Guard Training Area

Despite a rather harsh snowstorm the night prior, today is a comfortably cool winter day. A few drifts of snow linger around objects but the majority of the training area has been cleared due to heavy foot traffic and the efforts of guard recruits. The skies are clear overhead for but dark clouds linger on the eastern horizon. A light wind blows from the east through the bowl. Guards can be seen running drills and climbing obstacles throughout the training area.

Guard Yurolt stands at the weight training station using the dumbells. It looks like curls today, as the young guard performs rep after rep. Finishing his set he neatly stores the weights for others to use and dons his light jacket. He scans the training area and starts a slow stroll watching some of the recruits and trainees run drills.

Hotaru has done her fair share of shoveling the walkways and various paths around the bowl in the wee hours of the morning. That was what weyrbrats were for after all. She's in her long leather coat and has a knitted black beanie hat, scarf and even mittens on. It's a little unusual to see her decked out for cold, but there it is. She's got a thermos nestled in her arm, and she waves to Yurolt with her free hand. "Lightning bolt!" A little bronze head peeks up for a moment from the unused hood of her coat, then disappears again.

Among the trainees is Taegan, focused, determined and certainly not stopping as a few of the others do. In fact, she keeps on going despite the sweat and the fact that she is tired and she doesn't stop until complete. Despite the fact that the young woman is sweat drenched, she looks quite pleased with herself as she sluggishly makes her way to fetch some water for herself. Her mindset isn't so intent that she doesn't hear Hotaru's call, in fact, she's pausing to stare at the other for a long moment before continuing on her path. A quick salute is thrown towards Yurolt.

Yurolt promptly returns Taegan's salute before turning to wave widely at Hotaru. "Ru! What brings you 'round here?" HE smiles and gives a little wave to the bronze hiding in her hood. In a sharp contrast he gives the trainees some encouragement, "She ain't talkin' to you lot! You aren't done yet! Don't make me get out there and show you how to do it, puke." This last bit is aimed a rather dumpy looking trainee that apparently has found the short exchange between Hotaru and Yurolt more interesting than training. He motions to Taegan, "Be more like her." He doesn't know the young girl's name but if she keeps up her pace he'll learn it.

Hotaru also returns Taegan's salute. It's polite, right? She wasn't a guard though, so really has no idea. The red-head grins to Yurolt, moving over to him. "You, silly," she answers about what's brought her around the guard area. What else would she be doing here? Well, maybe running around with the guards or making trouble. That poor dumpy guy. Hotaru will call him Squishy. She wiggles the thermos around. "I brought some klah. I guess if you've been exercising you might not be that cold though. Am I interrupting your schedule?"

Taegan's response to Yurolt's 'encouragement' is met with a quick look towards the other trainees who have yet to finish. Disciplined, she says nothing nor does she give any sort of response to the fact that one of the others' was called puke. Instead, she busies herself with drying with a towel before downing the water, making sure to keep movement going as she winds down. Hotaru, however, becomes her main focus as she's clearly not a guard. Guards observe, right? She's just practicing. That's totally it.

Yurolt shrugs. "I'm actually off duty…Buuuut, I'm bucking for a promotion. The NCO's are always watching." He gives a candid grin before showing Ru to a set of benches he quickly brushes off before sitting. The guard shouts again and Dumpy, "Hurry the Shells up you! I swear I will run you until you die if you do not quicken that step!" Yurolt notices the girl cooling down and 'watching' and signals her to come over to him. Then he's back on Hotaru, offering to take the thermos from her and pour the klah. Ever the gentleman.

Taegen is given a curious look. Hotaru is not a guard, no. So she won't be calling the trainees names or saying much to anyone but Yurolt. She does give Taegen a wave though, since the girl is taking a break that shouldn't be too distracting. Hotaru chuckles to Yurolt. "I see." Hotaru hands Yurolt the thermos. "We'll have to share the cup." She didn't think to bring two. She sits down on the bench and looks over towards Taegen. "One of your friends?" She asks Yurolt curiously. "That one recruit looks like he's having a tough time of it."

One cup? No problem, he's used to sharing and normally with people he'd rather not. Alot of the Guard are kind of gross. However, lucky for him, Hotaru appears to be well maintained and no threat of contagion. The guard pours the cup and offers Hotaru the first bit. As to Taegan he just shrugs, "I think I've seen her around, this lot is newer. Some of them may not make it." He gives a mighty snort at the mention of Dumpy's little troubles. "He'd better get over it. Unless he wants to wash out."

Hotaru is well-groomed yes. Even for a weyrbrat. Of course she's not a kid anymore, so she wasn't likely to fight a bath, especially when it was cold out and the bathing pools were nice and hot. She might catch something from Yurolt though! From him sharing cups with gross guardfolk. "Ah. She seems to be doing alright. Are you helping train this lot? Or are there guards who do that specifically?" She nods about Dumpy. Poor Dumpy. He'll have to put in extra hours if he wants to keep up with the rest. Hotaru pulls off her mittens so she can actually hold the cup, handing it back after a couple of sips. "Careful, it's hot." Though cooling quickly.

Yurolt quickly learns that Hotaru is right, it is quite hot. Oww! "Haw! Haw! Ow..Tha's weally haw." He fans his tongue and scoops a bit of snow off the ground, popping it in his mouth. The guard shakes his head to Ru's question. "There are shifts, we take turns. I honestly don't know where today's shiftleader is." He glances around and tongues his teeth, feeling the mouth burn. Eyeing Hotaru he adds, "You look very nice today."

If Taegan saw the gesture to come over, she's not moving as quickly as she normally would. Registering the fact? Or, perhaps trying to catch her breath before she moves. Either way, it takes her a bit longer than normal to head over towards the pair and a salute is given, far more proper than the first now that she's had time to catch her breath and right herself. "Sir." She greets, before nodding towards Hotaru, "ma'am." She remains at attention even with greetings done.

Hotaru giggles. "Careful! Careful… are you okay? I hope that snow is clean." Or at least clean-ish. Not yellow. Hotaru nods to Yurolt about the shifts. "Do you have something in particular you like to teach the recruits? Like swordplay or something?" Hotaru takes the cup back, blowing into it again before taking a tiny sip. When the guard compliments her she gives him a sheepish smile. "Thanks." Maybe it's the hat? She's soon distracted by the approaching Taegen though, and blinks when she's called 'ma'am'. That's the first time that's ever happened. "Er, hello. Just Hotaru is fine. I'm not really a ma'am."

Yurolt salutes Taegan and says, "As you were, lass. I ain't a sir either, I work for a living." He offers the younger guard a seat on the bench across from him and shrugs at Hotaru's mention of clean snow. He's had worse. Probably. "What's you name then?" Yurolt glances back at Hotaru, "You /could/ be a ma'am. And not really, I'm not an NCO yet, so I just run them through drills and PT. Once I pick up I hope to be duelmaster or swordmaster."

"With all due respect, ma'am, it is improper for me to address you as anything such." Taegan offers to Hotaru before attention shifts towards Yurolt, and despite his statement, the young woman remains quite tense even as she takes a seat. "Taegan, sir. Anyone of higher rank is sir, regardless, and it's proper." Proper and disciplined, thy name is Taegan.

Hotaru wrinkles her nose at Yurolt. "I could not be a ma'am. How old do you think I am? Well, maybe if I was riding gold or something, but not as a weyrbrat I can't." She nods about Yurolt's role in training the recruits. "Who does hand-to-hand? That's who I want to talk to. For some pointers before I beat you up." She teases the guard. She grins a bit to Taegen. "You can call me Hotaru. It's not disrespectful if I give you permission, right? Besides, I'm not a guard. You want some klah, Taegen?" The red-head leans across Yurolt to offer the recruit the cup of klah.

Yurolt can't really blame the girl for being some prim, he's the same way with his superiors. He just nods and says, "How long have you been with the guard Taegan? You seem to be doing well." Perhaps a bit presumptious, considering Yurolt honestly can't say he's seen her performance before today. The guard chuckles at Hotaru, "It's not about age, Ru. You could pass for stately and posh if you'd like."

"Ma'am isn't really about /age/, ma'am." Taegan says simply, "regardless, I would prefer to greet you properly and address you as such." As for the offer of klah, the young woman gives a very slight shake of her head. "No, thank you. I'm fine." Her gaze shifts to address Yurolt and considers, "I trained once with the guard when I was younger and before my parents moved to another Hold. I trained with the guards briefly there as well before returning to the Weyr, sir."

Hotaru would agree that Taegen seems to be doing well. She certainly wasn't struggling like some of the other recruits. "I guess…" She blinks as Yurolt calls her 'posh' and giggles a bit. "Now you're just teasing me." Maybe compared to some of the guards. She shrugs a bit then to Taegen. "Well… okay I guess." Hotaru hands the cut to Yurolt and leans a hand on his shoulder while she listens to Taegen talk about her experience. "Ah. So you've been training all over then. How does Fort's program compare to the other places you've been?"

Wondering the very same question, Yurolt leans in a bit to hear the response. He doesn't lean in too far now that he has a passenger but still. He's only trained with the Fort Guard and though he hails from High Reaches, he bleeds the Weyr's colors. However, he has a few questions of his own left to ask, for instance, "So, you're not actually part of the guard? Or are you a reserve?" Hopefully the young girl is part of Fort's Guard Corps, for she seems to be made of the metal they try and hone here. As for the giggling Hotaru, "I'm not teasing, I'm no good at teasing. I usually just say things that are mean." The guard gives a shrug as if he doesn't quite get it. Carefully he sips from the cup, and even though his mouth is scored badly, he can still taste the goodness. "Did you make this?"

"Yes, you could say that." As for the question, Taegan doesn't answer right away, "I don't think I could properly judge Fort versus the Holds. Tradition is different, however." She leaves it at that. "I'm part of the guard," she notes to Yurolt as she sits a little straighter.

Hotaru probably also bleeds the weyrs colors, even though she spent a lot of her childhood at a cothold outside of Fort proper. She peers at Yurolt, trying to tell if he's telling her lies or not. "Suure. Though I can see you saying something mean." Like calling poor Dumpy puke. He's not much of a passenger, so if he wants to move around or brush Hotaru off he's free to do so. "Hm? I put the pot on before I left so… I guess? It's just klah." Hotaru nods to Taegen. "So how are you liking being at the weyr? It's a big adjustment for some people."

Yurolt shrugs as he hands the cup back to Hotaru, "It's just good, some people can't make a descent pot to save their lives. SO I have to kill them." He's joking…isn't he? There's no smile on his face, and he quickly turns to Taegan again. Thumbing towards where the trainees have finally all finished, Dumpy lying on the ground gasping for air, he asks, "Do you know that…?" Apparently Dumpy doesn't even rate a name.

"The Weyr? It's… I can't say I have a preference, ma'am." Taegan replies, just as properly as she had before, spine straightening just a little more. "I can't complain, nor would I complain." Of course, there are no superiors around for her to kiss the butt of. The young woman never relaxes. The gesture towards Dumpy has her attention shifting towards the other trainees and Dumpy specifically. "No, sir. I can't say I /know/ him. I know /of/ him. He struggles with every drill and exercise and, apparently, has been caught sleeping in any shifts that he's been left on his own for."

Hotaru pokes Yurolt in the ribs. Which he may or may not be able to feel through his jacket. "You better not be killing people over a pot of klah gone bad. It's easy to let it sit too long on the burner and get burnt." Hotaru follows Yurolt's thumb towards Dumpy. "Is he gonna live?" Hotaru nods to Taegen. "How long have you been here?" Maybe she wasn't used to the weyr yet, either. There's a blink for Taegen's description of Dumpy. "I see." She looks towards Yurolt to see his reaction.

And Yurolt's reaction is….A wicked awful grin as he roars at Dumpy, "You! Wherry dung, get yer arse over here now!" The rolly polly boy waddles quickly to stand in front of Yurolt and fumbles to attention. "You are to report to Sarn't Oannis this instant, and tell him you've been observed and deemed…Unservicable. Dismissed." As quickly as the wherry boy flutters away, Yurolt is back to his amiable self, smiling warmly at Hotaru and Taegan. To Taegan he says, "So Taegan, please do try to relax, do you have any particular skills you'd like to hone in the guard? I, myself, am quite 'descent' with the short sword." He nods encouragingly to the younger guard and indicates that she need not be so stiff. As for Hotaru, he returns her poke with a fierce tickle, that ought to teach her not to poke people.

"Almost a month, ma'am." Taegan muses, after a moment of silence to calculate. And then Yurolt's reaction to her statement has the young woman briefly flinching. And his attempts at getting her to relax, well, they're far out the window now. She's even more tense than before. "I can use daggers, swords, and other various weapons. I do not favor one more than the other, sir."

Hotaru blinks at Yurolt. She doesn't want to laugh at poor Dumpy. She actually feels a little bad for the guard. Well, make that ex-guard. Hotaru gives Yurolt a sympathetic look, though he doesn't seem any worse for the wear about having to dismiss Dumpy. Hotaru has gotten distracted as Yurolt talks to Taegen about being a guard, and is caught by surprise when he tickles her. She yelps and giggles. "Eeek! Yurolt! Stop! I got hot klah!" Though there's not much left in the cup thankfully, so it doesn't end up in a lap or her hand. As soon as she's able to breathe again she nods to Taegen. "Ah. You should come to the caverns. We're all gonna go sledding at some point soon, you should come with us if you can get the time off. Meet some of the other weyrfolk."

Yurolt nods to Hotaru's encouragement to Taegan, even as he laughs at her 'almost' klah disaster. No, Yurolt feels no regret for his prompt dismissal of Dumpy Wherry Boy, it's for the good of the guard and something his meager rank does allow for. Seeing that Taegan is visibly bothered by his spontaneous outburst, he shrugs, she'll have to learn to relax under pressure if she's going to survive. The roughness is all part of the act to weed out the weak. Anyway, "None more than the other, eh? Have you any skill in healing or perhaps…more clandestine tactics?" He's really trying to flesh out some information on her, get her put into the right platoon to nurture her talents. "When are we going sledding, Ru?" He assumes he's invited. "And I haven't forgotten about our date, I've just been busy with all that's been going on." Enough to appease the red head? Or will she make him suffer later?

"Maybe." Taegan does not give any straight answer to a gathering of people, looking even more bothered by that than the dismissal of the other trainee. "No skills in healing. Clandestine would likely be more accurate." But then, she's suddenly popping up front the bench. "I—" She cuts herself off quickly, "there's sometihng I need to attend to." And with that, the young woman snaps off a quick salute and makes her way off in a hurry.

It's true. Poor Dumpy wasn't good for the guards. Maybe at some other point he could try again, but he'd probably be better off finding something else to do with his time. Hotaru does shoot Tae a sympathetic look as well. Hotaru didn't regard Yurolt as someone that was unfair or mean, so hopefully the red-head's demeanor towards him helps the other guard relax. "What's clandestine?" Hotaru shrugs. "Whenever I can get us all with some free time. I was hoping for at least Abbey and her brother to come, if not Zelda and maybe Eirwyn. That might be asking a lot though." She eyes him. "We should go on that date soon! I can use some sunshine after this storm. Plus I've been really tempted to kiss you and I think it would be rude before a date." She giggles, then blinks as Taegen runs off. "You scared her."

Yurolt turns to watch the young girl scamper off, lowering his hand from the hasty salute he threw as she took off. "I didn't scare her, did I? It's all part of the training you know, being harsh like that…Wha?!?" He actually does a double take once he registers Hotaru's statement, oh how red he turns. Stammering, he fumbles to regain his composure, "I, uh…That is…Proper…Clandestine! Aha," something grasp onto, "That's, uh…The less than public side of the guard. Special missions, they work with the Harper Hall…Aaaand I probably shouldn't be telling you all this." The words flop out of his mouth and he tries to bite of the last bit. It is a bit counter productive to /tell/ people about the secret stuff. He gives an awkward grin, made even more awkward by the left side of his mouth being pulled down by his healed, but still prominent scar.

Hotaru gives Yurolt an incredulous look. "If you say so. I think she was scared over you dismissing that kid and thought maybe she was next if she didn't answer your questions right." Hotaru looks from side to side. "You weren't planning on doing that, were you?" The red-head looks mildly pleased by Yurolt's stammering. "Ah. Special Ops, hm? I don't want to know anything else. I don't want you to have to kill me or something. I don't think Taegen would be too good at those. She seems a bit too stuffed shirt to uh… blend in. Though I guess she might be good at other sorts of special missions." Hotaru gives him an unamused serious look for as long as she can… before kissing his cheek and then bursting into giggles. "Alright you, Mister Guard man. I should head back. You want the rest of the klah? I can get my themos later." She stands up and stretches.

Yurolt amazingly turns even redder than before at the kiss. Now he's at a complete loss for words. However, his mouth does move and his hands indicate that he is responding, even if gibberish is all that's heard. Something about not grilling herbs? No, wait, not killing her. That's it. Now this next bit sounds like, snow banks, tank the worms…That can't be right. Aha, No thanks, take the thermos. That makes more sense. Yurolt does manage to stand up and gesture towards the guard barracks. Apparently he'll be going as well. Maybe he'll regain speech once he's back to his own rack.


'The World of Pern(tm)' and 'The Dragonriders of Pern(r)' are copyright to Anne McCaffrey (c) l967, 2000. This is a recorded online session, by permission of the author but generated on PernWorld MUSH for the benefit of people unable to attend.