd hear about it soon enough. She always liked talking about Dhavalth so she often assumed that the other weyrlings were the same way. It was still all so new!

[Ruby]

She'd been right! With a little bounce, the Greenweyrling pushed herself off the wall, taking a few steps towards the approaching horse. She stopped several safe feet away, eying the big animal with a hint of trepidation, but she didn't comment. It wasn't that she was scared of horses, she just didn't know what to do around them. She smiled at her roommate to take any sting out of her first words: "You can call me Ten. But aye, it do be - is - hot in the Forge." She'd been making an effort to correct her grammar lately, although there wasn't much she could do about the accent. She'd always sound like an outsider, she guessed.

"As if it is no hot out here," she added, dabbing at her forehead with a rolled up sleeve. "And I do - er, am, a glasscrafter. Journeyman, although I sometimes do work for the Starcrafters." Well, she'd been trying to recreate the starviewer she'd bought at the Gather, but... close enough. Lifting a hand to shade her eyes again, Ten squinted back at the trees Jazheera had been near, then asked without apology, "An' what exactly do you do?" Knives and horses - Ten couldn't attach that to any craft she knew of. Beastcrafter maybe, or maybe it was just something Jazheera knew how to do, like dancing.

The sudden blankness in her roommate's eyes reminded Ten that Rajnith was still asleep, but she checked on her anyway. "Aye, she do be in the Barracks," Tenlie said, sounding far away for a moment. Then, sounding a little more alert, she added, "The forge gets so hot, I worry about her dehydrating. Someday I think she will go to the river while I work, but so far she has been lazy. Is Dhavalth there, too?" Ten's whole face lit up when she spoke of her Green, something that seemed true about Jazheera, as well. They had one thing in common, at least.

[Ember]

Jazheera swung down off of Condor's back and smiled at her roommate. "Ten, huh? Well, feel free to call me Jazz. My parents did so like long names," she said with patented Jazz cheeriness. The correction to what Tenlie was saying didn't go unnoticed and she just barely held back comment on it when Tenlie kept speaking. Oh, so her guess had been right. Glasscrafters were interesting, and so the dimunitive woman said, "That's really cool. You should show me a bit of glasscrafting sometime!" It didn't matter that she didn't want to be a glasscrafter, just learning a bit of what it was like would be worth the effort. If Tenlie was willing, of course.

The grin that appeared on her face when she was asked what she did was decidedly roguish. She slipped a few of the knives into mostly concealed sheathes before tossing three into the air and juggling them. Hadn't that taken her forever to learn! "I joined a troupe for a while. One of the best times of my life! I learned all sorts of tricks from my troupe-mates." Tenlie checking on her own little dragon went unnoticed while Jazheera did the same so the far away tone caught her a little but by surprise. Not to mention Tenlie had forgotten to fix her 'do be.'

"It is a worry, with this heat," Jazz agreed. She was still quite unaccustomed to the Southern heat. Not that that really slowed her down much in the end...it was just unpleasant. "Nah, Dhav is resting in the stables. He refused to let me leave on my own. He's a bit protective." The conversation lulled for a moment before Jazz bulled on ahead. "Why do you keep changing 'do be' other things? Ain't that more natural? If you ask me, it osunds more odd when you correct yourself." Jazheera had absolutely no filter. At all.

[Ruby]

"Jazz it will be," Ten smiled, then added with a grimace, "My parents simply liked girly ones. Sure it is no a name you'd expect on a Smith an' a Rider, eh?" That made her chuckle good-naturedly. Obviously she wasn't a smith or a full rider, yet, but the name still sounded a little too shiny and delicate for Ten's liking. Too hold-bred.

Jazz's knife tricks, though, quickly distracted Ten from unpleasant memories of Ista. She gasped as several seemed to disappear into Jazz's clothing, then stepped back as the Blueweyrling tossed three into the air and seemed to make them float. Her eyes widened and she applauded as Jazz managed not to cut her hands off. She'd seen people juggle balls, and one of the Journeyman Smiths had tossed hammers while she was still an apprentice, but he had ended up in the infirmary with three broken toes. Knives were new to her. "You shall have to show me how you do that sometime," she said, then glanced up at the sun. "If you do no mind waiting an' boiling to death in the Forge, I do have some glass melted that I can blow. Would you like to see? It shall be about... five more minutes."

No matter Jazz's answer, Ten decided that she liked her roommate, after all. Maybe Rajnith and Dhavalth could keep each other company if both of the Riders ended up working down here again. She shifted as the conversation trailed off, tucking an edge of her shirt back in to her pants. Jazz's next comment made her sigh, though. The Weyr was a confusing place, if nothing else. "It do be the dialect of the Glasscraft Hall and of Ista, or so I hear. People told me I did sound funny, and that people may judge me for my speech. That did no sound like what I'd heard of Selenitas, but I did no want to chance it," she added. "Maybe I shall stop correcting, but Rajnith wants me to 'make sense when I talk', and I do think she means talk like her, and the rest of the people from the Weyr. Maybe it shall correct itself on its own." She had left off making the corrections for now, though - if Jazz didn't mind, she wasn't going to go out of her way to talk normally. "Do no the Players talk funny?" she added without thinking. That was why she'd never seen them as a child when they came to Ista, and a major reason she'd picked up the Glasscraft accent - the Lord and Lady Holders assumed anyone who spoke differently were disreputable, and of course every hold on Pern had it's dialect and accent.