Welcome to Gaia! ::

The stables? Yeah, they stank. Herdbeast was delicious, but the animals themselves? Phew! Worse than her crew two months out from shore. Why did she have to much out the stalls? Why did she have to drag hay around? She had no interest in the animals (they weren't sleek or cute or cuddly or edible...at the moment) and had no real willpower to do the chore assigned to her. She had always and forever been a 100% surf girl, not a turf girl!

Thankfully she hadn't been left alone to do the work. There was at least one other fellow around...scruffy looking thing that he was. He seemed to know his way around the animals though, to rather like them well enough...and that gave her an idea. It might not work, but then, she'd never been one to want to be told the odds. Throwing herself at the problem to see if anything stuck was vastly more to her way of doing things.

Step one, of course, would be to get his attention. "Hey," She blurted out, pausing her efforts. She stuck the pronged fork into the ground, leaning slightly against it, one hip cocked out and a hand atop it. "This ever get less smelly? I mean, I know of plenty of ways to get dirty and work up a sweat, but this is a bit ridiculous, huh?"

Okay, so maybe that was laying it on a bit thick, but that sort of thing'd worked really well before...!

Oookay, so that hadn't been quite the reaction she'd been fishing for. No matter. It was clear in his first sentence that those sorts of tactics were probably not going to get her anywhere. The awareness of stables, the way he kept right on working even as he talked, the passively accepting way he muddled through the mess and stink. No. This guy was a Hard Worker. And those were just the worst to try to wear down! Stupid responsible types, what had she done to be saddled with one now of all times, with this of all chores?

Because she probably could manage to get out of the work, put it all on his shoulders, but this was just the kind of guy that she'd actually feel a bit bad doing that to. Stupid good-natured types!

She flicked a bit of hay off her pants, idling as long as she could before her buddy's inevitable glances (because the Hard Workers always noted when you slacked off!) drove her back into action. "Not my first time, no," She'd stolen a beast or two in her time, though honestly it'd never been anything too expensive or important. "Just my first time getting such an...intimate view of the process." And thank Faranth for that. No more filching from stable boys at holds they passed through, nope. They had it hard enough. "I'd rather be scraping barnacles off all the boats of Half Circle, but this is where they put me, so..." The price of her own dragon (hopefully) she reminded herself. "I take it this is just routine for you then, huh?"

In all honesty she'd always hated scraping barnacles. It wasn't the sort of work for her at all. The stables smelled worse, but were comparably much easier.

Not that she planned to tell him that. And ruin his impression of her as a hard worker who was just out of her element? No thanks. She'd just keep right on along with this way, thanks much. "Jacquol," she thrust her hand towards him, coppery-tan palm aimed up, her own faintly sea-calloused fingers reaching for his, ready for a shake. "Pleased as a well-fed wher to meet y'Xanael. Welcome to Western and all that, aye?" Her grin stretched from friendly to almost cheshire. "You'll learn them soon enough. And which you're fine to dance around, and which you really ought to stick to. There's more of both kinds than you'd think, so if ever you're not sure, just come to ask ol Jackie, won't you?"

Perhaps reading his continued fiddling with the pitchfork as an anxiousness to get back to work, she lifted her own tool to take a few stabs at it. She wasn't going to rush about it, or really even make too much effort at getting it done. As long as it looked like she was, that'd probably be enough to soothe her new friend. "So, a journeyman, huh? I guess you could say I'm the same." That thought made her laugh, internally. Sure she was! She was a journeying woman. And she knew more than her own way around a ship. That was close enough to being a journeyman seacrafter, right? "And you ended up here! Looking to mind something a bit bigger, hmm?" She was positive any dragon would hate being compared to an animal, but her sense of humor had never been horribly kind. not that she meant to provoke. Good thing none were here to hear her!

His smile caught her slightly off guard, something mischievous in it that she'd not thought to look for. Maybe not such a goody-two-shoes after all? That would be ever so much more her speed, and she felt herself relax just slightly more, the urge to be more herself, and less the image of herself, if he'd not take umbrage to her...not-quite-pure hobbies and instincts. Not that she was a bout to go secret-spilling, but still.

His own almost lack-luster (excepting that it was only his speed that was sub-par, and not his attention to detail, and being sure the job was well done, which bore thinking on later) performance did not go unnoticed, but Jacquol wasn't the type to pick up anyone's slack, not even her own. This job'd get done on his account, not hers, but she was very fine with making it take all day. Then there'd be no chance of being given more work to do after, after all! She did wonder at his wording. 'Necessitated'. That was never a good thing, she'd found over the turns, being 'necessitated'. Hopefully it'd been nothing too traumatizing. The lad seemed a good sort, so far at least. "I'd sure hope they get along better, especially if they're yours. How many times've you had to deal with a stubborn beast and wished you could just explain what you were doing or why? W'a dragon, you can! Easy as thinking it!" She beamed brightly, recalling the times her elder brothers', and Ambrin's dragons had spoken to her. "Just like talking to another person, honestly."

"How long?" Ah, now that was a thought to ponder. "Oh, not long. Was Vimiath's flight just under a turn ago that...led to my coming here." Of course, the searchers were out in droves when a clutch was pending. In truth it'd been the flight itself that'd snared her here. A gold overhead, and her unprepared, thinking only of visiting the Weyr to see her brother dearest and get a free meal or two, she'd instead ended up caught up in it all, and fallen into bed, quite literally, with a fetching rogue of a brown-rider. His attentions and inclination had wooed her before his brown had alerted her to the potential he felt inside her. She'd been quite happy with the plan of playing bed-sport for a bit, seeing the eggs laid, and then scarpering with all her arms could carry...but the damn fool'd made her into a fool too.

Of all the Weyr's residents beyond her sibling, Ambrin knew who she was. And he approved. And encouraged her to seek her own heartmate of a dragon. Her mind drifted, caught up in the fantasy of their supposed future, the scourge of Pern, the pirate queen and her cutpurse lord...

Ah, but back to the question at hand. Thankfully her tanned skin hid any blushing well! "I don't know that I ever really left it behind, but I did leave the sea behind. That took some time to move beyond. But not having it readily on hand, not having my ship to crew, there was nothing to do but cut ties, for now, with it, hmm? Though I think some part of me will always think of this as just an extended shore-leave, at least until I impress, or am turned loose from aging out. There are days I miss it terribly but...I know the sea'll always be there waiting for me, if I need to go back to her. And now I've got all you fine fellows to get to know too, so that's a sporting distraction from how strange the lack of salt makes the place smell, or how odd it is not to feel the ground shift under me. Nice thing that, can always beg a ride off a rider if I need to feel the wind in my face and the pull of it against sails...of a different nature, mind!...again."

She kept at her work half-heartedly, well more interested in the conversation than in getting anything done. "There's classes'n everything, if ye'd want'ask. Candidatemaster ain't so bad, maybe express th'interest to'm! Certainly a role they'd be needin' around here. And dragonhealers can be dragonriders too, of course." It'd be a better use of patient minds and hands, that, than scooping out stables for sure. She knew she'd want the best of healers minding Jacomus', or Ambrin's dragons should the day come that it was needed. And her own too, of course, if that day came!

She did laugh though, at the thought that it was hard to be the right kind of person to appeal to a dragon. "Really now? An' where'd y'hear that sort of thing?" Her eyes danced as she thought back over the assorted impressed pairs she'd seen over her two clutches. "No, no, the dragons are as varied an' different as we folk are. It'd be like askin' a room of folks to pick their best friend! Each one wantin' something different, really. Your dragon'll be just right for you, an' no other will fit as well for either of you." She stepped a bit closer, eyeing him over. "Maybe a nice sturdy brown, t'match your beasty history, hmm? No, but really, I've seen all sorts find their matches. You're as apt as I'm, though I should hope you won't go nauseous just riding the thing. Might be a bit inconvenient in threadfall."

"Might be a bit of a wait too, of course. We had all those High Reaches folks here come last time...given much thought to standin' up there, should one of their golds rise first?"

She shrugged a shoulder, casual as you please. She really didn't know if they'd be allowed to do both at once, most candidates gave off their training to a craft while on the sands. "If not now, then s'long as y'show interest, I can't see why they'd say no. Even if y'don't impress, I mean, you could do that. Weyr needs riders to fight, and riders need healers to keep their dragons fit. At least a few of our riders are healers too, though y'might have to do one, then the other, not at th'same time, now's I think about it." It was a truthful answer, though maybe not the one he wanted. No harm making his desires known though, that was the idea, and as long as A'ral was made to know...who knew?

"Me? Go up there? Naaaah, no thank you," She scoffed, though it was an amused chuckle, not an angry one. "I've brothers at both too, and th'one up there's a right stick in the mud. Not to mention my lovely fellow's here, he and his brown keepin' Western safe until...well, they're hoping, an' I'm hoping, I impress a nice speedy green in time." She tossed him a wink, all bold and brassy even as she added, "I think his brown'd like a lady to catch as often as my love catches himself some affection, y'know?" She was a willful think, a spitfire, and not at all the type to hid her actions or thoughts. Hopefully her fellow candidate wouldn't be too offended.

"So no, I think not. Stuck up in th'mountains for howevermany turns, though that's not reason for you not to. We've both got more time than some, though. Plenty to see where the wind carries us. Never know when the right egg'll come, though I certainly hope the next batch here's a bit less rowdy, and thank you very much for it." She really wasn't keen to see another candidate die, though the scars left on some of the new weyrlings and candidates had been mightily impressive, after.

He seemed really keen about the idea. She wasn't quite sure about how long was normal to reach journeyman—after all, her crafting wasn't quite the official style of seacrafting, and she'd never walked any tables...well, she'd walked ON tables, but that wasn't the idea—but he made it sound like a fair bit of work. "Probably a start in beast healing would help though. Leg's a leg. Heart's a heart, aye? Bigger'n a dragon, and a dragon's got two hearts, but same general idea. Maybe. Far's I figure, you've got plenty of time. A dragon'll have you, or one won't. Either way, you get choices. Whatever you want to do, you should do it." A shrug. "I certainly can live by that motto!"

"Yeah...to be honest, going forward on the sands I plan to stay limber. I don't think they mean to be rough on ya, but y'never know. It'd be a scary thing, I think, to be born knowing you desperately need...someone...but not knowing where they are." Still, she'd seen some maulings that looked entirely intentional. "I don't think being apart from your siblings' a bad thing. Then again, I've got almost as many of them as you've got fingers, so tryin' t'be near'm all'd be impossible, even wit ha dragon." She shrugged a shoulder. "Have a brother here, though he's a rider already. Figure he'll watch next time I take the sands, so I've only t'look out for me m'self and I."

She fiddled with the rake a moment, idly plucking with it at the hay in the bottom of the stall. "Figure even if it was a rowdy dragon, I'd rather pick up after it than these critters, still." A wink. "Same as when people have kids, aye? 'It's all different when it's your own!' and all that!"