[B-PRP] at the beginning [ maishel + thovorn

[houllow]

It'd been a little over a Turn since she'd come properly to his employ and for Maishel, who currently sat trying to pour over documents about tunnel expansion, it'd already felt like a hundred or so Turns. To say that she and her "Boss" didn't get along would be saying like the Red Star brought Thread - so painfully obvious that whomever dared utter such a phrase deserved to be slapped. Yet she was held here under obligation and contract, all the while looking at charts and wondering just how the whole operation hadn't managed to collapse before her arrival.

Shards below, she still wasn't sure how it hadn't collapsed even with her here trying to keep it afloat. Master Thovorn had no eye for these things, Maishel had long ago decided, and so it'd become her righteous burden to ensure she kept the mine safe and profitable. Never the mind she had no idea in the slightest about such things, but surely she was clever enough to figure it out if someone like him were able to.

With a rather undignified and unladylike groan, a glance around first to make sure no one was in witness, Maishel dropped her elbows on the table. "He doesn't make anything easy for me, does he?" Her words echoed to what she'd hoped was an empty room, though knowing her Boss he'd have some was of listening in. That man was downright incorrigible when it came to respecting the privacy of others, regardless if they were in his employ or not. "A pain, in truth."

Teiha

 

[Teiha]

Ah, yes. There was indeed an unseen listener to the lady Maishel’s woes. Svelte curves of midnight lapis and starlit topaz lay coiled outside of the Master’s office, a forked tail softly flicking back and forth with amusement. Such a delicate little flower.

The dragon knew the woman loathed to admit any good thing about her employer, but she was possibly the only human who’d be privy to the fact that Master Thovorn was unwilling that anyone should be injured or killed in his mine. That little tidbit was partly to blame for her own education and ultimately appointment as consult for Hadston’s expansion. The equipment, materials and manpower to do it her way were expensive, and Esharth found it wasteful. If the Master required maximum profit, he should let her go and resign himself to replacing cheap unskilled laborers as needed. There was an ample supply of such… mediocrity.

Esharth slowly closed his whirling stone-blue eyes, thoughts focusing on his rider. He was on his way, but was walking slowly with one of the overseers. A few minutes later he opened his eyes as Thovorn arrived, leaning his head to accept a stroke from the man’s outstretched palm. She’s in a mood, Th’orn.

When isn’t she? There was no humor in the man’s tone, nor in his pale face as he passed. There had been trouble in the tunnels, and no doubt the woman would have a wealth of vacuous opinions to offer about it once she heard. If this tension continued, perhaps Esharth would see his preferred changes come in time.

“Good evening, Miss Maishel,” Thovorn said as he entered the office, crossing to his desk and taking a seat. He spread his files out in front of him, then opened several and began to read while unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his crisp white sleeves.

houllow

 

[houllow]

There was a sharp intake of breath on Maishel's part as Thovorn entered, thought it wasn't a comment (nor compliment) on the figure he cut. Rather it was a statement towards his unwelcome arrival and interruption of her thoughts and plans for the day, but she exhaled with all the poise one could muster towards someone they could say, without hesitation, that they loathed. Thankfully her personal feelings had little to do with her professional manners, or so Maishel was inclined to tell herself over and over to keep her tongue in check, and so a very, very forced look of pleasantry was pressed onto her face. "And to you as well, Master Thovorn. I trust you had a good inspection this evening?"

His body language was still foreign to her, all his little trips and tells and small motions yet to be learned and deciphered, but she was no fool. Maishel had aways prided herself in being quick on the uptake of moods, even if she was the one who often ruined them for everyone involved. It was obvious something had not gone according to plan, for the way the man was starting to make himself comfortable around her - a near stranger - meant he was either ignoring her entirely or had other things on his mind.

Maishel refused to believe he could be dismissing the fact that there was a lady present and he could disrobe as he pleased. It would not stand, and she pressed on to her agenda.

"When you have finished your review, we need to move on to the discussion of the supports in tunnel 28." There would be no discussion, not really.

Teiha

 

[Teiha]

Without looking up, he replied, “The inspection was satisfactory. The additional surface borings in the lower cavern were completed to your measurements and have brought the air cleanliness to safe levels for new excavation to begin.”

There had been nothing amiss with the inspection. No, the problem was with a worker—Gorlan, as usual. He’d been stirring up trouble amongst the laborers again. Thovorn had more than half a mind to let him go, but the man hadn’t given him a good enough reason yet. It was just as well. Troublemakers like Gorlan had a way of eventually defeating themselves at their own game.

Maishel spoke up again, and he elected to finish his review of the current file as she so kindly suggested before raising his gaze. He wanted to be certain everything was accounted for while it was still fresh in his mind. When he was done, he switched and filed through his mental inventory, pulling up details on the subject. “Twenty-eight. Secondary supports were installed there but two turns ago. Are they not enough?”

houllow

 

[houllow]

Maishel had to resist a quite smug 'told you so moment', though she couldn't deny herself one small comment about nothing in particular. "I'm pleased to hear that." For she was pleased, since that simple action had almost turned into a tooth and nail battle between her and Thovorn. Common sense, or so Maishel believed, would dictate that people needed air to breathe and yet he'd tried to wave her off over things like money and labor and time. Part of her had scoffed over his shortsightedness then.

When he did seem to acknowledge her request over 28, an eyebrow was raised over his question. "You said within the last two turns? What materials did you use? Are you even aware that there's been water damage and they're already rotting?" She'd made the trip into the mine herself, accompanied by a wherhandler who'd stood entirely too close for her comfort and a wher that walked too far ahead for the same. While they did appear sound at the very least, the earliest signs of rot had been a large red flag for the woman. "From what I've been reading you had a rather moist period of time from the turn's end into the early summer, so it's hardly a surprise it lingered in."

A chart of recorded weather patterns was pressed beneath one of her hands, and she lifted another that held an intricately mapped layout of many tunnels and the land above them. "I'd also like to remind you that there's water nearby and things like underground channels do exist."

Teiha