Baited [Invite]

It felt like his whole life had revolved around fishing. To be fair, it had until he was Searched and it was a rather important means of survival during exile, and even after Katila’s creation he was rotated into the chore a fair bit. So R’nd supposed it was a major part of his life. He had to laugh at how that turned out for him considering he took little joy from the task as a child and found being Searched as a way out of that life. Still, he was a dutiful worker and while everyone liked to complain when the new chore assignments came out, and he was no exception, R’nd still followed his orders, knowing there had to be some sort of method behind the madness of it all.

At least this time he had Kerrin shuffled into the mix. It was a rarity when they were put together, no doubt whoever was in charge purposely tried to keep friends apart to bring as little enjoyment to the process as possible. Or maybe it was just the two of them that had orders against them given how distracted they could become with their pranks on each other and the occasional passerby. Not that the weyrbrat was all that helpful. Most chores they shared broke down into R’nd working while Kerrin goofed off and Ayyonth supervised from the shade or sun depending on his mood that day. This time would be different as Kerrin would be trapped on a boat with him where R’nd hoped he could get the guy to at least feign interest in the utterly boring task.

R’nd surveyed the tools of the trade he had already placed in the boat and was satisfied they should have everything they would need for a successful haul provided their patience and attention spans could last long enough. Now all he had to do was get Kerrin into the boat, which was easier said than done. “Are you going to do this the easy and dignified way or will I have to pick you up and toss you in there so we can get this outing started and finished in record time?” Not far down the beach, already comfortably curled up in the warm sand, Ayyonth rumbled his amusement at the two.

There had been few times in Jada's life that she had been required to go fishing. The last time, in fact, had been when her father died. Maybe it was something about facing the creature that would soon be stuck on a stick and cooked, or looking at one's plate and wondering: Did I do that? There had been a time, when she was very young, that Jada had gotten a baby wherry. Only a sevenday out of a child's life, she had cared for it. And then it had gone missing. Jada couldn't remember the anxiety her mother had laughed over relating to the story, but she could vaguely remember crying over her wherry soup when she found out her 'pet' had been one of the ingredients. Ever since then, she'd avoided looking her food in the face before she ate it. A matter of consequence, perhaps. But now she would have to. Fishing duty was important, and it was going to be... an experience.

She had not yet been assigned to work with either of these two before, so this was going to be fun! The Harper had gladly helped as the Rider placed things into the boat, leaving the selection of things up to him. After all, she had no experience aside some childhood trips with her father, before he became a Master and then died. She could vaguely recall him putting everything on the hook for her. Weak-stomached, she didn't know how she was going to face baiting the... Okay! Boat time! "It is awful small, isn't it?" she said (again), eying the boat. "R'nd, are you sure this can handle all of us?" Jada had come prepared for a long day, her long hair braided and then wrapped into a coronet around her head. It wouldn't keep the light out of her eyes, but it would let the breeze come off the water and caress her neck, thus keeping her cool; there most likely wasn't going to be much shade unless the Rider or the other Candidate loomed over her. And unless they were baiting her line, she didn't want any looming.

She could get in the boat. Or she could wait until R'nd finished threatening their compatriot into obedience. After all, she didn't want to get squished or knocked into if there was actually any throwing involved. Three paces away from the boat, Jada anxiously made sure that they had everything they might need. Not that she knew if it was right or wrong. She might be a Harper, but her knowledge of fishing was all theory. There had never been any practical application of such things! Someone else had always done this part for her.

Spoiled? A little.

While there were far worse chores to which he could have been assigned - numbweed picking or brewing for example, which he always balked at - Kerrin was still not especially thrilled with the task ahead, and it showed in the slow and reluctant pace with which he helped R'nd load their supplies into the boat. Of course the weyrbrat never was too excited about his chores, especially in recent years with more and more stolen Northerners appearing beside his name on the rosters. As much of a breath of fresh air as this growing crowd of young adults were for the general appearance of Katila Weyr, the increasingly appealing view did nothing to change the fact that the vast majority of Stolens were sullen, rude, and... well, horrible conversationalists what with the way that they went on and on about missing home and I-hate-dragons this and to-between-with-riders that. Not to mention the fact that most of them were just downright spoiled and useless! Especially when it came to labor-intensive tasks or even the basic survival skills, like fishing or sewing, that Katilans depended on daily.

Kerrin was of course well acquainted with his own hard-earned reputation amongst the weyrfolk as useless, but at least he was lazy by choice. He could do anything, if he really wanted to. And that was what counted!

Not that he could be too sure about Jada, the boy conceded silently as he cast a sidelong look at the girl. As they were both Candidates, he had seen her around, but he hadn't worked with her before. He knew she was a Harper though, and she was very pretty, neither of which boded well for her skills as a fisherman in his mind. He frowned.

So. There they were on the lake's edge, the three of them: R'nd, an ex-seacrafter (sort of) who hated to fish. Himself, who knew how to fish but did not particularly enjoy any minute of it. And Jada, who probably did not even know how to fish. Kerrin sighed gustily, sensing the futility of this project even in its infancy. At least he would be wasting his time with R'nd and a beautiful woman... but even that small comfort wasn't enough to pick up his spirits, once the boy remembered that R'nd's attentions would likely be diverted to said beautiful woman in no time at all.

Actually now he just felt worse, and Jada's comment regarding the boat's size prickled at his temper like a thorn in his side. How did it make sense that of the three of them, the Harper girl was the only one astute enough to point out such a glaring flaw in their plan? Obviously she was wrong. Or something. "R'nd came from a sea hold, I think he knows what he's doing," Kerrin took the liberty of answering her, tone snide at first but catching himself soon enough to end with a slightly-less-offensive note of bored neutrality. This manner of speaking was evidently normal for him, for it was the same tone he turned on R'nd.

"That depends," the weyrbrat said, with a look of extreme distaste at the fishing bait and tackle. "Do I have to touch the worms or the fish?"

Oh, this was going to be a long outing. R’nd glanced to Ayyonth to eyeball the distance between him and the dragon and then looked at Kerrin and Jada for the same reason. Could he outrun them both, climb atop Ayyonth, and duck between before either of them caught and dragged him back to suffer along with them? Probably not and only because Kerrin was getting good at his flying tackle attack and he couldn’t turn his back on Jada’s pretty face set in an anxious expression. She no doubt lacked in any fishing experience and would need some special tutoring to get her started, so there was that to look forward to at least. If they got that far into their outing, anyway.

“So you just want to sit there holding the rod and occasionally pull the line in to see if you caught the biggest fish yet; that you don’t have to touch?” R’nd sighed and resisted the urge to rub at his temples to alleviate the headache he could already feel trying to start. Kerrin was a great friend, one of his closest friends, and they could get into mischief with ease and out of it almost as easily as well. But the brat chose interesting times and ways to show his laziness and superiority complex. R’nd actually couldn’t decide if Kerrin didn’t want to touch worms and fish because it was a pain to bait the hooks and remove the fish from them or if he felt touching the disgusting and slimy creatures was beneath him. It didn’t matter since they both knew R’nd would let them get away with that demand. “Fine, you don’t have to touch either. I’ll bait your hooks and if your whining doesn’t scare the fish away, I’ll take care of your catches as well.” Man, he was an amazing friend. Kerrin should be worshipping him.

Speaking of worshipping, the exotic dark-haired beauty was waiting for his attention. Promptly dismissing Kerrin since in his mind the matter was settled and his friend only needed to get in the boat, R’nd turned away to smile at Jada. He knew a little about her, like most everyone knew the basics of those Stolen when they arrive but he had yet to have the honour of spending any major amount of time with her, which was a crying shame. He gave the Harper an appreciative once over, lingering the longest, surprisingly, on her eyes. They were of an amber hue which was something R’nd didn’t see in many other than Kerrin. What an interesting trait for his fishing companions to share. He only hoped Jada didn’t possess the weyrbrat’s laziness or pick up the habit of harassing a sexy bluerider out of boredom.

“For the task at hand, it’ll handle us well enough. Now if it’s dancing you had in mind instead, we can shove Kerrin off in the boat and we can stay here to tend to that far more delightful task on the much more open beach.” His smile was bright and playful as he offered her his hand. It was up to Jada if she chose it for assistance for getting into the boat or for stealing him into a dance. R’nd was fine with either choice and didn’t think his day would be ruined if fishing was chosen over the other. It would just make him more determined to find out what made her tick.

It was going to be a long day, Jada decided as she looked at the boat. The younger man's reply irritated her, just a little. Giving him a blithe smile, she said, "As wonderful and reassuring as it is to know that our companion was a fisherman in his youth, he's been a Rider for a while now! Now I haven't gone fishing in a good ten turns, at least, so indulge me. From my recollection, fishing involved a lot of strenuous activity, and required a lot of room. Not to mention the boat rocks a lot. And this boat..." It just looked tiny. if it had a smell other than wood, Jada might even say it smelled tiny. "If this boat goes over, I'm using you and Kerrin as life rafts." she told R'nd at his comment about the boat being sufficient. "Forewarning."

Wait.

Kerrin didn't have to bat his own hooks? Or touch the fish? Jada snorted. And people gave the Northerners a hard time! Jada was at least willing to- okay, no. Not if Kerrin was getting away with it! "Hey! What about me?" she protested. How come he didn't have to bait his own hooks? She didn't want to do that! She didn't mind touching the fish, she supposed. It wasn't like she would be eating any of them for a while, anyways. And fish just couldn't be as gross as people said- they swam all the time, after all, and water was clean! So it was kind of like they were always taking a bath. (It had been a LONG time since she had gone fishing.) But worms... worms were gross, and had eyes, and knew when they were hurting. Sticking one on a hook was just inhumane.

So R'nd could do it. Right? (Jada gave him wide eyes for emphasis on her desire to not bait her own hook.)

A hand was extended to her, and the Harper took it gratefully. "Perhaps we could save the dancing for another time." she suggested, and stepped into the boat. "My loins are well girded, so we may as well get started on the task at hand." Tossing a grin back at Kerrin, she tried to make sure her tone was light as she teased, "So I guess if I run into any problems, I should ask R'nd for help instead of you? Since you need him to bait your hook for you?" (And he could take that as he would!)

As he helped Jada into the boat, fingers brushing lightly over hers in parting, R’nd kept a smile in place after those wide eyes and plea for him to help her with baiting the hooks nearly had him calling the whole thing off. Of course Jada would follow Kerrin’s lead, why wouldn’t she? He only had himself to blame for giving in to the brat’s whining so easily and letting him get away with doing nothing all day except holding the rod. Now he was going to be preparing all of their rods and likely removing all of their catches as well. Yes, he should just send the two Candidates back while he did all the work since it was going to end up with the same results regardless. At least with keeping them around he had eye candy and entertainment.

Before turning back to Kerrin to urge his butt into the boat once more, he gave Jada a mischievous grin, unable to let a previous comment slide. “And you can use me in any way you like,” he was shameless and hated to miss such openings for issuing invitations to be intimate with him. There were times he thought he was innocently chatting with someone only to realize that it was borderline flirting but this wasn’t one of those times. He had a playful eye on the woman that seemed like a bit of a challenge. With a bit of luck they would finish their outing with a good haul of fish, thanks to him, and he would have at least claimed a kiss out of Jada.

He said nothing as he stared at Kerrin, a quirky grin in place while R’nd bounced between varying levels of amusement at his companions. He knew just looking at his friend would get him moving and the fact that Jada had beat him into the boat and seemed more willing to help with the chore would goad Kerrin more than anything else he could say. Although R’nd couldn’t help but offer his hand to Kerrin as well since fair was fair and it would no doubt irritate the man.

"Yeah, that's about the sum of it," Kerrin answered R'nd very accurate accusation that he wanted to do nothing more than simply sit there with a line in the water, accompanying his bland statement of fact with a simple 'what of it?' shrug. To tell the truth he didn't even really want to do that, because any Katilan could tell you that fishing simply wasn't his thing. It was long, tedious, and boring, and the only reward for your seemingly endless waiting was the great fun of grabbing at a slimy, gasping, wriggling fish and ripping a hook out of its bloody mouth, just for another lovely opportunity to spear a second worm on it and start all over again. The fact that  people enjoyed that kind of thing - indeed, some even made a hobby out of it - quite frankly baffled him. Kerrin could easily see why young Orwind had chosen an uncertain future with dragonriders over a certain future of indiscriminate worm massacre and dressing himself up in fish guts day after day. All of that said, what exactly was the point of having a former seacrafter for a friend if he wasn't even going to bait your hooks for you?

Of course, he was friends with R'nd for various reasons. One of those being he could always count on the guy to come through for him in a time of need, and now proved to be no different. The bluerider's easy agreement to do his dirty work for him was met with one of the weyrbrat's trademark brilliant smiles - one which only increased in mirth when Jada picked up on what was going on and chimed in with her own request for assistance. Maybe being paired up with her wasn't so bad after all; she was not only nearly unrivalled eye-candy, but there seemed to be a good chance that her willingness to give the dragonrider a hard time might actually rival his own. Now if only he could get R'nd to stop making those googly eyes at her...

Kerrin sighed and rolled his eyes at all the nonsense talk of dancing, though he was somewhat relieved to see that Jada was not tripping all over herself with sighs at the bluerider's well-practiced lines. He wisely ignored R'nd's stare, giving the Harper girl a reasonably amicable smile in response to her teasing as he climbed into the boat beside her with the help of the bluerider's steady hand. "I suggest you keep mention of your loins to yourself around this guy, you'll only get him excited. And that advice is all the help I'm gonna give you, today."

At that, the weyrbrat shot a long and meaningful look of warning at the other man. The last thing he wanted to do was sit around trapped in a boat all day watching R'nd angle to bed yet another one of his classmates, and he knew that dour stare would be enough to convey his every intention to toss the rider right into the lake if that came to pass.

Jada grinned at R'nd, pulling her hand away carefully from the Rider's. Slowly. But at last their hands parted, and the Harper took her place in the boat, peering suspiciously at the 'tack' or whatever it was. How gross! Well, she could think of one thing at least that she would gleefully use R'nd for, and it had nothing to do with physical contact. Well, at least not with her. But he could bait her hook all day, if he was so inclined. she licked her lips, considering the bluerider from under her lashes.

Yes. A handsome, well-muscled man. Well suited to ensuring that the worms died a quick, painless death, and that she didn't have to think about the massacre which was soon to occur. For that matter, Kerrin would be well-suited to providing distraction as well, and the silent communication she thought she could observe between the two was definitely on her list of entertainment possibilities for the day.

The boat shifted, and her head jerked away from the traumatizing sight of wriggling worms to meet the boy's gaze. Kerrin smiled, and Jada caught herself grinning back before she could help it. It was one of those infectious things! "Noted. Consider my loins removed from the conversation topics." It was easy enough to agree to that! "But you're not going to give me any more tips at all? I doubt R'nd wants to answer all my questions, and I haven't gone fishing in turns." she accentuated the last word forcefully, to stress just how long it had been. How old had she been? She had been fourteen when her father died, and the last time they had gone fishing had probably been before she Apprenticed to the Hall. "I'd say ten, at least. There isn't much call for a Harper to go fishing except for pleasure."

And wasn't that the truth! Any cravings she'd had for fish, she'd been able to find some! Without the need to kill it herself.

Anxiously, she looked over the items in the very small boat again, hands clinging to the edge of the boat until her knuckles turned white. "It is an awful small boat," she commented again, looking at R'nd skeptically. Would he fit in here? Or was it part of some twisted, mischievous plan? (Really, the boat wasn't that small, but she was paranoid! And once fish started weighing it down, it would only get smaller, since there was no way she was getting fish smell all over her boots and would have to drag her feet up onto her seat!)

R’nd felt a headache starting already. It seemed he not only had to deal with Kerrin’s disgust at R’nd’s flirting with classmates, again, but the brat was turning on his own charm with Jada and the two seemed very likely to get along and join forces against him. Now that he had them both in the boat maybe the best idea was to simply have Ayyonth push the boat into the middle of the lake, oars abandoned on shore, and leave them to deal with the chore themselves. If nothing else, watching them flail before either trying to fish or swim back to shore would be great entertainment.  He would just have to hang onto that image and hope he didn’t regret following through with it.

“I will gladly answer your questions, my lady. Consider me yours,” R’nd tossed a smirk at Kerrin, showing he wasn’t about to ignore the beautiful young woman and boarded the boat, taking the middle bench so he was well placed to help both spoiled brats out. It was also the best location to row, something R’nd knew without even asking that neither companion would want any part of.

As he grabbed the oars and gave one gentle stroke to test their weight and how much energy it would take to row them to deeper waters, R’nd gave Jada a reassuring smile to her continuous fretting over the size of the vessel. “As you can see, we all fit in here perfectly and the boat is sound. We shouldn’t have any problems but let me know if you do start to feel uncomfortable or sick.” He knew some people got motion sickness even from the soft ripples of moving water and while they weren’t enclosed, R’nd imagined if someone was stressed enough they could have a panic attack being on a boat in the middle of a deep lake. Neither option seemed too pleasing but he was confident that should Jada succumb to either they could get her through it and back on shore without incident.

Kerrin's eyes narrowed slightly as R'nd settled himself down on the middle seat of the boat. He had a feeling the bluerider would do exactly that, and he also had a pretty good idea of why. He'd been on boats before, however, and he felt mollified somewhat by the thought that such a tactic would land the older man with the duty of rowing them around all day. With visions of lazy lounging and dozing off in the warm sunlight already firmly in mind, the weyrbrat wordlessly moved aside, taking a seat at the far end - but not before delivering a sharp but subtle kick at the dragonrider's shin for that wise-ass smirk of his.

With his attention off of punishing R'nd for his unrelenting flirtiness, Kerrin finally noticed the clear unease flashing in the Harper girl's eyes. At first he'd simply assumed that Jada was just being a typical spoiled and whiny Northerner, but he knew (partially from experience) that even the most determined of slack-offs would not go so far as to feign white-knuckled fear at the prospect of a mildly distasteful chore. He didn't quite understand her concern, however, for as far as he could tell an unexpected swim was the very worst that could happen to them. And, well... given that one of his companions was a gorgeous and shapely young lady and the other was R'nd, whose nicely muscled body he was already well acquainted with, that actually didn't sound too bad to the boy at all.

Something told him this would be inappropriate to say, however, and so he went for the much more polite route of leaning over just enough to toss a cheerful grin at the girl around the obstacle of the bluerider's body. "Katilan boats are surprisingly sound, you know, and R'nd handles them well. We'll be fine as long as this weather holds," Kerrin assured her, gesturing widely at the bright blue sky as he did. The tiny boat rocked slightly in the water.

She wasn't quite sure how long this day was going to end up being very relaxing. The bluerider's charm was turned up so high even she could hazard a guess at his motives. It was still in the amusing stages, though, so she was more than willing to play along. Especially if he followed through on what he said, and she actually could use him. To ask questions, of course. What else would she possibly use him for? Okay, that question needed a serious amendment, because... Both R'nd and Kerrin were real cuties. (And she thought that she looked older than both of them. Which was totally not fair, considering she knew the bluerider had to be older than her. Had to be!) The point was, there were a handful of reasons that she could use the dragonrider. (But only one of them was perverted.)

The flush that crossed her cheeks was from the sun. Of course.

She dug her fingers out of the wood as Kerrin smiled at her, and managed to bring herself to smile back. Then the boat rocked, and she gave a little squeak. "I'm sticking by my promise to use you both as life rafts." she reminded them quickly, and scooted a little closer to the center of the boat. "R'nd, do you want me to help with the rowing? I completely volunteer to be the one in the middle." One on each side of her, to grab hold of her in case she somehow managed to fall out of the boat on a beautiful day like this.

Just a little bit of breeze blowing across her neck, keeping the sun from being too warm... "I suppose I do have a few questions." she volunteered finally. "As I said, it has been forever since I went fishing. Any tips on baiting a hook without catching myself?" She couldn't imagine a hook in the finger (especially one with a worm already on it) would be very... enjoyable.

Jada was making it far too easy to make suggestive comments and plays for her but R’nd, while being an incorrigible flirt, did know when to tone it down and let some moments pass by untouched. Doing his best to not make anything he said suggestive, R’nd tossed her an easy smile, “and I’ll make you a promise to keep you safe, even if that means jumping in after you to play life raft.” Really, he wasn’t going to return to the weyr one Candidate short since D’ren wouldn’t take too kindly to that bit of news. Besides, Jada was hot, a definite bonus, and while her fear of everything involved in fishing was a bit odd, she had a bit of spunk to her that was refreshing and intrigued R’nd too much to let her flail in the lake—for too long anyway.

“Where you’re sitting is just as safe as the middle, Jada,” unless of course the boat tipped over and then they were all going for a swim but R’nd didn’t think the Harper girl needed to have that extra visual in her overactive imagination. “And with me in the middle I’m not only rowing but I can tend to both of your hooks. But if you really want to be in the middle, then climb over my lap and I’ll move to your seat after.” In his defence, that suggestion wasn’t supposed to be more than innocent and helpful but as it left his lips he had to suppress the grin the images of what could be done with a pretty lady in his lap. So he focused on rowing them further out, intent on at least catching one fish before nightfall.

"I suppose it is true." Jada agreed doubtfully, looking at the middle of the boat. It looked much wider, and there were two ends to keep it balanced. Still, if she bluerider had spent much time with boats, he must certainly know what he was talking about. Still, the Harper found herself scooting the length of the boat slowly, inch by inch, until she was closer to him. Would she be able to get around him? Probably not. It wasn't as though they were far out yet; she could have him turn around. Or she should have just taken the middle in the first place.

Jada leaned in towards R'nd, pressing her lips to his ear, whispering. "I can bait my own hook if that would make this all a little better for you. I just don't have the experience is all, and I'm afraid I won't do it right the first time I try. I don't want to embarass myself." That much, at least, was true. She really didn't want to bait her won hook at all, but R'nd deserved to try and enjoy himself at least a little, without catering to the needs of two needy young people. Besides, if she did it herself, then maybe it would be the shame that Kerrin would need in order to follow in her example. That would certainly make this trip more enjoyable for everyone involved.

She glanced at Kerrin, then gave R'nd a pointed look. She worked with him, he could work with her, and things would go easier for everyone. Even if she would have to touch disgusting, wriggly little creatures.