• Solo • Care of goats [Job Thread]

[Rovy]

27th of Ymiden, 718

The sun was just beginning to appear on the horizon when Rovy opened the front door of the house, stifling a yawn and carrying a bowl filled with raw meat in his hand. Both Whalen and Mia were still asleep, and probably would be for quite some time - while Whalen was usually up at that time, starting to clean the kitchen for another day's work, he had been coughing and sneezing for a while now, nothing more than an annoying and persistent cold, but Rovy had finally convinced him he wouldn't get better if he didn't at least try to rest a bit. They could start the selling of the products later on the day, a few hours of sleep wouldn't make that much of a difference. And Mia...

Well, Mia was just lazy.

Still, Rovy wasn't really complaining. He had been waking up before sunrise since he was a kid, and he actually liked the not-quite-quiet of the farm. He stretched again, trying not to wince at the soft pull of muscles on his right shoulder, already tense enough to cause just the faint beginning of pain, courtesy of a night sleeping on the wrong side. Until the end of the day, the pain would probably evolve to a dull, but annoying throb, if not something worse, but it wasn't like he had much choice - there was always too much work to be done, always another chore that kept being pushed down until it couldn't anymore, and Whalen needed the rest. Which meant there was only two people to do all the work.

Shaking the thoughts away, he turned briefly to the place where Pyr usually slept, but the hawk had already gone to hunt his own breakfast. Kiva, though, was already up, head raised in interest at the bowl in Rovy's hand. The dog had been hostile at best, in the beginning, and when she finally stopped charging at him on sight, it had taken an entire season for her to finally accept food from him. With a sigh, he lowered the bowl, leaning against the wooden wall of the house and waiting for the dog to eat.

"It's alright, you can eat." he mumbled, after an entire bit in which the dog did nothing more than tilt her head to the side and sniff the air loudly. "I feed you everyday, if I wanted to poison you, I'd have done that already." while the words weren't exactly friendly, his tone was soft. Rovy had found out it usually made Kiva eat faster if he talked to her and turned his body slightly away, so he wouldn't be facing her. The dog was just as incomprehensible as her owner.

Nevertheless, it seemed to do the trick, and Kiva slowly approached the bowl, still sniffing the air for some trills before finally deciding to eat the meat. At least that part was done with surprising speed, and Rovy rolled his eyes before taking the empty bowl inside again.

Kiva had already ran off to do her own thing when he exited the house again, and he shrugged, before making his way to the goat pen.

common | rakahi

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[Rovy]

Rovy couldn't keep the soft smile from appearing when he reached the pen house area, entering the fenced space where the does were. The younger of them, black with a wide brown strip running through her underside, came jumping towards him as soon as he was inside, seemingly incapable of going in a straight line. The playful, soft bump of head he received in greeting made Rovy chuckle softly, fingers brushing against the doe's ear. He wasn't really sure why she had taken such a liking to him, but he wouldn't complain. The affection was kind of sweet, if he was being honest to himself.

"Well, we can start with you, then." he said, before going to grab the brush. The doe followed him - not on a straight line, and still jumping excitedly all over the place, but anyway. With another soft chuckle, Rovy grabbed her collar lightly, just to keep her still for a moment as he began to brush her coat. As soon as the brush touched her, though, the doe calmed down, seemingly happy to allow him to do his work. This particular process seemed to be one all the goats enjoyed - except the wether, as Rovy often needed to tie him down to actually manage to get any kind of work done. But the male goats would get their upkeep in the next morning, so he would worry about it when he needed to.

Instead, Rovy focused on the task at hand, brushing the doe's neck. He paid attention to each sweep of the brush, trying to see if there was anything strange with the skin underneath. After he finished her neck, he moved to her back, then her legs and belly - at that point, he had to tighten his hold on her collar, as she was beginning to grow impatient. The process didn't take too long, despite needing his close attention, and soon, the black doe was back to jumping through the area as Rovy made his way to the next goat. The other three were quieter, either because of being older or probably just because of their personality, and so, it didn't take much time before he finished. He had felt a small swelling on the hip of the white doe, small enough not to be apparent. She was showing no signs of pain or any discomfort, though, so it was probably nothing. Rovy still made a mental note to pay attention to her during the following trials to see if there was kind of development on it.

It was then that the first drops of rain began to fall, and Rovy bit his lip to stop a groan from escaping. He still needed to trim the does' hooves, milk them, feed all the goats, and then go to check on Shrimp. Which meant he would be walking under the rain for a while and that he would probably be drenched by the time he returned to the house to eat. Still, if there was one thing that his father had taught him, it would be that water was always better than no water at all and so, he allowed a small word of thanks in Rakahi to pass through his lips before he followed the does to the inside of the pen house as the rain began to thicken way too quickly.

Not that this was anything strange, considering the weather of the last few trials.

common | rakahi

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