|
Post by shadowshutter on Nov 12, 2011 7:41:11 GMT -5
Gedrick wasn't completely satisfied with her answers but managed to say "Ah ok then.."
And then after some more thought he added "What did you mean by saying that tomorow is apprentices turn?"
The smell of the food had reached his nose and that couldn't mean anything except that they had reached the dining place, at that point a grin started to form in his face
|
|
|
Post by Firehead on Nov 14, 2011 13:55:57 GMT -5
"What did you mean by saying that tomorow is apprentices turn?"
Pippen turned to him, grinning. "I mean that you apprentices get to make supper for everyone tommorow. It's like a tradition among us Rangers. Now come on--we need a good vantage point where we can see all the cooking...and make sure that no one sabatoges it." Pippen added. She appraoched a large oak tree and started climbing. She had soon found a suitable place for watching the food preparations and made herself comfortable. "Any other questions you want to ask?"
Even as she asked the question, though, she sat bolt upright, exclaiming, "Oh my gosh! I almost forgot! You still need a horse. Forget watching the food--I can ask Quade to do that--c'mon, you need to pick out your horse!"
With that, she scrambled quickly down out of the tree, and led the way to where the other new apprentices were choosing their Ranger mounts.
|
|
|
Post by shadowshutter on Nov 14, 2011 15:09:53 GMT -5
Now it was Gedrick's turn to laugh : I have a horse, my lady. And his name is Kadock
He whistled and a beautiful chesnut ranger pony turned up out of nowhere galloping. He reached them in a few moments and stoped in front of them.
After he had greeted his owner he turned to the strange women near him. Kadock was feeling comfortable with her : his enstict was telling him that she loved small ponyies like him.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Nov 14, 2011 20:16:04 GMT -5
Enya blinked " Uh.. if i remember correctly i was thrown off one , never wanted to get on one after that" she said sighing a little.Looking at the horse for a moment before returning to looking at the ground and sighed again.
Heather laughed, "Haven't we all been thrown once by a horse?" She winked at Roary. "Well then, we shall have to take that one step at a time. Ranger's depend on their horses every day, so besides learning how to shoot a bow, throw knives, cook on an open fire and survive in the wilderness, you will be learning how to take care of your horse, how to ride it and all about how your horse takes care of you." Heather noticed that Enya kept looking at the ground. She was tempted to say something clever, but she sensed the girl was practically scared stiff to talk to anyone. She also noticed that she responded much better to Raory. 'Very interesting', she thought. 'I wonder how she would react to Rick.'
"So what made you decide to want to be a ranger?" Heather asked her. "I am sure Raory would be just as interested to know why you chose this life."
Heather picked up a brush and began to brush off one of the horses with her good hand. It was a bit awkward though with her other arm in the sling. "While you tell us, why don't you pick that brush up there and start brushing on the other side of this horse. Start up by his ears and work toward his tail and brush with the hair. Most places it goes from nose to tail except on his hips and some spots on his belly." Heather instructed. "You should always brush your horse off before you saddle it to make sure there is no dirt or burs or anything under the saddle that could rub a sore on him."
She continued brushing her side of the horse and waited for Enya to enlighten them.
|
|
Enya
Apprentice Scribe
Posts: 109
|
Post by Enya on Nov 14, 2011 20:22:09 GMT -5
" I'm not really shore you know?... Out of the meany things i could have chosen.. Its just something about the Rangers.. "Enya sighed picking up the brush. "I may have trouble remembering my past, but i do vividly remember the fire I was trapped in."Enya said continuing " But then there's the man who saved my life.. I still to this day don't know who he was "Enya sighed she stopped there not really wanting to say more.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Nov 16, 2011 12:55:58 GMT -5
Heather nodded thougtfully, "I see. You were rescued from a fire and that was a huge moment in your life, obviously. Now you want to return the favor to others. I believe you might have a hero complex, as most of us rangers do to some extent or another." Heather smiled.
"Do you think the man who saved you was a ranger?" She asked.
"I suppose I have that urge to help people because of being a middle kid and largely ignored in my family. I had originally thought that Rangers were mysterious, and glamorous and always being honored for the grand things they do." Heather snorted. "I was so naive back then."
She glanced at Roary, wondering if he was going to comment on that one or if he would be smart and let it slide.
Just then Crowley stalked by on a mission obviously, his head down and his face contorted with worry. He stopped and turned back to them. "Ah good, I see you three have met. You two decide between you which of you is going to be her mentor." He pointed at Raory and Heather. "'Bout time both of you started taking on some responsibility."
Heather looked at him in surprise at his gruff words and then realized it was all due to worry. She refrained from asking him what was going on, however, having heard him tell several people already that they would all find out in good time. Instead she just nodded. "Okay, Sir."
Crowley then turned to Enya, "Young lady, whichever one of these two decides to mentor you, you can't go wrong. They each have their strong points and are both good teachers." Crowley noticed that Enya was looking at the ground and said gruffly, "Pay attention girl and stop staring at the ground. You aren't going to learn anything down there unless you're tracking someone." Then he stalked off before any of them could respond.
Heather turned to see how Enya was reacting, "Don't mind him, Enya, he is always a little gruff but right now he is worried about something and that usually means that we rangers are going to be placed in a great deal of danger in the immediate future when he gets like this." She mused as she stared after Crowley and then glanced at Roary.
|
|
Enya
Apprentice Scribe
Posts: 109
|
Post by Enya on Nov 16, 2011 13:12:19 GMT -5
" I think it might have been a Ranger but I don't really know... much of my past before being attacked by bandits is a blurr i can barley remember anything" Enya said sighing. Enya only nodded slightly when she was spoken to by Crowley and kept her head down. Enya said nothing still even after he was gone.
|
|
|
Post by Ringulf on Nov 16, 2011 23:10:47 GMT -5
"Well I would like to stand here and chat about the many faces and moods of the Comandant, but I have a patrol to run." Said Rory a tinge of anxiousness bled through his words. "If I take you as an apprentice Enya, you either have to be an expert rider which I have a feeling you are not yet, or you will have to ride on the back and I am sorry dear, I won't do that to you or my horse. I may consider taking you on after you have spent some time with Old Bob and I get back from my patrol which I should not be telling you but may be a few weeks."
He looked at heather with a guardedly appologetic expression.
"Heather I would suggest you work with her now and if she can't be assigned immediatly, that she spends a short apprenticeship with Bob and gets her riding skills in order, as both of us will require that with the amount of riding we do. She can also work with one of the unassigned Senior rangers to work on the Archery and knife skills. while she learns from Bob."
"Alright you two, I am off thanks for the help Good hunting! Heeya!" He yelled at his mount.
The horse thundered north, not on the path but through the clearing where the axe class had been and off to the open ground, his hair flying behind him matching his horses main and tale as they flew.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Nov 18, 2011 23:26:43 GMT -5
"Well I would like to stand here and chat about the many faces and moods of the Commandant, but I have a patrol to run." Said Rory a tinge of anxiousness bled through his words.
Heather looked at him suspiciously, knowing he had been evading taking on an apprentice for a few years now. “Going to tell me what it is about? Obviously something is afoot.” She asked him. He plunged on, apparently ignoring her repeated question.
"If I take you as an apprentice Enya, you either have to be an expert rider which I have a feeling you are not yet, or you will have to ride on the back and I am sorry dear, I won't do that to you or my horse. I may consider taking you on after you have spent some time with Old Bob and I get back from my patrol which I should not be telling you but may be a few weeks."
“A few weeks huh?” Heather repeated. Now she was beginning to worry for his safety and about whatever could be happening outside the Gathering Grounds.
He looked at heather with a guardedly apologetic expression.
"Heather I would suggest you work with her now and if she can't be assigned immediately, that she spends a short apprenticeship with Bob and gets her riding skills in order, as both of us will require that with the amount of riding we do. She can also work with one of the unassigned senior rangers to work on the Archery and knife skills. While she learns from Bob."
“Well, that is good advice, but no better way to learn to ride a horse than to ride-a-horse. She might as well get on the job training. Wouldn’t be the first apprentice that has jumped right into the thick of things from the get-go,” Heather winked at Roary. Her own baptism into the Ranger Corps had been a bit of trial by fire and she certainly hadn’t started out with the normal Ranger Apprentice duties.
“Don’t think you are fooling me – or Crowley!” She pointed her finger at him and then tried to cross her arms, forgetting for a moment that one of them was in a sling.
She realized he was about to mount and ride off and that she didn’t want to see him go. They never got to see each other anymore and she missed him, and the other three classmates. She laid her hand on his arm just before he mounted and then gave him a one-armed hug and a light kiss on his right cheek. “Be careful out there Raory. I don’t know what is going on, but I have a bad feeling about it. I want to see you at Yule.” Then she stepped back and let him mount and smiled at him.
"Alright you two, I am off thanks for the help. Good hunting! Heeya!" He yelled at his mount.
The horse thundered north, not on the path but through the clearing where the axe class had been and off to the open ground, his hair flying behind him matching his horses main and tale as they flew.
Heather watched him go and sighed and looked at the ground. Then she glanced at Enya out of the corner of her eye and said, “Well, I guess that means you are stuck with me as your mentor Enya.”
She moved off toward the supply tent near Ole Bob and his string of ranger ponies. “We might as well get you outfitted, come along.”
Inside the tent were trunks and barrels and a large amount of food for the second night’s feast. Heather was glad she was going to be able to get out of cutting onions due to her shoulder. There were 6 large sacks of onions and the smell permeated the whole tent. Heather groaned, “I can’t stand the smell of onions.” She looked at Enya seeing a question in her eyes, “when you grow up on a farm you have to do entirely too many things to way too many onions. Plant them, weed them, water them, harvest them, wash them, bag them for storage in the root cellar, cut them up and add them to lots of other things being cured or canned for the winter, eat them every week… ugh.”
She went to a trunk to the right of the door and flipped up the lid. Inside were ranger cloaks. She rummaged through it and finally pulled one out of the bottom and shook it out and held it up to Enya. “Looks like that might fit. Try it on.” She handed the mottled gray and green hooded cloak to her new apprentice and then shut the lid on that trunk and went to the next. This one was full of cloaks to but these cloaks were a bit heavier and thicker and had a lining. She pulled another one out and handed that to Enya. “This is your winter cloak. Now to find one for me, those darn pirates slashed mine up couple weeks ago, while I was in it.” She muttered and then pulled out a slightly larger one for herself and threw it over her shoulders.
The next trunk held the soft-soled ranger boots. “You are going to have to pick out a pair that fits for yourself.” Heather said, “Meanwhile I am going to get your other items.” She then continued down the line of trunks and picked items out. When she returned, she handed Enya a ranger’s medical kit and fire starter kit, a double knife scabbard with a saxe knife and a throwing knife and a quiver with a full set of arrows with blue and yellow fletches. Along with the arrows was a 35 pound recurve center-cut bow. She also handed her a pair of strikers and a rucksack with survival gear inside with plenty of room for personal items and clothing. The last item she held in the palm of her hand so Enya could not see it and looked at it thoughtfully for a moment. Then she shook her head and slid the item into her belt pouch. “Might be best to wait on this one for a bit,” she decided. “There you go, other than your ranger horse you are all set.”
She grinned at Enya, "Welcome to the Ranger Corps!"
|
|
Enya
Apprentice Scribe
Posts: 109
|
Post by Enya on Nov 19, 2011 9:53:29 GMT -5
" i don't like onions ether" Enya said with a small laugh, Looking at the cloak she pulled it on. It fit her perfectly. She found some boots that fit her. After she had all her stuff she looked at it all " Wow this is allot of stuff" She said with a small laugh. Enya's stomach growled a little " i'm getting hungry.. so when do we eat?"She asked looking at heather.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Nov 19, 2011 12:19:59 GMT -5
"You haven't eaten lunch yet?' Heather asked her, surprised. "Well let's go stow all that gear in your tent and then you come over to Rick's camp with me. In fact, we should probably move your tent over there, since you are now my responsibility." Heather pointed through the trees to where Rick was just about to start his fletching class. All the chairs looked to be taken and there were several apprentices gathered around and even a few experienced rangers. Heather wondered if they came for the class or for Rick's home brewed honey mead in the jug at his feet that he normally passed around while he was teaching.
"Looks like he is just starting his fletching class, but I would bet there is some cheese and bread and honey left, even if the sausage is gone by now." She grinned at Enya. "Tonight we are having slow-cooked goose and whatever else Bunt and Tory and Ringulf throw in, but that isn't until sunset and you have to go pick out a ranger horse right before then."
She looked around, "So where's your tent?" she waited for Enya to lead the way.
|
|
Enya
Apprentice Scribe
Posts: 109
|
Post by Enya on Nov 19, 2011 13:35:32 GMT -5
" no i haven't...and my tints over between them trees behind that bush sorta... " don't know why but i sleep better when im hidden" She said before heading over to where her tint was also used the trees to tight up my tint to hold it up. they never seem to stand up for me" She laughed before leaping up and grabbed the branch and swung herself up into the tree to untigh the rope on the branch.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Nov 19, 2011 15:54:25 GMT -5
Heather watched undo the ropes and helped her haul her stuff over to Rick's camp and set it everything on the ground between her tent and Rick's tent. "We'll set it up after you get your horse," Heather whispered. "We don't want to interupt his class. Come on, looks like Ben managed to save my seat after all. You should probably be taking this class anyhow. Rick is one of the best fletchers and flint nappers in the Corps." She continued to whisper and then wormed her way through the crowd and sat down next to Ben. There was a small log right behind her chair that had a rather beefy-looking young man sitting on one end of it. Heather motioned for him to scoot over and for Enya to sit there.
Rick saw Heather slip back into the circle around the campfire and as she sat down she mouthed the word, 'food' and pointed to Enya behind her. Without a break in his description of the best materials for arrow shafts, he reached back into his tent and pulled out a small sack and handed it to Heather.
Heather peeked inside and grinned back at him. Somehow he had managed to get his hands on some out of season grapes and there was also a wheel of cheese and a hunk of smoked sausage. She pulled off a largish clump of green grapes and took out her beltknife she used for eating and sliced off a large chunk of cheese and also sliced off a small hunk of sausage. These she set in her lap and then passed the bag back to Enya. Leaning back she whispered, "Take what you want and then pass the bag around."
She knew Enya would be self-concious about eating in front of everyone and so she had taken a large portion for herself. If others were eating too, it should be far less embarrassing for the girl. Besides, she loved grapes and they were hard to comeby most of the year. These were large and plump and juicy sweet. She popped one into her mouth and bit it, savoring the juices. She didn't miss the wink from Rick as she sighed in contentment.
Heather glanced over at Ben and gently touched the back of his hand to get his attention. She offered him a grape and a hunk of cheese from her lap. Her fingers lingered on his hand probably a bit longer than they needed to, but realizing that Rick was watching her every move, she removed her hand and then offered him the food.
___
Rick watched Heather as she came back into camp with a young girl and deposit a whole bunch of ranger gear and a tent next to his own and then slide back onto her chair next to Ben. He tried to hide the jealousy he felt and concentrated on his class.
He caught Heather staring at him and when she mouthed the word food, he nearly lost his train of thought, but he managed to cover up his amusement and tossed her a bag with a nice surprise in it. He'd been meaning to give her the treat in private later, but now wasn't sure if he was going to get her alone long enough to do so. He looked at her curiosly and then rolled his eyes to Enya as he was displaying the water reeds he used to make the shafts.
Heather mouthed back, 'new apprentice' and pointed at her chest as she popped a grape into her mouth. He looked at her in surprise and then quickly recovered and continued teaching.
|
|
Enya
Apprentice Scribe
Posts: 109
|
Post by Enya on Nov 19, 2011 16:15:29 GMT -5
looking at the food Enya only took some cheese before handing the bag to someone else. Looking down at the cheese in her hands she sighed a little before takeing a bit of it. She was a little pail but tried not to show to much that she was afraid of being around everyone. ~ hope this dont last to long~ she thought sighing again as she looked down some.
|
|
dian
Apprentice Scribe
this status thing reminds me of Facebook
Posts: 100
|
Post by dian on Nov 21, 2011 21:54:52 GMT -5
Dian had accepted the plate of food happily and eaten silently, but she began to tire quickly of the amount of people surrounding her. She normally was good with people but not with new people, and definitely not surrounded by rangers of all people. They were still to mysterious for her to handle at any length. So, bidding a quiet, quick, farewell, she set off for a walk. Time was lost on her and time passed quickly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nikki was scratching the ruff of the greyhound Spirit's neck. Spirit was her main companion other then Joshua, her former mentor, who had just left to go eat. Nikki wasn't terribly hungry, so she sat by Nyx her black as night ranger horse thinking about her new assignment to Seacliff. It would be a bit of a challenge with the Pirates, or raiders, or whatever Crowley had called them, but it wasn't to much of a worry for her. She was a capable person, and a capable ranger. Spirit yawned, being a tired creature, and curled up beside Nikki as best a greyhound could. Nikki continued scratching at Spirit's neck for a while, staring off into the distance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dian had come across quite a few camping sites, one of which had been Joshua's, but he was too busy to say more then hi to the passing apprentice. So she continued walking and came across a woman sitting against a tree with a dog laying beside her. Obsidian, her border shepherd mix, was nipping at her heels excited. The womans eyes softened at the sight of the pup and the Greyhound cocked its head up and looked at the dear puppy. Dian picked up her Obsidian, who wriggled in her own arms. "Greeting apprentice, may I ask your name?" Said the woman "I am Dian, and this is Obsidian" the boder shepherd mix jumped out of her arms and went to lick the woman's face, immediately loving her. "I'm so sorry..... uh, what's your name?" "I am Nikki, or Nicole, though I'm not called that by anyone other then Crowley and a few of the older rangers anymore, and my former Mentor of course" Dian liked either name but she decided that she would call the woman Nikki. She didn't want people calling her Diana, so she wouldn't call the woman Nicole. The two sat there chatting for a while, the dogs falling over each other. "Oh, Nikki, I have to go back to my mentor and friends, I'll see you later!" She said as she disappeared in the direction of the camp. Nikki quite liked the girl, and waved as she left. Dian finally returned to the group apologizing, "Sorry I was gone, I didn't mean to be away as long as I did." She then took her seat around the group, Obsidian in her lap.
|
|