Mud, Muck, and Mayhem {Chores/Open}

[Rowana]

Merridan wrinkled her nose as she scooped another pile of stinky muck. She tossed it in a small cart to drag outside later. Mucking out stalls and sweeping up hay wasn't the best job in Pern, but it sure beat out kitchen and archive work. She was glad F'ur had done this for them. She would much rather work in the stables, where she could at least be active and useful, than work on something she was bad at.

Auran perched on a ledge above her, eying her work critically. He chirped insistently. Mer rolled her eyes at him. "If you're going to be a perfectionist, you could at least help." The blue turned up his nose. He was willing to do a lot of things for his bonded, but messing with that muck was not one of them. Lyleeka, Farryl's chestnut mare, blew hot air at him in disgust. It caught under his large wings and blew him off his perch and into a pile of hay. Mer laughed out loud and patted the runner. "See how you like it, eh?" Auran glared at them both.

[Avu]

It’s scared of me.
Oh, I didn’t notice.
How /very/ amusing. I’m not even /doing/ anything.
Yeah? Try ‘doing something’ and going away.
I wouldn’t be amused then.

Such was the logic of a blue dragon. Ahth was curled around a bush, half-concealed in the shadows; only his eyes were visible, glowing like bright green gems from the darkness. The dark outline of dragonflesh, large and serpentine, was sending the runner in question into a nervous frenzy; R’ahre scowled slightly as he kept a firm hold on the lead. The pony mare was at least small enough to be handled without much difficulty, but it still wasn’t a fun thing to try and control her. The small gray runner was trying to rear onto her hind legs and whirl, and the weyrlingrider was quickly loosing patience – something that was not in abundance within him. He’d just finished cleaning out the stall and was trying to stick the chubby mare back in there, but unfortunately she seemed more interested in fleeing from Ahth. Who was – as he’d said – doing nothing, just sitting and watching in rapidly growing amusement. At least Sylph wasn’t there to bug him, too; as far as he knew, the green was either busy destroying someone’s office (not Ka’rys’s, though, apparently Merce’s fatty was exempt from such treatment) or with Merce.

“Just move,” he finally hissed at Ahth, literally wrenching the pony’s head around to make her turn. The blue’s nose rose slightly, disdainful in his rejection of the idea, and R’ahre threw him a venomous look before he almost literally dragged the runner back into the stables. She calmed as instantly as she entered, earning an absolutely hideous look from the blueweyrling. Chores were fine – actually, he was in a better mood here than he’d ever been in the Archives – but the runner mare was so – so – so annoying. Gah. Ahth’s amusement pressed against their bond and R’ahre twitched visibly before he led the mare, suddenly docile, past a stall just in time to hear Merridan’s comment to her firelizard. It wasn’t registered as being to her firelizard, though R’ahre assumed it was aimed at whatever runner was in the stall with her. Still, recognition of the voice meant a comment was needed, of course.

“Oh, I’m sure he” – ‘he’ being a generic term – “likes it just about as much as I like trying to wrestle with a pony. Fun times, and all.”

Unnecessary comment, yes, but Mer wouldn’t mind, R’ahre was sure; he didn’t actually intend to bother her any more if she didn’t want it, after all. The mare snorted, her muzzle pressing into his back, and R’ahre jerked away so violently that the mare snorted again, eyes rolling. Her stall wasn’t far from the one Mer was working in; R’ahre moved silently when he was upset, but the clopping of the runner’s hooves marked their location as R’ahre led her into the stall, turned her around, and then slipped off the halter, hanging it and the lead up outside of the stall before he stepped out of it, brushing both hands over his shirt in a small signal of his own irritation, before he locked the bolt on the outside of the mare’s door and stepped back rapidly to avoid her head swinging out curiously over the edge of the stall door, obviously none the worse for her seeing Ahth. R’ahre repressed a twitch.

Runners are /so/ amusing, Ahth commented, a dark edge of silky amusement lining his voice. I wonder if they are edible…? The question was accompanied by his claws closing slightly, digging into the dirt as he wound his body tightly around the tree, slowly lidding his eyes to make himself even less visible. Nothing against company, of course, but it was easier to scare people if he suddenly opened his eyes. Easy to pretend it was a fluke, after all, and watching people and runners recoil was so amusing, especially if he didn’t actually have to do anything to make them. So funny.

Oh, I bet they are…I bet they are.

[Rowana]

Mer craned her head around the stall door to see R'ahre drag another mare inside her stall. "I thought I heard another unwilling slave out here," she returned with a grin. She didn't really mean that they were slaves of course, but it couldn't be denied that they would probably rather do other things. Still, hard work build character was her father's way of life, so she was used to it. Mer heaved another scoop of mess into her cart, parked just outside the stall. "How do you like working here instead of the kitchens?" she asked.

Auran had apparently taken Lyleeka's offense personally. He shook himself free of the hay, scattering bits of it in all directions. He'd show her he was useful. Picking out a particularly large clump of poo, he flew up and dropped on the mare's lovely flaxen mane. "Auran!" Mer shouted angrily. "I just did her stall! Now we'll have to give her a bath too!" Auran huffed, returning to his spot. He didn't care, his revenge was complete. Lyleeka stamped and shook her head, sending the offending clod flying...right at R'ahre.

[Avu]

Hah. Slaves. Too right. R’ahre’s nose crinkled slightly before he reached back sharply to push the mare’s head away from the lead; she’d been nuzzling and licking at the leather curiously. “It’s not edible,” he hissed, softly enough that it was likely inaudible to Merridan; he hadn’t intended for her to hear it, after all – it was just another failing attempt to put off the gray runner’s insatiable and oh-so-irritating ways. It was tempting to just cross-tie her in the stall and ditch her there, but R’ahre knew too well it wouldn’t be tolerated by the stablemaster. Not the mare’s fault she was being difficult – of course it wasn’t. Sigh. One hand came up to absently push her muzzle away as she tried to nuzzle him again, the blueweyrling twitching visibly, before he threw another glare in her direction even as he answered Mer’s question. “Anything’s better than the Archives.” And he supposed it was. Archives for three months running was enough to make anyone want to bash their heads in.

Mer’s yelling made his head tilt curiously before R’ahre moved quietly to the edge of the stall that the brownweyrling was working in; both elbows pressed against the top of the stall door and he blinked at her owlishly – and then ducked instinctively as the piece of runner manure was shaken off at him. Both hands still pressed against the door, but the clod missed him, flying overhead to smack into the stall door on the other side and fall into the door. Ironically, the first thought to cross the weyrlingrider’s mind was I’m not cleaning that up. Straightening, R’ahre crinkled his nose casually at the runner in question before he commented dryly – to the runner, not to Mer – “Just because my hair looks nicer than yours doesn’t mean you have to throw things at me.” Not really vanity; he didn’t actually care much about his hair looked – it was pulled back in a neat runner-tail at the moment, actually – but still. Ducking was instinctive, an automatic reaction; his weyrmate had thrown things at him. He’d asked her to, so he expected it, but he’d still leaned to duck when things came flying. Even little kids knew that.

Head tilted to appraise Mer for a moment before R’ahre added pleasantly, “Have a great time, and try using the wash stall around back; Ahth’s out front and he apparently finds runners ever so amusing.” Which was why he’d been practically wrestling with the little chubby pony mare to begin with. One hand tapped idly against the door before R’ahre added to Auran, quite seriously, “I wouldn’t suggest doing that again, you know; I know how to duck but some people are stupid and they’d get hit in the face and probably end up chewing out your Bonded over there.” Okay, so it was kind of strange to talk to the blue like he was a person or a dragon, but R’ahre had fallen into the habit of addressing all draconic creatures as if they had that level of intelligence. Sylph did – the green Salamandyr was capable of plotting and deviousness, and she always got her point across adequately. Firelizards he didn’t think as highly of, truth be told, but they were still okay (Sylph detested them, amusingly enough) and he couldn’t treat them like they were completely stupid.

I made one of them scream. So amusing, Ahth commented smugly. You should have seen it running away. I wonder if any of my clutchsiblings have realized how utterly hysterical this is? He didn’t think they had; Ahth kept relatively close tabs on his clutchsiblings whether or not they realized it. I think I shall eat one eventually…perhaps one of the most pampered. Someday…he could pretend he’d mistaken it for a herdbeast and be properly contrite or something silly like that. As if.

[Rowana]

Merridan glared at Auran and Lyleeka both, as if it was some kind of conspiracy to embarrass her. "Sorry about them," she told R'ahre. "Auran's being a pain today." That and she only knew basics of how to care for runners. Maybe she should get someone to teach her to ride some day. That might be an adventure. Mer picked up a brush and ran it through Lyleeka's mane. Maybe it wasn't too bad and she wouldn't need a bath. She chuckled. "As long as Ahth isn't thinking of eating one. I don't think their owners would be very happy with him."

Lyleeka blew hot air at R'ahre and nuzzled him, looking for treats. That he was probably not very forgiving of her at the moment had apparently slipped her runner mind. Auran continued to scowl at them all, giving the boy a look of defiance as well. No one would hurt his bonded as long as he was around no matter what the reason.