|
Post by Noa on Sept 5, 2020 22:37:29 GMT -6
"Name's Aster," Aster said, arms crossed and features grim. "Here about your posting. Heard you needed guards?" The short, bespectacled man didn't so much as look up from his clipboard at that. "Riiiight," he said, scratching away. "Okay, 'Aster', what makes you think you're the man we want for this?" Aster understood why the guy had an attitude. Really, he did. Neither of them wanted to be here doing this, and he could respect that. Glasses' issue was probably something more to do with the fact that the building was packed with people offering their services, and in all likelihood some of those people had been rather subpar; and by this point he was probably sick of having to sift through them. But it sure made him a pain in the ass to talk to, especially since talking to people wasn't something Aster was exactly known for being fond of. 1
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 5, 2020 22:40:33 GMT -6
"Well," Aster said, trying and failing to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "I've got experience. I'm a beast trainer. Three time Sarane tournament champion, one time free-for-all tournament. Don't know if that means anything to you."
"Afraid not," the man in glasses countered. "You got anything to show us? A demonstration, maybe? Something you can... do?" He still wasn't looking up from his clipboard, which was a shame, because if he did, maybe that would expedite this whole conversation a little bit.
Well.
"You heard the man, Azalea," Aster said - though he spoke aloud mainly for Glasses' benefit. Azalea couldn't hear anything anymore - a quirk of the change, and a rather unfortunate one, but at least she still had the ribbon for him to direct her through. "He wants to see something special. You think we can arrange that for him?"
{Oh, I can try,} said Azalea. Her mental voice, at least, had stayed the same.
2
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 5, 2020 22:43:51 GMT -6
There was no reason for it to change, of course, but... well, Aster didn't know what he was really expecting. Avander's transformation hadn't been quite so... dramatic. Sure, he looked different, and the mane had been an addition that he had thoroughly enjoyed, but at the end of the day Avander had only gotten a little bigger, with the same rough shape and number of limbs and everything. It was just what he could do that had gone through a serious change.
Azalea... had been about Aster's own size before. And now she was, among other things, positively massive.
Ironically she had the sweetest temperament of the big beasts Aster had worked with, and was even now eager to please. Getting used to being so big had posed its own challenges, and there were still times when she didn't know her own strength. "Screech, if you please, Azalea," Aster said.
3
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 5, 2020 22:47:59 GMT -6
Azalea, ever the good girl she had been, was happy to oblige. Opening her mouth, she let loose with an ear-piercing screech, which had only grown louder since her transformation. Something about the acoustics of having more room to reverberate, he supposed. That got Glasses' attention, and he looked up, startled - an expression that quickly gave way to terror once he realized what he was looking at.
"I-I-I-Is that a P-P-Pliathor?!" he asked.
And then, before Aster could answer, he promptly passed out on the spot.
"Hmm," Aster said, toeing the man's prone form gingerly. "Guess we overdid it."
{I'm sorry, I should have held back more, shouldn't I? And after you warned me too, with me being so big now and all.} Azalea hung her head apologetically, which drew a chuckle out of Aster. Honestly, he was finding the situation pretty funny, but that was probably what they would call his 'antisocial tendencies' rearing its ugly head.
4
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 6, 2020 0:11:52 GMT -6
{Don't worry about it,} Aster said. {You did fine.} Azalea didn't look entirely reassured, but some of her unease did abate, and Aster began looking around for someone else to talk to.
It didn't take long for someone else from the Association to spot their fellow member sprawled out on the floor. But then, everyone within earshot had turned their eyes to Aster at the sound of Azalea's screeching, so that was kind of a given. "It was a misunderstanding," Aster said to the Avian who came running over. "He wanted to see what Azalea here could do, and..."
The Avian sighed, shaking her head. "No, yes, I can more or less guess what happened. Oh, Pascal, you numbskull..." She looked up, and took in the sight of Azalea with... well, better heart than her fellow, certainly, considering she stayed conscious for the whole experience. "I'm guessing you're here to apply as a guard?"
5
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 6, 2020 0:15:15 GMT -6
Aster liked this one, at least as far as he liked anyone he had only known for maybe five minutes - which wasn't a lot, but still. She seemed like she would be easier to deal with than her compatriot had been. "I am," Aster said.
"And this creature of yours... she's trained? She does that on your, er, command?" He could read between the lines and guess at the unspoken quiestions.
"She's trained," Aster said.
"... Can you show me something, well, milder?" said the Avian woman. "Just some basic obedience tricks or something. We don't really have room for you to be doing anything more, you see."
A specific request. Things were getting better and better. "Azalea," Aster said, "stay." He held up a hand to her, then walked away for a bit. "Come."
She came slithering over to his side at his command, 'listening' in through their ribbon for his cues.
6
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 6, 2020 13:16:25 GMT -6
"Good. Now follow me," Aster said, and walked back and forth for a bit. Strictly speaking, Azalea was simply moving her head to do so, since he wasn't really walking far enough away that she could 'follow' with the full length of her, but it got the idea across, at least. The Avian woman seemed satisfied enough, which was all Aster needed anyway.
"Right, okay, I get the picture," she said. "Come by while we're setting up tomorrow. We'll give you more detailed instructions day of, but... try to keep away from the bulk of the workers, would you? Your, ah, beastie there is a little... A lot to take in." The Avian woman grimaced.
Aster simply nodded. She wasn't wrong, and he knew it, though frankly the fact that Azalea was 'a lot to take in' was the whole point. But Aster felt the woman understood that, so there was no need to press that point.
7
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 6, 2020 14:04:23 GMT -6
As far as he was concerned, the details were settled, and there was no further need for him to be here. The woman, too, seemed to consider the matter closed, and walked off briskly to put out a fire somewhere else.
{That's it for us,} Aster said to Azalea, giving the Pliathor a pat on the nose. {You did fine. That guy wasn't even looking at us, so it's his own fault he didn't see you until it was too late.}
{But are you sure? They aren't angry, are they?} Azalea craned her neck up to look after where the prone form of Glasses - Pascal, was that what the woman had called him? - was now propped up in a chair, with another aide trying to wake him.
{It's fine,} Aster said. He wasn't too concerned. If they had any hard feelings, they'd sort it out with him anyway, and not with Azalea.
8
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 6, 2020 14:07:02 GMT -6
As things stood, there was nothing he wanted more than to go home; and now that there was no further need to be here, he did just that, with Azalea following in his wake. ----- They set out for the area on the outskirts of town that they'd been told to find at the appointed time the next day, and the Avian woman, who seemed in the meantime to have been designated to deal with them, trotted up to greet them as they arrived. It hadn't been as long a trip as yesterday, actually; the place the Association had staked out to observe their comet from was closer to Aster's home than it was to the heart of the city. And seeing as they would be posted away from the crowd, Aster was, if not looking forward to the job, at least not dreading it either, the way he did some others he'd taken. 9
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 6, 2020 14:10:34 GMT -6
"Good, you're here," she said. "If you could just patrol the perimeter and stop anyone who comes, and direct them to Marshall over there..." She pointed out a tall Mammalian, who had a clipboard in hand, and was busy directing a couple of other new arrivals. "And, you know, all the standard stuff - if anyone seems obviously hostile and suspicious, don't let them near the equipment. Ah, but we don't want any, er, permanent casualties, you understand."
"Right," Aster said. He translated that last bit as 'don't let your Pliathor eat anyone', which Azalea probably wouldn't have done anyway; but he supposed it might be a little harder to keep her from squashing people by accident.
To be honest though, Azalea was really here to be more of a looming unspoken threat than an actual enforcer. She didn't have Avander's level of control yet, especially after having been transformed so recently.
10
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 6, 2020 14:13:53 GMT -6
If he was being really honest, Azalea was trained, but not to the degree that Avander was trained, or even Grunty or Rhys. She was maybe on par with a couple of his better-trained battle drakes, but Sarane would have been a bad pick for this particular job because they tended to be hostile to everyone else as a general rule.
But as far as unspoken, looming threat, even a Pliathor with flowers growing out her back was a menace enough. Grunty might have done just as well, but Grunty was also a lazy bump on a log, who would have immediately settled down for a nap once he saw that there was no food in the equation. And Aster had wanted Azalea to get out and about, get used to moving with her new proportions, so this seemed like as good an opportunity as any to make that happen.
11
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2020 16:32:58 GMT -6
If a problem did come up, Aster was probably going to be the one actually dealing with the individual or individuals in question, which was fine with him. It wasn't as if he didn't know his own way around a fight, and now he had the magic to do some real damage - or some real damage control - if that was what it came to. It probably wouldn't; this was an astronomy association, not a mining outfit. He understood their desire to have security on hand, but he suspected it was largely a precaution, and not due to any real threat that they were expecting to encounter.
... Of course, if it turned out to be too big a threat for Aster to handle on his own, Azalea was here as his backup. Even an ornery drake would probably think twice about getting too fresh with anything of Azalea's size glowering at them.
12
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2020 16:35:32 GMT -6
Aster would need to pick things up regarding her training sometime soon, but what she knew should be good enough for now, he thought. And he needed time to plan; the loss of her hearing meant a lot of his traditional training methods would need to be tweaked. The ribbon helped, but he wanted to be able to communicate commands to her even if it was stolen or lost, and that would probably mean they'd need hand signals, among other things.
And this guard job was certainly giving him time aplenty to contemplate the issue. It was maybe the only thing keeping Aster from boredom when the end of the first hour rolled around. As he had suspected, the job wasn't particularly eventful. A few people came and went, but not very many at a time, and all of them figured out to go to the man with the clipboard on their own.
13
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2020 16:37:52 GMT -6
Aster didn't even need to give them any directions - which was just as well, because if that was what he became relegated to, he wasn't sure he could take it. It would probably have been bad PR for them too, for visitors or hired hands to find out just how surly their security guy turned out to be. But that would be the blessing of standing next to a Pliathor, even if the Pliathor's teeth were all hidden, and even if she had settled down in the grass for a bit of a doze after a while, because of all the nothing that had been going on.
Honestly, Aster would have been lying if he said he wasn't tempted to join her. But for the sake of appearances, he remained standing, and for the sake of doing what he had been paid to do, he did try to keep alert.
14
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2020 16:40:52 GMT -6
After all, if something did end up happening, they would also be the ones to bear the blame... And Aster, whatever other flaws he might have, did believe in doing an honest job where he could.
The trickle of people picked up a little later into the afternoon, as the preparations went from going along at a headlong pace to something more approaching a frantic pitch of setting up. Occasionally he glanced back to see what all they were doing, but beyond the very basic stuff like setting up tables and all, it was beyond him. Aster did read some books on science, but most of it was stuff more immediately relevant to his own life, to do with biology and some rudimentary chemistry and motion physics. Stars and all that distant, nebulous stuff... He had never given it much thought.
{What are they doing over there?} Azalea asked, following his gaze.
15
|
|