such a shame [december chores/cr'oph]

[Avu]

You’ll fall on your head and break in two and then where will I be?
“Laughing at my stupidity and misfortune, no doubt.”
Only after taking you to the Infirmary and adding to your splitting headache by informing you of precisely how stupid you are.
“Nice to know how much you care, Ahth.”
Care not does bluething.
“Did not need your input, Sylph. Hand me the nail please.”

The Salamandyr frilled, but she shoved the small metal bolt obediently down the slope of the ceiling of the Main Hall down to R’ahre anyway, who trapped it beneath his palm and set the edge to the thin piece of wood that he’d just carefully situated over a small leak on the roof. He was sprawled, in a show of complete inelegance, across the top of the roof, draped across the rough tiles. How it had decided to leak R’ahre had no idea but upon arriving at the Main Hall for chores he’d been assured that should another weyrling arrive they’d be sent to help him and sent straight onto the roof with nails, a slab of wood to cover the leak, and a hammer. It was to be a ‘temporary’ covering, he’d been told. Nothing fancy, just cover it up until someone more experienced could drop by and fix it like it was supposed to be. Apparently the cooks were tired of having excess rainwater drip into their soups. Lovely.

My /dear/ little green spy, shouldn’t you be somewhere /safer/? The roof /is/ rather a dangerous place, Ahth commented silkily. The blue was sprawled on the landing in front of the Main Hall. Yes, he was occupying enough space for two dragons to sit should they perch delicately. No, he didn’t care. If His was going to be there so long, he deserved to be able to sprawl out how he wanted to. Anyway, it wasn’t as if the other dragons really planned on staying too long. Just drop off Theirs and then depart again; they could shuffle awkwardly. Ahth didn’t mind watching them stumble and trip over themselves awkwardly to avoid stepping on him. It was kind of amusing, truth be told. When the only response he received from Sylph was a wordless, emotional sneer (she laughed in the face of danger! She did!), Ahth added lazily to His, Shouldn’t you demand someone to help you? You’re supposed to be doing chores with a Junior weyrling.

“I am not,” R’ahre commented as he applied hammer to nail, “exactly dying for company, you know, Ahth. I’m perfectly fine alone and if Sel’n argues I’ll just tell him it’s up to him; I could do chores alone or I could not do them. I’m fine with either, really.” A pause, and he tilted his head and swung the wood around on a pivot to position it more accurately, before he went on, “Anyway, I’m sure all my classmates are having a lovely time hazing them and I don’t need to ruin that, do I?” Actually, he didn’t see the point in adding the notation about ‘hazing’; he was quite old enough to know hazing was less than appropriate and he was pretty sure most of the other Weyrlings knew that, too. Pretty sure.

Hmm.
Input wanted /not/, bluething.
Neither was yours, spy.
“Don’t argue or I will ‘break myself’ just to get away from you two…”
Oh, because that’d be /such/ a shame, Ahth purred.
Shame shame…

[Rei]

“You know if you broke yourself it would just make it easier for them to find you. Stuck in the infirmary you couldn’t exactly run.” The voice came from R’ahre’s left where Cr’oph had just gained access to the roof. Flinging the board onto the roof he red head swung up onto it, hammer in hand, boots clicking on the rough tiles. The bronze weyrling whistled softly as he looked over the edge. “Quite a drop really.” Arching an eyebrow he plopped down on the roof without another word. A quiet query to Mave and then he turned his attention to his “chore mate”. “So anything you need help with or should I just act busy?”

The bronze weyrling wasn’t rude per say but nor was his tone overly friendly. Instead he kept it emotionless and matter of fact. Cr’oph knew his blue rider companion held no compassion for him and to be truthful he couldn’t say he felt generous toward the other lad either. Sure they both came from Benden but R’ahre had been less than friendly last time they met. He remembered the other man’s icy tone well. Seemed as if fate loved to spit on him. Mavenath’s impression cemented that fact perfectly. Death bronze….really he had probably impressed a death sentence. Not that it stopped him from loving the annoying, prideful beast. Sure Cr’oph realized his days where more than likely numbered, that just made him want to take advantage of what time he did have.

Mavenath was sprawled to the left of the Hall. Sunning in front of the river bank, he idly watched as the arriving dragons attempted not to step on the blue. The small bronze snorted softly before touching Cr’oph’s mind. I am sorry to interrupt your depressive train of thought but I have a question. Are all Selenitas dragons such pushovers? Why do they not just step on the blue? I would if he got in my way. Cr’oph chuckled slightly. Oh most people here shy away from confrontation. It’s why the south isn’t labeled as a threat. If Benden or Fort wanted to take us over it wouldn’t take much. The south is very lax. I think the river incident made that painfully obvious Crymine. Cr’oph frowned but didn’t comment on that fact. Why don’t you say hi? Mavenath stretched out in his patch of sun and settled his head on his forepaws. Why should I? He is a blue. If anything he should be greeting me not the other way around. Besides he is not a clutchsibling nor does he look like anything special. I do not care if he speaks not a word. Besides this patch of riverbank is quite comfortable and I do not wish to interrupt the blue’s game. With a final flick of his tail the small bronze fell silent and half lidded his whirling eyes.

[Avu]

A voice. R’ahre didn’t twitch, but he did pause in his work to flick a glance in the bronzeweyrling’s direction. For a minute he’d half-hoped it had been M’kai; he had nothing against the other bluerider’s company. It was Ahth who had a problem with Futh, but that was beside the point. But no, of course not. His luck wasn’t that good. The other weyrling’s words drew a faintly mocking smirk across his face as he shrugged, turning back to hammering in the nail entirely. The thin piece of wood really wouldn’t last long, he noted with some dissatisfaction; if they didn’t find someone to actually fix the roof he’d be doing this again soon. Probably with Cr’oph as his chore-mate again. Siiigh.

“If I was broken maybe I could tune them out better.” The hammer clipped against the nail, eliciting a soft hiss of disapproval from the wielder. R’ahre wasn’t good with hammers and nails. He just wasn’t; he didn’t know how to make them work for him. Knives and brooms liked him. Hammers and mops did not. Whatever. At least hammering things in was better than, say, doing laundry or mucking out the stables while Ahth scared the runners. Fantastic. Cr’oph’s comment on the drop drew only a shrug from R’ahre. Heights had never bothered him in the least. They were just distances. But, as for what Cr’oph could do…if he was asking, it was so very tempting to tell him to do something utterly useless, but…he doubted the Headwoman or whoever was in charge of chores would approve.

Do nothing, not need ugly. Sylph’s words were blunt. The Salamandyr was settled neatly half on top of three other nails, one for each corner of the piece of wood; they were tucked behind her forelegs to keep from rolling down the slope of the roof. Her tail flicked idly, gaze fixed intently on Cr’oph. Curious, Sylph was. Hers had no particular fondness for this one, but he did like the look-alike. How strange. Human look-alikes seemed to be all too rare, too. She and Skink were, and she knew there was another pair of brown Salamandyrs that were – one of which belonged to the queen in their weyrling class, the one that Ahth loved to hate. RusaMine –

R’ahre paused to squint at Sylph before he clicked his tongue in audible disapproval. “Depends. Can you hammer?” he inquired of Cr’oph; his voice was even, with the distinct lack of emotion that constantly bordered on mocking. “If so, then you should probably be doing this, while I act busy, because I can’t.” He straightened, rolling over to sit back and adjust the piece of wood again, which kept swinging on the single nail holding it down. “If you can’t, then just try not to fall off the roof. After all, it’s quite a drop.” Yes, that last bit had been a deliberate mimic of Cr’oph’s previous words. Yes, it could be interpreted as very taunting. And no, he didn’t care.

He is worth than Futh and His? Ahth inquired from his sprawled position. I was not aware this was possible. Though – I do expect Weith and Taith come close. You know him from That Place? If he registered the small bronze nearby as being Cr’oph’s, he gave no indication of it; Ahth disliked bronzes as a general rule and he was more than happy listening to the rumors as passing Drudges and Riders alike murmured among each other. I don’t expect you could push him off the roof and call it an accident. Ahth didn’t like anyone from ‘That Place’, as the blue put it. If they all, save for His, of course, disappeared, he wouldn’t mind at all – and not because of the things they may or may not have done, either, but because they made His think of That Place and Ahth hated that.

Don’t tempt me. He’s much worse than M’kai, yes. Which is pretty easy; I like M’kai. And yes, again. I knew him. A pause; Sylph released one of the nails and R’ahre caught it against the pad of his forefinger, rolling it against the rough tile roof. Unfortunately.

[Rei]

Cr’oph flicked a glance towards Slyph as she spoke and had to bite his tongue against a retort. This was going horrible. Surprise, surprise. Shard this crap. If R’ahre was going to act like he was some bug that just crawled out from under some dark rock then screw it. He didn’t need this. Shard swallowing his pride and trying to work with him. It was obvious he wasn’t wanted. The bronze weyrling had just about decided to tell the other boy to shove off when the blue weyrling spoke again. Could he use a hammer? Yes but why should he.

The look the red head fixed the other man with was decidedly not friendly. “Obviously this is an exercise in futility.” Snorting dryly he flicked his eyes to the ladder. “Look I don’t like you and you definitely don’t like me. So lets just make this painless and forget I ever showed up. Makes things nice and easy and that way we don’t have to sit here and pretend.” Cr’oph said not another word as he strode back to the ladder. Seriously, chores sucked. Note to self, next time avoid the trouble all together and just skip them.

Ah You where not kidding the blue’s pet doesn’t like you. I am proud of you though, you did not threaten him. That is solely because I don’t want to get in trouble for pitching someone off the roof. I don't need your input by the way. The red head replied before shooting a poisonous glare in his dragon’s direction. From his position on the river bank Mavenath rumbled before getting to his feet. He didn’t spare Ahth a glance as he approached the Main Hall. Well if you are finished with your chores then come down and clean my talons. I am afraid they have gotten a bit dingy in the walk here. Clean them yourself, and I never said I was finished with chores. The bronze hatchling shook his head and plopped down next to the ladder before fixing a whirling eye on Ahth. So I should write these two off as ones you will not get along with? That is really a pity Mylove. Everyone can be useful to some degree. Not R’ahre. How do you know that? I just do. Now shut up your giving me a headache. Mavenath yawned before turning his head away from the dark blue.

Mavenath eyed the ladder and momentarily debated shoving it over. Then he remembered that the blue could fly while he could not. While Ahth could fetch his bonded it would be quite impossible to fetch his own. Hmmm. The small bronze made a growling nose low in his throat as his started to descend. What are you doing? I thought you said you where not finished? I’m not finished. I’m just giving up my job as a repair man. My life is too sharding short to spend it with people who don’t give a freaking damn about anything other than their own egos. If R’hare wants to be an ass he can do it on his own time and stop wasting mine. I’m not going to degrade myself my listening to his annoying attempts at mockery and sarcasm.

Mavenath said nothing as his bonded leapt down the last rungs to land with a grunt. I’d rather ask the headwoman for a different chore or accept something else as a punishment that waste any more time listening to him. The small bronze regarded his for a moment before snorting in agitation. You are a bronze rider now. You have to get along with others whether you like it or not. No I don’t. I don’t see Ka’rys bending over backwards to accommodate the idiotic. Why should I? To Cr’oph’s surprise the young bronze did not offer another argument. Instead he merely huffed and raised a white taloned foot. Idly the dragon dug it into the ground. Do you know the reason he dislikes you. The bronze weyrling fixed his dragon with an incredulous look. No I don’t know. Nor to I give two…The bronze tripped his with a well placed tail swipe. You really need to work on your language skills. Cr’oph rolled his eyes and glared darkly at his bronze before rolling to a sitting position. "Screw you." Ask him why he dislikes you so. I'd rather Ask Faranth why she decided creating you was a good idea. .

[Avu]

Uhh. Was he really mad already? R’ahre flicked a curious glance over his shoulder at Cr’oph; one eyebrow rose slightly, and the amusement that flashed across his features was undeniable. He hadn’t even done anything yet. Unless it was Sylph that Cr’oph was agitated with; not everyone took Sylph’s name-calling lightly. As it was, there were worse insults. ‘Pretty’ was probably the worst; ‘ugly’ wasn’t actually so bad. Ironically, ‘fatty’ was even a term of endearment; perhaps Cr’oph would prefer that? A wide smirk crossed the bluerider’s face and he leaned down to stroke one forefinger approvingly down his Salamandyr’s back, catching up the nail in his hand and using his knee to hold the piece of wood in place. The nail was situated carefully, the hammer picked up off the rough tiles, and applied gently to the head of the nail.

He offered no reply to the bronzerider’s words at all, clicking his tongue absently in disapproval as he brought down the hammer more sharply, the sharp end digging into the wood, slightly angled. Oh well. Probably should fix that. One forefinger tugged on the nail before he glanced over his shoulder at Cr’oph again. R’ahre really hoped that the man didn’t expect to be called back, because he honestly couldn’t care less about whether or not he had company. So the Weyrlingmaster had demanded it. So what. How was he going to know? And if he did find out (did Weyrlingmasters drop in on chores…?), R’ahre still didn’t particularly care. Would the man prefer he just skipped chores? Because he was absolutely okay with that, too. It was extraordinarily tempting to push over the ladder and see if he could hit Cr’oph on the head just to be a brat, but…that probably wasn’t the best of ideas ever.

FattyMine, Sylph commented idly, swishing her tail, Uglyface bronze splat, good? The inquiry bordered was dripping with sickly sweetness, the silkiness something that R’ahre was very much accustomed to from both of his mindmates. /Make/ splat? Because she could. Oh, yes, she could make him ‘splat’ if she so desired it.

“That’s probably not a good idea,” R’ahre answered softly. “Next nail, please.” Catching it as Sylph rolled it down to him, the bluerider crinkled his nose at her before he situated it and began to hammer it in, adding in between the strikes, “Doubt a weyrling would have too much paper lying strewn around the place. Nothing to write down. Wouldn’t be much fun.” His head tilted to inspect the work, one hand rising to pin down the last corner to see how it would look, and he clicked his tongue, thoughtful. Not wonderful, but it’d stop the leaking, at least. “If you must, though…” A quirk of his eyebrow at the green, who crooned, visibly pleased, and rolled the last nail down to Hers before skittering down to the edge of the roof and leaning over precariously to watch the bronze-weyrling…just in time to see Mavenath trip him.

Graceful, she sneered, unable to keep that comment back. Her frill flared; both wings fluttered slightly. Uglyface bronze’s /so/ graceful. A spin on her hind legs to look at Mavenath; the Salamandyr tilted her head to one side, considering, before she frilled at him, too. Blues were the best anyway. She’d no use for bronzes. Blues she liked: Ahth, Merce. Bronzes: None. Too pretty, and the tone of her voice was decidedly dismissive. So pretty ugly bronze. Was she trying to get a reaction? Probably. Sylph loved it when she was yelled at (as long as it wasn’t Hers doing the yelling) and flailed at and screamed at. Reactions were good, of any kind, but preferably of a negative kind.

The little spy really is insufferable, Ahth murmured quietly, but the dangerous note of silk in his voice made it clear that he approved of what Sylph was doing. The little bronze and His certainly are silly, are they not? the blue went on, pleasantly, flashing R’ahre the image of Mavenath tripping Cr’oph. He’d remember such an image, oh yes he would…If they were so distressed at your company, why aren’t they halfway across the Weyr yet? Just because they can’t fly doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to run. Dark green, amused eyes narrowed into slits as Ahth dropped his head onto his forepaws again, black claws digging casually at the stone of the landing pad beneath him and leaving white lines where they scored. They /are/ foolish.

Foolish, or just fools?
Is there a difference?

[Rei]

Mavenath did not even deign to offer Slyph a glance as she hurled insults. The mandyrs seemed to get off on creating havoc and he for one would not rise to her obvious attempts to bait him. The bronze did not lower himself to such levels. Heated arguments and ill thinking where for those too stupid to see the opinions of others. If Slyph thought him “to shiny” it was her right. Instead the young dragon lowered his head to nuzzle Cr’oph with affection. Get up. I know I didn’t hurt you.

His bonded shoved ineffectually at the bronze’s head before spitting on the ground. “Leave me alone.” I’m afraid that isn’t possible. “Yeah I see that.” The bronze weyrling got to his feet before hurriedly dusting off his pants. Look on the bright side at least you didn’t fall off the roof. Yeah….whatever. Idly pushing a hand through his hair, the red head made his way to the kitchens. "I’ll just get another assignment. I’m sure I can convince her to give me one. One way or another." Cr’oph didn’t even give a glance to the roof as he made for the doorway.

Mavenath yawned before fluidly making his way down to his old spot on the riverbank. I’m sure you can. Turning in place twice, the young dragon flopped back into his sandy wallow and stretched out full length spreading his wings to soak up more warmth. Wake me when your done please. This whole thing was really unnecessary and anticlimactic. He flicked a glance toward the blue. Perhaps sleeping would be a bad idea. Instead he would just doze. I suppose, at least, I have a small idea of a couple of your enemies now. They will bear watching. Mavenath flicked the tip of his tail in thought. I suppose he may get his pet to tear up our room?

That comment got a response albeit a rather short one. Let him. I have nothing valuable. I’ll just have to look for a cat or evil darter to keep any unwelcome pests away. Shouldn’t be to hard really. Hmmm. The bronze pondered that for a moment before half liding his eyes. I suppose even those things have a use. Shaking his head as he entered the dimly lit hall, Cr’oph searched for the headwoman. Things couldn’t get much worse really. He’d rather clean latrines than work with the insufferable R’ahre and his motley crew of degenerates.

((Sorry. I can’t get Cr’oph to rise to the bait like he normally does. He may still be a bit depressed xP))