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Post by Lynn on Aug 24, 2014 6:31:02 GMT
It was a quiet day, at least in comparison with the chaos of the Red Day. That was what some had taken to calling the day the Aries had crashed to Pern's peaceful southwestern shore and rattled quite a few lives. But for now, all was silent, and still.
Or maybe not...
A shadow passed overhead, and a small form scuttled under a nearby bush. A jingling noise could be heard, along with a rather cheerful humming that seemed out of place in this tragedy scored scene of devastation, a scar left on the land by an unliving creature of metal and fire. The humming soon became a merry song, speaking of rebirth and new lives, and the shadow passed overhead once more, then settled onto the shoulder of the one singing so joyfully, revealing itself to be a pale brown in tone, with a lovely shimmer. A Pearl, but a small one, no more than half the size of her fellows, and with a stunted forepaw to boot. She was okay with this, for it didn't hinder her in the slightest, and her Master, a well-known Merchant, had no issues with it either.
Said Merchant was on his way to this gathering to try and bring some cheer to those he had heard through the grapevine had not a lot of it these days. Part of that would come in the form of the small but distended belly of his little Queen, who had Flown just the month before and was now ready to Lay. Hopefully he could get a decent price for those eggs, he thought. He'd trained the Pearl to allow him to sell them, shifting her normal view from highly protective and not gonna let go to this makes Master happy and I get food.
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Post by Red on Aug 24, 2014 6:42:28 GMT
Theo still didn't have much to do. Though he had recently found a group of kindred spirits in the form of the local smiths, there was only so much he could do until his arm healed. No amount of theory in the world could replace being able to get his hands on their tools and see what he could make with the level of tech they had going here. There really wasn't much compared to what he was used to, but he was eager to see how well he could translate his knowledge into what they had available.
Until he could heal and start to occupy his hands and mind with work, Theo had taken to walking. It was an easy form of exercise, one which put little trouble on his still healing body.
"Ho there!" He called out as he spotted another person out for a walk. It wasn't unusual for Theo to come across someone else while on his walks, but it wasn't a regular occurrence and he was curious about what would be approaching the devatasted landscape around here.
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Post by Lynn on Aug 24, 2014 7:14:23 GMT
The Merchant saw him, heard his call, and pulled up his draftbeast, grinning broadly. "Well 'ello," he said, his tone cheerful and light, completely contrary to his surroundings. "And 'ow might you be, young Master?" He examined the lad for a long, intent moment, then cocked his head faintly as Anna chirped in his ear. "Sorry, prolly a silly question, and I do apologize," he added a moment later, having been made aware of the boy's injury. His eyesight wasn't great due to an old injury, so he'd not seen it.
On his shoulder, Anna chirped to the boy, shifting ever so slightly. She was growing uncomfortable, and if her master didn't hurry, she'd leave him behind for those nice warm sands.
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Post by Red on Aug 24, 2014 13:11:26 GMT
The smile of the man who reined in his draft horse and called out a greeting was rather infectious and Theodore could not help but answer it with a smile of his own. "No, it's fine". Theo said as the man apologised for asking about his health "It's nice to know that people around here ask after a strangers well being. And I'm fine. I'll heal up just fine with time. The sling's just to remind me to rest my shoulder."
"Well hello there" The Firelizard had chirped at him and Theo thought it was only polite to respond. "Your a very pretty thing" He said and then looked at the man "She's a pearl, yes?" Theo thought she was, but he was still learning about the various colours and the pearls could be difficult to tell, because they came in so many colours. The flit really was a pretty thing, though she was smaller than he thought a pearl firelizard usually was, and one of her paws didn't look right, though he couldn't tell for sure without seeing her closer.
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Post by Lynn on Aug 24, 2014 20:49:34 GMT
The merchant smiled and inclined his head, then rubbed his cheek against his little one's back. "She is indeed," he said proudly, and Anna hummed happily, then shifted again. "Ah, seems she's getting ready. Why don't we move while we talk lad. Miss Anna here is heavy with child and knows her time is close. While I, poor male, have no idea," he added, and chuckled. Swinging off the runner so as to be level with the boy, he revealed himself to be a very short man, no more than 5 feet tall, and he looked up at Theo with a warm smile. He then began padding towards the sea cliffs, encouraging Theo to walk at his side. "So, I apologize fer bringin up whas likely painful, but could you perhaps fill me in? I've heard the grapevine news o' course, but sometimes it can get perverted and skewed with time and distance."
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Post by Red on Aug 25, 2014 2:55:42 GMT
Theo laughed as he was told about how the firelizard was pregnant and due to lay and she was convinced that her human knew nothing. "According to my mother that's always the way. No man knows anything about how it works according to her. My father likes... liked, to tell stories about her scouring the land for a female doctor when she was pregnant"
He chuckled as he was asked about what had happened, though it was not a happy sound "I'm probably one of the better ones to ask. I'm one of the lucky ones. Not to injured and my family survived the crash" His free arm shifted so that the immobilised one could rub at his wrist. "Where we come from, we have safe, reliable ground to orbit travel. We have... had, a space station, a self contained living space up in orbit. We sent children up there to learn about the stars and the weather, to see in action how weather in one place can effect weather in another, and to learn about what they would need to do to become one of the people who explore space. I'm one of the oddities, I was up there to learn how the station worked. I'm a mechanic, it's something like your smiths."
"Something happened up there. An anomaly, a hole in space. It swallowed the station and spat it back out here. The station was never meant to exist in atmosphere or standard gravity. We crashed..." He was silent for a time before he said quietly "There were a lot of people on Aries. Good people. Barely thirty of us survived the crash, nearly all of them the children. Its a miracle as many of us made it as we did"
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Post by Lynn on Aug 25, 2014 3:29:53 GMT
He smiled gently as the boy spoke of his parents, able to sense his pain, though he did a good job of hiding it. Listening intently as he described what had happened, he winced in sympathy, reaching up to gently pat the lad's uninjured shoulder. "It's always tragic when people pass on, lad," he said quietly. "Even moreso when they're just bairns still." He had picked up the boy's comment about being lucky, and now focused on it. "Who's here with ye?"
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Post by Red on Aug 25, 2014 5:09:23 GMT
"My baby sister and my twin" Theo answered when he was asked who he had here. "Though Serenity would be object to being called baby, she's seventeen. Which actually makes her one of the older survivors. I'm probably the oldest, except for Kaira. She's the Doctor... You call them Healers I believe. She's the only one left older than I am" It wasn't easy, being the oldest here, remembering how many had been lost that such a situation might take place.
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Post by Lynn on Aug 25, 2014 5:27:12 GMT
He nodded thoughtfully as he listened. "Ye said there were about thirty of ye left?" he asked, trying to calculate in his mind. And then there were the Riders and Healers who were bound to be about as well. So who knew how many people. Yes, he'd likely do well. Anna chattered at him, chiding him for thinking of profit when there was such grief in the air, and he winced slightly. She was right of course, and he was not a cold-hearted man. Plus, the newcomers would likely not have any of the Marks needed anyways, unless they'd been doing odd jobs somehow. And with this boy stating he was one of the less injured ones, he doubted that.
Looking around them, he guided the boy slightly off to the right, where there was a path his runner could get down. There WAS a staircase of sorts down the front of the cliffs, he knew, but his runner couldn't traverse that, it was far too narrow and dangerous, even as surefooted as his mount was.
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Post by Red on Aug 25, 2014 14:01:18 GMT
"Around about" Theo confirmed when asked about their numbers. He couldn't recall their exact number off the top of his head. He thought there had been more than thirty pulled from the wreckage, but they had lost a few to their injuries shortly afterwards.
The man nudged him towards a switch-back path down the cliffs. The stairs were more direct, but it wouldn't be a good idea to take a horse down them. They were steep enough that Theo sometimes got a bit of a light head looking down from the top of them.
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Post by Lynn on Aug 25, 2014 23:55:16 GMT
He nodded, accepting that, and began humming a soft tune as they headed down the path. Several times they had to slow down, due to slightly gravelly nature of it, and once they reached the bottom, Anna jumped from his shoulder and darted for a small cave. "Oi, lass, come back here!" the Merchant called. His tone was that faintly aggrieved tone of a good husband askew over his wife's actions, and he trotted after her, the runner snorting but remaining where his lead had been dropped at Theo's side.
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Post by Red on Aug 26, 2014 13:01:48 GMT
Theo watched as the little firelizard jumped from the man's shoulder and took to the air, and the man took off after her. Blinking, he looked at the rapidly retreating man and then at the horse who had ambled to a stop next to him. "Uhhh..." The young man looked at the horse, who looked back, and then reached out to take it's lead rope. Horses were a little outside his realm of experience, but he knew enough to know better than to let it wander around on it's own. "I guess I should find a stable for you" Theo reached out to pet the horse on the neck as he tried to think where he could find someone who would know what he could do with the draft-horse.
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Post by Lynn on Aug 27, 2014 3:29:39 GMT
The runner whuffed softly and nudged his hand, then looked up as his master came back. "Sorry lad. Had to make sure she didn't hide the darn things. Sometimes she does before I can get to her." He gave him a smile, then motioned him to lead the way. "I don't know the way and I need to get some sand in jars here soon," he explained, his brown eyes watching the boy curiously.
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Post by Red on Aug 27, 2014 4:30:57 GMT
Theo was giving the horse's nose a rub when the man came back. He mentally filed away the information that queen firelizards sometimes hid their clutches. You never knew what might prove to be a useful thing to know and in this strange and unfamiliar world, any new titbit of information was welcomed. "Uhhh" Theo looked between the horse and the man as he was gestured forward "I'm not to sure where we can put this fellow" He patted the horse again, just because he could "But I think if we go this way we'll find someone who knows"
As they began to walk, after a moment of silence, Theo asked "So, what do you need jars of sand for?"
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Post by Lynn on Aug 27, 2014 4:35:29 GMT
"Indeed. "I'm sure we' can find someone." The Merchant smiled happily and then his grin broadened. "Why, for the eggs boy. I'm a Merchant after all, and fire-lizard eggs are a valuable commodity if you know better." He winked at Theo. "Since I like you, I think I'll give you her largest egg. Hopefully it'll be a Queen, so you can start your own Merchanting when she gets old enough." He rubbed his hands together happily at the idea, liking it more and more as he thought about it. A good way to start helping, and who knew? Perhaps the boy would become a rider and return the favor somehow later on?
"Anna's a reliable Layer, and her mate was a good sized Onyx. She may be little, but she's no pushover in her Flights and the Kings know it."
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